Is it still working? Task difficulty promotes a rapid wear-off bias in judgments of pharmacological products

• Autores: Veronika Ilyuk, Lauren Block, David Faro
• Localización: Journal of Consumer Research, ISSN-e 1537-5277, Vol. 41, Nº. 3, 2014, págs. 775-793
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Misuse of pharmacological products is a major public health concern. Seven studies provide evidence of a rapid wear-off bias in judgments of pharmacological products: consumers infer that duration of product efficacy is dependent on concurrent task difficulty, such that relatively more difficult tasks lead to faster product wear-off. This bias appears to be grounded in consumers� incorrect application of a mental model about substance wear-off based on their experiences with, and beliefs about, various physical and biological phenomena. Results indicate that the rapid wear-off bias affects consumption frequency and may thus contribute to overdosing of widely available pharmacological products. Further, manufacturers� intake instructions in an interval format (e.g., �Take one pill every 2�4 hours�) are shown to signal that efficacy is task dependent and reinforce the bias. Debiasing mechanisms�interventions to reduce the rapid wear-off bias and its impact�along with implications for consumers, marketers, and public health officials, are discussed.