According to this model, there are two routes to processing cognitive
persuasion: the central route and the peripheral route. A consumer fol-
lowing the central cognitive processing route evaluates a product using
relevant information, while a consumer following the peripheral route
gives more weight to simple inferences or cues in his or her final judg-
ment than the actual product attributes.
The Private Body Consciousness Test
The Private Body Consciousness (PBC) test assesses how aware sub-
jects are of their internal sensations (Miller et al., 1981) by asking ques-
tions on how sensitive they are to changes in body temperature, internal
tensions, heart rate, dryness of mouth and throat, and hunger contrac-
tions. The individuals are classified into having high or low PBC based
on the answers given to these questions.
In a recent study by Jaeger et al. (1998), sensory preference was in-
vestigated among British and Danish consumers using apples that had
been specifically selected for their susceptibility to varying degrees of
mealiness. High-PBC individuals appeared to rely more strongly on the
sensory characteristics of the apples when forming their preference rat-
ings than low-PBC individuals.
The Need for Cognition Test
Need for Cognition (NFC) has also been used to demonstrate that it
moderates the route information is processed (Inmam et al., 1990). The
NFC test assesses the tendency for an individual to engage in and enjoy
thinking (Cacioppo and Petty, 1982). Questions on mood, fatigue, in-
volvement, and time availability are asked. High-NFC individuals tend
to engage in more cognitive activities and are more likely to process ad-
ditional information, while low-NFC consumers are more likely to take
the peripheral route. Deliza (1996) in her study on expectation and in-
stant coffee concluded that high-NFC subjects were less affected by the
“label,” and therefore by expectation, than low-NFC subjects. In her pas-
sion fruit juice study she surmised that individuals with a low NFC con-
sidered packaging with a white background to have a sharper taste and
packaging with an orange background to be less sharp. High-NFC indi-
viduals appeared to rely more strongly on the sensory characteristics of
the juices when rating the level of “sharpness.”
Individual Differences Analysis—Models that Explain Segmentation 173