Chapter Four

Personality and Consumer Behavior

4.1 Definition and Meaning of Consumer Personality

The sum total of an individual defines his personality. Just as an individual has a personality, similarly
products also have a personality of their own. A study of personality as a subject area in consumer
behavior assumes importance as consumers generally decide on product/brand choices on the basis of
their personality. A person’s decision with regard to the brand as well as the timing and place of
purchase, the amount purchased, its usage and disposal, are all based on his personality. Consumers
generally buy those products/brands, whose personality matches their own, or they buy such
products/brands that help them fight their inferiority. Thus, the study of consumer personality,
personality traits and types as well as general and consumption specific personality traits is important,
and holds relevance for a marketer in the design, development and implementation of his marketing
strategies.
Personality is defined as a sum total of outer physiological as well as the inner psychological
characteristics that determine and reflect how a person reacts to his environment. It exhibits itself
through a unique psychological makeup that activates behavior on the part of an individual in response
to forces in his or her environment. However, the emphasis is on the inner characteristics, i.e., the
qualities, attributes, traits, and mannerisms that differentiate one individual from another individual,
and make him unique in his own way. It is noteworthy that as individuals we possess such traits, and
people who share a particular trait(s) are said to belong to a personality type. Specific to environment
here, is the social environment, which posits the social dimension of a person’s psychological makeup.
A person’s personal make up is to a large extent influenced by his social environment, viz., the family,
friends, social class, sub culture, culture, nationality and the environment in which he grows up. As
Schiff man has put it consumer personality refers to the “unique dynamic organization of
characteristics of a particular person, physical and psychological, which influence behavior and
responses to the social and physical environment.” It is a consistent repeated pattern of behavior.
The term personality has been defined variedly, so has been the evolution; while some
researchers have stressed the influence that heredity has on the make-up of personality, others have
also included experiences in early childhood; still others have laid emphasis on as well as
environmental influences across different periods in a person’s life cycle, and illustrated how
personality continues to develop over lifetime. The approach towards the study has also been
debatable. While some look at personality as a unified whole, others focus on specific personality
traits.

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Consumer personality is defined as the characteristics that determine and reflect how consumers make
choices with regard to buying patterns and consumption behavior. Consumer purchase patterns are
always influenced by their personality traits. Just as we consumers, have different personality make
ups, the decision choices with regard to purchase of products/brands also differs, especially with the
assumption that consumer prefer such product/brand choices that match their personality traits. Such
personality traits could be general as well as consumption specific.
4.1.1 Consumer Personality and Its Nature
Consumer personality can be better explained by understanding the nature and characteristics of
personality:
1. Researchers offer varied opinions as to the evolution of personality; while some argue it is inborn
and based on heredity, others illustrate the role of childhood experiences as well as experiences
over life span, environmental influences as well as sudden events that mould and change one’s
personality.
2. Every person is unique in oneself, and thus personality reflects individual differences. All
individuals have internal characteristics or traits. There also exist consistent and measurable
differences between individuals. The inner characteristics that constitute the personality make up
are unique in themselves, having arisen from heredity, childhood experiences, events and incidents
across lifetime and as well as impact by the environment; thus, no two people are alike and each
one of us exhibits a unique personal make-up. Yet, while we are different, we may be similar to
each other on a trait (s), and could constitute a personality type (s). This could have implications
for a marketer who could treat each personality type as a separate segment, position his offering
accordingly and design the 4Ps.
3. An individual’s personality remains consistent over time and is enduring in nature. As such it
cannot be changed easily, quickly and frequently. This consistency and stability manifest itself
even in buying and consumption patterns and marketers need to learn how to overcome them. For
example, i) the marketer needs to match his product/brand personality with the consumer’s
personality; it can never work the other way round; ii) the marketer would have to design his 4Ps
keeping in mind the target segment’s personality type, be it pricing or promotion or even selling.
However, while people exhibit consistency and stability in their patterns of behavior, it could vary
because of psychological, socio cultural and environmental factors; same hold true for consumer
behavior and consumption pattern may vary because of such pressures. For example, a person may
agree to buy a brand that does not match his persona because of social pressures.
4. Personality can change under certain circumstances and over life span, like for example in
reaction to abrupt events/incidents/situations as also due to gradual maturing with age.

