Unit 3 - RM

Module 3 CONSUMERS AS AN INDIVIDUAL

Consumer as an individual:

Personality & Self Concept:

Personality:

To understand a buyer needs and convert them into customers is the main purpose
of the consumer behavior study. To understand the buyer habits and his priorities, it is
required to understand and know the personality of the buyer.

Personality signifies the inner psychological characteristics that reflect how a person
reacts to his environment. Personality shows the individual choices for various products
and brands. It helps the marketers in deciding when and how to promote the product.
Personality can be categorized on the basis of individual traits, likes, dislikes etc.

Though personality is static, it can change due to major events such as death, birth or
marriage and can also change gradually with time. By connecting with the personality
characteristics of an individual, a marketer can conveniently formulate marketing strategies.
We will discuss in this chapter the various theories of personality.

Trait Theory:

Traits are the features of an individual or tendency of an individual in a particular

manner. Traits help in defining the behavior of consumers. According to the Trait theorists,
an individual’s personality make-up stems out of the traits that he possesses, and the
identification of traits is important.

Following are the few of the most common traits:

Outgoing
Sad
Stable
Serious
Happy go lucky
Relaxed
Self-assured
Practical
Imaginative

Trait theory is representative of multi-personality theories. Trait theory is based on

certain assumptions, such as traits which are certainly stable in nature and a limited
 number of traits are common to most of the people. According to the Trait theorists, an
individual’s personality make, upstems out of the traits that the possesses, and the
identification of traits is important. The trait theories can be of two broad categories, viz.,
Simple trait theories and general trait theories.

Simple Trait Theories:

In simple trait theories, a limited number of traits are identified, and people are
categorized and classified on the basis of these traits.

General Trait Theories:

In general trait theories, a large variety of traits are identified.

The Psychoanalytic Theory of Freud: Sigmund Freud, the father of psychology,

became famous with his psychoanalytic theory of personality. In fact, the theory is regarded
as the cornerstone of modern psychology. Sigmund based his theory on certain
assumptions which is as follows−Unconscious needs or drives lie at the heart of human
motivation and personality. The socialization process that takes place within people in a
social set up has a huge impact on individual behavior. Freud explained much of how the
psyche or the mind operates, and proposed that, human psyche is composed of parts
within our awareness and beyond our awareness.

He said that all behavior within an individual cannot be explained, much lies in the
subconscious.
Id − According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, the id operates based
on the pleasure principle, which stresses on immediate fulfillment of needs. The id
is the personality component made up of unconscious psychic energy which
satisfies basic urges, needs, and desires.
Ego − Ego is that state of awareness which thinks of you as separate from the other.
It always thinks of the glories of the past and hopes of the future and focuses on
guiltiness. It always thinks of what was and what could be.

Super Ego − the superego provides guidelines for making judgments. It is the aspect
of personality that holds all our moral standards and ideals that we acquire from
both parents and society.

Neo-Freudian Theory:

There were a group of psychologists who believed that social interaction and resultant
relationships formed the basis for the growth and development of personality. Here, they
disagreed with their contemporary, Freud, who believed that personality was −
Biological and rooted in genetics, and
Was groomed as a result of early childhood experiences. This group of researchers
who laid emphasis on the process of socialization came to be known as the Neo. To
form a personality, social relationships are very important.
Based on this, consumers are classified into three personality types −
Complaint Personalities − they prefer love and affection and so they move towards
them and so they prefer known brands.
 Aggressive Personalities − they tend to move against others and they show off their
need for power, success etc which is quite manipulative.

Detached Personalities − they are not much aware of brands and are more self
reliant and independent.

Marketers also tend to use Neo-Freudian theories while segmenting markets and
positioning their products.

Self Concept:

Self concept is defined as the way, in which we think, our preferences, our beliefs,
our attitudes, our opinions arranged in a systematic manner and also how we should
behave and react in various roles of life. Self concept is a complex subject as we know the
understanding of someone’s psychology, traits, abilities sometimes are really difficult.
Consumers buy and use products and services and patronize retailers whose personalities
or images relate in some way or other to their own self-images.

