- A.The first stage of the consumer decision process — the moment a consumer perceives a gap between their actual and desired state.
- B.Festinger's theory: psychological discomfort when a person holds two conflicting beliefs — in marketing, the post-purchase doubt that "did I make the right choice?" ✓
- C.The second stage — the consumer gathers information from internal memory and external sources to form a consideration set.
- D.Festinger's theory: psychological discomfort when a person holds two conflicting beliefs — in marketing, the post-purchase doubt that "did I make the right choice?"
Cognitive Dissonance is festinger's theory: psychological discomfort when a person holds two conflicting beliefs — in marketing, the post-purchase doubt that "did I make the right choice?" The other options describe related but distinct concepts in Consumer Behavior — see the deep-dive guide for the full distinction.
How to think about questions like this
Dissonant buyers return, complain, or churn — and tell others. Questions like this test whether you can distinguish Cognitive Dissonance from neighboring concepts. The most common trap is choosing a closely-related concept that sounds similar but applies in a different context.
When you see a definition question on an exam, do two things: (1) translate the question into your own words, then (2) generate the answer in your own words before reading the options. This avoids the cognitive bias of recognizing a familiar phrase as correct just because it is familiar.