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 4.2 Personality Traits and Personality Types
We need to differentiate between a “personality trait” and a “personality type”. As mentioned in the
above section, as individuals, each one of us is unique with a wide array of qualities, attributes, traits
and characteristics. However, each one of us shares with each other a quality or a few traits (s). When
we share a trait (s) with another (others), we are said to be similar on that trait and thus we together
with the other person (s), is said to fall in a personality type. In other words, a personality trait is a
person's inclination to behave in a particular way while interacting with the external environment to
achieve goals; this would be specific to an area of a person's life. Many personality traits put together,
comprise the personal make-up of a person and culminate into his personality. On the other hand, a
group of people who share personality traits are said to fall into a personality class; they are expected
to react to the environment in a similar manner as they are similar to each other on the basis of certain
trait (s). For example, stubbornness may be a trait; dogmatism would become a personality type. The
study of personality has been a matter of discussion; contributions are varied and debatable. Major
contribution to the topic of study was made by the father of psychology, Sigmund Freud. Other
contributions came from psychologists like Carl Jung, the Neo-Freudians (like Adler, Sullivan and
Homey) and the Trait theorists. Theories on personality can be categorized as i) individual theories; ii)
social learning theories.
However, we would elaborate upon these without any such classification, as it is rightly believed that
it is the combination of both individual characteristics/traits (genetics) as well as social learning (social
environment) that impacts personality. This lesson deals with The Freudian theory, the Jungian theory
and the Neo-Freudian Theory. The Trait theory is explained in the next lesson.
4.3Theories of Personality
I. Freudian theory:
Sigmund Freud, the father of psychology, became famous with its psychoanalytic theory of
personality. In fact the theory is regarded as the cornerstone of modern psychology. Sigmund based his
theory on certain assumptions:
- 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 the 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 sub-conscious. Freud viewed
personality as “an iceberg”; just as majority of the iceberg remains within water and only the tip of the
iceberg is above water, similarly, much of our personality exists below our level of awareness, as the
unconscious and just as a part of it lies above, as the conscious.
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Even though an individual is not aware of the contents and processes of the unconscious, much of our
behavior is attributed to it.
Based on the level of awareness, the human mind comprises three parts, viz., conscious, preconscious
and the unconscious or the sub-conscious; The conscious mind is what one is aware of at any
particular moment of time and reflects ones present thoughts, feelings, perceptions, fantasies, etc; it
restricts itself to the current thinking processes and comprises a very large part of our current
awareness. The preconscious mind or the "available memory," is what can be retrieved and made
conscious, and brought to mind instantly or quickly; it is what we are aware of but not paying
attention to at a point of time; it is something that can be brought into the conscious mind. The larger
part of the human mind consists of the unconscious, which is all that stays at the subconscious level,
and comprises the unaware, better known as our drives or instincts, feelings and memories and
emotions related to trauma; this part in content and process is out of direct reach of the conscious
mind, and thinks independently; an individual has no access to because it is unknown and hidden.
This unconscious part is the source of all our drives and motives; yet we are often deny or refuse to
accept and often resist them from becoming conscious. This is because they form the unaware part and
are in a disguised form. It is because of this unconscious part that we are largely unable to control
many aspects of our behavior, especially those acts which we would prefer to avoid. According to
Freud, much of human behavior is driven directly from the subconscious mind; and so it is important
that the unconscious material needs to be brought into the conscious state so that it can be examined in
a rational manner.

Apart from these, Freud spoke of the Id, Ego and Super ego. The Id contains consists of primitive
drives that lack the real perception of reality. It operates on the pleasure principle, with the objective of
seeking pleasure and avoidance of pain, and doing what one wants to do. The processes that come into
play are primary processes like hunger, thirst etc. The Ego is aware of reality and operates via the
reality principle, where it recognizes what is real and understands that behavior has consequences. The
processes that come into play are secondary processes, like learning and memory, perception etc. It
also includes the impact that socialization has to play in the life of an individual; it recognizes the
existence of social rules that are necessary in order to live and socialize with other people, and thus,
plans to satisfy ones’ needs within the social values and rules. The Super ego comprises the value
system and the morals, which emanate from what an individual learns in childhood from his parents. It
is contained in the conscious part of our memory. It believes in doing what the society says. While the
Ego and Super Ego are partly conscious and partly unconscious, the Id is the unconscious.
Further, the Super ego acts as a counterbalance to the Id; the former seeks to restrict the pleasure-
seeking demands of the latter, and it is left for the Ego to balance the demands of the Id and Super ego

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with the constraints of reality; it controls the higher mental processes such as logical reasoning to
solve the Id-Super ego dilemma.
According to Freud, personality is based on the dynamic and continuous interplay between the Id, Ego
and Super Ego. The Id demands immediate gratification of needs and desires (pleasure principle)
regardless of constraints in the external environment; the Ego acts to realistically meet the desires of
the Id (reality principle); the Super Ego (conscience) blends morals and societal rules upon the ego, so
that the desires are met both realistically and morally. Thus, Freud also pointed out the impact of
socialization on members of a society, especially with reference to how this socialization impacts
individual behavior. According to him, there exists a state of tension within an individual; this tension
arises out if there is a mismatch between an individual’s needs and desires vis-à-vis the norms set up
by the society and the socialization process; the manner in which an individual sorts out the dilemma
shapes his personality.
An Assessment of the Theory: The Freudian theory is the first comprehensive theory that was
proposed on the subject of personality. He described several components that underlie how personality
emanates, thus leading to a better understanding of the subject. Other theories have emerged out of this
pioneering work. Yet is has been criticized. It is pointed out that his theory lacks reliability and
validity; one, it does not lend itself to empirical testing, primarily because the hypotheses are not
testable; two, Freud based his theory on the case study approach, and it would be inappropriate to
make generalizations based on the case study approach; three, he concentrated only on the impact that
childhood experiences have on personality, and ignored other experiences across life span.
Implications for marketers:
The Freudian theory holds relevance for a marketer. First, consumer reactions in the marketplace with
respect to purchase decisions and post purchase behavior are a reflection on individual personality.
Just as people have personalities, similarly product/brands also have personalities. Consumers tend to
relate "personality-like" traits to different products and brands. Consumers match their personality
styles with the product/brands they buy. Thus, marketers should segment markets and position their
brands accordingly. For example, there are variants of the same motorbike; some plain and sleek,
some trendy and some powerful, each of which are meant for separate segments. Thus, marketers
could take a clue and segment consumers on the basis of the personality traits that determine their
behavior.
Based on the dominant personality system, the three elements, Id, Ego, and Super Ego can also be
used to segment markets.
The dominance of either of these would lead to a different personality make up, and variation in
decision making styles and consumption patterns; For example, where the Id is dominant, the person
would be pleasure seeking, often irrational; his priorities and consumption patterns would be very

