Does Imitation Benefit the Imitated Brand? The Effects of Stimulus Ambiguity and Processing Mindset on Judgment

It is generally assumed that when consumers process at a global level, they assimilate contextual information into evaluations of a stimulus, which shifts judgment toward the context. When consumers process at a local level, they contrast contextual information with the stimulus, which shifts judgment away from the context. This research demonstrates that global and local processing are not uniquely associated with a specific effect on judgment. In seven studies, we demonstrate that both global and local processing can result in assimilation and contrast effects depending on the level of ambiguity of the stimulus being evaluated. We show that when a stimulus is ambiguous, global processing results in assimilation and local processing results in contrast. When a stimulus is unambiguous, global processing results in contrast and local processing results in assimilation.