Traditionally, individuals are considered to be having a single self-image which they

normally exhibit. Such type of consumers is interested in those products and services which
match or satisfy these single selves. However, as the world became more and more
complex, it has become more appropriate to think of consumers as having multiple selves.

What is Self-Concept?
The below are some of the major aspects of Self-concept

Self-Concept is Organized
We all have various views about ourselves. We all may think we are kind, calm, patient,
selfish, rude and what not. It doesn’t matter what perception you have about yourself, but
the one perception that facilitates all these insights is organized self concept. When a
person believes in something that matches his self concept he sticks to his view and does
not agree to change the same and even if does, it takes a lot of time.

Self Concept is Learned

It is believed that self concept is learned and no person is born with a self concept. It
develops as and when we grow old. Our self concept is built when we meet people socially
and interact with them. We are the ones who shape or alter our self concept and it’s quite
natural that we may have a self concept different for ourselves as compared to what
people think about us.

For example − If an individual thinks, he is very generous and helpful, it may not necessarily
be the case with others. Others may see him as a selfish person.
Self Concept is Dynamic
Our self concept in life is not constant and it may change with instances that take place in
our lives. When we face different situations and new challenges in life, our insight towards
things may change. We see and behave according to the things and situations.
Thus, it is observed that self concept is a continuous development where we let go things
that don’t match our self concept and hold on those things that we think are helpful in
building our favorable perception.
Self concept is the composite of ideas, feelings, emotions and attitudes that a person has
 about their identity and capabilities.

Consumer Motivation:

Why do people shop? How a consumer does assess his/her needs? What motivates
them to choose a particular product over other? These questions are essence of marketing
concepts, key for a given company to be successful, profitable and market leader. When a
consumer engages in a trade (i.e. exchange a product/service for the money), it is mostly to
satisfy a need. But what could be of interest to marketer here is that, consumer needs are
sometimes unfelt to consumer, but it represents a great deal of opportunity to the
marketer.

As the marketing evolves, production orientation transforms into marketing

orientation, which revolves around what the consumer wants and how to elicit the unfelt
need of a consumer. Need can be innate (basic biological needs) or it can be acquired
(learned through society and environment).

Consumer motivation is defined as driving force within individuals that leads to an

action. In marketing concept that action would be acquiring a product or availing a service,
that fulfils their needs and wants. This motivated behavior is always goal oriented, that what
exactly is required to satisfy a particular need. This is one of the reasons why marketer
doesn’t just focus on what a particular need is, but inclined to represent their product and
service as the only means of solution for a particular consumer need. N eeds are the core of the
marketing concept. The study of Motivation refers to all the processes that drive in a person to perceive a
need and pursue a definite course of action to fulfil that need.

What are Needs − every individual has needs that are required to be fulfilled. Primary
needs are food, clothing, shelter and secondary needs are society, culture etc.

What are Wants − Needs are the necessities, but wants are something more in addition to
the needs. For example, food is a need and type of food is our want.

What are Goals − Goals are the objectives that have to be fulfilled. Goals are generic and
product specific in nature. Generic goals are general in nature, whereas product specific
goals are the desires of a specific nature.

Needs and fulfillment are the basis of motivation. Change takes place due to both
internal as well as external factors. Sometimes needs are satisfied and sometimes they are
not due to individual’s personal, social, cultural or financial needs.

Theories of Motivation:

Maslow’s Theory of Need Hierarchy

Based on the notion of a universal hierarchy of human needs Dr Abraham Maslow, a
clinical psychologist formulated a widely accepted theory of human motivation. This
identifies five basic levels of human need which rank in order of importance from lower
 level needs to higher level needs.

