Situation-Specific Thinking Style Scale

What it measures

The STSS measures situation-specific thinking style in consumer decision contexts — the degree to which, in a specific situation, a consumer relies on experiential/intuitive versus rational/systematic processing. Novak and Hoffman (2009) built on Epstein's (1994) cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST) and the REI (Pacini & Epstein, 1999), but departed from trait-level measurement by developing situation-specific items. This enables researchers to examine thinking style fit — the alignment between the naturally activated thinking style and the processing demands of a task or message. Situation-thinking-style fit enhances processing fluency, attitude confidence, and behavioural intention. Used in research on online consumer decision making, flow, and persuasion via message type fit.

Representative items

• In this situation, I am going with my gut feeling rather than thinking it through carefully. (Experiential)
• In this situation, I am making a careful, systematic analysis. (Rational)
• My thinking right now feels more intuitive than logical. (Experiential)

Citation

Novak, T.P., & Hoffman, D.L. (2009). The fit of thinking style and situation: New measures of situation-specific experiential and rational cognition. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(1), 56–72.