The Psychology of Consumer Behavior

3 Cognition and Memory

Memory refers to the process of retention of information about past events or ideas. The result of the process of memory is the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. Cognition is defined as knowing or thought processes. The result of the process of cognition is belief. Belief can be defined as a cognitive evaluation of something in terms of some specific attribute or characteristic. Memory and cognition can be viewed as complementary facets of the processes by which consumers think about products. Thus, a consumer might retain information regarding the coverage offered by a whole range of insurance companies. This encoding, storage, and retrieval would reflect the process of memory. The consumer might also maintain ...