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 different to another consumer who exhibits dominance of Ego (rationality) and Super Ego (rationality
plus social norms).
Second, the study of personality also holds good when we speak of colors, as personality factors are
associated with and reflective of specific colors. Like, green denotes freshness, nature; red denotes
passion, anger; black denotes power, sophistication; white denotes purity, chastity and cleanliness;
gold and silver denote regality and wealth. Marketers keep such associations in mind while designing
the product, its packaging as well as the advertisement. For example, mouthwash is white, herbal
soaps are green, motorcycles are generally black and red etc.
Third, with a majority of human drives being unconscious, consumers themselves are often
unaware of the true reasons for buying a particular product or brand. Many a times, a consumer fails to
provide an answer as to why he bought a red shirt and not a yellow one.
Fourth, much of the processes that come into play while purchase decisions and consumption patterns
is unexplainable; behavior is many a times instant and spontaneous much against market forecast. For
example, Hrithik Roshan movies made by Rakesh Roshan and team like Koi Mil Gaya, Krish etc. have
been huge hits, but Kites made under the same banner was quite a disaster, much against marketer
expectations.
II. Jungian theory:
Carl Jung, a contemporary of Freud proposed the famous Jungian Theory. He elaborated on
personality types, and his contribution has great relevance to the study of consumer behavior.
Carl Jung's proposed a typology based upon four bipolar dimensions, where each pole represents an
opposite preference and thus illustrates four dichotomies, viz, Extraversion – Introversion, Sensing –
Intuition, Thinking – Feeling, and Judging – Perceiving. The permutations of these 4 pairs help
identify sixteen different personality types. The sixteen personality types are defined in terms of
acronyms of the combination of the 4 dimensions they represent. The various types are Extraverted
Sensing (ESFP, ESTP), Introverted Sensing (ISTJ, ISFJ), Extraverted Intuition (ENFP, ENTP),
Introverted Intuition (INFJ, INTJ), Extraverted Thinking (ESTJ, ENTJ), Introverted Thinking (ISTP,
INTP), Extraverted Feeling (ESFJ, ENFJ) and Introverted Feeling (INFP, ISFP).
The personality types proposed by Carl Jung were developed and incorporated into a scale that came
to be famously known and applied as the MBTI or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Essentially a
personality inventory, it has been used extensively in social sciences to measure the following pairs of
psychological construct/dimensions: sensing-intuiting, thinking-feeling, extroversion-introversion, and
judging-perceiving. Each of the four pairs is illustrative of two different personality characteristics.
While the scale has been applied successfully in studies on consumer behavior and market research,
recent research has tended to focus on two mental bipolar dimensions or dichotomies, viz., sensing-
intuiting (S-N) and thinking-feeling (T-F). The two dimensions, sensing (S) and intuiting (N) measure

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 how a person receives, gathers and processes information; the people who fall under the S category
prefer to gather information through their senses directly; the people who fall under the N category
rely upon their understanding of things, based on their perception of the world. Thus we can perceive
information through our senses, or our intuition.
The other two dimensions, thinking (T) and feeling (F) refer to how individuals take decisions; the
people who fall under the T category make decisions based on an unbiased reasoning and logic; the
people who fall under the F category base their decisions on feeling and emotions. Thus we can make
decisions based on objective logic, or subjective feelings. According to Jung, we all use the S,N,T and
F; however each one us varies in their usage and frequency. The combination of our "preferences"
defines our personality type. The same descriptions of the sensing-intuiting (S-N) and thinking-feeling
(T-F) personality types may be applied to consumer behavior; the S and N determine how a consumer
gathers and processes information about products, while the T and F determine how he makes a
purchase decision.
By cross-tabulating the two pairs of psychological dimensions, we can derive four different
personality types, viz. Sensing-Thinking (S-T), Sensing-Feeling (S-F), Intuiting-Thinking (N-T) and
Intuiting-Feeling (N-F). Each of these reflects variedly in purchase decisions and consumption
processes. The marketer could benefit immensely by gaining insights as to the varying types so as to
design his marketing strategy to be able to serve consumers effectively and efficiently. Let us describe
the four personality types with an example. There are four women, each one with a different
personality type, S-T, S-F, N-T and N-F. They desire to buy some gold jeweler (See Table 1).
An Assessment of the Theory: Carl Jung was the firs psychologist to speak of personality types. His
typology based upon four bipolar dimensions have been widely applied in research in social sciences;
it has also been successfully used in studies on consumer behavior as well. He believed that our
behavior is shaped by past generations' experience.

Implications for a marketer:

The theory has relevance for a marketer. After gaining an insight into the various personality types, a
marketer could design his marketing strategy so to be able to serve consumers with the varying
personality types in a better manner, leaving them more satisfied.

