Marketing 2 Summary

Chapter 8 Perception
Perception is a process that begins with consumer exposure and
attention to marketing stimuli and ends with consumer
interpretation. Information processing is a series of activities by
which stimuli are perceived, transformed into information, and
stored. A useful information-processing model has 4 major stages:
exposure, attention, interpretation and memory. The first 3 of these
constitute perception (zie figuur 8.1).
Exposure occurs when a stimulus such as a banner ad comes within
range of a persons sensory receptor nerves vision, in this
example.
Attention occurs when the stimulus (banner ad) is seen (the
receptor nerves pass the sensations on the the brain for
processing).
Interpretation is the assignment of meaning to the received
sensations.
Memory is the short-term use of the meaning for immediate
decision making or the longer-term retention of the meaning.
This suggests a linear flow from exposure to memory. However,
these processes occur virtually simultaneously and are clearly
interactive. For example, a persons memory influences the
information he or she is exposed to and attends to and the
interpretations the person assigns to that information. At the same
time, memory itself is being shaped by the information it is
receiving. The selectivity, sometimes referred to as perceptual
defenses, means that individuals are not passive recipients of
marketing messages. Rather, consumers largely determine the
message they will encounter and notice as well as the meaning
communicating with consumers.
Exposure occurs when a stimulus is placed within a persons
relevant environment and comes within range of their sensory
receptor nerves. Exposure provides consumers with the opportunity
to pay attention to available information but in no way guarantees
it. For example, have you ever been watching television and realized
that you were not paying attention to the commercials being aired?
In this case, exposure occurred, but the commercials will probably
have little influence due to your lack of attention. Most of the stimuli
to which individuals are exposed are self-selected. That is, people
seek information that they think will help them achieve their goals.
An individuals goals and the types of information needed to achieve
those goals are a function of that persons existing and desired
lifestyle and such short-term motives as hunger or curiosity. The
highly selective nature of consumer exposure is a major concern for
marketers since failure to gain exposure results in lost
communication and sales opportunities. The impact of the active,
self-selecting nature of media exposure can be seen in the zipping,
zapping and muting of television commercials. Zipping occurs

when one fast-forwards through a commercial on prerecorded

program. Zapping involves switching channels when a commercial
appears. Muting is turning the sound off during commercial
breaks. This is often referred as ad avoidance. Marketers
increasingly seek to gain exposure by placing their brands within
entertainment media, such as in movies and television programs, in
exchange for payment of promotional or other consideration. Such
product placement involves exposure that consumers dont try to
avoid, it shows how and when to use the product, and it enhances
the products image.
Stimulus factors are physical characteristics of the stimulus itself.
Stimulus characteristics such as ad size and color are under the
marketers control and can attract attention independent of
individual or situational characteristics. The attention garnered by
stimulus factors tends to be relatively automatic. So if you think you
are not interested in a car (individual characteristic), a large and
colorful car ad (stimulus characteristics) may be hard to ignore.
Factors are:
Size larger stimuli are more likely to be noticed than smaller
ones. This is certainly the case on store shelves where shelf
space is at a premium and more shelf space can translate into
greater attention and sales.
Intensity the intensity (e.g. loudness, brightness, length) of a
stimulus can increase attention. For instance, the longer a
scene in an advertisement is held on-screen, the more likely it
is to be noticed and recalled. In online advertisement one
aspect of intensity is intrusiveness, or the degree to which one
is forced to see or interact with a banner or pop-up in order to
see the desired content. Repetition is related to intensity. It is
the number of ties an individual is exposed to a given
stimulus, such as an ad or brand logo, over time. Attention
generally decreased across repeated exposure, particularly
when those exposure occur in a short period of time. However
the decrease in overall attention caused by repetition needs to
be interpreted in view of two factors. First, consumer may shift
the focus of their attention from one part of the ad to another
across repetitions. Have you ever noticed something new
about an ad after youve seen it a couple of times? This is a
result of a shift in your attention as you become more familiar
with the ad. The second factor is that repetition often
increases recall.
Attractive visuals Individuals tend to be attracted to
pleasant stimuli and repelled by unpleasant stimuli. This
explains the ability of attractive visuals, such as mountain
scenes and attractive models. To draw consumer attention to
an advertisement.
Color and movement Both color and movement serve to
attract attention, with brightly colored and moving items
being more noticeable. Certain colors and color characteristics

