Chapter 2 Perception

CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR, 11e
Michael R. Solomon

2-1
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 Learning Objectives
When you finish this chapter, you should understand why:
1. Perception is a three-stage process that translates raw
stimuli into meaning.
2. The design of a product today is a key driver of its success or
failure.
3. Products and commercial messages often appeal to our
senses, but we won’t be influenced by most of them.
4. The concept of a sensory threshold is important.
5. Subliminal advertising is a controversial—but largely
ineffective—way to talk to consumers.
6. We interpret the stimuli to which we do pay attention
according to learned patterns and expectations.
7. Marketers use symbols to create meaning.

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 Learning Objective 1
• Perception is a three-
stage process that
translates raw stimuli
into meaning.

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 Perceptual Process:
Perception as a 3-step process
STIMULI RECEPTOR
SIGHTS EYES

SOUNDS EARS

Exposure Attention Interpretation

SMELLS NOSE

TASTE MOUTH

TEXTURE SKIN

OBJECTIVE: Translate raw stimuli into meaning

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 Sensory Systems
• Our senses play quite a role in the decisions
marketers make.
• Marketers rely heavily on visual elements
in advertising, store design, and packaging.
• They communicate meanings on the visual
channel through a product’s color, size, and
styling.

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 Sensory Marketing
• appeals to our senses
• Our senses help to decide which product
appeals to us
• Example: ASMR (appeals to our sense of
sound & sight)
- https://youtu.be/tCmNb4kk8q8
- https://youtu.be/G6HTlujEXVM
- https://youtu.be/-iXxWpqFMS8
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 Sensation
• Our brains receive external stimuli, or
sensory inputs (we may smell a leather
jacket, hear a song) --- all these might
trigger our memory of
• our first dance or
• our first date with our first boyfriend.

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 Sensory Systems
• Vision
• Scent
• Sound
• Touch
• Taste

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 Vision
• Marketers rely heavily on visual elements in
advertising, store design, and packaging.
• They communicate meanings on the visual
channel through a product’s color, size, and
styling.
E.g: Sony earphones – colourful  youthful

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 Vision
Colour may influence our emotions.

Red Blue

• Evidence suggests • Blue colour creates a

that red colour sense of limitlessness
creates feelings of and peace and a more
arousal and simulate relaxing feelings
appetite (sp. correction)
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 Vision
How do we form reactions to colour?
• From learned associations
- Colour of mourning (Western vs Eastern)
• Biological & cultural differences
- Women see colour better than males (more attracted to
brighter tones & more sensitive to subtle shades)
- Hispanics prefer brighter colours due to intense lighting
conditions in Latin America
- Age: Colours look duller to older people so they prefer
white or bright tones

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 Vision
How do we form reactions to colour?
• Depending on the colour’s wavelength & the mind’s
response to the stimulus
- Yellow is in the middle wavelengths detected by the
human eye so it’s the brightest and attracts attention
• Influences from fashion trends
- “hot” colours in clothing and home designs each season
- Firms produce “colour forecasts (e.g Pantone, Inc)

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 Colour of the Year (2022)

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 Scent
• Starbucks requires baristas to grind a batch of
coffee each time they brew a new pot instead of
just once each morning.
• The idea is to reclaim lost customers by
intensifying the smell of the beans when they
enter the store. To have their “Starbucks’
experience”.

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 Sound
• Watch the videos of
Coca-Cola
• Restaurants play
certain music to
create the mood
• ASMR commercials

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 Touch

• How has your sense of touch influenced

your reaction to a product?

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 Taste
• A food item’s image and the values we attach
to it influence how we experience the actual
taste

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 Hedonic Consumption
• Hedonic consumption includes how
consumers interact with the emotional
aspects of products (I.e. Products are not
strictly functional).
• E.g: Target focuses on products with
great design and functionality.
• E.g: Coca-Cola bottle also illustrates an
example of how design can facilitate
product success.
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 For Reflection
• Which of your senses do you feel is most
influential in your perceptions of products?

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 Figure 2.1 Perceptual Process

We receive external
stimuli through
our five senses

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 Stage 1 Exposure
• Exposure occurs when a stimulus comes
within the range of someone’s sensory
receptors.
• Stimuli may be above or below a person’s
sensory threshold, or at the point which it
is strong enough to make a conscious
impact in his or her awareness.

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 Sensory Thresholds
Some of us pick up sensory information that
others cannot/can no longer due to age or
disability.
• The absolute threshold refers to the minimum
amount of stimulation a person can detect on
any given sensory channel
• The differential threshold refers to the ability of
a sensory system to detect changes in or
differences between two stimuli

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 Sensory Thresholds
• The absolute threshold - means that the
stimulation used by marketers must be
sufficient to register.
• For instance, a highway billboard might
have the most entertaining copy ever
written, but this genius is wasted if the
print is too small for passing motorists to
see it.

