Topic 4 COMPREHENSION,

MEMORY, AND COGNITIVE

LEARNING FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER
COMPREHENSION
L1:COMPREHENSION:THE CONCEPT
- Meaning and value are
AND ITS INFLUENCERS
inseparable, and consumers
Comprehension
must comprehend marketing
● refers to the messages in order to learn
interpretation or the intended value of a
understanding that a product.
consumer develops about *Characteristics of the
some attended stimulus in message
order to assign meaning. *Characteristics of the
● Important part of message receiver
perception because the *Characteristics of the
value a consumer obtains environment (information
from consumption often processing situation)
depends on information.
Marketing messages can be CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MESSAGE
effective only if consumers
correctly comprehend the Physical characteristics
intended message, and getting - Refers to its attributes
consumers to comprehend the that are sensed directly.
message correctly can be Here are just few physical
difficult. characteristics to effective
THREE IMPORTANT ISSUES communication:
REGARDING COMPREHENSION: Intensity - the larger the font,
- The process of the larger the picture, or the
comprehension is largely more intense the sound, the
influenced by other more likely a consumer is to
internal factors within comprehend something from a
the consumer. message.
- Comprehension includes Color - affects the likelihood
both cognitive and of gaining a consumer’s
affective elements. attention, but it can also have
* thoughts and an impact on comprehension.
feelings Font - Consumers take meaning
* consumers’ attitudes from both the actual text of a
- Consumers don’t always message and the visual
comprehend messages in the presentation of the message.It
intended way, and to this can influence comprehension.
extent, consumer Numbers - Names with letters
comprehension is not and numbers used in combination
always “correct” signify a
“technologically based”
meaning. Numbers are often used
in the auto industry as
model names of cars. Especially
important in Asian countries.
Shape - Product designer
influence the comprehension of
products through many factors
but perhaps the shape that they
choose is the most basic.(not
in the book pero e add nlng
since naa nis reporting namo)
SIMPLICITY-COMPLEXITY
- Generally speaking, the
simpler the message, the
more likely a consumer is
to develop meaningful
comprehension, which, of
course, relies on a
consumer’s ability to
process information.
MESSAGE CONGRUITY
- Represents the extent to
which a message is
internally consistent and
fits surrounding
information.
- Could lead to improved
comprehension.
FIGURE AND GROUND
- The focus of a marketing
message can also affect
comprehension.
Figure - object that is intended
to capture a person’s
attention, the focal part of
any message
Ground - background in a
message.
Figure-ground distinction -
notion that each message can be
separated into the focal point
(figure) and the background
(ground).
One reason consumers do not
always accurately comprehend
the intended message is because
the product that was intended
to be the figure becomes the
ground.
MESSAGE SOURCE
- Could be a famous
celebrity in an
advertisement, a
salesperson in a sales
context, a family member
giving “advice,” or even a
computer-animated avatar
- A source’s effectiveness
in gaining comprehension
is largely impacted by
factors such as:
1. Likeability
2. Expertise
3. Trustworthiness
4. Attractiveness
Likeability - refers to the
extent to which a consumer
likes the message source. It
can change the interpretation
of a stimulus.
Expertise - refers to the
amount of knowledge that source
is perceived to have about a
subject.
Trustworthiness - refers to how
honest and unbiased the source
is perceived to be.
Credibility - extent to which a
source is considered to be both
an expert in a given area and
trustworthy.
Counterarguments - thoughts
that contradict a message
Support arguments - thoughts
that further support a message.
In summary, we can say that
desirable characteristics
positively affect how messages motivation to process a
are comprehended.The message.
characteristics are important Habituation - is the process by
even when a consumer isn’t which continuous exposure to a
paying a lot of attention to an stimulus affects the
advertisement. comprehension of and response
to the stimulus.
MESSAGE RECEIVER Adaptation level - level of
CHARACTERISTICS stimuli to which a consumer has
Intelligence/Ability become accustomed.
- Intelligent and Dostats - Russian word that can
well-educated consumers be roughly translated as
are more likely to acquiring things with great
accurately comprehend a difficulty.
message than are less Expectations
intelligent or less Expectations - beliefs of what
educated consumers. will happen in some situation.
- Two caveats: They play a very important role
*A great deal of knowledge in many consumer behavior
is specific to particular settings and can have a major
product categories. impact on comprehension.
