Some specific research news (note: this news is not new) about specifications:
“Specification Seeking: How Product Specifications Influence Consumer Preference,” Christopher K. Hsee, Yang Yang, Yangjie Gu, and Jie Chen, Journal of Consumer Research:, vol. 35, April 2009, pp. 952-956. (Thanks to Charles Bergquist for bringing this to our attention).
The authors, at the University of Chicago and at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, report:
“We offer a framework about when and how specifications (e.g., megapixels of a camera and number of air bags in a massage chair) influence consumer preferences and report five studies that test the framework. Studies 1-3 show that even when consumers can directly experience the relevant products and the specifications carry little or no new information, their preference is still influenced by specifications, including specifications that are self-generated and by definition spurious and specifications that the respondents themselves deem uninformative.”