Consumer Perception

Consumer Behaviour
RSM 353
Professor Scott Hawkins
Fall 2023
 Session Overview

 The perceptual process

 Sensation
 Sensory marketing
 Thresholds
✓ Absolute thresholds and subliminal perception
✓ Relative thresholds, framing, and loss aversion

 Attention
 Voluntary
 Involuntary

 Interpretation
 Semiotics
 Gestalt principles
 Priming
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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Overview of the Perceptual Process
 Perception is the process by which an individual senses,
selects, and gives meaning to patterns of information.

 Stages of perception:
 Sensation (Exposure) – the immediate responses of our
senses
 Attention – the allocation of limited processing capacity
to focus on selected information from our senses
 Interpretation - the meaning that consumers attribute
to information held in attention

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Sensation

 Sensation is the immediate response of our sensory systems.

 Sensory Marketing: the conscious design of sensory

experiences to evoke desired responses from buyers
 Sight
✓ Colour
✓ Size and variety

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Sensation

 Sensation is the immediate response of our sensory systems.

 Sensory Marketing: the conscious design of sensory

experiences to evoke desired responses from buyers
 Sight
✓ Colour
✓ Size and variety
 Smell
✓ Product
✓ Environment
✓ Advertising

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Sensation

 Sensation is the immediate response of our sensory systems.

 Sensory Marketing: the conscious design of sensory

experiences to evoke desired responses from buyers
 Sight
✓ Colour
✓ Size and variety
 Smell
✓ Product
✓ Environment
✓ Advertising
 Sound
✓ Tempo and mood
✓ Sound branding

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Sensation

 Sensation is the immediate response of our sensory systems.

 Sensory Marketing: the conscious design of sensory

experiences to evoke desired responses from buyers
 Sight
✓ Colour
✓ Size and variety
 Smell
✓ Product
✓ Environment
✓ Advertising
 Sound
✓ Tempo and mood
✓ Sound branding
 Touch
✓ Need for touch, warmth

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Sensation

 Sensation is the immediate response of our sensory systems.

 Sensory Marketing: the conscious design of sensory

experiences to evoke desired responses from buyers
 Sight
✓ Colour
✓ Size and variety
 Smell
✓ Product
✓ Environment
✓ Advertising
 Sound
✓ Tempo and mood
✓ Sound branding
 Touch
✓ Need for touch, warmth
 Taste
✓ Intensity and variety
✓ Cross-modal influences
© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
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 Thresholds in Sensation

 Absolute threshold of perception

 The lowest level of stimulation that an individual can detect
 Billboards
 Subliminal perception?

 Relative (differential) threshold of Psychological

perception Value
 The lowest level of change in a S(M) = K * log (M) + a
stimulation that an individual can
detect
 The Weber-Fechner Law states
that the sensation of a change is
proportional to the magnitude of the ∆m/M = K
initial stimuli (e.g. a log function).
Actual
 Undetectable product changes (jnd Value
= just noticeable difference)
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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Thresholds in Sensation

 Absolute threshold of perception

 The lowest level of stimulation that an individual can detect.
 Billboards
 Subliminal perception?

 Relative (differential) threshold of

perception
 The lowest level of change in a
stimulation that an individual can
detect.
 The Weber-Fechner Law states
that the sensation of a change is
proportional to the magnitude of the
initial stimuli (e.g. a log function).
 Undetectable product changes (jnd
= just noticeable difference)
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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 What is Subliminal Perception?

 Subliminal perception occurs when a consumer is exposed

to a sensory cue that is below the level of conscious
awareness (i.e., the absolute threshold of perception).

 Can stimuli presented below the absolute threshold of

awareness influence preferences and behaviour?

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Subliminal Perception: Does It Exist?

 The New Jersey theater demonstration

Drink Coca-Cola
 Embedded imagery in print and products

 Recent research on subliminal perception (non-conscious

processing):
Eat Popcorn

 Semantic priming – activating a concept (“help”)

subliminally can reduce
Drinkreaction
Coca-Cola times for related words

(share, give) but not for unrelated words (stem, leaf)

 Affective priming - dichotic listening and mereEatexposure
Popcorn
effects, mystery moods
Goal priming –Drink
Popcorn
Eat “prestige”
Coca-Cola and luxury purchase behaviour

 Behavioural priming – “hostility” and identification of

ambiguous behaviour, “age” and walking speed, “Apple”
and creativity, “Disney” and honesty

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Recent Evidence on Subliminal Priming

Source: Strahan, Spencer, & Zanna, 2002, JESP

 Difficulties in using subliminal perception in marketing?