This theory signifies the importance of satisfying the lower level needs before higher
level needs arise. According to this theory, dissatisfaction motivates the consumer.
Following are the levels of human needs −

Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory

Physiological Needs − Food, clothing, air, and shelter are the first level needs. They are known as the basic
necessities or primary needs.
Safety or Security Needs − Once the first level needs are satisfied, consumers move to the next level.
Physical safety, security, stability and protection are the security needs.
Social Needs − after the safety needs are satisfied, consumers expect friendship, belonging, attachment.
They need to maintain themselves in a society and try to be accepted.
Esteem Needs − Then comes esteem needs such as self-esteem, status, prestige. Individuals here in this
stage want to rise above the general level as compared to others to achieve mental satisfaction.
Self-Actualization − this is the highest stage of the hierarchy. People here, try to excel in their field and
improve their level of achievement. They are known as self-actualizers.
Motivational Theory and Marketing Strategies:

Marketers have to understand the motives of their potential customers to enjoy good
sales. A buyer has several motives and each change with various elements. In such cases
the marketers can readily help their customers by changing their marketing strategy so that
the conflict is resolved. Following are the major conflicts that may arise –

Approach Conflict − this conflict arises when a consumer has two different choices
of similar products or services. He gives equal importance to them, but is unable to
choose one over the other.
Approach Avoidance Conflict − This type of conflict happens when the consumer
decides in favour of a product, but is unhappy with a particular feature of the
product and wants to avoid it. Under such circumstances, the marketer may come
up with few modifications in the existing product and make it suitable for the
consumer.

Motivation is an inner drive that reflects goal-directed arousal. In a consumer behavior

context, the result is a desire for a product, service, or experience. It is
the drive to satisfy needs and wants, both physiological and psychological, through the
purchase and use of products and services.
 Five stages of the motivation process:

Latent need
Drive
Want or desire
Goal
Behavior

CONSUMER PERCEPTION:

A marketing concept that encompasses a customer's impression, awareness and/or

consciousness about a company or its offerings. Customer perception is typically affected by
advertising, reviews, public relations, social media, personal experiences and other
channels.

Definition:

CUSTOMER PERCEPTION

Consumer perception refers to the process by which a customer selects, organizes,

and interprets information/stimuli inputs to create a meaningful picture of the brand or the
product. It is a three stage process that translates raw stimuli into meaningful information .
Each individual interprets the meaning of stimulus in a manner consistent with
his/her own unique biases, needs and expectations. Three stages of perception are
exposure, attention and interpretation

In simpler terms, it is how a customer see's a particular brand with whatever he or she has
been able to understand by watching the products, its promotions, feedback etc. It is the
image of that particular brand in the mind of the customer

Examples
Sensory data emanating from an external environment (e.g., hearing a tune on the radio)
can generate internal sensory experiences; a song might trigger a young man’s first dance
and bring to mind the smell of his date’s perfume and his first kiss. Hence, this concludes the
definition of Customer Perception along with its overview.

CONSUMER ATTITUDES AND CHANGING ATTITUDES:

Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumer’s (1) beliefs about, (2) feelings about,

(2) And behavioural intentions toward some object--within the context of marketing,
usually a brand or retail store the first component is beliefs.
Beliefs:

The first component is beliefs. A consumer may hold both positive beliefs toward an
object (e.g., coffee tastes good) as well as negative beliefs (e.g., coffee is easily spilled and
stains papers). In addition, some beliefs may be neutral (coffee is black), and some may be
differ in valance depending on the person or the situation (e.g., coffee is hot and stimulates-
- good on a cold morning, but not well on a hot summer evening when one wants to sleep).
Note also that the beliefs that consumers hold need not be accurate (e.g., that pork
contains little fat), and some beliefs may, upon closer examination, be contradictory (e.g.,
that a historical figure was a good person but also owned slaves).

