Consumer Behavior Exam 1

What is consumer motivation?

An inner state of arousal that creates energy to achieve a goal, influenced by needs, wants, drives, and desires.

What are the two types of involvement in consumer motivation?

Enduring involvement (long-term interest) and situational involvement (temporary interest due to circumstances).

What is the difference between cognitive and affective involvement?

Cognitive involvement is interest in thinking and learning about an offering, while affective involvement is emotional engagement with it.

What drives consumer motivation?

Personal relevance, consistency with self-concept, values, needs, goals, and inconsistency with attitudes.

What are functional needs in consumer behavior?

Needs related to safety, security, order, rest, food, control, autonomy, competence, health, and energy.

What are hedonic (experiential) needs?

Needs for sensory stimulation, cognitive stimulation, relaxation, novelty, play, and variety.

What are symbolic needs?

Needs for esteem, achievement, status, uniqueness, affiliation, belonging, purpose, and morality.

What are the types of goals in consumer behavior?

Goals can be concrete or abstract, and promotion-focused or prevention-focused.

What is perceived risk in consumer behavior?

The potential negative outcomes consumers associate with a purchase, including performance, financial, physical, social, psychological, and time risks.

What does consumer ability refer to?

The extent to which consumers have the resources (financial, cognitive, emotional, physical, social, and cultural) to act on their motivations.

What are the marketing implications of consumer ability?

Ensure consumers have prior knowledge, be sensitive to processing styles, facilitate buying, and provide educational information.

What is the role of consumer opportunity in behavior?

Opportunity refers to the conditions that allow motivated and able consumers to engage in behavior, influenced by availability, time, distraction, and information complexity.

What is exposure in consumer behavior?

The process by which consumers come into contact with a stimulus, crucial for awareness of products.

What is attention in consumer behavior?

The amount of mental activity devoted to a stimulus, necessary for perception and informed decision-making.

What are the four characteristics of attention?

Attention can be personally relevant, pleasant, surprising, and can utilize narratives or rhetorical questions.

What is perception in consumer behavior?

The process of taking in stimuli through the senses and encoding them into memory.

What is the absolute threshold in perception?

The lowest level of stimulation at which a difference can be detected.

What is the differential threshold (just noticeable difference)?

The minimum intensity difference needed between two stimuli for them to be perceived as different.

What is Weber's law?

The principle stating that the stronger the initial stimulus, the greater the additional intensity needed for a second stimulus to be perceived as different.

What are the implications of consumer perception for marketers?

Marketers may want consumers to notice or not notice differences in stimuli, such as product size or price changes.

What is comprehension in consumer behavior?

The process of extracting higher-order meaning from what we have perceived in the context of what we already know.

What is objective comprehension?

The extent to which consumers accurately understand the message a sender intended to communicate.

What is subjective comprehension?

What the consumer understands from the message, regardless of whether this understanding is accurate.

What is miscomprehension?

Inaccurate understanding, where objective comprehension differs from subjective comprehension.

What factors influence comprehension?

Motivation and ability (MAO), repetition, reduced complexity, and cultural systems.

What are inferences in consumer behavior?

Conclusions consumers draw or interpretations they form based on stimuli.

How do price perceptions affect consumer inferences?

A high cost is often interpreted as an indicator of high quality.

What role do pictures play in consumer comprehension?

Pictures can help consumers form inferences about products.

What is the definition of prior knowledge in consumer behavior?

The information that we have learned in the past and stored in memory.

What is the process of retrieval in memory?

The process of remembering what we have stored in memory.

What is a schema in the context of consumer memory?

The set of associations linked to a concept in memory.

What is spreading of activation?

The process by which retrieving a concept or association spreads to the retrieval of related concepts.

What is priming?

Increased sensitivity to certain concepts due to prior experience, influencing associations outside of conscious awareness.

What is brand image?

A specific type of schema that captures what a brand stands for and how favorably it is viewed.

What is a prototype in taxonomic categories?

The best example of a cognitive category, which affects how well an object represents that category.

What are goal-derived categories?

Categories formed based on items that serve the same goals, influencing consumer perceptions and marketing strategies.

What is sensory memory?

The initial stage of memory where information is stored in sensory format for a very short duration.

What is working memory?

A short-term memory system that processes information in sensory form and as words, limited in capacity and duration.

What is long-term memory?

A storage system for knowledge that includes autobiographical and semantic memories, which are generally permanent.

What strategies can enhance memory retention?

Chunking, rehearsal, recirculation, and elaboration.

What is the difference between recognition and recall in retrieval?

Recognition involves identifying previously encountered stimuli, while recall is retrieving information without reexposure.

What is salience in the context of retrieval?

Salient objects attract attention and induce greater elaboration, leading to stronger memories.

What is prototypicality in brand recognition?

Prototypicality refers to our ability to recognize and recall pioneer brands that are frequently rehearsed and linked to many other concepts in memory.

How can marketers enhance consumers' memory for brands?

By advertising complementary products together and explaining their connection.

What is a retrieval cue?

A stimulus that facilitates the activation and retrieval of information in long-term memory, which can be generated internally or provided externally.

How does mood affect consumer memory retrieval?

Being in a positive mood can enhance recall of stimuli, and consumers are more likely to remember information consistent with their mood.

What is the definition of an attitude?

An overall evaluation that expresses how much we like or dislike an object, issue, person, or action.

What are the three functions of attitudes?

Cognitive function (guiding thoughts), affective function (influencing feelings), and connative function (affecting behavior).

