Chpt 7: Personality + Values, Constructs

Personality

A person’s unique psychological makeup that influences how they respond to marketing stimuli.

Id

The primitive part of the self that seeks immediate pleasure and gratification and tries to avoid pain.

Ego

The part of the personality that mediates between the id and superego, finding socially acceptable ways to satisfy desires.

Superego

The conscience or responsible part of the personality that reflects social rules and moral standards and restrains unrestricted gratification.

Archetype

A recurring symbolic pattern that people recognize across stories, characters, and brands.

In the Jungian perspective, these patterns emerge from shared human experiences and can be used to give brands recognizable meanings or personalities.

Brand Archetype

The application of an archetypal symbolic pattern to a brand, helping the brand develop a recognizable personality and meaning.

Shadow Archetype

The unhealthy or distorted expression of an archetype’s normal traits.

Brand Personality

The tendency for consumers to attribute humanlike personality characteristics to brands.

Consumers infer brand personality from what a brand repeatedly says and does.

Brand Personality Dimensions

Five broad personality dimensions consumers may attribute to brands:

a. Sincerity

b. Excitement

c. Competence

d. Sophistication

e. Ruggedness

Each dimension can vary from low to high.

Trait Inference

The process by which consumers infer personality traits from a brand’s marketplace behaviour.

Example: premium pricing and exclusive distribution may make a brand seem sophisticated.

Lifestyle

A pattern of consumption reflecting how a person chooses to spend time and money.

Consumers may use purchases to represent the qualities of the lifestyle groups they identify with.

Lifestyle–Product Fit

The idea that products fit into a broader way of living when they align with the person, product, and setting.

Product Complementarity

When the symbolic meanings of different products are related to each other.

Consumption Constellations

Sets of complementary products that collectively express and support the same lifestyle.

AIO Approach

A way of understanding psychographics through:

a. Activities — what people do

b. Interests — what matters to them

c. Opinions — how they view themselves and the world

VALS — Values and Lifestyles

A psychographic framework that groups consumers based on psychological characteristics and available resources.

Easy way to think about VALS:

It combines what psychologically motivates people with how many resources they have, which helps explain differences in consumer behaviour.

The eight VALS groups:

a. Innovators — have the most resources; open to change and concerned with social issues.

b. Thinkers — reflective, practical, comfortable, and value functionality.

c. Achievers — career-oriented and prefer predictability over risk or self-discovery.

d. Experiencers — younger, impulsive, and attracted to offbeat or risky experiences.

e. Believers — guided by strong principles and tend to prefer proven brands.

f. Strivers — similar to achievers but with fewer resources; highly concerned with others’ approval.

g. Makers — action-oriented, self-sufficient, and interested in hands-on activities.

h. Survivors — have the fewest resources and focus primarily on meeting immediate needs.

Consumption Clusters

Groups of consumers who show similar consumption patterns, often because they have similar lifestyles and socioeconomic circumstances.

• Can comes from geodemographic segmentation:

Geography + Socioeconomic Data → Consumption Clusters

• like-minded consumers with similar lifestyles often live near one another, so where someone lives plus household/spending information can help identify groups with similar purchasing behaviour.

• Example: a neighbourhood with similar income levels and lifestyles may show similar preferences for restaurants, cars, stores, or leisure activities.

Value

A belief that one condition or outcome is preferable to its opposite.

• Values provide underlying psychological reasons for preferences and behaviour.

Value Congruence

The tendency for consumers to prefer brands that reflect values they personally hold.

Socialization

The broader process through which people learn values and beliefs from socialization agents, such as parents, friends, and teachers.

Enculturation

The process of learning the values of one’s own culture.

Acculturation

The process of learning the values of a foreign culture, especially when consumers cross cultural boundaries.

Consumption-Specific Values

Broad personal values expressed through preferences about consumption situations.

Examples: valuing convenient shopping or prompt service.

Product-Specific Values

Values expressed through preferences for specific product attributes, such as ease of use or durability.

Terminal Values

Desired end states that a person ultimately wants to achieve.

Instrumental Values

The behaviours or actions used to achieve terminal values.

Example: being ambitious or responsible.

• Easy distinction:

• Terminal = where I want to end up.

• Instrumental = how I behave to get there.

Conscientious Consumerism

Consumer behaviour in which people consider the health, environmental, and ethical consequences of what they buy and which companies they support.

This can involve:

a. buying ethical or sustainable products

b. avoiding companies that conflict with personal values

c. encouraging or discouraging others based on company practices

LOHAS — Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability

A lifestyle orientation emphasizing environmental concern, sustainable production, health, and personal development.

Materialism

The importance a person attaches to worldly possessions.

High materialists are more likely to:

a. use possessions for status and appearance

b. prefer expensive publicly visible products

c. connect products more strongly to self-identity

Minimalism

A simple-life orientation emphasizing fewer possessions and less unnecessary consumption.

It represents a countertrend to highly materialistic consumption.