CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

MODULE-II

By Subash Ch. Nath

CHAPTER OUTLINES
Individual determinants of behavior: A. Personality B. Perception C. Attitudes (Structural models of attitudes: Tricomponent attitude model, multi attribute model, the measurement of attitudes-scaling techniques and projective techniques) D. Learning and motivation
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A. Personality
Understand the nature of personality, the role it plays in the consumption process, and how marketers can use personality in developing mktg. strategy.

An individuals unique psychological makeup, which consistently influences how the person responds to his or her environment.

Personality is the characteristic and relatively enduring ways that people have of responding to the situations they face, which include responses to marketing strategies.
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CONCEPTS OF PERSONALITY
The personality of a consumer guides and directs the behavior chosen to accomplish goals in different situations. There are two basic approaches to understanding personality. Individual theories have two common assumptions: (1) all individuals have internal characteristics or traits, and (2) there are consistent differences between individuals on these characteristics or traits that can be measured. Most of the individual theories state that traits are formed at an early age and are relatively unchanging over the years. Social learning theories emphasize the environment as the important determinant of behavior. Therefore, the focus is on external (situational) versus internal factors.

Brands, like individuals, have personalities, and consumers tend to prefer products with brand personalities that are pleasing to them. It is also apparent that consumers prefer advertising messages that portray their own or a desired personality.
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Personality has four essential characteristics:

Behavior must show consistency over time. Behavior should distinguish the person from others. Personality characteristics are not rigidly connected to specific types of behavior. Personality variables often moderate the effects of other variables on behavior.

Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory

Personality results from the clash of 3 forces - the id, the ego, and the superego The id represents physiological drives The ego acts to curb the appetites of the id The superego is the conscience or voice within

How does personality influence consumer behavior?

I. II. III.

Psychoanalytic Theory Socio psychological Theory Trait-Factor Theory

I.

Psychoanalytic theory

1. Human personality system consists of the id, ego, and

superego.
2. The dynamic interaction of these results in unconscious motivations that are manifested in observed human behavior.

3. Personality is derived from conflict between the desire to satisfy physical needs and the needs to be a contributing member of society. 4. Personality is a result of more than just subconscious drives.
5. Some advertising is influenced by psychoanalytic approach
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II.

Socio-psychological Theory

1. Recognizes interdependence of the individual and society individual strives to meet needs of society and society helps individual attain personal goals 2. Social variables (rather than biological instinct) are most important in shaping personality 3. Behavioral motivation is directed to meet those needs. 4. Person may buy a product that symbolizes an unattainable or unacceptable goalthe acquisition fulfills some subconscious forbidden desire

III. Trait-Factor Theory

1. Quantitative approach to personality. 2. Personality made up of traits: any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which one individual differs from another 3. Understanding consumer traits can be useful in marketing planning 4. Assumes that traits are common to many individuals and vary in absolute amounts among individuals 5. Traits are relatively stable and exert fairly universal effects on behavior regardless of the environmental situation 6. Traits can be inferred from the measurement of behavioral indicators. 7. Trait theory is most useful to marketing strategists in developing brand personalitythe personality consumers interpret from a specific brand 8. Brands may be characterized as old-fashioned, modern, fun, provocative, masculine, or glamorous

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Predicting Buyer Behavior

1. Research typically attempts to find relationships between personality variables and consumer behaviors 2. Research tried to predict brand and store preference based on personality but with poor results.

3. Research typically attempts to find relationships between personality variables and consumer behaviors
4. Research tried to predict brand and store preference based on personality but with poor results 5. Personality is just one variable in the consumer decision making process
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Dimensions of Brand Personality

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Brand personality

Sincerity

Excitement

Competence

Sophistication

Ruggedness

Down-to-earth Honest Wholesome Cheerful

Daring Spirited Imaginative Up-to-date

Reliable Intelligent Successful

Upper class Charming

Outdoorsy Tough

Source: J.L. Aaker, Dimensions of Brand Personality, Journal of the Marketing Research, August 1997, p. 352.

