Taste preferences amongst high and low self-monitors : effects of descriptive and foreign sounding product names

The following study examines consumer behavior by looking at the effects self-monitoring variables when exposed to product names. We asked high and low self-monitoring individuals to sample and evaluate two energy drinks, one of which had an image-oriented name, Fast Track, and one of which had a name that described the function and use of the product, Energy Drink Enhancer. As expected high self-monitors evaluated the drink more favorably when it had the image-oriented name, but low self-monitors evaluated the drink more positively when it had the self-descriptive name. Next, we asked participants to sample and evaluate two chocolate products, one of which had a foreign-sounding name, Rêver, and one of which and a non-foreign sounding name, Croyden\u27s Chocolate. It was hypothesized that high self-monitors would evaluate the foreign sounding chocolate significantly more favorably than low self-monitors. Though results did now show significance with the chocolate products, gathered research helps to clarify that all individuals prefer fancier sounding names, regardless of one\u27s self-monitoring level. Results from both the energy drinks and chocolates provide helpful information for future studies in the field of Social Psychology