*Even a highly intelligent Physical Limits
consumer would understand - A person’s physical
a simpler message better limitations in their
than a more complex ability to hear, see,
message. smell, taste, and think
Involvement can influence
- Consumers are not equally comprehension.
involved with every Brain Dominance
message.Therefore,marketer - Phenomena of hemispheric
s face the challenge of lateralization.
designing messages that - Some people tend to be
will be comprehended by either right-brain or
both highly involved and left-brain dominant.
uninvolved consumers. More - Right brain-dominant
information is needed for consumers tend to be
higher involvement visual processors, while
Familiarity/Habituation left brain-dominant
- Familiarity is generally a consumers tend to deal
good thing as consumers better with verbal
tend to like the familiar, processing.
however, in terms of
comprehension, familiarity ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS
can lower a consumer’s Information Intensity
 - It refers to the amount of
information available for
a consumer to process
within a given
environment.
Framing
- Captures the idea that the
same information can take
on different meanings
based on the way the
information is presented.
E.g. watching Toy Story as
a family and then run
insurance ads.
Prospect Theory - hypothesizes
that the way in which
information is framed
differentially affects risk
assessments and any associated
consumer behavior.example:
“save 50 percent” or “you pay
half price!”
Priming - refers to the finding
that the context or the
environment frames thoughts and
therefore both value and
meaning.
Timing
- Can also affect
comprehension.
- Refers to both the amount
of time a consumer has to
process a message and the
point in time at which the
consumer receives the
message.
L2:MULTIPLE STORE THEORY OF
MEMORY AND STORAGE OF
KNOWLEDGE
Memory - is the psychological
process by which knowledge is
recorded.
MULTIPLE STORE THEORY OF MEMORY
- Views the memory process
as utilizing three
different storage areas
within the human brain.
Three areas:
*sensory memory
*workbench memory(or
short-term)
*long-term memory
Sensory Memory
- Is the area in memory
where the things that we
encounter with any of the
five human senses are
stored.
- Very limited duration
- Unlimited capacity
- Easily illustrated
- Iconic memory
- Echoic storage
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TOPIC 5
PERSONALITY, LIFESTYLES AND
THE SELF-CONCEPT
L1: PERSONALITY AND CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR
PERSONALITY - As the totality of
thoughts, emotions, intentions,
and behaviors that a person
exhibits consistently as he or
she adapts to his or her
environment.
● Cognitive (thoughts)
● Affective (emotions)
● Motivational (intentions)
● Behavioral (behaviors)
Personality exhibits a number
of distinct qualities
including:
1. Personality is unique to
an individual
2. Personality can be
conceptualized as a
combination of specific
traits or characteristics.
3. Personality traits are
relatively stable and
interact with situations
to influence behavior.
4. Specific behaviors can
vary across time.
Aggregation approach - behaviors
are measured over time rather
than relying on a single
measure of behavior at one
point in time.
PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH TO
PERSONALITY
Sigmund Freud
- Human behavior is influenced
by an inner struggle between
various within the personality
system.
- His approach commonly referred
to as the psychoanalytic
approach to personality
*applicable to both motivation
and personality inquiry.
- Three important components:
*ID
*SUPEREGO
*EGO
ID - focuses on pleasure-seeking and
immediate gratification.
● Pleasure principle - describes
the factor that motivates
pleasure-seeking behavior
within the ID.
● Hedonic value
● libido
SUPEREGO - works against the id
by motivating behavior that
matches societal norms and
expectations.
EGO
- focuses on resolving the
conflicts between the ID
and the SUPEREGO.
 - Works largely in
accordance with the
reality principle.
● The ego seeks to
satisfy the id within
the constraints of
society.
PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH AND
MOTIVATION RESEARCH
Motivational research era - era
in consumer research that
focused heavily on
psychoanalytic approaches.
❖ Asking consumers to
describe activity through
a series of probing
questions.
❖ Motivations are the
reasons or driving forces
behind actions.
TRAIT APPROACH TO PERSONALITY
- Approaches in personality
research that focus on
specific consumer trait as
motivators of various
consumer behaviors
Trait - distinguishable
characteristic that describes
one’s tendency to act in a
relatively consistent manner.
NOMOTHETIC VERSUS IDIOGRAPHIC
APPROACHES
● Nomothetic perspective - is
a “variable-centered”
approach that focuses on
particular variables, or
traits, that exist across
a number of consumers.
Goal: to find common
personality traits that
can be studied across
people.
● Idiographic perspective -
focuses on the total
person and the uniqueness
of his or her
psychological makeup.