Since a consumer holds many beliefs, it may often be difficult to get down to a
“bottom line” overall belief about whether an object such as McDonald’s is overall good or
bad. The Multi attribute (also sometimes known as the Fishbein) Model attempts to
summarize overall attitudes into one score using the equation:

That is, for each belief, we take the weight or importance (Wi) of that belief and
multiply it with its evaluation (Xib). For example, a consumer believes that the taste of a
beverage is moderately important, or a 4 on a scale from 1 to 7. He or she believes that
coffee tastes very good, or a 6 on a scale from 1 to 7. Thus, the product here is 4(6) =24. On
the other hand, he or she believes that the potential of a drink to stain is extremely
important (7), and coffee fares moderately badly, at a score -4, on this attribute (since this is
a negative belief, we now take negative numbers from -1 to -7, with -7 being worst). Thus,
we now have 7(-4) =-28. Had these two beliefs been the only beliefs the consumer held, his
or her total, or aggregated, attitude would have been 24+ (-28) =-4. In practice, of course,
consumers tend to have many more beliefs that must each be added to obtain an accurate
measurement.
Affect:

Consumers also hold certain feelings toward brands or other objects. Sometimes
these feelings are based on the beliefs (e.g., a person feels nauseated when thinking about a
hamburger because of the tremendous amount of fat it contains), but there may also be
feelings which are relatively independent of beliefs. For example, an extreme
environmentalist may believe that cutting down trees is morally wrong, but may have
positive affect toward Christmas trees because he or she unconsciously associates these
trees with the experience that he or she had at Christmas as a child.

Behavioural Intention:

The behavioral intention is what the consumer plans to do with respect to the object
(e.g., buy or not buy the brand). As with affect, this is sometimes a logical consequence of
beliefs (or affect), but may sometimes reflect other circumstances--e.g., although a
consumer does not really like a restaurant, he or she will go there because it is a hangout for
his or her friends.

Attitude-Behavior Consistency:

Consumers often do not behave consistently with their attitudes for several reasons:

 Ability. He or she may be unable to do so. Although junior high school student likes
pick-up trucks and would like to buy one, she may lack a driver’s license.
 Competing demands for resources. Although the above student would like to buy a
pickup truck on her sixteenth birthday, she would rather have a computer, and has
money for only one of the two.
 Social influence. A student thinks that smoking is really cool, but since his friends
think it’s disgusting, he does not smoke.
 Measurement problems. Measuring attitudes is difficult. In many situations,
consumers do not consciously set out to enumerate how positively or negatively
they feel about mopeds, and when a market researcher asks them about their beliefs
about mopeds, how important these beliefs are, and their evaluation of the
performance of mopeds with respect to these beliefs, consumers often do not give
very reliable answers. Thus, the consumers may act consistently with their true
attitudes, which were never uncovered because an erroneous measurement was
made.

Attitude Change Strategies:

Changing attitudes is generally very difficult, particularly when consumers suspect

that the marketer has a self-serving agenda in bringing about this change (e.g., to get the
consumer to buy more or to switch brands).

Changing affect. One approach is to try to change affect, which may or may not involve
getting consumers to change their beliefs. One strategy uses the approach of classical
conditioning try to “pair” the product with a liked stimulus. For example, we “pair” a car
with a beautiful woman. Alternatively, we can try to get people to like the advertisement
and hope that this liking will “spill over” into the purchase of a product. For example, the
Pillsbury Doughboy does not really emphasize the conveyance of much information to the
consumer; instead, it attempts to create a warm, fuzzy image. Although Energizer Bunny ads
try to get people to believe that their batteries last longer, the main emphasis is on the
likeable bunny. Finally, products which are better known, through the mere exposure effect,
tend to be better liked--that is, the more a product is advertised and seen in stores, the
more it will generally be liked, even if consumers to do not develop any specific beliefs about
the product.

Changing behavior. People like to believe that their behavior is rational; thus, once they use
our products, chances are that they will continue unless someone is able to get them to
switch. One way to get people to switch to our brand is to use temporary price discounts
and coupons; however, when consumers buy a product on deal, they may justify the
purchase based on that deal (i.e., the low price) and may then switch to other brands on
deal later. A better way to get people to switch to our brand is to at least temporarily obtain
better shelf space so that the product is more convenient. Consumers are less likely to use
this availability as a rationale for their purchase and may continue to buy the product even
when the product is less conveniently located. (Notice, by the way, that this represents a
case of shaping).

