While most of the marketing literature has focused on the effect of presenting a linearly changing stimulus, it has largely ignored the effects of nonlinearity. This work introduces the concept of attribute-level acceleration within product assortments in a two-essay format. In the first essay this work shows that the rate at which attributes change (acceleration) influences how consumers perceive assortments. Specifically, negatively (vs. positively) accelerating sequences, such as a product assortment increasing in size in an exponential (vs. logarithmic) pattern, are perceived to be more different (similar) to a linear sequence; an effect the authors call "acceleration blindness." The second essay introduces the concept of assortment shape. It proposes that the rate at which alignable attributes change within an assortment can yield varying shapes. It evaluates how linear versus nonlinear assortments differ from each other, and what is their impact on consumer preferences, value perception and purchase likelihood.
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