Combined

Consumer

One who, or that which, consumes; as, the consumer of food.

Consumer Behavior

The study of processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and wants.

Pre-purchase

The phase before a consumer decides to make a purchase.

Purchase

The action of buying products or services.

After-purchase

The phase following the completion of a purchase.

Perception

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information.

Self-awareness

The capacity to recognize oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals.

Mirror Self Recognition

The ability of an animal or human to recognize themselves in a mirror.

Persuasion

The process of convincing someone to do or believe something.

Situational Influence

The effects of situational factors on consumer decision making and behavior.

Emotional Response

A reaction that involves feelings that can affect consumer behavior.

Perception

The process by which sensations are selected, organized, and interpreted.

Sensation

The immediate response of sensory receptors to basic stimuli such as light, sound, and texture.

Stimulus

Any object or event that elicits a sensory or behavioral response.

Sensory Threshold

The minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected on a given sensory channel.

Absolute Threshold

The smallest level of stimulus that can be detected.

Differential Threshold

The ability of a sensory system to detect changes or differences between two stimuli.

Subliminal Perception

Occurs when a stimulus is below the level of consumer awareness.

Haptic Senses

The sense of touch; the most basic of senses affecting product experience and judgment.

Trade Dress

Colors or designs associated with specific companies that help identify their products.

Gestalt Psychology

The study of how people derive meaning from the totality of a set of stimuli rather than from any individual stimulus.

Perceptual Vigilance

The tendency to be more aware of stimuli that relate to our current needs.

Perceptual Defense

The tendency to see what we want to see and ignore what we don’t want to see.

Exposure

The extent to which people notice a stimulus that is within range of their sensory receptors.

Attention

The degree of processing activity that is devoted to a particular stimulus.

Mental Schema

Mental templates or organized structures of beliefs and feelings that reflect experiences.

Consumer Behavior

The study of how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources.

Sensory Marketing

Companies consider the impact of sensations on consumers' product/service experiences.

Color Coordinates

A system for defining colors numerically, such as RGB (red, green, blue) values.

Attention Attraction

Techniques used to capture consumers' attention in a sensory-overloaded environment.

Figure-Ground Principle

When one part of a stimulus dominates (figure) while other parts recede (ground).

Closure Principle

Consumers fill in missing elements to complete a familiar figure.

Learning

A relatively permanent change in behavior caused by experience.

Behavioral Learning Theories

Theories that assume learning takes place as a result of responses to external events.

Classical Conditioning

A learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an eliciting stimulus to produce a response.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

A stimulus that naturally elicits a response without any conditioning.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that, after repeated pairings with the UCS, elicits a conditioned response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

The learned response to a previously neutral stimulus that has become a conditioned stimulus.

Instrumental Conditioning

A learning process in which behavior is influenced by its consequences, leading to reinforcement or punishment.

Positive Reinforcement

When a behavior is followed by a desirable event or state, increasing the likelihood of that behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

When a behavior leads to the removal of an undesirable event or state, also increasing the likelihood of that behavior.

Punishment

Consequences that decrease the likelihood of a behavior being repeated.

Extinction (in learning)

The reduction in the frequency of a behavior that occurs when reinforcements are no longer provided.

Cognitive Learning Theory

A theory that focuses on learning as an internal mental process involving problem-solving and decision-making.

Observational Learning

Learning that occurs through observing the behaviors of others and the outcomes of those behaviors.

Stimulus Generalization

The tendency for stimuli similar to a conditioned stimulus to evoke similar conditioned responses.

Repetition in Marketing

Increased exposures to a brand which lead to higher awareness and learning but can lead to wear out if excessive.

Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment

A study that demonstrated the role of observational learning in children's behavior.