What dimensions can attitudes be assessed on?

Favorability, accessibility, confidence, persistence, and resistance.

What are the foundations of attitude formation?

Cognitions (thoughts from external or internal sources) and emotions (feelings or observations of how things affect others).

What is the Elaboration Likelihood Model of Attitude Change?

A two-process model that includes central route processing (high elaboration) and peripheral route processing (low elaboration).

What are the characteristics of central route processing?

It involves more elaboration, focusing on the central merits of the argument and integrating information.

What are the characteristics of peripheral route processing?

It involves less elaboration and relies on peripheral cues.

What is the expectancy-value model?

A model explaining how attitudes form and change based on the expected outcomes and values associated with an object.

What is the Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA)?

A theory stating that behavior is a function of behavioral intention, which is determined by attitude toward the act and subjective norms.

How does source credibility influence consumer attitudes?

Consumers are more likely to change their attitudes based on messages from credible sources that are trustworthy and expert.

What is the sleeper effect?

The phenomenon where consumers forget the source of a message more quickly than they forget the message itself.

What is a strong argument in marketing?

A presentation that features the best or central merits of an offering in a convincing manner.

What is the difference between one-sided and two-sided messages?

One-sided messages present only positive information, while two-sided messages acknowledge both positive and negative information.

What is an emotional appeal in marketing?

A message designed to elicit an emotional response from consumers.

What role does engagement play in consumer attitudes?

Engagement refers to the extent to which consumers are emotionally connected to a product or advertisement.

What is the impact of expertise on consumer recall?

Expert consumers can recall more brands, attributes, and benefits than novices, and access information more quickly.

What is the significance of motivation, ability, and opportunity (MAO) in attitude formation?

MAO influences the level of effort people devote to processing information, affecting their attitudes.

What is the effect of elaboration on attitude change?

Attitude changes that occur through high elaboration are more enduring, resistant, and predictive of behavior.

What is the role of social identity in attitude generation?

Consumers' social identities can influence the formation of their attitudes.

What is the role of attractiveness in marketing?

Attractiveness is a source characteristic that evokes favorable attitudes if a source is physically attractive, likable, familiar, or similar to the consumer.

What techniques do marketers use to evoke emotions in consumers?

Marketers use techniques such as music, emotional scenes, facial expressions, humor, visuals, sex, and attractive sources.

What is a fear appeal in advertising?

A fear appeal is a message that stresses negative consequences and suggests immediate action to reduce the consumer's fear.

What factors contribute to a positive attitude toward an advertisement (Aad)?

Factors include informativeness, emotional engagement, and the ad's ability to arouse curiosity.

How does consumer involvement affect attitude-behavior relationships?

It depends on the level of involvement, expertise, accessibility of attitudes, attitude confidence, specificity of attitudes, emotional attachment, situational factors, and personality variables.

What characterizes low-effort situations in consumer behavior?

Consumers are unwilling or unable to exert effort, leading to passive reception of messages and weaker attitudes.

What is the peripheral route to persuasion?

The peripheral route involves influencing attitudes through aspects other than key message arguments, such as music or attractive sources.

What are peripheral cues in advertising?

Peripheral cues are easily processed aspects of a message, like music, attractive sources, or humor.

What are thin-slice judgments?

Thin-slice judgments are evaluations made after very brief observations, often occurring unconsciously.

How can marketers influence cognitive attitudes in low-effort situations?

Marketers can influence cognitive attitudes by using credible sources, simple messages, and self-referencing techniques.

What is the frequency heuristic?

The frequency heuristic is a belief based on the number of supporting arguments or the amount of repetition in a message.

What is the truth effect in advertising?

The truth effect occurs when consumers believe a statement simply because it has been repeated multiple times.

What is the mere exposure effect?

The mere exposure effect is the phenomenon where consumers prefer familiar stimuli over unfamiliar ones, even if exposure is below conscious awareness.

What is classical conditioning in the context of attitudes?

Classical conditioning can lead to enduring attitudes by associating a product with positive stimuli.

How can marketers enhance self-referencing in ads?

Marketers can enhance self-referencing by using direct instructions, the word 'you', rhetorical questions, and relatable visuals.

What is a mystery ad?

A mystery ad is one in which the brand is not identified until the end of the message, designed to arouse curiosity.

What are the three major characteristics of communication that influence attitudes?

The source of communication, the message itself, and the context in which the message is delivered.

What is the role of situational factors in attitude formation?

Situational factors can influence whether consumers follow through on attitude-behavior links, such as peer influence.

What is transformational advertising?

Transformational advertising connects a brand with emotional experiences in consumers' lives, often through narratives.

What are normative factors in consumer behavior?

Normative factors refer to social influences that affect consumer attitudes and behaviors, such as fear of judgment from peers.

How does emotional content in ads affect consumer attitudes?

Emotional content can enhance recall and positive feelings towards the brand when it resonates with the audience.

What is the hedonic dimension of ads?

The hedonic dimension refers to the emotional feelings or enjoyment that an ad can evoke in consumers.

What is the utilitarian dimension of ads?

The utilitarian dimension focuses on the functional information provided by an ad, which can lead to positive consumer attitudes.

What is the impact of humor in advertising?

Humor can increase recall and positive feelings towards the brand, especially when it is relevant to the product.

What is the significance of message involvement?

Message involvement refers to how engaging and relevant the ad is to consumers, affecting their processing and attitude formation.