Schema Congruity as a Basis for Product Evaluation

Mandler theorized that the level of congruity between a product and a more general product category schema may influence the nature of information processing and thus product evaluations. Products that are moderately incongruent with their associated category schemas are expected to stimulate processing that leads to a more favorable evaluation relative to products that are either congruent or extremely incongruent. Data from three experiments conducted in new product contexts are consistent with Mandler's hypothesis and serve as a basis for theorizing about the process.