MK204x – Consumer Behaviour

Prof. S Ramesh Kumar

Week 5
Week 3
Clip 7: Classical Conditioning – Part 1

Given the importance of classical conditioning in terms of associations with brands. I thought I will
elaborate this theory so that you would know how this is applied to brands. This is a very interesting
phenomenon because what you think about one relationship is applied to another relationship. I use
the word phenomenon because though the theory is well explained by Pavlov, it becomes important
to understand that the transfer of emotions, the transfer association is something which happens in
the mind, and it may be very difficult to provide an in-depth aspect about why something appeals to
somebody the way it appeals.

And classical conditioning is extremely relevant today. Not only because it is used in advertisements,
but it can also have an impact with respect to social media. For instance, when you read about a
description of a brand or a service or an occasion written by your friend on the social media,
impressions and associations start forming in your mind.

Let me start with a few examples. Puppies and warmth. When we take a look at puppies, we find them
to be likable and there is some degree of warmth with respect to most of us when we see a puppy.
This probably holds good throughout the universe. After the onset of cafes like Starbucks and Cafe
Coffee Day, and different kinds of cafes, we find that there is a very strong association between
friends, fun, and coffee. How did this suddenly come into the picture is a question. From a different
domain, let's take the case of Rolex watch and prestige. Rolex watch symbolises prestige. It is worn by
successful people, it is a Swiss watch, it's classic in terms of its timelessness, and where did we learn
these associations? How did we learn these associations is the crux of the theory associated with
classical conditioning?

Let me explain the process in which associations are formed. As it was explained by Pavlov. There is
something known as the unconditional stimuli. Unconditional stimuli elicit some unconditional
response. Going back to the example, puppy is an unconditional stimulus. Warmth is an unconditional
response. It is important to note that the response is spontaneous. You don't think about the warmth,
whether you want to love the puppies and then decide to have warmth- it is just spontaneous. Now,
we are talking about the brand of watch called Rolex and its association with prestige. You can very
clearly see that when I talked about puppies and coffee, I'm not talking about brands when I'm talking
about Rolex, it's just not the premium watch that is associated with the prestige word. It's a specific
brand of watch that is associated with prestige. Now, the process will explain to us how such
associations come into the picture in the consumer's mind.

For example, the mother-child relationship is an unconditional stimulus. Mother-child relationship is

important throughout the world, whether one is educated or not, whether one is rich or not,
regardless of where one lives, mother-child relationship is something that is associated with warmth,
affection, feelings, and this is not true of only the human race, it is true of almost all kinds of species
which live in this world. So, that's an unconditional response. The feeling of warmth, the feeling of
affection, the feeling of likability, the feeling of bonding is an unconditional response.

Now, let's take the case of a baby food. It could be any brand. It could be a multinational brand. It
could be an Indian brand. It could be an ethnic brand. The brand is the conditional stimuli. The
conditional stimuli need to be paired with unconditional stimuli. The brand of the baby food needs to
be associated with the association of mother and baby. We already noted that the unconditional
stimuli give rise to the unconditional response. The mother-baby warmth gives rise to the
spontaneous feeling when there is repeated pairing of the baby food brand with mother-child

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 MK204x – Consumer Behaviour
Prof. S Ramesh Kumar
Week 5
Week 3
relationships. Conditional response happens through the unconditional response, which means that
the brand has received the associations that were associated with mother and child. Over a period of
time, psychologically, the consumer connects the brand of baby food with very, very warm
relationships of mother and child. Now one can imagine why the mother probably the specific brand
of baby food again and again. We do understand that the baby food is also effective in terms of its
performance, in terms of its benefits, but at the same time, the associations get created.

© All Rights Reserved, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore