This study examines how two information-processing theories in consumer research, categorization and deliberative processing, apply to mail-sorting behavior. Experimental subjects were exposed to a mail envelope that was consistent with, or discrepant from, their existing cognitive categories to stimulate different processing behavior across groups. Expertise in direct mail was also examined for its effects on several measures of cognitive response. The data indicate that both types of processing are evident and that expertise plays a different role in mail sorting than previously expected.
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