Field Dependency and Brand Cognitive Structures

This research examines the impact of field dependency on the way people structure brand information in memory. The authors propose that a person's level of field dependency is an important determinant of the way information is stored in memory. Specifically, the authors argue that field independents are more likely to extract and integrate episodic information to form overall brand beliefs, while field dependents tend to store more detailed, episodic information in memory and are less likely to generalize information across product categories. The authors further propose that this effect is moderated by level of expertise and that such differences have important implications for how people evaluate marketing communications. The results from five studies support their propositions.