What is Consumer Judging?

Decision-making is something you do every day. All through life, you are making decisions about what you eat, what you wear, where you go, what you buy, what friends you choose, and many other things. You use your judgment every time you make a decision or choice. Making decisions about what to purchase is an everyday activity. You use your best judgment every time you make a purchase. Consciously or unconsciously, you weigh factors such as time, energy, price, quality, and need. You decide the importance of each of these factors and then make your decision.

In judging, you do the same thing. You learn the standards of quality for goods and services. Then, you observe, compare, and make decisions based on the facts you have collected. Consumer judging teaches you to organize your thoughts and defend your decisions with oral reasons. You learn principles and standards for evaluating the quality of goods and services. The skills you use in the consumer judging activity are skills you will use throughout your life. The more you practice and use these skills, the easier they will become.

Practice in making decisions will provide you with opportunities to improve your problem-solving skills. Giving oral reasons will develop and polish skills you will use as you work with others in the future.

Consumer judging helps you develop...

• decision-making skills by applying the decision-making process and by recognizing quality standards for selected goods and services
• self-confidence and skills in verbal expression by identifying reasons for choices made by using comparative language, by organizing thoughts and ideas in logical order, and by thinking and speaking spontaneously.

A good consumer judge has...

• a clear idea or mental picture of an item’s characteristics
• quick and accurate observation skills
• the ability to weigh objectively and evaluate items
• the ability to defend choices made