Language Structure and Categorization：A Study of C.pdf

Language Structure and Categorization A Study of Classifiers in Consumer Cognition, Judgment, and Choice BERND H. SCHMITT SHI ZHANG* Using classifiers—lexical items that depict perceptual and conceptual properties of objects—six cross-cultural experiments were conducted in the Peoples Re- public of China, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States to investigate how stnjctural features of languages affect mental structures and, in turn, consumer behavior. Experiments 1 - 4 show how classifiers affect the perceived similarity between objects, attribute accessibility, and concept organization. Experiment 5 shows how classifier-based schemata result in inferences about product features. Experiment 6 provides evidence for the effect of classifiers on judgment and choice via assimilation and contrast processes and affect transfer. We discuss our findings in light of the Whorfian hypothesis and argue for the incorporation of stnjctural components of languages into models of consumer behavior. Categorization is a fundamental aspect of human in- and are sensitive to context (Barsalou 1983,1992b) . Most formation processing (Barsalou 1992b; Rosch 1975,