ABSTRACT
Problems arise when consumers over apply lay theories that may be true in some situations to making judgments and decisions in all situations. Research in consumer behavior shows that consumers often rely on their intuitions to infer or "guess" what the missing information might be. Consumers tend to assume that unhealthy foods are not tasty or that expensive foods are healthier, simply because they have come over time to believe that health and taste are negatively correlated and that health and price are positively correlated. While product-specific lay theories may be true in some cases, they are not necessarily true in all cases, which is when consumers are led astray. Many consumers will assume that a green cleaning product is not as good as a non-green product. In other words, do not leave information about the product's strength as "missing" information that consumers have to infer based on their intuition.