Table 1: Psychological construct/dimensions with characteristics and Example

Characteristics
Sensing-Thinking (S-T) -Extensive search for
information
-Rational and logical in
decision making
Example
-The lady would collect facts about the reputed
dealers and the prevailing gold prices.
-She would evaluate and make comparisons with
respect to carat, purity, design and making charges.
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 -Economic orientation;
Price-sensitive
-Propelled by materialism;
reflects personal motives
-Risk avoider
-Empirical
Sensing-Feeling (S-F) -Searches for information,
but likes to consider
others’ opinions
-Basis decision on
personal values
-Propelled by materialism;
reflects status
-Risk taker but likes to
share with others
-Empirical
-Low on rationality
Intuiting-Thinking (N- -Imagines wide range of
T) options; Weighs pros and
cons
-Basis decisions on
intuition and imagination;
Yet, uses logic while
making decisions
-Risk taker; Speculative
Intuiting-Feeling (N-F) -Imagines wide range of
options
-Basis decisions on
intuition and imagination;
Yet, uses other peoples’
opinions
-Highly “people oriented”
or “other directed”
-Least price sensitive
-Risk seeker; Novelty
seeking
-After careful thought and deliberation, she would
take a decision on her own regarding what to buy
and from where.
-The decision choice would be based on genuinity
and economics.
-The lady would collect facts about gold prices,
carat, purity, dealers etc.
-She would evaluate and make comparisons with
respect to carat, purity, design and making charges.
-She would like to take opinion of others,
especially on the appeal and design. She would like
to seek advice from the dealer himself, or her
friends/ relatives and people from her social class.
-She would take a decision regarding what to buy
and from where based on opinions of others.
-The decision choice would be based on genuinity
and opinion of others.
-The lady would weigh the various options that she
is aware of.
-Such options would relate to carat, purity, design
and making charges, as well as gold prices and
available dealers.
-She would be speculative and take a decision on
her own regarding what to buy and from where.
-The decision choice would be based on intuition,
imagination and hunch. She would be a risk taker.
-The lady would weigh the various options that she
is aware of.
-Such options would relate to carat, purity, design
and making charges, as well as gold prices and
available dealers.
-She would be speculative and take a decision on
her own regarding what to buy and from where.
-She would look for peoples’ opinions
-She would be least price sensitive
-The decision choice would be based on intuition,
imagination and hunch, but with hearsay from
others
-She would be a risk taker and novelty seeker, often
switching dealers and brands.

III. 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 i) biological and rooted in genetics, and ii)
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-Freudians. Noteworthy among them are
Alfred Adler, Harry Stack Sullivan and Karen Homey.
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a. Alfred Adler: Adler, who is regarded as the father of individual psychology, was a disciple of
Freud. He later broke away from the Freudian philosophy due to disagreement over the
importance that Freud gave to the “unconscious”. Adler was the first psychologist to speak of the
term ‘inferiority complex’, something that arose out of a sense of inferiority or inadequacy. He
believed that:
 people are goal oriented, with an urge for personal growth, and “the will to power”; they
have within them a "self-perfecting" drive; this drive is the single "drive" or motivating
force behind all behavior and experience
 Individuals seek to overcome feelings of anxiety and feelings of inferiority; the basic drive
in human beings is to strive from an initial state of inadequacy, or what he termed
"inferiority", toward "superiority", or self-actualization. People compensate (strive to
overcome) for inferiorities by making necessary adjustments.
 people strive for goals that can be referred to as style of life;
 social drives, especially family, friends and culture have an impact on behavior and
feelings; right from birth across a life span, people involve themselves in social
relationships;
 The primal social influences in an individual can be modified in a manner such that that
each one of us develops personal styles in dealing with our life and achieving goals.
According to Adler’s theory individuals’ buy to overcome feelings of inferiority.
b. Herbert Harry Stack Sullivan: Sullivan, a psychiatrist extended Freud’s theory of
psychoanalysis, and concluded that failures in interpersonal relationships were largely
responsible for mental illnesses and disorders. He referred to such causes as “interactional”,
which needed to be assessed to cure any kind of psychoses. According to him, social
relationships were extremely important for human beings and loneliness was the most painful of
human experiences. He developed a theory of psychiatry based on interpersonal relationships
where social forces are largely responsible for mental illnesses.
Sullivan referred to his approach an interpersonal theory of psychiatry, to focus on “what goes on
between people”, sharp in contrast to Freud, who focused on “what goes on inside people”. He
believed that social relationships are primary, which actually lead to personality. In fact
personality manifests itself in such social relationships.
He proposed that human beings are driven towards two sources of motivation viz., the pursuit of
satisfactions and the pursuit of security. With respect to satisfaction, human beings seek
satisfaction of mainly bodily needs, with the goal to reduce tension. With respect to security,
human beings seek to reduce the insecurity that arises from social and cultural needs. Personality
manifests and strives for avoidance and reduction of anxiety.
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 Thus, Sullivan focused on how human beings try to form and maintain social relationships with
each other, especially if such relationships are significant and rewarding. He also spoke about
anxiety in human beings. He elaborated on how personality is impacted as people put in efforts
to reduce tensions, particularly anxiety. He said that human beings develop particular personality
traits to reduce anxiety.
c. Karen Homey: Karen Homey, a prominent female personality theorist of her time, added on to
Freud’s work by emphasizing the role of social factors. Her approach came to be known as the
psychosocial analysis. Her work focused on the emotional relationship that exists between parent
and child early in the child's life. Like other Neo-Freudists, Homey also spoke on anxiety. While
focusing on child parent relationships, she also researched on how people strive to overcome
feelings of anxiety. According to her, people experience anxiety and tend to act as neurotics; the
irrational defenses against anxiety become a permanent part of personality and that affect human
behavior; based on their approach towards overcoming feelings of anxiety, people could be
classified into three groups viz., compliant, aggressive, and detached (CAD).
i. Compliant: Some people who experience a great deal of anxiety and helplessness move
toward other people in order to gain help and acceptance; they seek social support,
approval and acceptance and so they move towards others. Such people are regarded as
complaints. They want to be loved, admired, wanted and appreciated.
ii. Aggressive: Some people try to overcome their insecurities and anxieties by forcing
their power over others, dominating them, or even excelling over them. This makes them
feel secured; the objective is to 'get them before they get me.' Such people are
aggressive; they move against others, in other words they want to excel over others.
They want to successful and powerful and have a desire for personal admiration and
achievement. In the process, they could be demanding, selfish, rude and cruel.
iii. Detached: There are some people who want to move away from others; they are asocial
and indifferent towards others. They believe that if they do not involve with others, they
would escape being hurt from them. Such people are referred to as detached; they seek
freedom from obligations, and desire total independence, leaving them lonely and
empty. They like to create their own style.
Based on the three types, a personality test has been developed which is referred to as the CAD scale.
The scale has been widely used in studies related to consumer behavior. In fact, the three types have
ramifications for marketers; the three personality groups are illustrative of personality types that are
varied, and would react differently to the marketing mix. According to Homey’s theory, different types
of people buy different types of products/services. They could be treated as three distinct segments,
and the marketing mix designed accordingly. For example, the compliant consumers who would like

