“Anyone who has followed consumer electronics and online services knows that once a product reaches dominance, it becomes very hard for it to be dethroned (hello, iPod, Google, and Windows). Economists have argued for years regarding the costs involved in finding and adopting alternatives, but the psychologists will point out that familiarity and comfort play major roles in keeping consumers loyal to an incumbent. Research that appears in the Journal of Consumer Research delves into how these factors, collectively termed ‘Cognitive Lock-in,’ develop and play out,” John Timmer reports for Ars Technica.
“The authors of the study point out that previous research has shown that cognitive lock-in is not just an abstract concern, but one comes with real-world costs: ‘the costs associated with thinking about and using a particular product decrease as a function of the amount of experience a consumer has with it. Thus, repeated consumption or use of an incumbent product results in a (cognitive) switching cost that increases the probability that a consumer will continue to choose the incumbent over competing alternatives.’ This suggests that, even if a product isn’t especially easy to use, familiarity with it may overcome that drawback as, ultimately, its users don’t have to think about their actions in order to get things done anymore,” Timmer reports.
“The authors suggest that a user’s ability to detect a product’s actual ease-of-use is quite limited, and familiarity is ultimately in control of cognitive lock-in,” Timmer reports.
Timmer reports, “Overall, the results suggest that all the years of arguments over the relative merits of things like the Mac and Windows user interfaces were a waste of time: we’re generally convinced that whatever we’re familiar with is the best. That said, future choices go on against a backdrop of economic considerations and heavy marketing. Given the prominent role these researchers assign error, maybe Apple is on the right track when they try to remind people of every annoyance they might have experienced on a PC.”
More in the full article here.
Related article:Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness – December 20, 2003