ternative of the spouse with the strongest preference.

" If neither °use h

strong preference, the spouse who has had his or her way less oftesnP• e'
. a, a

makes the selection. In other words, if no one has a strong preference, th- Past 'I
"take turns" in getting their way. coupes

When Are Conflicts Most Easily Resolved?

There.are three situations in which family conflicts are most easily resolved first
occurs when the family recognizes bne person as the legitimate auc.Thr:
Conflict is simply resolved by delegating decision making to this individual
second occurs when one family member is more involved in the decision than
the others. The family may agree that the highly involved individual will
make the decision. The third situation is when one family member may be more
empathetic to another's needs.
Bums and Granbois studied the influence of husbands and wives in auto-
mobile decisions to determine if these three factors—recognized legitimacy in-
volvement, and empathy—reduce conflict.' They found that each factor
facilitated conflict resolution. Conflict was less likely if the husband and wife
agreed that the decision should be made jointly or by one of them alone. Even
if the couple failed to agree on authority, conflict was less likely if one of
them was more involved in the purchase. Finally, conflict was less likely if
one of the spouses was more empathetic. For autos, the husband was more
involved and less empathetic to the wife's needs. Therefore, the wife was more
likely to cede decision authority to the husband. Menasco and Curry's study of
husband-wife choices of investment options supported these findings. Spouses
gravitated to one or the other's preferences as a result of empathy?'

+ HUSBAND-WIFE INFLUENCES
Given the fact that 63 percent of households are family units, we will focus on
husband-wife influences in this section and parent-child influences in the next.
The relative influence of the husband and the wife is likely to vary acconling to
four things: (1) type of product considered, (2) the nature of purchase influence,
and (3) family characteristics.

Type of Product
Traditionally, husbands have been regarded as the dominant decision makers
for products such as automobiles, financial services, and liquor Wives have been
viewed as the prime decision makers for foods. toiletries, and small applan'es.
However, as we saw in Chapter 13, many of these roles have merged and even
been reversed due to the greater proportion of working wives and changes to
family norms.