Decision making processes among older adults were investigated within the context of grocery selection, using a stimulus array involving two product classes (bread and cheese) with 10 items per class. The sample (N=580) was stratified by sex, household status (living alone or with spouse), and age, employing three age groupings: 25-34 (young),…

In response to the concerns of the consumer movement, the Department of Labor (DOL) is instituting new procedures and improving existing ones to draw its clients more fully into the policy-setting and decision-making process. The Department is also adding the viewpoint of the consumer to its plans. (WL)

Because of free enterprise projects developed by high school students, the students are more aware of the American economic system. They learned to work together to achieve goals and to solve problems by decision making. They also became better consumers and citizens. (CT)

This article challenges applied behavior analysts to use their knowledge of consumer behavior and effective educational strategies to provide consumers with useful information, thereby enabling them to make informed decisions. This will decrease the misconceptions that many consumers have about behavior analysis, thus improving the social validity…

Five topic areas in consumer education are provided in this manual developed for use by financial counselors in conducting ten one-hour educational sessions for adult groups. The session titles are the following: (1) The Internal Money World--The Individual, The Family, and Money; (2) Effective Money Management; (3) Effective Credit Management;…

The publication represents the result of the Consumer Education Task Force's attempt to develop competencies applicable to a K-12 continuum. It has been designed to provide school district personnel with relevant data to support a comprehensive curriculum development effort; or to support a variety of alternative approaches at various grade…

This 4-H manual provides instructions and materials for a consumer education activity. It contains a wide range of activities and learning opportunities for a hypothetical buying situation with several choices or alternatives provided. The manual is designed to teach the participant how to rank the choices and develop oral reasons for that…

Consumer decision-making and its consequences for individual consumers and societal groups are examined in this economic unit for secondary school students. Seven lessons focus on developing an understanding of the concepts of scarcity, supply and demand, resources, choice, price, and interdependence and on fostering an economic way of thinking.…

A consumer research technique, conjoint analysis, was used to assess the relative importance of several factors in 104 fourth-year medical students' selection of specialty. Conjoint analysis appears to be a useful method for investigating the complex process of specialty selection. (SLD)

Preference orderings among a set of options may depend on the elicitation method (e.g., choice or pricing); these preference reversals challenge traditional decision theories. Previous attempts to explain these reversals have relied on allowing utility of the options to change across elicitation methods by changing the decision weights, the…

This composite report provides a snapshot of current thinking about the needs and challenges of consumer education in the United States. The quotations were selected from responses of a small group of educators, legislators, and consumer leaders in business, government, labor, the media, and the community who were invited to write brief statements…

Lesson plans are provided for use with different populations of pre-K through senior high school students in four different areas of consumer education. Eight units in advertising are included: A First Look at Ads (pre-K-Grade 3), Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover (Grades 1-3), Fatal Distraction (Junior High), Package Labeling (Junior High), Product…

One of a series of units on business issues for high school students, this packet uses the example of hamburger wars ("price wars" between hamburger stands) to introduce students to the ways in which businesses operate in a competitive environment. A teacher's guide and student materials are provided in two separate sections. Following…

The active learning approach promotes student achievement of higher-order skills such as independent reasoning, problem solving, and critical assessment. Active learning has been shown to foster student retention and encourage a more positive attitude toward school. The goal of the consumer decision-making class for university students and adults…

Including the introduction, this document is a collection of seven short papers that discuss facets of consumer education (CE). The Introduction defines CE and lists five assumptions used throughout the report (e.g., CE is generally understood, but not precisely defined enough for the people implementing it to have a uniform understanding; schools…