SINGLE-TRAIT AND MULTIPLE-TRAIT
APPROACHES
Single-trait approach
- Focus of the researcher is
on one particular trait.
Multiple-trait approach
- Combination of traits are
examined and the total
effect of the collection
of traits is considered.
L2: SPECIFIC TRAITS EXAMINED
IN CONSUMER RESEARCH
Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert
- Identified nearly 18,000
names for human
characteristics found in
Webster’s Dictionary.
VALUE CONSCIOUSNESS
- Value is the heart of
consumer behavior
Value consciousness
- Represents the tendency
for consumers to focus on
maximizing what is
received from a
transaction as compared to
what is given.
MATERIALISM
- Refers to the extent to
which material goods are
important in a consumer’s
life.
Materialism is seen as
consisting of three separate
dimensions:
● Possessiveness- tendency
to retain control and
ownership over possessions
 ● Nongenerosity - research reveals that the trait
Unwillingness to share often emerges in the following
with others ways:
● Envy - resentment that ● When a consumer is
arises as a result of directly competing with
another’s belongings and a others (As when
desire to acquire similar participating in a sport)
possessions. ● When a consumer enjoys
- Material possessions help winning vicariously
consumers express who they through the efforts of
think they are, and even who others (as when we enjoy
they would like to become. seeing “our team” win).
- Downshifting refers to a ● When a consumer displays
conscious decision to reduce some superiority over
one’s material consumption. others by openly
displaying exclusive
products (as when we
INNOVATIVENESS flaunt a nice car in front
- Refers to the degree to of others).
which a consumer tends to OTHER TRAITS FOUND IN CONSUMER
be open to new ideas and RESEARCH
buying new products,
services, or experiences EXHIBIT 6.1
early in their Examples of Other Traits in
introduction. Consumer Research
- Dynamic and curious Frugality - tendency of a
- Often young,educated, and consumer to exhibit
relatively affluent. restraint when facing
COMPLAINT PRONENESS purchases and using
- Refers to the extent to resources.
which consumers tend to
Impulsiveness - tendency
voice complaints about
for consumers to make
unsatisfactory product
impulsive, unintended
purchases.
purchases.
- Consumers who are highly
complaint prone tend to be Trait Anxiety - tendency
middle-aged, to respond with anxiety
well-educated,upwardly when facing threatening
mobile, and assertive. events.
COMPETITIVENESS Bargaining Proneness -
- Enduring tendency to tendency for a consumer to
strive to be better than engage in bargaining
others. behaviors when making
A Competitive person is purchases.
generally easy to identify, and
 Trait Vanity - tendency - Very popular today in
for consumers to take large part due to its
excessive pride in ability to objectively
themselves, including assign a personality trait
their appearance and score to an individual
accomplishments. consumer.
THE FIVE-FACTOR MODEL APPROACH - Advantage over the
- One of the most popular psychoanalytic approach in
multiple-trait approaches which personality
found in both personality dimensions are assigned
psychology and consumer based on the
research is the psychologist’s subjective
five-factor model(FEM) interpretation.
Five dominant traits are found PERSONOLOGY
in the human personality, - Combines personality
including: theory and motivation
1. Extroversion - Allows consumer
2. Agreeableness researchers to better
3. Openness to understand the uniqueness
Experience(also referred of the individual consumer
to as “creativity” by combining information
4. Stability (sometimes on traits, goals, and even
referred to in a clinical consumer life stories in
way as “neuroticism”) order to gain a better
5. Conscientiousness understanding of the
DESCRIPTION complexities of the human
1. Talkative, outgoing personality.
2. Kindhearted, sympathetic BRAND PERSONALITY
3. Creative, open to new - Refers to human
ideas, imaginative characteristics that can
4. Even-keeled, avoid moods be associated with a
swings brand.
5. Precise, efficient, - Represents opportunities
organized for companies to
HIERARCHICAL APPROACHES TO differentiate their
PERSONALITY TRAITS products.