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Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education 2-24
 Sensory Threshold
• The differential threshold refers to the
ability of a sensory system to detect
changes in or differences between two
stimuli.
• The minimum difference we can detect
between two stimuli is the just noticeable
difference.
• A marketer may want consumers to notice
a change when a retailer offers a discount.
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 In other situations

• Marketer may want to downplay

the fact that it has made a change
such as:
- when a store raises a price or
- a manufacturer reduces the size
of a package.

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 Learning Objective 4
• This shows the evolution of the Pepsi label
over time. Would you notice the changes if
they are not lined up like these?

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 Learning Objective 5
• Subliminal advertising
is a controversial but
largely ineffective way
to talk to consumers

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 Subliminal perception
• A good number of consumers believe that
marketers design many advertising messages
so they will be perceived unconsciously, or
below the threshold of recognition.
• It is what we call subliminal perception.
• It is important to understand why:
- We interpret the stimuli to which we do pay
attention according to learned patterns and
expectations
- Marketers use symbols to create meaning
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Canadian beer, Molson pokes at subliminal advertising

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 Subliminal Techniques
• Embeds: figures that are inserted into magazine
advertising by using high-speed photography or
airbrushing.
• Subliminal auditory perception: sounds,
music, or voice text inserted into advertising.
• Supposedly exert unconscious influence
• Example: Subliminal messages in logos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHkkdDRqJ
OI

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 Stage 2: Attention
• Attention is the
extent to which
processing activity
is devoted to a
particular stimulus
• Consumers
experience sensory
overload
• Marketers need to
break through the
clutter

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 Rich Media Ad: Bates Motel TV Show
Use movement to capture attention

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 Rich Media Ad: Sally Hansen
Use augmented reality (AR) to attract attention

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 How do consumers choose which stimuli
to attend to (or focus on)?
Personal Selection
*selection based on the receiver’s mindset
• Experience – acquiring and processing stimulation over time
• Perceptual filters – based on our past experiences; decide
what to process

- Perceptual vigilance - means consumers are more likely

to be aware of stimuli that relate to their current needs

- Perceptual defense means consumers only see what they

want to see

- Adaptation – the degree to which consumers continue to notice

a stimulus over time

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 Perceptual Vigilance

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 Perceptual Defense

Heavy smokers may block these images because they are closely related to them

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 Adaptation
• Adaptation is the degree to which consumers
continue to notice a stimulus over time.

• The process of adaptation occurs when

consumers no longer pay attention to a
stimulus because it is so familiar.

• A consumer can “habituate” and require

increasingly stronger “doses” of a stimulus to
notice it.
*habituate = accustom/get used to
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 Factors Leading to Adaptation
• Intensity
- less-intense stimuli habituate (e.g. soft sounds, dull colours)
• Duration
- Stimuli that require lengthy exposure (require long attention
span)
• Discrimination
- Simple stimuli (do not require attention to detail)
• Exposure
- Frequently encountered stimuli (rate of exposure increases)
• Relevance
- Irrelevant or unimportant (do not attract attention)

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 How do consumers choose which stimuli
to attend to (focus on)?
Stimulus Selection
*selection based on the stimulus’ characteristics
We are more likely to notice stimuli that differ from
others. This contrast is created through:
• Size
• Colour
• Position
• Novelty

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 Stimuli Selection: Size

Example:
Readership of a
magazine ad
increases in
proportion to the
size of the ad.

The size of the stimulus itself in contrast to the competition helps to determine if
it will command attention.
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 Stimuli Selection: Colour

Colour gives a distinct identity

Example: Black & Decker developed a line of tools called DeWalt and coloured
the new line yellow instead of black, which made the tools stand out against other
“dull” tools.
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Stimuli Selection: Position

Better chances of
noticing a stimuli in
places we’re more
likely to look

Suppliers often
compete to display
products in stores
at eye level
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Stimuli Selection: Novelty
• Novelty—Stimuli that appear in unexpected
ways or places tend to grab our attention.

• One solution is to put ads in unconventional

places, where there will be less competition for
attention.

• These places include the backs of shopping

carts, walls of tunnels, floors of sports
stadiums, and even public restrooms.

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Stimuli Selection: Novelty

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Stimuli Selection: Novelty

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Stimuli Selection: Novelty

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Stimuli Selection: Novelty

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 For Reflection
• How have you seen brands use size,
color, and novelty to encourage you to pay
attention to a message?
• Were the techniques effective?