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 The Relative Threshold of Perception

 Reference points in perception: Prospect Theory

Psychological
Value

Loss Gain

Diminishing
Sensitivity
- $1,000 Actual
+ $1,000 Value
Loss
Aversion
Current
Reference
Point

Source: Kahneman & Tversky, 1979

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
The Psychophysics of Sensation in Marketing

 Detecting changes in product attributes: Just Noticeable

Differences (JNDs) in pricing

✓ $15 calculator on sale for $10

Will Go: 73% Will Not Go: 27%

✓ $125 calculator on sale for $120

Will Go: 29% Will Not Go: 71%

 The relative magnitude of a discount influences its perceived

value and its impact on choice.

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Framing and Loss Aversion in Marketing

 Marketers are adept at changing reference points.

 Cash discounts v. credit card surcharges
 Framing the amount consumed

 Consumers often find it easier to make relative rather than

absolute judgments.

 Loss aversion in marketing:

 Frequent price changes (e.g., gasoline)
 Encourage consumers to imagine
themselves having the product (the
endowment effect) using marketing
tactics
>
 Frame decisions as losses when failing
to purchase product

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Attention

 What is attention?

“It is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and

vivid form, of one out of what seem several
simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought.”
William James (1890)

 Attention is the
allocation of a limited
processing capacity
to incoming sensory
stimuli.

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Selective Attention

 Attention has a relatively fixed limit while the marketing stimuli

to which we are exposed daily are virtually infinite.

 Coping with information overload:

 Perceptual selectivity (i.e., filtering) is a common means
of handling information overload.
✓ We only attend to a subset of incoming sensory information.
✓ The “cocktail party phenomenon”
 Adaptation
✓ Habituation – stimuli become less “noticeable” with repetition
 Automatic processing
✓ Practice can lead to automaticity: Experts v. novices
✓ Shopping time (search costs)

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Selectivity:
What Attracts Consumer Attention?
 Voluntary (top-down) attention is influenced by the
characteristics of the perceiver
 Goals of the perceiver
✓ Perceptual vigilance
✓ Perceptual defense
 Expectations of the perceiver

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Selectivity:
What Attracts Consumer Attention?
 Involuntary (bottom-up) attention is influenced by the
characteristics of the stimulus
 Physical proximity
 Surprising or unusual events
 Social attention: self and others
 Stimulus characteristics: Salience of product, message, or
execution
✓ Size
✓ Colour
✓ Position
✓ Intensity
✓ Contrast
✓ Movement
✓ Humor
✓ Mystery

o Measuring attention using eye-tracking and heat maps

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Interpretation

 Interpretation involves giving meaning to some of the

incoming stimuli which has gained attention

 Semiotics is the study of the meaning that people assign to

various signs and symbols.
 Brands as “Symbols for Sale” - Emblems
OBJECT
(Brand)

Molson
Marlboro
Hotel Inter-
cigarettes
Canadian
Continental

Engagement True
Masculine
Marlboro
William Cultured
Lung
and Joe
Women
wedding
Shakespeare
Man
Canadian
True Love
Independent
Elegant
Cancer
rings American
Identity

SIGN INTERPRETANT
(Image) (Meaning)
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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Interpretation: The Encoding of Meaning

 Mechanisms of interpretation:
 Organization
 Priming
 Categorization
 Elaboration

 Message organization: The Gestalt principles

Closure Similarity Figure-Ground

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
The Gestalt Principles in Marketing

Closure

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
The Gestalt Principles in Marketing

Similarity

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
The Gestalt Principles in Marketing

Figure-Ground

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Priming Meaning

 Priming is a phenomenon whereby exposure to one stimulus

influences a response to a subsequent stimulus, without
conscious guidance or intention.

 Priming works by activating associations that already exist in

our memory. Once we perceive something, it can evoke related
information.

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Positioning Evoked by Category Names

 Expectations can influence the interpretation of experience

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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.
 Summary

 Perception involves sensation, attention, and interpretation

 Sensory marketing: Sensory cues are pervasive in marketing

 Sensation involves both absolute and relative thresholds

 Subliminal perception and recent priming research
 Prospect theory, framing effects, and loss aversion

 Attention is characterized by limited capacity and selectivity

 Voluntary attention
 Involuntary attention

 Interpretation involves the construction of meaning through

symbolic references, associations, organization (Gestalt), and
priming.
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© October 18, 2023 by Scott A. Hawkins. All rights reserved.