Book Reuiews 295 Little, J.D.C., 1975. BRANDAID: A Marketing Mix Model. Operations Research, 23, pp. 628-673. Claudia Mennicken Uni~,ersity of Potsdam Germany Variety-seeking in Product Choice Behavior: Theory with Applications in the Food Domain, by Hans C.M. Van Trijp, Mansholt Studies 1, Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Nether- lands, 1995 Variety's the very spice of life, That giues it all its flavour. William Cowper The topic of variety seeking in consumer choice behavior has been of long-standing interest to re- searchers in marketing, and the phenomenon seems to have aroused the curiosity of quantitatively in- clined and psychologically oriented students of con- sumer behavior in equal measure. The availability of scanner data has recently given new impetus to research on consumer brand switching, and the rise of the experiential perspective in consumer behavior has re-focused attention on various forms of hedonic consumption, including variety seeking. The two streams of research have developed in relative isola- tion, however, and the need for an integrative treat- ment of extant approaches was very much in evi- dence. With his doctoral dissertation, Hans Van Trijp has filled this void, and his delightful monograph on variety seeking in product choice behavior promises to be a standard reference source in this area of research. The book is divided into 8 chapters. The introduc- tory chapter points out that variety seeking is a notoriously ill-defined term and then proceeds to establish a conceptual framework that provides the basic structure for the remainder of the book. Based on earlier distinctions between extrinsically and in- trinsically motivated variation in behavior (e.g., McAlister and Pessemier, 1982), the author distin- guishes derived varied behavior (e.g., brand switch- ing due to dissatisfaction with the previous choice, or to take advantage of a deal) from (true) variety seeking behavior (see also Van Trijp and Hoyer, 1991). The latter is formally defined as "the biased behavioral response by some decision making unit to a specific item relative to previous responses within the same behavioral category, or to a set of items consumed simultaneously, due to the utility inherent in variation per se, independent of the instrumental or functional value of the alternatives or items, and is a function of psychological processes" (p. 9). One major determinant of variety seeking behavior is thought to be a consumer's variety seeking tendency, which is closely related to the personality character- istic of optimum stimulation level (OSL) and which derives from the value placed on relief from bore- dom, alleviation of attribute satiation, and satisfac- tion of curiosity. Chapter 2 discusses four psychological frame- works that are relevant to the explanation of variety seeking behavior. Work on extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation provides the basic rationale for the dis- tinction between derived varied behavior and (true) variety seeking behavior. Theories of optimum stim- ulation and exploratory behavior suggest that people feel most comfortable at an intermediate level of stimulation, and that exploratory responses such as variety seeking serve to adjust the actual level of stimulation to the optimal level. The author discusses several commonly used scales for measuring individ- ual differences in OSL and argues that they have limited validity in predicting specific variety seeking behaviors in the consumer context. Cognitive evalua- tion theory proposes that, depending on whether contextual factors are controlling (pressuring behav- ior in a certain direction) or autonomy-supportive (allowing free choice), intrinsically-motivated behav- ior will be depressed or enhanced. The theory has rather interesting implications for the effects of the consumer choice context on variety seeking behav- ior, and the author is apparently the first one to spell them out clearly. The final section deals with the importance of interest and other emotions for intrin- sically-motivated behavior. Overall, the discussion is concise and to the point, although I suspect that the chapter may be difficult reading for someone not versed in these theories. Chapter 3 provides a well-organized, up-to-date review of previous research in marketing on "variety seeking behavior". The author discusses both struc-