Case Study:
1) Thomas from Michigan decided to replace the two front tires on his truck because winter was approaching and they were beginning to look worn. He suspected that the tires probably could hold out longer, but wanted to be on the safe side. When he went to shop for tires at a store that had been recommended to him by a good friend, the mechanic of the shop advised him to replace all four tires. Putting faith in the mechanics recommendation, Thomas spent more than he had planned and bought all four tires instead of just replacing the front two. Afterward, because he had spent so much money for the tires that he wasn't even sure he needed, he experienced cognitive dissonance about the decision. Hoping to dispel his doubts, he compared prices of tires at other places and discussed his decision with his co-workers the next day that had experienced buying tires. The evidence that Thomas collected convinced him that he used good judgment in replacing his old tires, and he also believed that he had gotten a good bargain.
a) Recall an occasion when you experienced cognitive dissonance about a purchase. Describe the event, and explain what you did about it.
b) Did anyone such as a family member, friend, or colleague play a role in your cognitive dissonance about your purchase?
c) What did you learn from this experience overall and the factors and influences that play a part in you the consumer's decision making process.
2) I experienced Cognitive Dissonance when I was a bridesmaid in my sisters wedding. All the bridesmaid dresses was order on line. The company that we were ordering from was a company I had not heard of before. I was a little taken back when she informed me that she was ordering dresses on line with no measurements for the ladies . I knew that I wanted a dress to be the perfect fit. In order to make sure the dress was the perfect fit I strongly felt like I needed to order two so if it needed alterations I could have the same materials and wouldn't have to go to match materials from another store. After talking with other bridesmaids and family they all agreed that this was a very good ideal. Other bridesmaid felt the same way and give me money to help on the second dress because they felt they would need alterations as well. After I place the orders for the two dresses I felt like I shouldn't have at all and I just wasted money. Weeks later when the dresses came in I felt great. I need some extra materials and I was able to use it. On the wedding day I found out the every lady in the wedding party had to get their dress altered because the company sold dressing with incorrect sizes.
3) Until now I never realized that having regret about making a purchase had a specific name. recently I purchased a Minnie mouse power wheel priced at $149.00 for my two-year niece and her mom tried to convince me that she was not ready for that particular kind of power wheel and to get her the little four wheel quad priced at $59.99 which was slower and easier to steer. Well I went and purchased the one I wanted her to have more because it was cute and I thought she would have it longer but now since she is going in all kinds of directions and she can't completely understand how to steer the car I kind of regret not getting the one her mom told me to get and it was cheaper. I could have bought her the four wheel quad and more gifts with the extra money. now we are just allowing her to go in whatever direction the car takes her and pulls her out when she gets stuck and trying our best to teach her how to steer. What I learned from this experience is that the age on the box really does justify when children is ready for certain things, the Minnie mouse car had for ages 3 to 8 years and the four-wheel quad had ages 18mths to 2 years.