crate feelings of excitement and arousal, which are related to

attention. Brighter color are more arousing than dull and warm
colors, such as reds and yellow, are more arousing than cool
colors, such as blues and grays.
Position refers to the placement of an object in physical
space or time. In retail store, items that are easy to find or
that stand out are more likely to attract attention. Position
effects in advertising often depend on the medium an dhow
consumers normally interact with that medium. In print
context, ads on the right-hand page receive more attention
than those on the left based on how we peruse magazines and
newspapers. In television, the probability of a commercial
being viewed and remembered drops sharply as it moves from
being the first to air during a break to the last to air, since
consumers often engage in other activities during commercial
breaks.
Isolation is separating a stimulus object from other objects.
In-store, the use of stand-alone kiosks is based on this
principle. In advertising, the use of white space (placing a
brief message in the center of an otherwise blank or white
advertisement) is based on this principle, as is surroundings a
key part of a radio commercial with a brief moment of silence.
Format Catalog merchants wishing to display multiple items
per page often create an environment in which the
competition for attention across items reduces attention to all
the items. However, with proper arrangement and formatting,
this competition for attention can be reduced and sales
improved. Format refers to the manner in which the message
is presented.
Contrast and expectations Consumers pay more attention
to stimuli that contrast with tie background than to stimuli
that blend with it. Contrast is related to the idea of
expectations. Expectations drive our perceptions of contrast.
Packaging, in-store displays, and ads that differ from our
expectations tend to get noticed. For example, ads that differ
from the type of consumers expect for a product category
often motivate more attention than ads that are more typical
for the product category. Adaptation level theory suggest
that is stimulus doesnt change, over time we adept or
habituate to it and begin to notice it less. Thus, an ad when
we initially notice when its new may lose its ability to capture
our attention as we become familiar with it.
Interestingness what one is interest in is generally an
individual characteristic.
Information quantity finally, information quantity
represents the number of cues in the stimulus field. Cues can
relate to the features of the brand itself, typical users of the
brand, typical usage situations, and so on. Information

overload occurs when consumers are confronted with so much

information that they cannot or will not attend to all of it.
Individual factors are characteristics that distinguish one
individual from another. Generally speaking, consumer motivation
and ability are the major individual factors affecting attention.
Motivation is a drive state crated by consumer interest and
needs. Interests are a reflection of overall lifestyle as well as a
result of goals (e.g. becoming an accomplished guitar player)
and needs (e.g. hunger). Product involvement indicates
motivation or interest in a specific product category. Product
involvement can be temporary or enduring. One way
marketers have responded to consumer interest and
involvement is by developing smart banners for the Internet.
These are banner ads that are activated based on terms used
in search engines.
Ability refers to the capacity of individuals to attend to and
process information. Ability is related to knowledge and
familiarity with the product, brand or promotion. An
audiophile, for example, is more capable of attending to highly
detailed product information about stereo equipment than a
novice. Brand familiarity is an ability factor related to
attention. Those with high brand familiarity may require less
attention to the brands ads because of their existing
knowledge.
Situational factors include stimuli in the environment other than
the focal stimulus (i.e. the ad or package) and temporary
characteristics of the individual that are induced by the
environment, such as time pressures or a crowded store. Clutter and
program involvement are two major situational factors affecting
attention.
Clutter represents the density of stimuli in the environment.
In-store research suggests that cluttering the environment
with too many point-of-purchase displays decreases the
attention consumers pay to a given display. This explains why
companies such as Walmart have made concerted effort to
reduce the number of displays in their stores. In advertising,
consumers pay less attention to a commercial in a large
cluster of commercials than they do to one in a smaller set.
Program involvement refers to how interested viewers are
in the program or editorial content surroundings the ads ( as
opposed to involvement with the ad or brand). In general, the
audience is attending to the medium because of the program
or editorial content, not the advertisement. Ad quality
represents how well a message is constructed in terms of
being believable and appealing, and in communicating the
core message effectively.

