Social judgment theory

The perspective that people assimilate new information about attitude objects in light of what they already know or feel. This theory says that people form latitude of acceptance, a latitude of rejection, and a latitude of non-commitment to operationalize this concept of involvement. The greater a person’s involvement, the narrower will be the latitude of acceptance and the wider the latitude of rejection on various positions. The marketing implications are that highly involved consumers would find fewer brands acceptable and would interpret messages about these brands in a manner congruent with their previous experiences and opinion about the product. On the other hand, lowly involved consumers are receptive to a greater number of messages and will consider more brands.