Consumer Behavior: Personality, Lifestyles, and the Self-Concept

Chapter 6: Personality, Lifestyles, and the Self-Concept

Learning Objectives

  • By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

    • 6-1 Define personality and understand how various approaches to studying personality can be applied to consumer behavior.

    • 6-2 Discuss major traits that have been examined in consumer research.

    • 6-3 Understand why lifestyles, psychographics, and demographics are important to the study of consumer behavior.

    • 6-4 Comprehend the role of the self-concept in consumer behavior.

    • 6-5 Understand the concept of self-congruency and how it applies to consumer behavior issues.

6-1 Personality and Consumer Behavior

  • Definition of Personality: The totality of thoughts, emotions, intentions, tendencies, and behaviors that a person consistently exhibits as he or she adapts to the environment.

  • Distinct Qualities of Personality:

    • Personality is unique to an individual.

    • Conceptualized as a combination of specific traits or characteristics.

    • Personality traits are relatively stable and interact with situations to influence behavior.

    • Specific behaviors can vary across time.

Psychoanalytic Approach to Personality

  • Psychoanalytical Approach: Advocated by Sigmund Freud, it suggests personality results from a struggle between inner motives and societal pressures to follow rules and expectations.

    • Importance: Highlights the role of unconscious mental processes in influencing behavior.

  • Components of Personality According to Freud:

    • Id: Focuses on pleasure-seeking motives and immediate gratification.

    • Superego: Motivates behavior that aligns with societal norms.

    • Ego: Attempts to balance the id and superego.

Motivational Research Era

  • Focus: Heavily on psychoanalytic approaches.

    • Involves Depth Interviews (e.g., “Why is this important to you?”) and Focus Groups (e.g., “Why do you think you enjoy it so much?”).

  • Outcome: Proved disappointing due to lack of practical consumer behavior theories or actionable marketing guidelines.

Trait Approach to Personality

  • Definition: An approach that focuses on specific consumer traits as motivators of various consumer behaviors.

  • Trait: A distinguishable characteristic that describes an individual’s tendency to act consistently.

  • Research Approaches: Includes nomothetic and idiographic approaches, as well as single- and multi-trait approaches.

Nomothetic vs. Idiographic Approaches

  • Nomothetic Perspective: A variable-centered approach focusing on traits that apply across many individuals (e.g., complaint proneness).

    • Social media assessment of traits is common practice.

  • Idiographic Perspective: Focuses on the uniqueness of the individual consumer and their comprehensive psychological makeup.

Single-Trait and Multiple-Trait Approaches

  • Single-Trait Approach: Focuses on one specific trait to better understand its influence on behavior.

  • Multiple-Trait Approach: Considers combinations of traits to predict consumer behavior effectively.

6-2 Major Traits Examined in Consumer Research

  • Traits Studied: Include value consciousness, materialism, innovativeness, need for cognition, competitiveness, and productivity orientation.

Value Consciousness

  • Definition: The extent to which consumers maximize what they receive from a transaction relative to what they give.

    • Important in consumer behavior as it influences how consumers evaluate transactions.

Materialism

  • Definition: The importance of material goods in a consumer's life.

    • Comprises three dimensions: possessiveness, nongenerosity, and envy.

    • Downshifting: A cultural trend of consciously reducing material consumption.

Innovativeness

  • Definition: The degree of openness to new ideas and products and early adoption tendencies.

    • Common traits of innovative consumers: dynamic, curious, and often young and affluent.

    • Examples of behaviors: using mobile banking, early adoption of products, and seeking novelty in purchases.

Need for Cognition

  • Definition: The extent to which consumers enjoy engaging in cognitive information processing.

    • High Need for Cognition: Careful consideration of products and marketing messages.

    • Low Need for Cognition: Influenced by external cues, such as endorsement attractiveness.

Competitiveness

  • Definition: The enduring tendency to strive to outperform others.

    • Common in marketing which utilizes competitive themes.

    • Emerges when consumers directly compete with others or seek to demonstrate superiority through exclusive products.

Productivity Orientation

  • Definition: The tendency to focus on being productive and achieving more in less time.

    • Individuals with this trait remain productive even in leisure activities.

Other Important Traits

  • Examples of Other Traits:

    • Frugality: Restraint in spending and using resources.

    • Superstition: Adherence to superstitious beliefs.

    • Impulsivity: Tendency to buy spontaneously.

    • Bargaining Proneness: Engagement in bargaining activities during purchases.

    • Vanity: Excessive pride in one's appearance and achievements.

The Five-Factor Model (FFM) Approach

  • Five Personality Traits Identified:

    • Extroversion: Talkative, outgoing.

    • Agreeableness: Kindhearted, sympathetic.

    • Openness to Experience: Creative, imaginative.

    • Stability (Neuroticism): Even-keeled, avoids mood swings.

    • Conscientiousness: Precise, efficient, organized.

Hierarchical Approaches to Personality Traits

  • Definition: Suggest these traits exist at varying levels of abstraction.