Changing beliefs. Although attempting to change beliefs is the obvious way to attempt
attitude change, particularly when consumers hold unfavorable or inaccurate ones, this is
often difficult to achieve because consumers tend to resist. Several approaches to belief
change exist:

1. Change currently held beliefs. It is generally very difficult to attempt to change beliefs
that people hold, particularly those that are strongly held, even if they are
inaccurate. For example, the petroleum industry advertised for a long time that its
profits were lower than were commonly believed, and provided extensive factual
evidence in its advertising to support this reality. Consumers were suspicious and
rejected this information, however.
2. Change the importance of beliefs. Although the sugar manufacturers would
undoubtedly like to decrease the importance of healthy teeth, it is usually not
feasible to make beliefs less important--consumers are likely to reason, why, then,
would you bother bringing them up in the first place? However, it may be possible to
strengthen beliefs that favour us--e.g., a vitamin supplement manufacturer may
advertise that it is extremely important for women to replace iron lost through
menstruation. Most consumers already agree with this, but the belief can be made
stronger.
3. Add beliefs. Consumers are less likely to resist the addition of beliefs so long as they
do not conflict with existing beliefs. Thus, the beef industry has added beliefs that
beef (1) is convenient and (2) can be used to make a number of creative dishes.
Vitamin manufacturers attempt to add the belief that stress causes vitamin
depletion, which sounds quite plausible to most people.
4. Change ideal. It usually difficult, and very risky, to attempt to change ideals, and only
few firms succeed. For example, Hard Candy may have attempted to change the
ideal away from traditional beauty toward more unique self-expression.
One-sided vs. two-sided appeals:

Attitude research has shown that consumers often tend to react more favorably to
advertisements which either (1) admit something negative about the sponsoring brand (e.g.,
the Volvo is a clumsy car, but very safe) or (2) admits something positive about a competing
brand (e.g., a competing supermarket has slightly lower prices, but offers less service and
selection). Two-sided appeals must, contain overriding arguments why the sponsoring brand
is ultimately superior--that is, in the above examples, the “but” part must be emphasized.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and Celebrity Endorsements:

The ELM suggests that consumers will scrutinize claims more in important situations
than in unimportant ones. For example, we found that in the study of people trying to get
ahead of others in a line to use photo copiers, the compliance rate was about fifty percent
when people just asked to get ahead. However, when the justification “... because I have to
make copies” was added, compliance increased to 80%. Since the reason offered really did
not add substantive information, we conclude that it was not extensively analyzed--in the
jargon of the theory, “elaboration” waslow.

The ELM suggests that for “unimportant” products, elaboration will be low, and thus
Bill Cosby is able to endorse Coke and Jell-O without having any special credentials to do so.
However, for products which are either expensive or important for some other reason (e.g.,
a pain reliever given to a child that could be harmed by using dangerous substances),
elaboration is likely to be more extensive, and the endorser is expected to be “congruent,”
or compatible, with the product. For example, a basket ball player is likely to be effective in
endorsing athletic shoes, but not in endorsing automobiles. On the other hand, a nationally
syndicated auto columnist would be successful in endorsing cars, but not athletic shoes. All
of them, however, could endorse fast food restaurants effectively.

Appeal Approaches:

Several approaches to appeal may be used. The use of affect to induce empathy with
advertising characters may increase attraction to a product, but may backfire if consumers believe
that people’s feelings are being exploited. Fear appeals appear to work only if (1) an optimal level of
fear is evoked--not so much that people tune it out, but enough to scare people into action and (2) a
way to avoid the feared stimulus is explicitly indicated--e.g., gingivitis and tooth loss can be avoided
by using this mouth wash. Humour appears to be effective in gaining attention, but does not appear
to increase persuasion in practice. In addition, a more favourable attitude toward the advertisement
may be created by humorous advertising, which may in turn result in increased sales. Comparative
advertising, which is illegal in many countries, often increases sales for the sponsoring brand, but
may backfire in certain cultures.

Change Consumer Attitudes:

Companies may focus on changing consumer attitudes for a variety of reasons.

