Paper: “The Mere Categorization Effect: How the Presence of Categories Increases Choosers’ Perceptions of Assortment Variety and Outcome Satisfaction,” Journal of Consumer Research, 35 (2), 202–15.
Main Topic or Phenomenon The paper examines the mere categorization effect - how the simple presence of category labels in choice environments influences consumer satisfaction with their chosen options, regardless of whether those categories provide meaningful information about the products.