Why you choose the brands you do

You just bought peanut butter.

You chose the jar because well, you've always eaten the crunch variety.

--->  You chose the jar because, well, you've always eaten the crunchy variety.

In reality, however, something else may have influenced your choice.

The product you picked was centrally located on the store shelves.

Researchers tracked the eye-movements of 67 subjects as they scanned a 3x3 matrix of fictitious brands.

The tracking found that consumers tend to focus on objects in the middle. 

---> The tracking found that consumers tend to focus on the objects in the middle

Specifically, 5 seconds before they made their choice, and they did this for all kinds of products from vitamins to online movies.

Also, subjects continued to go for the centrally located brand even if the product was not in the middle of their specific visual field.

So it's not in reference to one's view, it's literally about the product being central within the entire shelf layout.

Past studies have shown that people tend to make a lot of choices based on central locations. Like choose in the middle bathroom stole in a pubilc washroom, a middle seat at a table, or even the middle items in the series of arbitrary objects.

---> Past studies have shown that people tend to make a lot of choices based on central locations, like choosing the middle bathroom stall in a public washroom, a middle seat at a table, or even the middle items in a series of arbitrary objects.

Protest consumers had no conscious awareness that they had chosen centrally located brands. 

---> The test consumers had no conscious awareness that they had chosen centrally located brands. 

Makes you wonder what you've taken home without realizing why.

출처: 60-second Mind 팟캐스트

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=why-you-choose-the-brands-you-do-12-08-26

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December 2012 in the Journal of Consumer Research.