Final answer:
Situational influences are context-specific factors that directly affect consumer decision making, such as the environment or social setting, which can impact the perceived value of a product. These are distinct from dispositional influences, which relate to internal traits and can also affect behavior.
Step-by-step explanation:
Regarding consumer behavior, situational influences directly affect consumer decision making. These influences represent the context in which the act of consumption takes place and can significantly affect the perceived value of the product or service being consumed. Factors such as physical environment, social setting, and time can all serve as situational influences. They are separate from product characteristics but can enhance or diminish the eventual experience of the product. Thus, the claims that situational influences are dependent on product characteristics and that they do not affect the eventual product value experienced by a consumer are incorrect.
For example, social roles and norms can influence how someone behaves in a restaurant; the formality of the environment can dictate the choice of meal and level of spending. Dispositional influences, on the other hand, are associated with internal factors such as personality traits and affect behavior regardless of the situation. Fundamental attribution error highlights how people often overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when assessing others' behavior. This is why external or situational explanations for someone's behavior, such as being in a specific setting or under certain pressures, are often overlooked.