Consumer Behavior Exam 1 Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, theories, and concepts across Chapters 1, 3, 4, and 5 for Consumer Behavior Exam 1.

Consumer Behavior

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

Need

A state of felt deprivation.

Want

A specific way of satisfying a need that goes to alleviate felt deprivation.

Consumption

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

Perception

The process by which people select, organize, and interpret sensations, focusing on what is added to raw sensations to give them meaning.

Exposure

The process by which a consumer comes into physical contact with a stimulus.

Absolute Threshold

The minimum amount of stimulation a person can detect on a given sensory channel.

Psychophysics

The area of study focusing on how people integrate the physical environment into their personal, subjective worlds.

Differential Thresholds

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

Weber's Law

A law stating that the stronger the initial stimulus, the greater a change must be for us to notice it.

Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

The minimum difference that can be detected between two stimuli.

Subliminal Perception

The perception of a stimulus that occurs below the level of a consumer's conscious awareness.

Attention

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

Assimilation

Occurs when we can readily categorize a stimulus into an existing, recognizable category.

Accommodation

The state where category knowledge must be revised because characteristics of a stimulus do not fit into previous categories.

Example: Discovering sneakers can be luxury fashion items, not just athletic shoes.

Comprehension

The interpretation or understanding that a consumer develops about an attended stimulus in order to assign meaning to it.

ex., understanding what a product means/is used for.

Learning

A relatively permanent change in behavior caused by experience, or the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or teaching.

Intentional Learning

Learning that occurs when consumers actively set out to try and learn more about a subject.

Unintentional Learning

Learning that occurs without effortful cognitive processing, where consumers simply sense and react to stimuli.

Behavioral Learning Theories

Theories proposing that learning takes place as a result of responses to external events and stimuli.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any prior conditioning.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A stimulus paired with an unconditioned stimulus that initially does not cause a natural response, but becomes associated with it over time.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

The natural, unlearned response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A learned response produced by a conditioned stimulus after repeated pairings with an unconditioned stimulus.

Instrumental (Operant) Conditioning

A learning process that focuses on shaping behavior through punishments and rewards rather than using an unconditioned stimulus.

Positive Reinforcement

A process in instrumental conditioning where individuals are rewarded for performing the desired behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

A process in instrumental conditioning where a negative stimulus is removed when individuals exhibit a desired behavior.

Punishment

The application of a negative stimulus to reduce or eliminate an undesired behavior.

Fixed-Ratio Reinforcement

A reinforcement schedule where a reward is delivered after a predetermined, specific number of responses (e.g., buy 10, get one free).

Variable-Ratio Reinforcement

A reinforcement schedule where rewards are delivered after an unpredictable, unknown number of responses (e.g., dunkin giving random rewards after random amount of points accumulated)

Progress Effects

The motivational phenomenon where individuals are driven to keep going to reach a reward once they have already started a process.

Cognitive Learning Theory

A learning theory focusing on internal mental processes to understand how conscious and unconscious information processing impacts learning.

Observational Learning

A process where individuals watch others and the outcomes they receive, subsequently modeling their own behavior accordingly.

Social Default

The tendency for consumers to automatically mimic or default to the behaviors and choices made by others.

Consumer Socialization

The process by which individuals are taught by family, peers, media, and other sources to engage in the marketplace as they grow up.

Sensory Memory

A very temporary memory system storing information received from the senses for fractions of a second to a few seconds unless transferred to short-term memory.

Short-Term Memory

A memory system with limited capacity that stores information for a limited duration, usually about 20 seconds.

Autobiographical (Episodic) Memory

A form of long-term memory relating to personally experienced events that affects decision making, promotes empathy/identification, cueing/preserving, and reinterpreting.

Semantic Memory

A type of long-term memory containing general knowledge and facts about the world.

Associative Network

A network of pathways linking pieces of knowledge and concepts together within memory.

ex. one thought triggers other thoughts

matcha, mornings, energy, and productivity

Declarative Knowledge

Knowledge of facts and information that a consumer can consciously remember and explain; facts stored within an associative network.

Example: Knowing that Nike sells athletic shoes.

Nodes

The storage units in an associative network that represent individual concepts.

Paths

The links in an associative network that represent associations between different nodes.

Spreading Activation

The memory retrieval process that allows us to shift back and forth among various connected levels of meaning in an associative network.

Schema

A cognitive representation of a phenomenon that provides meaning to an entity through an associative network of knowledge.

Organized knowledge about a specific entity

Exemplar

A specific concept within a schema that is considered the single best representative of an entire category.

Example: A Chanel Classic Flap bag representing the luxury handbag category.

Ex = A specific example of something.

Prototype

The set of characteristics most commonly associated with a specific concept or category.

Script

A learned sequence of events that an individual expects to occur in a given setting or context.

Memory Decay

The structural fading or weakening of memory traces over the course of time.

Interference

A retrieval error that occurs when learning additional information displaces or interferes with previously stored information.

Salience

The prominence or level of importance of an object/stimulus, which determines how easily it can be retrieved from memory.

Motivation

The inner reasons or driving forces behind human action that drive consumers to address and satisfy real needs.

Homeostasis

The state wherein the body naturally reacts in a manner to maintain a constant, balanced, and normal bloodstream or physiological state.

Drive Theory

A biological theory of motivation proposing that biological needs produce unpleasant states of arousal, motivating actions that reduce tension and restore homeostasis.

Hedonic Motivation

The drive to satisfy experiential needs involving emotional responses, pleasure, or fantasies.

Utilitarian Motivation

The drive to achieve functional, practical, or tangible benefits from a consumption choice.

Approach-Approach Conflict

A motivational conflict where a consumer must choose between two desirable outcomes.

Approach-Avoidance Conflict

A motivational conflict that occurs when a consumer desires a goal but simultaneously wishes to avoid its negative consequences.

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict

A motivational conflict involving a choice between two undesirable alternatives.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

A motivational hierarchy where individuals build from basic utilitarian needs at the bottom toward hedonic self-actualization at the top: physiological, safety, belongingness, ego needs, and self-actualization.

Emotions

Psychobiological reactions to consumer appraisals that involve mental processing, physical responses, and visceral reactions directly tied to behavior.

Example: Feeling excited about buying a new outfit or frustrated by poor customer service.

Consumer Involvement

A person's perceived relevance of an object based on their inherent needs, values, and personal interests.

What is Stimulus

• A stimulus is any sensory input or environmental cue that consumers can detect and that may influence their attention, perception, emotions, or behavior.

• Example: A bright storefront display, recognizable brand logo, perfume scent, or catchy advertisement can act as a stimulus.

Easy way to remember: Stimulus = Something that triggers a reaction.