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to be in company of other people would be more likely to use a toothpaste with a mouth freshener
(Close-Up); an aggressive consumer who would like to excel over others would like to drink health
drinks (Boost, Secret of my Energy); and detached consumers who seek total independence and like to
create their own style would like to go for meditation and rejuvenation camps (Vipassana).
An Assessment of the Theory: The Neo-Freudian theories draw themselves from various contributors
and are an expanse in content and processes in so far as the subject matter of personality is concerned.
However, while the Neo-Freudians speak of human tendencies to strive for perfection, fight anxiety
and inadequacies, and of social relationships, they tend to ignore the biological traits and the genetics
involved.
Implications for a marketer:
The Neo-Freudian theories emphasize the role that socialization has to play. Marketers could draw in
heavily in so far as the impact that opinion leaders, as well as interpersonal communication and word
of mouth could have on consumer decision processes and consumption processes. This would also
include the impact that family, friends, social class, culture and sub-culture. Marketers have also
tended to use Neo-Freudian theories while segmenting markets and positioning their products, eg.
Personality types have been used to segment markets and position products as per the segment.
4.4. Theories of Personality II:
Theories on personality can be categorized as i) individual theories; ii) social learning theories.
However, we would elaborate upon these without any such classification, as it is rightly believed that
it is the combination of both individual characteristics/traits (genetics) as well as social learning (social
environment) that impacts personality. The previous lesson deals with The Freudian theory, the
Jungian theory and the Neo-Freudian Theory. The Trait theory is explained in this lesson.
Trait theory:
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. People possess specific psychological
characteristics that are referred to as traits; and all those who possess a particular trait, are said to
belong to a personality type. A trait is a predisposition to behave in a certain manner.
In order to identify traits within individuals and differentiate amongst themselves, the trait theorists
rely on personality tests, scales and inventories. Hence, they assume some kind of a quantitative
orientation unlike the Freudian, and Neo-Freudian schools. Once they have identified the traits, they
classify individuals into groups of people on the basis of the pattern of traits that they possess.
The trait theories can be of two broad categories, viz., simple trait theories and general trait theories.
While
I. Simple trait theories: A limited number of traits are identified, and people are identified and
classified on the basis of these traits.
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 II. General trait theories: A large variety of traits are identified.
An Assessment of the Theory: Unlike the Freudian and the Neo-Freudian theories, the Trait Theories
possess a degree of quantification while classifying individuals into personality types. Through the
application of tests and scales, people are objectively assessed for presence/absence of personality
traits and accordingly classified into personality types. Thus, unlike the previous theories, the Trait
approach seems to be a more realistic and objective approach. However, the limitation lies in the fact
that sometimes traits tend to be indefinable, vague and indescribable; nevertheless the personality tests
are widely used.
The Trait Theory and Consumer Behavior:
The Trait theory holds greater and wider relevance for a marketer than the Freudian and Neo-Freudian
approaches. This is primarily due to the fact that the approach proves to be realistic, objective and
quantitative. Single trait personality scales, inventories and tests have been designed, and tested for
validity and reliability, and thereafter been applied for consumer research. Such single trait scales, as
the name suggests, pertain to measurement of a single trait. Based on the traits, the consumers can be
classified into groups, labeling the consumers as being of a certain personality type. Consumers can be
finally segmented into personality types, on the basis of the configuration of traits that they possess.
Personality traits have been found to have an influence on consumer decision making and
consumption patterns. The traits that consumers possess, influences their decision making processes
and subsequent consumption patterns. Consumer behaviorists have identified General and
Consumption specific traits; On the basis of these, they have been able to usefully formulate and
implement marketing strategies, through first segmenting the market, target it, positioning their
product/service offering, and designing the marketing mix accordingly. Some traits that have been
subject to research are traits like consumer innovativeness, consumer susceptibility to interpersonal
influence and consumer ethnocentrism. The Five factor theory lists the traits as openness to
experience, conscientiousness, experience, agreeableness and neuroticism (also referred to as
OCEAN). Some of these traits and their relevance for a marketer are explained as follows:
i) Consumer Innovativeness:
Innovativeness as a personality trait reflects how well a person reacts to something that is “new”; this
“new” could be a new product or a brand or even a change in the marketing mix. A marketer needs to
assess in its target segment, the degree of receptivity towards new products and services/brands or
even towards changes made in the other Ps be it pricing, distribution and/or communication; the
marketer also needs to have an understanding of consumer segments who would be most receptive to
try out new products and services, so as to assess the target segments that would be most lucrative; this
has implications especially in terms of diffusion and adoption, two important topics in the study of