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Student Handout 1 : PERSONALITY AND BEER PREFERENCES

Anheuser-Busch created four commercial advertisements for four new brands of beer. Each commercial represented one of the new brands and was created to portray the beer as appropriate for a specific drinker personality. For example, one brand was featured in a commercial that portrayed the reparative drinker, a self-sacrificing, middle-aged person who could have achieved more if he had not sacrificed personal objectives in the interest of others. For this consumer, drinking a beer serves as a reward for sacrifices. Other personality typessuch as the social drinker who resembles the campus guzzler, and the indulgent drinker who sees himself as a total failurewere used to develop product personalities for the other new brands of beer in the study. These commercials were watched by 250 beer consumers who then tasted all four brands of beer. After given sufficient time to see each commercial and sample each beer, they were asked to state a brand preference and complete a questionnaire which measured their own drinker personality. The results showed that most consumers preferred the brand of beer that matched their own drinker personality. Furthermore, the effect of personality on brand preferences was so strong that most consumers also felt that at least one brand of beer was not fit to drink. Unknown to these 250 consumers was the fact that all four brands were the same beer. Thus, the product personalities created in these commercials attracted consumers with like personalities.
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What is perception?
Perception can be described as how we see the world. How a person recognizes, selects, organises and interprets the stimuli in the environment into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world is called the perception. Perception is a highly individual process based on each persons own needs, values and expectations. Perception is subjectiveapproximation of reality.
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Three Stages of Perception

I. Exposure stage - consumers receive information through their senses.
II. Attention stage - consumers allocate processing capacity to a stimulus. III.Comprehension stage - consumers organize and interpret the information to obtain meaning from it.

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I. Exposure stage:
Exposure to a stimulus is the first step in perception. The sensory organs are activated and the entire mechanism of information processing can begin. Influencing a customer is done by exposing consumers to information through marketing communications.

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How Can We Increase Consumers Exposure?

Road blocking--you can run, but you cant hide! Repetition Wide presence

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II. Attention stage

It occurs when the stimulus activates one or more of the sensory receptors, and the resulting sensations go into the brain for processing. Because of the amount of stimuli we are exposed to, we selectively attend to those stimuli that physically attract us (stimulus factors) or personally interest us (individual factors). Stimulus factors are physical characteristics of the stimulus itself, such as contrast, size, intensity, color, movement, position, isolation, format, and information quantity. Individual factors are characteristics of the individual, such as interests and needs. Both these factors are moderated by the situation in which they occur.
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Capturing Customers Attention

Goal is to activate the orientation reflex by creating stimuli that surprise, threaten, annoy,or violate the expectation of consumers.

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III. Comprehension stage

It is the process in which individuals organize and interpret information. - It is largely a function of individual learning and expectations that are triggered by the stimulus and moderated by the situation. Marketers are particularly interested in how consumers differentiate between brands, how they interpret images, and how they form inferences about missing information. Both marketing managers and regulators are concerned with the amount of information that is misinterpreted.
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Elements of Perception

a. Sensation b. Absolute threshold c. Differential threshold

d. Subliminal perception

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a.

Sensation

It is the immediate and direct response of the sensory organs to stimuli. A perfectly unchanging environment provides little to no sensation at all! Sensation itself depends on differentiation of inputs.

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b.

Absolute threshold

The lower level at which an individual can experience a sensation is called the absolute threshold.

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c.

Differential threshold

The minimal difference that can be detected between two similar stimuli is called the differential threshold or J. N. D. (Just Noticeable Difference). German Scientist Weber discovered that the J.N.D. between two stimuli was not an absolute amount, but an amount relative to the intensity of the first stimulus.

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Webers Law
A theory concerning the perceived differentiation between similar stimuli of varying intensities. (i.e., the stronger the initial stimulus, the greater the additional intensity needed for the second stimulus to be perceived as different).

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Marketing Applications of the JND

Marketers Need to determine the relevant j.n.d. for their products
so that negative changes are not readily discernible to the public. so that product improvements are very apparent to consumers.

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Gradual Changes in Brand Name Fall Below the J.N.D.

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d.

Subliminal perception

Perception of very weak or rapid stimuli received below the level of conscious awareness.
OR Refers to presenting a stimulus below the level of conscious awareness in an attempt to influence behavior and feelings.

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Perceptual Mapping

A research technique that enables marketers to plot graphically consumers perceptions Concerning product attributes of specific brands.