Dropping sales, increased product or service complaints and new, or renewed, competition
in the marketplace can all necessitate a hard look at the reasons behind trends related to
consumer perceptions and attitudes. Deciphering the cause of negative perceptions
requires appropriate planning and the commitment to make the necessary changes to
ensure success. For small businesses, analyzing consumer behavior becomes an essential
part of developing a targeted marketing and promotional campaign.

1. Identify consumer perceptions. In order to develop an action plan for changing consumer
attitudes, you need to understand current perceptions of products and services. Evaluate
captured feedback, such as customer service contact statistics regarding complaints and
concerns. Service businesses can leave comment cards for customers to complete and mail
back. Utilize surveys, paper and electronic, and focus groups to receive an accurate
representation of problems or concerns that may exist.
2. Compile data for interpretation. Interpretations derived from statistical data can provide
immediate feedback related to possible product or service defects. Evaluate survey
responses for information related to consumer views and perceptions of the business's products or
services. Focus on repeated or habitual problems experienced by customers. Find the common
thread among complaints and negative perceptions. Determine if a negative consumer attitude is
the result of employee neglect or product deficiencies.

3. Create a plan of action. Once you have identified consumer perceptions, develop a plan
to improve areas where consumer perceptions reflect a negative attitude toward the
company, product or service. This can include improved employee training to handle
concerns and help cultivate customer loyalty. Involve product development on needed
product improvements. Enlist the help of the marketing department to develop campaigns
focused on increasing brand awareness and resolving common concerns.
4. Share vital information with affected employees. Educate the appropriate personnel on
the goals of any new campaigns and promotions. Ensure customer service representatives
understand the impact of creating a positive customer environment. Changing consumer
attitudes is essential to ensuring future loyalty and creating a secure job environment.
5. Measure success. Use customer service metrics as one way to measure success. This can
include keeping track of incident reports, positive feedback and complaints. Signs of a shift
in consumer attitudes include reduced complaints and increased sales.

CONSUMER LEARNING AND INFORMATION PROCESSING:

CONSUMER LEARNING: Consumer learning is the process by which individuals acquire the
purchase and consumption knowledge and experience they apply to future related
behavior. Most of the learning is incidental.

What is customer learning?

Consumer learning is the pursuit of lifelong learning by individuals (read: your

customers) who want to further their knowledge in areas of personal interest and are
 learning on their own accord. That means hobbies, nutrition and fitness, sports, fine arts,
crafts, career development, and personal improvement.

Consumer learning is the process by which individuals acquire the purchase and
consumption knowledge and experience they apply to future related behavior.

Most of the learning is incidental. Some of it is intentional. Basic elements that

contribute to an understanding of learning are:

1. Motivation
2. Cues
3. Response
4. Reinforcement

There are 2 theories on how Individuals learn:

1. BehavioralTheory
2. Cognitive Theory
Both contribute to an understanding of consumer behavior.

Behavioral Theorists view learning as observable responses to stimuli, whereas

Cognitive Theorists believe that learning is a function of mental processing.

3 Major Behavioral Learning Theories are :

1. Classical Conditioning : Includes Repetition, Stimulus generalization and Stimulus

discrimination.
2. Instrumental Conditioning: Instrumental Learning theorists believe that learning
occurs through a trial and error process in which the positive outcomes in the form of
results or desired outcomes lead to repeat behavior like Repeat Purchase or Repeat
Positive Word of Mouth. Both positive and negative reinforcement can be used to
encourage the desired behavior. The timing of repetitions influences how long the
learned material is retained. Learning usually persists longer with distributed re-
inforcement schedule, while mass repetitions produce more initiallearnings.

3. Observational Conditioning or Vicarious Learning: Cognitive learning theory holds that

the kind of learning most characteristics of humans is PROBLEM SOLVING. Cognitive
theorists are concerned with how information is processes by the human mind: how it
is stored, retained, and retrieved. Involvement theory proposes that people engage
in limited information processing in situations of low relevance to them and people
engage in extensive information processing in situations of highrelevance.
TV is a low involvement medium for learning and print and interactive media
encourage more cognitive information processing. Measures of consumer learning
include recall and recognition tests, cognitive responses to advertising, and attitudinal
and behavioral measures of brandloyalty.

