Switching Cognitive Gears: From Habits of Mind to Active Thinking

When PEEIM is high, the transaction environment is protected and has low uncertainty; in such a certain and stable environment, people's ingrained cognitive script formed based on past experience can be activated automatically without conscious information processing.

“When PEEIM is high, the transaction environment is protected by high PEEIM and thus has low uncertainty. In such a certain and stable environment, peoples' 'ingrained cognitive script' is formed based on their past experience and can be activated automatically without conscious information processing e.g. automatic thinking (Kim et al. 2005; Louis and Sutton 1991).”

When PEEIM is low, automatic reliance on prior experience can be interrupted by uncertain or discrepant situations because situational uncertainty may make customers question the applicability of past experience to new situations.

“On the contrary, when PEEIM is low (i.e., customers perceive the e-commerce environment to be uncertain), the automatic reliance on prior experience can be interrupted by the uncertain or discrepant situations because situational uncertainty may make customers question the applicability of the past experience to new situations (Louis and Sutton 1991).”

To save cognitive effort, people tend to form a stable set of beliefs based on past experience which can be conveniently retrieved to infer new situations.

“To save cognitive effort, people tend to form a stable set of beliefs based on past experience which can be conveniently retrieved to infer new situations (Kim et al. 2005; Louis and Sutton 1991).”

People tend to rely on their past experience to inform their assessments of current decisions, and the level of reliance depends on the certainty of the context.

“While people tend to rely on their past experience to inform their assessments of current decisions, the level of reliance depends on the certainty of the context.”