The study of the adaptive functions of the mind and how its cognitive structure was shaped by natural and sexual selection to solve recurrent problems that existed in human ancestral environments.
Published in Chapter:
The Neurocognitive and Evolutionary Bases of Sex Differences in Website Design Preferences: Recommendations for Marketing Managers
Eric Stenstrom (Concordia University, Canada) and Gad Saad (Concordia University, Canada)
Copyright: © 2010
|Pages: 9
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61520-611-7.ch072
Abstract
Marketing managers habitually use sex as a form of segmentation since it satisfies several requirements for efficient implementation including profitability, identifiability, accessibility, and measurability (Darley & Smith, 1995). Nevertheless, sex differences in marketing remain under-researched and continue to be a source of confusion for managers (Hupfer, 2002). Sex differences in cognitive processing are particularly relevant to e-business managers given that online consumers must process various types of spatial and perceptual information while navigating online. Despite the large body of evidence documenting consistent sex differences in cognition (Kimura, 2004), there is a paucity of research exploring how male and female consumers respond differently to various website design aspects (Cyr & Bonanni, 2005; Moss, Gunn, & Heller, 2006; Simon, 2001). Moreover, the few studies that have examined sex differences in online preferences were not grounded in any consilient theoretical framework.