Consumer Behavior exam 1

Consumer Behavior

The set of value-seeking activities that take place as people go about addressing real needs

Consumption

The process by which goods, services, or ideas are used and transformed into value

Qualitative research

Gathers data in a relatively unstructured way

Quantitative research

Addresses questions using numerical measurement and analysis tools

The Hindsight Bias

Tendency to think you “knew-it-all-along”

Correlational Designs

Attempt to determine whether two variables are correlated/ associated

An experiment has two key aspects

Manipulation of at least one variable and random assignment

independent variable

what is being manipulated and what determines the conditions in the experiment

dependent variable

what is thought to be affected by the independent variable

Value

Benefits - Costs

Marketing myopia

a company views itself in a product business rather than in a value- or benefits-producing business

Exposure

the process of bringing some stimulus within proximity of a consumer so that the consumer can sense it

Attention

The purposeful allocation of information-processing capacity toward developing an understanding of some stimulus

Comprehension

occurs when consumers react to the stimulus and attempt to derive meaning from the information they receive

The Perception Process

Exposure → Attention → Comprehension

Selective exposure

Marketers must pick a medium to send their messages

Selective attention

Marketers must attempt to get their message noticed

Selective perception

Marketers must work to ensure that consumers understand the message

Selective retention

Marketers must try to ensure the message makes it to memory

Mere Exposure Effect

The more we are exposed to a stimulus, the more familiar it becomes, and the more we will like it

Product Placements

Intentional insertions of branded products within media content not otherwise seen as advertising

Just noticeable difference

Condition in which one stimulus is stronger than another so that one can notice that the two are not the same

Just meaningful difference

Smallest amount of change in a stimulus that would influence consumption / consumer choice

Operant Conditioning

A behavioral response can be conditioned through reinforcement—either punishment or rewards associated with undesirable or desirable behavior

Nudges

Influence consumers through subtle stimuli that do not involve deep and intentional cognitive processing

Explicit memory

type of memory that develops when a person is exposed to, attends to, and tries to remember information

Implicit memory

the intuitive type of memory for things that a person did not try to remember

echoic memory

very brief memory for things we hear

iconic memory

very brief memory for things we see

Sensory memory

unlimited capacity, but is very short-lived if not processed

Encoding

when information is transferred from working memory to long-term memory

Retrieval

when it is transferred back to working memory

Cognitive Load

to do with the amount of cognitive effort/resources being used by a particular task or cognitive process

Repetition

holding a thought in short-term memory by mentally repeating the thought

Dual coding

two different sensory “traces” being available to remember something

Meaningful encoding

occurs when pre-existing knowledge is used to store new information

Autobiographical (episodic) memory

knowledge about ourselves

Semantic memory

general knowledge we know about the world

Recognition

when we don’t remember something, but then we see/hear/smell/touch something and the memory returns

Recall

when we do remember something explicitly and can retrieve it from LTM

Recirculation

involves remembering information better because it is encountered a lot

Elaboration

involves processing information at a deeper level, making it more likely to be remembered easily

schema

a portion of an associative network that represents a specific entity and gives it meaning

brand schema

smaller part of an associative network responsible for defining a marketing entity

product schema

activated each time a consumer encounters a product, resulting in comparisons in the mind between associations in the schema

exemplar

a concept within a schema that is the single best representative of some category (can differ based on consumers’ experiences)

prototype

the best representation of some category (conglomeration of the most associated characteristics of a category)

Experts

people whose prior knowledge is well-developed, in part because they have had a lot of experience and familiarity with an object or task

Exemplar strategy

Associate a new product with an already well-known one to help consumers categorize the new one

Feature-based strategy:

stress the special attributes of a new product to help consumers categorize it

First Mover Advantage

the competitive edge a company gains by being the first to enter a market segment or launch a new product

downsides to categorical thinking: Compression

Categorization in terms of prototypes leading one to ignore variations

downsides to categorical thinking: Amplification

Exaggerating differences between category boundaries

downsides to categorical thinking: Discrimination

Favoring certain categories over others

downsides to categorical thinking: Fossilization

Categories leading to a fixed world view

Key principles for stickiness

Simple, unexpected, concrete, emotional

Prevention focus

Focusing on avoiding negative consequences (i.e., homeostasis)

Promotion focus

Driving towards positive outcomes; pursuing ideals or aspirations (i.e., self-improvement)

Manifest motives

known to the individual and are freely admitted (direct questions)

Latent motives

unknown to the individual, or the individual is reluctant to admit them

Consumer involvement

The degree of personal relevance a consumer finds in pursuing value from a particular category of consumption

Consumer engagement

Brand-related activities performed by the consumer, including purchasing, that help create value for the brand

Situational involvement

temporary involvement associated with a specific situation

Enduring involvement

ongoing interest in a product category or behavior

Consumer involvement can be thought of as a

moderating variable: changes the nature of the relationship between other variables

To promote behavior you need

motivation, ability, and opportunity

Consumer affect

the feelings a consumer has about a particular product or activity, often expressed as tone or liking

Visceral responses

feeling states that are tied to physical behavior in a direct way

Cognitive Appraisal Theory

represents a school of thought proposing that specific types of appraisal thoughts can be linked to specific types of emotions

Anticipation appraisal

Focuses on the future and can elicit anticipatory emotions like hopefulness or anxiety

Agency appraisal

Reviews responsibility for events; it can evoke consequential emotions like gratefulness, frustration, guilt, or sadness

Equity appraisal

Considers how fair some event is; it can evoke emotions like warmth or anger

Outcome appraisal

Considers how something turned out relative to one’s goals; it can evoke emotions like joyfulness, satisfaction, sadness, or pride

Autonomic measurement

automatically recording responses based on automatic visceral reactions or neurological brain activity

Emotional contagion

the extent to which an emotional display by one person influences the emotional state of a bystander

Trait Approach to Personality

value consciousness, materialism, need for cognition, competitiveness, productivity orientation, innovativeness

five-factor model

openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

Brand personality

a product’s ability to appeal to consumers based on the human characteristics associated with it

Brand personality

sincerity, competence, ruggedness, excitement, sophistication

Brand actions

can result in consumer inferences about brand personality

Lifestyles

the ways consumers live and spend their time and money

Values and Lifestyles (VALS)

resource and behavioral motivations

ideals (knowledge and principles)

achievement (success to their peers)

self expression (desire social or physical activity)

High resource VALS segments

innovators, thinkers, achievers, experiencers

Low resource VALS segments

believers, strivers, makers, survivors

Geodemographic techniques

combine data on consumer expenditures and socioeconomic variables with geographic information in order to identify commonalities in consumption patterns of households in various regions