A basic issue among researchers is whether to define brand loyalty in terms of

consumer’s behaviors or the consumer’s attitude towards the brand. Brand Equity refers to
the inherent value a brand name has in the marketplace. Brand Loyalty consists of both
attitudes and actual behaviors toward a brand and both must be measured. For marketers,
the major reasons for understanding how consumers learn are to teach them that their
 brand is best and to develop brandloyalty.

CONSUMER INFORMATION PROCESSING:

The common dimension effect is a bias in human information processing. It indicates

that unique product attributes (features, extras) may have less influence in
the consumer choice process than the common attributes. Marketing experience, however,
says that a new and innovative product attribute may attract buyers.

The process through which consumers are:

1. exposed to information
2. attend to it
3. comprehend it
4. place it in memory and
5. Retrieve it for later use.

PERCEPTION

The process through which individuals are:

 exposed to information,
 attend to the information, and
 comprehend the information

Exposure:
Consumers receive information through their senses

Attention:
Consumers allocate processing capacity to a stimulus

Comprehension:
Consumers interpret the information to obtain meaning from it

THE EXPOSURE STAGE: a consumer's sensory organs are activated by a stimulus

Selective exposure: consumers can actively choose whether or not to expose themselves to
information

 e.g., zipping and zapping through a video tape (fast forwarding through commercials
or turning off the sound during commercials)

Sensation: the stimulation of a person's sensory receptors and the transmission of the
sensory information to the brain Whether or not a stimulus is actually detected depend on
its intensity:

Absolute threshold: the lowest level at which a stimulus can be detected 50% of the

Time.

Why do TV commercials seem louder than the program material?

 Subliminal perception: the idea that stimuli presented below the level of conscious
awareness might influence behavior and feelings

THE EXPOSURE STAGE

Just Noticeable Difference Threshold (JND): the minimum amount of difference in the
intensity of a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time

Weber's: Law: as the intensity of the stimulus increases, the ability of a person to detect a
difference between the two levels of the stimulus decreases

THE EXPOSURE STAGE

Consumer Adaptation: the amount or level of the stimulus to which the consumer has
become accustomed a reference point to which changes in the level of the stimulus are
compared

Butterfly Curve: at the adaptation level, consumer preference for a stimulus declines
because the person has become habituated to the stimulus preference for a stimulus is
greatest at points just higher or lower than the adaptation level

Why are fashions constantly changing?

THE ATTENTION STAGE

The allocation of cognitive capacity to an object or task

Types of Attention

 voluntary attention: consumers actively search out information that has personal
relevance
 selective attention: consumers selectively focus attention on relevant information
 involuntary attention: consumer is exposed to something surprising, novel,
threatening, or unexpected

- e.g.:

o surprise
o movement
o unusual sounds
o size of stimulus
o contrast effects
o colour

THE COMPREHENSION STAGE

The process through which individuals organize and interpret information

Perceptual Organization: the way people perceive shapes, forms, figures, and lines in their
visual world

Gestalt psychology: attempts to understand how people perceive patterns in the world

THE COMPREHENSION STAGE

Interpretation processes: people draw upon their experience, memory and expectations to
attach meaning to a stimulus

Expectations: prior beliefs about what should happen in a given situation can influence the
interpretation of information

Semiotics: how it is that people interpret meaning from signs

 signs: words, gestures, pictures, products, and logos used to communicate

information

CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT: the process through which individuals are influenced by the

 perceived personal importance and/or

 interest

Evoked by a stimulus, personal importance increases as perceived risk increases.

As involvement increases, consumers have greater motivation to comprehend and

elaborate on information salient to the purchase.

Higher levels of involvement are expected to result in

 a greater depth of information processing

 increased arousal
 more extended decision-making

Factors which can influence purchase involvement:

 situation
 product
 personality
 communication

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