Simplified Exam Notes: Consumer Behavior
# Simplified Detailed Notes: Consumer Behavior (Personality, Perception, Learning)
## Chapter 3: Personality and Consumer Behavior
### What is Personality?
- Personality: Inner psychological traits that influence how a person responds to their environment.
- Important for segmenting markets and understanding consumer diversity.
### Key Properties of Personality
1. Reflects individual differences.
2. Is consistent and enduring.
3. Can change due to major life events or gradual maturation.
### Major Theories of Personality
- **Freudian Theory:** Personality consists of Id (primitive drives), Superego (moral constraints), and Ego
(rational balance).
- **Jungian Theory:** Classifies people into 4 types based on Sensing/Intuiting and Thinking/Feeling.
- **Neo-Freudian Theory (Horney):** Three personality groups: Compliant, Aggressive, Detached.
- **Trait Theory:** Measures specific personality traits like Innovativeness, Dogmatism, Materialism, etc.
### Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior
- Innovators: Open to new products.
- Dogmatic: Prefer tradition and familiar brands.
- Inner/Outer-directed: Influence how consumers evaluate products (based on self or others).
Simplified Exam Notes: Consumer Behavior
### Brand Personality
- Consumers associate traits with brands (e.g., Mr. Coffee seen as friendly and dependable).
- Colors also convey personality (e.g., Black = sophistication, Red = excitement).
## Chapter 4: Consumer Perception
### What is Perception?
- Perception is how people select, organize, and interpret sensory input.
- Influences how consumers view products, ads, and brands.
### Key Concepts in Perception
- **Sensation:** Raw input from senses.
- **Absolute Threshold:** Minimum level of stimulus detected.
- **Differential Threshold (JND):** Smallest difference noticed between stimuli (Webers Law).
### Marketing Applications
- Increase input to stand out (e.g., full-page ads).
- Use subtle changes below JND for cost savings.
### Subliminal Perception
- Perception without conscious awareness, often debated in marketing.
### Perceptual Selection
- Influenced by:
Simplified Exam Notes: Consumer Behavior
- Stimulus Nature (size, color, novelty).
- Expectations (based on past experience).
- Motives (based on current needs).
### Perceptual Organization (Gestalt)
- **Figure & Ground:** Distinguish main object from background.
- **Grouping:** View elements together (e.g., product + lifestyle image).
- **Closure:** Fill in missing information to form a complete image.
### Perceptual Interpretation
- Influenced by experience, stereotypes, and irrelevant cues.
- **Halo Effect:** Judging a product based on a single attribute.
## Chapter 5: Consumer Learning
### What is Learning?
- A process by which consumers acquire knowledge/experience for future behavior.
- Can be intentional or incidental.
### Key Elements in Learning
1. **Motivation:** Drives learning (based on needs/goals).
2. **Cues:** Guide consumer behavior (ads, packaging).
3. **Response:** Action taken (buy, evaluate).
4. **Reinforcement:** Increases likelihood of repeated behavior.
Simplified Exam Notes: Consumer Behavior
### Behavioral Learning Theories
- **Classical Conditioning (Pavlov):** Associate stimulus with response (e.g., music + product).
- **Instrumental Conditioning (Skinner):** Trial-and-error learning through rewards.
### Learning Techniques
- **Repetition:** Helps with memory.
- **Generalization:** Applying response to similar stimuli (e.g., brand extensions).
- **Discrimination:** Recognizing differences between brands.
### Cognitive Learning Theory
- Learning through thinking, reasoning, and problem solving.
- Information processed in 3 stages:
- **Sensory Store:** Brief and immediate input.
- **Short-term Store:** Temporary storage (~30 sec).
- **Long-term Store:** Permanent memory with chunking and rehearsal.
### Advertising Implications
- Use both visual and verbal info.
- Prevent information overload.
- Position messages for easier encoding and retrieval.
### Brand Loyalty
- Often results from reinforced positive experiences.
- Can be influenced by distributed (long-term) or massed (short-term) advertising schedules.
Simplified Exam Notes: Consumer Behavior
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