    • Specific traits (e.g., bargaining proneness) vs. broad traits (e.g., extroversion).

Final Thoughts on Trait Approach

  • Popular in consumer research and has advantages over the psychoanalytic approach.

  • Personology: A research approach combining personality theory with motivation, incorporating traits, goals, and consumer life stories.

Criticisms of the Trait Approach

  • Weak Predictive Ability: Personality traits often do not predict consumer behavior compared to other explanatory variables.

  • Selection Bias: Traits are sometimes chosen for study lacking solid theoretical foundation.

  • Measurement Difficulties: Issues with validity and application of personality inventories.

  • Brand Selection Predictions: Traits do not reliably predict brand choices.

6-2 Brand Personality

  • Brand Personality: The human characteristics attributed to a brand, described across five dimensions, which aid product differentiation and relationship building.

Brand Personality Dimensions

  • Example Traits:

    • Competence: Reliable, dependable (e.g., Maytag).

    • Excitement: Daring, spirited (e.g., Monster Energy).

    • Ruggedness: Tough, strong (e.g., Ford Trucks).

    • Sincerity: Honest, genuine (e.g., Wrangler Jeans).

    • Sophistication: Glamorous, charming (e.g., Cartier).

Formation of Brand Personality

  • Developing Factors: Includes strong concepts, product differentiation, credible messaging, consumer involvement, and creating positive attitudes toward the brand.

Brand Personality Appeal

  • The product's ability to attract consumers based on human characteristics associated with it, focusing on favorability, originality, and clarity.

Personality and Brand Relationships

  • Relationships consumers hold with brands are influenced by personality traits, characterized by:

    • Love and Passion

    • Self-Connection

    • Commitment

    • Interdependence

    • Intimacy

    • Brand Partner Quality

6-3 Consumer Lifestyles, Psychographics, and Demographics

  • Lifestyles: Distinct modes of living that dictate how individuals spend their time and money, serving as context-specific personality traits that affect purchasing patterns.

Psychographics

  • Definition: The quantitative examination of lifestyles through AIO (Activity, Interest, Opinion) statements, allowing for market segmentation.

  • Examples of lifestyle segment profiles: Home Loving, Idealistic, Autonomous, Hedonistic, Conservative.

Specificity of Lifestyle Segments

  • Specific lifestyles are more useful for market segmentation.

  • VALS: A psychographic method that divides consumers based on resources and motivations into eight segments to aid understanding of consumer behavior and targeting.

VALS Segments

  • Segments:

    • Innovators: Successful, sophisticated.

    • Thinkers: Mature, reflective, ideal motivated.

    • Achievers: Career-focused, politically conservative.

    • Experiencers: Young, self-expressive, value novelty.

    • Believers: Ideal motivated, family-oriented, conservative.

    • Strivers: Achievement motivated, but limited resources.

    • Makers: Self-expressive through activities, limited resources.

    • Survivors: Constricted by lack of resources, prioritize safety and security.

PRIZM

  • Definition: A geodemographic technique combining expenditure data with socioeconomic variables to identify common consumption patterns associated with geographic locations.

Demographics

  • Definition: Observable statistical aspects of populations, such as age, gender, and income, that help locate and understand lifestyle segments.

  • Impact of Digital: Changes in demographic segmentation strategies influenced by consumer access to information in the social media landscape.

6-4 The Role of Self-Concept in Consumer Behavior

  • Self-Concept: The totality of thoughts and feelings one has about oneself; it motivates consumer actions aligned with self-perception.

Symbolic Interactionism

  • Definition: Proposes consumers interpret symbols in their environment based on societal agreements about meanings.

  • Semiotics: The study of symbols and their meanings.

Types of Self-Concept

  • Types: Include actual self, ideal self, social self, ideal social self, possible self, and extended self.

Body Presentation

  • Self-Esteem: The positivity of one’s self-concept.

  • Body Esteem: Positivity related to body image; influenced by comparisons with models in advertisements, sometimes leading to negative self-esteem but also positive outcomes.

Body Modification Trends

  • Cosmetic Surgery: Increasing trend in the U.S. with procedures such as liposuction and breast augmentation.

  • Body Art: Body piercings and tattoos are methods of self-presentation, showing changing attitudes towards body image.

6-5 Self-Congruency Theory and Consumer Behavior

  • Self-Congruency Theory: Suggests that consumer behavior is influenced by the congruence between self-concept and the image of typical product users.

    • Example: Store loyalty can depend on the match between self-image and store image.

Segmentation Based on Self-Congruency

  • Application in Marketing: Marketers can segment consumers based on perceived self-concept congruence with products.

Consumer Identity and Product Ownership

  • Expression Through Brands: Brands help express and affirm consumer identities; self-expression is critical.

  • Organizational Identification: Consumers develop stronger social identities when closely identifying with organizations.

Conclusion

  • The interrelationship of personality, lifestyles, and self-concept plays a crucial role in consumer behavior, leading to the need for targeted marketing approaches based on consumer differences.