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Perceptual Mapping
Fashion Coverage

More Price

More Quality

Status Coverage

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Perceived Risk
The degree of uncertainty perceived by the consumer as to the consequences (outcome) of a specific purchase decision.
Types Functional Risk Physical Risk Financial Risk Psychological Risk Time Risk

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Consumer Attitudes
The Nature of consumer attitudes: Meaning, Definition & Concepts. Characteristics, functions, features (or Attitudes and Behaviour) Attitude Models (structural) Tri-component Attitude Model Multi Attribute Attitude Model Attitude toward the ad model.

The Measurement of Attitudes

Factors in Attitude formation

Attitude change

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The Nature of consumer attitudes

Meaning, Definition & Concepts:Attitudes are an expression of inner feelings of a person, that reflect whether he is favouring or unfavourably predisposed to some objectives, events or people. Attitudes process. are an outcome of psychological

Attitudes are not directly observable but must be inferred from what people say or what they do.

Definition: An attitude is the predisposition of the individual to evaluate some object in 33 a favourable or an unfavourable manner.

 Attitudes are a learned predispositionAs learned predispositions, attitudes have motivational quality, that is, they might force a consumer towards a particular behaviour or report the consumer away from a particular behaviour. Attitudes have consistencyAnother characteristic of attitude is that they are relatively consisting with the behaviour they reflect. However, despite their consistency attitudes are not necessarily permanent, they do change.

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 Attitudes occur within a situation-By situation, we mean events or circumstances that, at a particular point in time, influence the relationship between an attitude and behaviour.

-Indeed, individuals can have a variety of attitudes toward a particular behaviour, each corresponding to a particular situation.
-It is important to understand how consumer attitudes vary 35 from situation to situation.

Attitudes and Behaviour

Attitudes have been thought as serving four functions and thereby affecting the behaviour. They are as follows:

Instrumental: Attitudes are aroused by the activation of a need.

Ego-defensive: The ego-defensive function of attitudes acknowledges the importance of psychological thought. Egodefensive attitudes may be aroused by internal and external threat, frustrating events and suggestions from authoritarian sources. Value-orientation: The value-orientation function takes into account attitudes that are held because they express a persons values or enhance his self-identity. Knowledge: The knowledge function of attitudes is based on a persons need to maintain a stable, organized and 36 meaningful structure of the word.

Structural Models of Attitudes

To understand the relationship between attitudes and behaviour, psychologists construct different models that capture the different dimensions of attitude. There are several different attitude models such as
-A-B-CTri-component attitude model Multi-attribute attitude model Attitude-toward the ad model
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-A- Tri-component attitude model

According to the Tri-component model, attitudes consist of three major components, such as:a). b). c). Cognitive Affective Conative
Cognitive

Affective

Conative

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a). The cognitive component

This is the first component of the Tri-component Attitude model. It consists of a persons cognitions (i.e. the knowledge and perceptions that are acquired by a combination of direct experience with the related attitude object and related information from various sources). The knowledge and resulting perceptions commonly take the form of beliefs. i.e. the consumer believes that the attitude object possesses various attributes and that specific behaviour lead to specific outcomes. For Example: If there are 2 products of soap i.e. SA and SB. The features taken into consideration for perception are price, quality, flavour; for both the product. Where price, quality, quantity, flavour are the attributes. The consumer believes both SA and SB. But there is a difference between these two products on a single attribute known as price. And finally, he select product SA as because it has less price. Which is a specific outcome for the customer.
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b). The affective component

A consumers emotions or feelings about a particular product or brand constitute the affective component of an attitude. These emotions and feelings are frequently treated by consumer researchers as primarily evaluative in nature i.e. the extent to which the individual rates the attitude object as favourable or unfavourable.

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c). The conative component

The final component of the Tri-component Attitude model. Conation is concerned with likelihood or tendency that an individual will undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way with regard to the attitude object. In marketing and consumer research, the conative component is frequently treated as an expression of the consumers intention to buy. Buyer intention scales are used to assess the likelihood of a consumer purchasing a product or behaving in a certain way. 41

-B- Multi-attribute attitude model

This concentrates consumers attitudes with regard to an attitude object (for ex - a product, a service, etc. as a function of consumers perception and assessment of the key characteristics (attitudes or beliefs) held with regard to the particular attitude object. While there are many variations of this type of attitude model, it is clearly defined items of the following three models a). b). c). Attitudes towards object model. Attitude towards behaviour model. Theory of reasoned action model.

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a).

Attitudes towards object model.