- Hierarchical approaches to FORMATION OF BRAND PERSONALITY
personality - approaches - Many factors contribute to
to personality inquiry the development of a
that assume that brand’s personality. A
personality traits exist product’s category can
at varying levels of infer certain qualities.
abstraction. PERSONALITY AND BRAND
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE TRAIT RELATIONSHIPS
APPROACH
 - Brand personality concept consumers and brands can
is especially important be described as intimate.
when one considers that ● Brand Partner Quality -
consumers, at least to brands that are perceived
some extent, have to be of high quality
relationships with brands contribute to the
and that personality formation of
traits are important in consumer-brand
the formation and relationships.
maintenance of these - The consumers are
relationships. developing feelings
Consumer-brand relationship - of trust.
indicate the level of
relationship between a consumer L3: CONSUMER LIFESTY;ES AND
and a brand. PSYCHOGRAPHICS
SUSAN FOURNIER - proposes that
the overall quality of the Lifestyle “everyday life”
relationship between consumer - Refer to the ways
and brand can be described in consumers live and spend
terms of the following: their time and money.
● Love and Passion - A
consumer may have such
strong feelings about a
brand that they actually
describe it with the term
love.
● Self-Connection - Brands
may help to express some PSYCHOGRAPHICS
central component of a ● Psychographics - refers to
consumer’s identity. the way consumer
● Commitment - In a strong lifestyles are measured.
consumer-brand Quantitative methods.
relationship, consumers ● Demographics - refers to
are very committed to observable, statistical
their brands and feel very aspects of populations
loyal to them. including things such as
● Interdependence - age, gender, or income.
Consumer-brand ● AIO statements - activity,
relationships may be interest, and opinion
marked by interdependence statements that are used
between the product and in lifestyle studies.
the consumer. Lifestyle segment profiles:
● Intimacy - strong
relationships between
 ● HOME LOVING - focused on
the family, this segment
values product quality.
● IDEALISTIC - these
responsible consumers
believe that the road to
success is based on
bettering the world.
● AUTONOMOUS - these
independent thinking
consumers strive to be
upwardly mobile.
● HEDONISTIC - values human
relationships and work.
● CONSERVATIVE - focuses
largely on the family.
ANOTHER EFFORT TO SEGMENT THE
BABY-BOOMER MARKET RESULTED IN
FOUR DISTINCT LIFESTYLE GROUPS:
● UPBEAT ENJOYERS - these
enthusiastic and upbeat
consumers enjoy wearing
the latest style in
clothes and would enjoy
one day living in
condominiums.
● INSECURE - these
financially constrained
boomes focus on satisfying
their daily needs and
products that make them
appear younger.
● THREATENED ACTIVES - these
successful active adults
look for good times in
future.
● FINANCIAL POSITIVES - these
boomers have been
successful in their
careers and focus on the
long term.
SPECIFICITY OF LIFESTYLE
SEGMENTS
- The magazines industry is
particularly efficient at
identifying consumer
lifestyles and developing
products around lifestyle
segments
VALS
- A marketer can either
identify his or her own
segments or use
established methods that
are already available.
- VALS stands for “Values
and Lifestyles”
- VALS2
VALS2 includes eight groups:
● INNOVATORS - are
successful, sophisticated
people who have high
self-esteem. They are
motivated by achievement,
ideals, and
self-expression.
● THINKERS - are ideally
motivated. They are
mature, reflective people
who value order and
knowledge.
● ACHIEVERS - have an
achievement motivation and
are politically
conservative. Their lives
largely center around
church, family, and
career.
● EXPERIENCERS - are
self-expressive consumers
who tend to be young,
impulsive, and
enthusiastic. Value
novelty and excitement.
● BELIEVERS - are like
thinkers. They are ideal,
motivated and
 conservative. They do not environment and interpret the
have the amount of myriad of symbols around them
resources that thinkers and that members of a society
have. agree on the meanings of
● STRIVERS - are achievement symbols.
motivated, but they do not Semiotics - refers to the study
have the amount of of symbols and their meanings.
resources that are
available to achievers.
● MAKERS - like experiencers
in that they are motivated
by self-expression. They
have fewer resources than
do experiencers.
● SURVIVORS - are very low
on resources and are
constricted by this lack
of resources.
PRIZM
Geodemographic techniques -
combine date on consumer
expenditures and socioeconomic
variables with geographic
information in order to
identify commonalities in
consumption patterns of
households in various regions.
PRIZM - is a popular lifestyle
analysis technique that was
developed by Claritas, Inc.
- Popular geodemographic
technique that stands for
Potential Ratings Index by
ZIP Market.
L4: THE ROLE OF SELF-CONCEPT
IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOPIC 6
DECISION MAKING I: NEED
Self-concept - refers to the RECOGNITION AND SEARCH
totality of thoughts and
feelings that an individual has L1: CONSUMER DECISION MAKING
about him- or herself.
Symbolic interactionism -
perspective that proposes that
consumers live in a symbolic