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consumer behavior that shall be discussed subsequently. Thus, a study of consumer innovativeness
becomes important for a marketer.
Innovativeness gets related to other personality traits like dogmatism, social character, optimum
stimulation levels and variety novelty seeking. The presence/absence of such traits help differentiate
between consumer innovators and non-innovators. The various traits, and their implications for a
marketer are explained subsequently through a table (See Table 2).
ii) Consumer Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence:
Susceptibility to interpersonal influence measures a person’s receptiveness to social influence. A
marketer needs to understand the how a consumer segment responds to social influence and social
approval in the purchase and consumption of goods and services.
The famous SUSCEP scale, has been designed to assess consumers’ susceptibility to social influence.
The scale has been successfully used to identify differences amongst people with respect to social
influence, and their attitude towards acceptance/rejection of new products and services based on social
approval. People who score high on the scale are high on self-confidence as opposed to those who
score low on the scale. Interpersonal influence can assume three forms, viz., information influence,
value expressive influence and utilitarian influence.
a) Information influence: Inclination of a consumer to rely on others for information, and readily
accept this information without thought and deliberation, is referred to as an information influence.
The information could pertain to the product and service offering or the 4 Ps, competitors etc.
b) Value expressive influence: The person desires social acceptance by members of the social class;
in order to gain such acceptance and hold on to it, he decides to behave in a manner that is similar to
them. He respects the values, beliefs and notions of other members of his social class. As a consumer,
this value expressive influence would imply that the consumer behaves like others in his social group,
be it family, friends, peers, reference group, members of the social class, etc. He would patronize
product and service offerings that have social approval, and behave similar to others in his social
group in terms of purchase decisions and consumption patterns. He would seek to gain and maintain
social approval and so get influenced by values expressed by members of his social group.
c) Utilitarian influence: Under this kind of influence, a person tries to be conventional; he agrees to
what have to say in order to win a reward or avoid a punishment. In other words, he yields to social
pressure, in order to be benefited like others or escape a punishment like others. As a consumer, he
would patronize usage of product and service offerings or brands that are rewarding in terms of usage
experience provide value for money and bring satisfaction; he would avoid brands that others do not
buy because they are not rewarding.
Table 2: Personality traits and their Implications

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 Table 2 Contd: Personality traits and their Implications

Types Relevance/Implications for a Marketer

Personality Trait and iii)
Meaning
Consumer Innovativeness -High on Innovativeness helps a marketer to:
- measures how open and Innovativeness: - assess a consumers’ willingness to
receptive a consumer is willing to try out new innovate.
towards a new product or product/service - analyze the degree of receptivity of
service/ brand OR even to offerings and /or segment(s).
changes made to any or all brands. - identify the most lucrative segment(s) for
of the 4 Ps. -Low on a new product/service.
Innovativeness: - predict and forecast the rate of diffusion
reluctant and and adoption of new products and services.
unwilling to try out An innovator would be willing to try out
new product/service new product/services and would be
offerings and /or receptive to new offerings, as opposed to a
brands. non-innovator.
Dogmatism - High dogmatism: High dogmatism:
- measures the extent of when one approaches - Consumers who are high on dogmatism
rigidity within a consumer the new/ decide to purchase traditional, established
towards something that is unfamiliar/alien/strang and time tested product/brands;
new, or unfamiliar or e object defensively - They tend to become brand loyal.
contrary to established and with great - In order to encourage such consumers to
preconceptions, ideas and resistance and try out new products/brands, the marketer
beliefs. discomfort in thought needs to use authoritative appeals; Credible
and action. They are sources like experts/celebrities should be
“closed-minded.” used.
- Low dogmatism: Low dogmatism:
when one approaches - Consumers who are low on dogmatism
and considers the prefer to test out new products/brands.
new/unfamiliar/alien/s - Such consumers tend to be innovators.
trange object without - For such consumers, the marketer should
any resistance and design advertisements that stress upon
without any product features, benefits, factual
discomfort in thought differences and greater value over previous
and action. They are product offerings and /models.
“open-minded”.
Cognitive factors:
Cognitive personality traits have also been studied by consumer researchers and have been found to
have an impact on consumption behavior. While many traits have been studied and examined, two
traits in particular, viz., visualizers and verbalizers, and need for cognition have been found to have a
profound influence on how consumers behave in the marketplace. The traits hold relevance in that
they could help the marketer in designing their communication strategy, both in terms of media and
message strategy. The various traits, and their implications for a marketer are explained subsequently
through a table (See Table 3).
iv) Consumer Ethnocentrism:

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Ethnocentrism is illustrative of a persons’ feeling of patriotism, and a resultant desire to accept or
reject foreign made products and/or brands. As consumers, they feel that it is undesirable and
inappropriate to prefer foreign products over indigenous ones; this could be one, because of patriotism,
and two, because of the impact that it would have on the socio-cultural fabric and the economy.
A scale referred to as “CETSCALE” has been developed to measure the receptivity within consumers
towards foreign made product and service offerings and/or foreign brands. This could help a marketer,
especially a multi-national, help assess the consumer segment, in terms of receptivity towards foreign
made products.
Implications for a marketer:
On the basis of the trait theories, marketers can formulate and implement marketing strategies, through
first segmenting the market, targeting it, positioning their product/service offering, and designing the
marketing mix accordingly. This would help him classify segments, provide the product/service
offering accordingly, and design the mix in terms of price, place and promotion. Apart from the above
traits that are more useful for a marketer, there also exist other general and consumption specific traits,
a few of which are mentioned below (See Table 4):
a) General personality traits: General personality traits are those traits that affect an individual
across all kinds of situations, whether related or unrelated to shopping and /or consumption behavior.
b) Consumption-specific personality traits: Consumption-specific personality traits are traits that
affect shopping and /or consumption behavior.
4.5 Meaning of Self Concept and Self Image:
The two issues, self-concept and self-image, have been widely researched and dealt upon in studies on
consumer behavior. Every individual makes a self-assessment of himself/herself, and forms opinions
of himself/herself. He sees himself as an “actual”, and as an “ideal”. Based on such an image, he acts
out his behavior, both general and specific to consumption behavior. The study on self-concept and
self-image lay emphasis on such aspects of personality that are expressive of an individual's image of
him or herself. They hold relevance for a marketer in the sense that consumers hold opinions of their
own personalities, and such individual opinions have an impact on their decision making as well as
usage and consumption patterns. Many a times this assessment of self-concept and self-image have a
greater impact than even the personality traits; as such while we could make broader generic
conclusions with personality traits, the self-concept and self-image help us make specific conclusions.
Theories related to self-concept indicate relationships between a person and his/her social system, and
conclude how this relationship affects a person’s personality make up. In other words, an individual’s
interaction with others around him affect his personality development, through self-concept. While
earlier theories like the Freudian theory and the Trait theory also recognize the role played by social
forces in the development of an individual’s personality, there is a difference. The former theories
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recognize the role social forces could play in grooming one's personality in the past, self-concept
theories focus on the influence that such forces have on one's current personality pattern.
Self-Concept:
The self-concept comprises two components, viz., the “actual self”, and the “ideal self”. The first, i.e.,
“actual-self”, refers to an individual’s perception of what/who he or she is; the second, i.e., “ideal-
self”, refers to an individual’s perception of what/who he or she wants to be. Both of these concepts
are related to each other. An individual can express his personality in two ways; depending upon the
priority that is assigned, the resultant behavior would differ. For example, the person can either act out
his “actual self” and behave as he is, consistent with his existing personal make-up. The other
alternative would be to act out in a manner that is close to or similar to the “ideal-self”, something that
he wants to be, thereby increasing his self-esteem. An individual faces a conflict when there is a big
difference between the ”actual” and “ideal” self, and the choice to behave as “actual” or “ideal”
depends on the situational context. Thus, individual’s are not a “single self”; they are “multiple-
selves”, and would act differently in different situations.
As a consumer, also the two, “actual” and “ideal” selves come into play in the marketplace. While a
consumer tries to relate his personality with the personality of the product/service offering, and the
brand, the “actual-self”, comes into play; on the other hand, when he tries to match the product
/service and the brand personality with his aspirational group, and aspires to buy the same, the “ideal-
self” comes into play. This confirms the assumption that self-concept is closely related with
personality, and individuals would buy such products/services, which match their concept and
Further, consumer’s also exhibit “multiple-selves”, and the same consumer could act differently at
different times with different people; for example, he could buy prefer a blue colour today, and a black
tomorrow. Again, whether the “actual-self” or the “ideal-self”, comes into play would be determined
by situational factors, which would include social visibility of purchase and usage, and the
importance/relevance of the purchase for the person’s self-image. This could have implications for a
marketer in terms of market segmentation (use-benefit, and use-situation segmentation).
Self-Image:
Traits, characteristics, qualities and mannerisms of behavior, all put together create the self-image of a
person. This self-image arises out of the person’s background, values, lifestyles, experiences, etc. as
well as interactions with parents, family, friends, peers etc.
In terms of marketing also, we as consumers possess a self-image. Similar to relationship between
self-concept and brand personality, there also exists a relationship between self-image and the brand
personality. Consumers match the product and/or brand personalities, with their self-image, and buy
those where they find a close or perfect match. In this manner they attempt to reaffirm and preserve
their self-image.