This model specially suitable for measuring attitudes towards a product (or service) category or specific brands. According to this model, the consumers attitude towards a product or specific brands of a product is a function of the presence (or the absence) and evaluation of the specific product specific beliefs and or attributes. In other words, consumers generally have favourable attitudes towards those brands that they believe have an adequate level of attributes that they evaluate as positive, and they have unfavourable attitudes towards those brands they feel do not have an adequate level of desired attributes or have too many negative attributes.
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b).

Attitude towards behaviour model.

The focus in this model is the individuals attitude towards behaving or acting with respect to an object rather than the attitude towards the object itself. The appeal of this model is that it seems to correspond more closely to actual behaviour that if does in the attitutdetwoards-object model. It is very much close when a person is going to purchase any expensive items. Under this model, when a buyer is going to buy certain products, it seems logical for him during purchasing that particular product not in a negative attitude.

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c).

Theory of reasoned action model.

It represents a comprehensive integration of attitude components into a structure that is designed to lead to both better explanation and better predictions of behaviour. Like the Tricomponent model, the theory of reasoned action model incorporates a cognitive component, an affective component and a conative component; however, these are arranged in a pattern different from that of the Tricomponent model.

The model suggests that the best predictor of behaviour is the intention to act. To understand the (underlying) factors that contribute to a consumers intention to act in a particular situation, the factors that led to intention is to be understood, i.e. the consumers attitude toward behaviour and the subjective norm. The consumers attitude toward behaviour can be directly measured as affect (i.e. a measure of overall favourability toward the purchase.)
And the subjective norms can be measured directly by assessing a consumers feelings as to what relevant others (family, friends, roommates, co-workers) would think of the action being contemplated (or done).
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-C- Attitude-toward the ad model

This model describe the impact of advertising or some other promotional vehicle on consumer attitudes towards particular products, brands, etc. CONTINUED

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the model describes, the consumer shows various feelings (affective) and judgments (cognition) as the result of exposure to an ad. These feelings and judgments in turn affect the consumers attitude towards the ad and beliefs about the brand acquired from exposure the ad. Finally, the consumers attitude toward the ad and beliefs about the brand influence his or her attitude toward the brand.
EXPOSURE TO AN ADVERTISING JUDGEMENTS ABOUT THE ADVERTISING (COGNITION) FEELINGS FROM THE ADVERTISING (AFFECT)

BELIEFS ABOUT THE BRAND

ATTITUDE TOWARD THE BRAND

ATTITUDE TOWARD THE ADVERTISING

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 In assessing consumer attitudes towards an ad, researchers, described that it is critical to distinguish between cognitive evaluations of the ad (i.e. judgments about the ad such as whether it is humorous or informative) and affective responses towards the ad (i.e. feelings experienced from exposure to the ad). Researcher suggested that in high involvement situations, it is more central factors (i.e. the messages argument or the informational content of the ad) that will influence consumers, whereas in low involvement situations, it is more peripheral-factors (i.e. the use of celebrities) that influence consumers.

And these research findings imply that marketers need to ensure that even in low involvement situations, their messages create favourable perceptions based on the arguments quality and credibility. Likewise, even in high-involvement situations, the marketers message should also not neglect 48 peripheral or context message elements.

 Attitudes are subjective attributes of people. Thus, people may vary along with a number of dimensions. Keeping the measurement aspect into consideration, the attitudes might be defined operationally by describing the measurement, developed largely by social psychologists, is concerned with efforts to tap these attitudes as they are characteristics of individual. There are many methods of attitude measurement such as Self-report (usually of questionnaires dealing with beliefs, feelings and behaviour) Indirect tests (such as projective techniques and disguised approaches) Direct observation techniques. 49 Psychological reaction techniques.

The measurement of attitudes

Factors in Attitude Formation The attitudes are learned. Though there are different approaches as how
learning works and is acquired by individuals, generally it is held that individuals learn things from the environment in which they interact.

Thus, for attitude formation, all those factors must be taken into account from which people learn.
Such factors may be analyzed in terms of groups. Starting from the family as primary group an individual more in a close group called as Reference Group then to larger groups or secondary groups (Ex-religious Groups) and finally the society as a whole. So the factors are as follows: a) Personality factors Exposure to mass media Direct Experience Group factors Family / Primary Group Reference Group Social Group

b) c) d)

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