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 Stage 3: Interpretation
• Interpretation refers to meanings we
assign to sensory stimuli.
• The meanings we assign are based on a
schema, which is a set of beliefs.
• Certain properties of a stimulus evoke a
schema. This leads us to compare the
stimulus to other similar ones we
encountered in the past. (Priming
Process)
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 Toyota Ad Evokes a Car Schema

In this Singaporean ad for Toyota, the living room evokes an image of a car. The
seating arrangement evoke a car schema (belief that it looks like a car).
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 Interpretation
• We interpret the stimuli to which we do
pay attention according to learned
patterns and expectations.
• This means that the meanings we assign
may differ – Two people may hear or see
the same thing but interpret differently.

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 Interpretation
• Kids age 3 to 5 were given McDonald’s
French fries served in a McDonald’s bag.
They overwhelmingly thought they tasted
better than those same McDonald’s
French fries served in a plain white bag.

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 Interpretation

Our schema (belief) for sweets is that sweets attract ants. Chupa Chups is able to
deliver the message clearly by manipulating the right schema. This ad tells people
that the product is not unhealthy. The sugar-free headline at the bottom also helps.
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 Which is easier to bear when on a diet?

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 Stimulus Organization
• One factor that determines how we will interpret a
stimulus is the relationship we assume it has with
other events, sensations, or images in memory.
• Our brains tend to relate incoming sensations to
others already in memory based on some
fundamental organizational principles.
• These principles derive from Gestalt psychology, a
school of thought that maintains that people
interpret meaning from the totality of a set of
stimuli rather than from an individual stimulus.

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 Stimulus Organization
• Gestalt: the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts.
• Principles on how our brain organizes stimuli:
• Closure: people perceive an incomplete picture as
complete by filling in the blanks themselves based
on past experience.
• Similarity: consumers group together objects that
share similar physical characteristics.
• Figure-ground: one part of the stimulus will
dominate (the figure) while the other parts recede
into the background (ground).
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 Closure Principle – we fill in the blanks
based on our prior experience

• Encourage audience participation

• Increase consumer attention to
message

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 Similarity Principle – group objects with
similar physical characteristics

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 Similarity Principle – group objects with
similar physical characteristics

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 Application of the
Figure-Ground Principle

The figure is dominant and

our eyes go straight to it.

Similarly, marketing messages that use this

principle can make a stimulus the figure or
ground.

This ad for the Australian postal service

uses an application of the figure-ground
principle

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 The Eye of the Beholder: Interpretational
Biases
• The stimuli we perceive are often ambiguous.
• It is up to us to determine the meaning. This is done
based on our past experience, expectations & needs.
• E.g. 1: Experiment – Princeton vs Dartmouth football
game. Students watching the game had different
degrees of infractions and blame, depending on which
school they attended, even though the stimulus is the
same.
• E.g. 2: Experiment – Beer Taste Test (Regular vs
added vinegar). 60% preferred the modified version
when they did not know which beer was modified. Only
one third preferred it when they knew.
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 Learning Objective 7

• The field of semiotics (符號學)

helps us to understand how
marketers use symbols to create
meaning

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 Semiotics: The Symbols Around Us
• Semiotics is the study of correspondence
between signs and symbols and their roles
in how we assign meanings
The product that is the
focus of the message
The sensory image; OBJECT
Represents the intended
meaning of the object

Semiotics
SIGN INTERPRETANT
The meaning
derived from
the sign
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 Marlboro cigarettes

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 What is the object, sign and interpretant?

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 Perceptual Positioning
• Brand perceptions = functional attributes +
symbolic attributes
*functional attributes: features, price etc
*symbolic attributes = its image, what we think it says
about us when we use it
• Perceptual map: map of where brands are
perceived in consumers’ minds
• Used to determine how brands are currently
perceived to determine future
positioning/positioning strategy
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 Perceptual Positioning

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Perceptual Map
 How Procter and Gamble (P&G)
position it’s laundry detergent
It sells 7 brands of laundry detergent in US:
• Tide – “tough on greasy stains”
• Cheer – “color expert”
• Bold – build in fabric softener
• Gain – “…smell that stays clean”
• Ivory Snow – mild cleansing benefits for a pure and simple
clean.
 Examples of Brand Positioning

Lifestyle Grey Poupon [mustard] is “high class”

Price leadership Southwest Airlines is “no frills”

Attributes Bounty [paper towel] is “quicker picker upper”

Product class Mazda Miata is sporty convertible

Competitors Northwestern Insurance is the quiet company

Occasions Use Wrigley’s gum when you can’t smoke

Users Levi’s Dockers targeted to young men

Quality At Ford, “Quality is Job 1”

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 Chapter Summary
• Perception is a three-stage process that
translates raw stimuli into meaning.
• Products and messages may appeal to
our senses.
• The design of a product affects our
perception of it.
• Subliminal advertising is controversial.
• We interpret stimuli using learned
patterns.
• Marketers use symbols to create meaning.
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education 2-74