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Based on findings from research undertaken in consumer behavior, various kinds of self-images have
been identified, viz., actual self-image (how a consumer perceive himself), ideal self-image (how he
would like to perceive himself), social self-image (how a consumer feels others perceive him, or how
they think of him), ideal social self-image (how the consumer would like others to perceive him), and
expected self-image (how the consumer expects to see himself in future). The expected self-image
refers to something that lies between the actual and the ideal self-image, in other words, it is
something what the consumer would like to be. It needs to be mentioned here that very often
consumers’ seek to “alter their self”, and try and go for a personality change, for example they could
go in for fashion apparel, grooming and cosmetic surgery, etc., and try and reach an ideal self.
As a consumer, which of the self-images comes into play would depend upon the i) product/service
offering and, ii) the situational factors, which would include social visibility of purchase and usage,
and the importance/relevance of the purchase for the person’s self-image. For example for
convenience goods or day-to-day household goods, the consumer would base his purchase on his
actual self-image. On the other hand, for shopping goods or specialty goods, he would be guided by
the social self-image or the ideal self-image. This could have implications for a marketer in terms of
market segmentation and positioning. Self-image can be used as a basis to segment the market, and the
marketer can then position his product/service offering as a symbol of such self-images.
Brand Personality: Just as individuals’ have a personal make-up with characteristics/traits/qualities,
similarly products/services also have personalities. Brand personality refers to a set of
characteristics/qualities similar to human beings that become associated with a brand. Based on their
understanding, consumers’ begin to ascribe certain characteristics or traits to a brand. This association
between the characteristic/trait and the brand gets generated out of the manner in which it is positioned
by the marketer. Thereafter, consumers match the product and/or brand personalities, with their own
personalities, self-image and self concept; and they buy those where they find a close or perfect match.
Sometimes they buy such product/brands that help them bolster their weak or inferior self. Some
personality traits with examples of brands are mentioned below:
a) Sophistication: Dove, Titan Raga
b) Ruggedness: Levi’s Jeans, Bajaj Pulsar
c) Power: Surf, Rin, Hero Honda
d) Achievement: Boost, Glucon C
e) Competence: Kingfisher Airlines, IBM
f) Sincerity: Life Insurance Corporation, Western Union Money Transfer
4.6 Consumer Personality, Self-Concept and Self-Image and Implications for Marketers:
Consumer personality, self-concept and self image have implications for a marketer. Consumers’
purchase and usage of product and service offerings is reflective of his personality, self-concept, and

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self-image. Consumers generally buy those products/brands, whose personality matches their own. For
marketers this is important as they must know that consumers make purchase decisions to support their
personality, self-concept and self-image. The concept of self helps a marketer to understand, predict,
and direct the purchase decisions of consumers. Thus, marketers need to understand the congruity
between personality, self-concept and self-image of the customers, vis a vis, the brand personality and
image of the product/service offering. The study of consumer personality, self-concept and self-image
can be useful for a marketer in the following ways:
1. Every person is unique in oneself, and thus personality reflects individual differences. Yet, while we
are different, we may be similar to each other on a trait (s), and could constitute a personality type (s).
A person’s decision with regard to the brand as well as the timing and place of purchase, the amount
purchased, its usage and disposal, are all based on his personality. This could have implications for a
marketer who could treat each personality type as a separate segment, position his offering accordingly
and design the 4Ps.
Drawing upon from various theories on personality, marketers can formulate and implement
marketing strategies, through first segmenting the market, targeting it, positioning their
product/service offering, and designing the marketing mix accordingly. This would help him classify
segments, provide the product/service offering accordingly, and design the mix in terms of price, place
and promotion.
2. Self-concept is closely related with personality, and individuals would buy such products/services,
which match their concepts and personalities.
The study of consumer self-concept helps a marketer understand how the “actual” and “ideal” selves
come into play in the marketplace. A consumer tries to relate his personality with the personality of
the product/service offering, and the brand, the “actual-self”, comes into play; on the other hand, when
he tries to match the product /service and the brand personality with his aspirational group, and aspires
to buy the same, the “ideal-self” comes into play. Further, consumer’s also exhibit “multiple-selves”,
and the same consumer could act differently at different times with different people;
Again, whether the “actual-self” or the “ideal-self”, comes into play would be determined by
situational factors, which would include social visibility of purchase and usage, and the
importance/relevance of the purchase for the person’s self-image. This has implications for a marketer
in terms of market segmentation.
3. Similarly, there also exists a relationship between self-image and brand personality. Consumers
match the product and/or brand personalities, with their self-image, and buy those where they find a
close or perfect match. In this manner they attempt to reaffirm and preserve their self-image.
Based on findings from research undertaken in consumer behavior, various kinds of self-
images have been identified. As a consumer, which of the self-images comes into play would depend

18
upon the i) product/service offering and, ii) the situational factors, which would include social
visibility of purchase and usage, and the importance/relevance of the purchase for the person’s self-
image. Self-image can be used as a basis to segment the market, and the marketer can then position his
product/service offering as a symbol of such self-images.
Thus, the study of consumer personality (personality traits and types as well as general and
consumption specific personality traits), self-concept, and self-image is important, and holds relevance
for a marketer in the design, development and implementation of his marketing strategies. After
gaining an insight into the various personality types, a marketer could design his marketing strategy so
to be able to serve consumers with the varying personality types in a better manner, leaving them more
satisfied.

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