Stimuli may be attended to without deliberate or conscious focusing

of attention. A classic example is the cocktail party effect, whereby
an individual engaged in a conversation with a friend isnt
consciously aware of other conversations at a crowded party until
someone in another group says something relevant such as
mentioning her name. The idea behind hemispheric lateralization is
that different parts of our brain are better suited for focused versus
non-focused attention.

Hemispheric lateralization is a term applied to activities

that take place on each side of the brain. The left side of the
brain is primarily responsible for verbal information, symbolic
representation, sequential analysis, and the ability to be
conscious and report what is happening. The right side of the
rain deals with pictorial, geometric, timeless and nonverbal
information without the individual being able to verbally report
it. However just because consumers dont pay direct attention
to an advertisement doesnt mean it cant influence them. For
example, brands contained in ads to which subjects are
exposed but pay little or no attention (incidental exposure)
nonetheless are more likely to be considered for purchase.
Subliminal stimuli is a message presented so far or so softly
or so marked by other messages that one is not are of seeing
or hearing it.

Interpretation is the assignment of meaning to sensations.

Interpretation is related to how we comprehend and make sense of
incoming information based on characteristics of the stimulus, the
individual, and the situation. Several aspects of interpretation are
important to consider, first, it is generally a relative process rather
than absolute, often referred to as perceptual relativity. A second
aspct of interpretation is that it tends to be subjective and open to a
host of psychological biases. The subjective nature of interpretation
can be seen in the distinction between semantic meaning, the
conventional meaning assigned to a word such as found in the
dictionary, and psychological meaning, the specified meaning
assigned a word by a given individual or group of individuals based
on their experiences, expectations, and the context in which the
term is used. A final aspect of interpretation is that it can be a
cognitive thinking process or an affective emotional process.
Cognitive interpretation is a process whereby stimuli are placed
into existing categories of meaning. Affective interpretation is
the emotional or feeling response triggered by a stimulus such as an
ad. Emotional responses can range from positive to negative.
Individual characteristics
Traits Inherent physiological and psychological traits, which
drive our needs ns desires, influence how a stimulus is
interpreted. Fro a physiological standpoint, consumers differ in

their sensitivity to stimuli. Some children are more sensitive to

the bitter taste of certain chemical found in green, leafy
vegetables such as spinach. From a psychological standpoint,
consumers have natural cognitive, emotional, and behavioral
predispositions. As just one example, some experience
emotions more strongly than others, a trait known as affect
intensity.
Leaning and knowledge The meanings attached to such
natural things as time, space, relationships, and colors are
learned and vary widely across cultures. Consumers also lean
about marketer-crated stimuli like brands and promotions
through their experiences with them.
Expectations Individuals interpretations of stimuli tend to be
consistent with their expectations, an effect referred to as the
expectation bias. Most consumers expect dark brown pudding
to taste like chocolate, not vanilla.

A variety of situational characteristics have an impact on

interpretation, including temporary characteristics of the individual,
such as time pressure and mood, and physical characteristics of the
situation, such as the number and characteristics of other
individuals present and the nature of the material surroundings the
message in question. Basically, the situation provides a context
within which the focal stimulus is interpreted. The contextual cues
present in the situation play a role in consumer interpretation
independent of the actual stimulus.
The Stimulus is the basic entity to which an individual responds and
includes the product, package, advertisement, in-store display, and
so son. Consumer react to and interpret basic traits of the stimulus
(size, shape, color), the way the stimulus is organized, and changes
in the stimulus. These processes are likely to be heavily influenced
by the individual and the situation.
Traits Specific traits of the stimulus, such as size, shape, and
color, affect interpretation. Rhetorical figures involve the use
of an unexpected twist or artful deviation in how a message is
communicated either visually in the ads picture or verbally in
the ads text or headline.
Organization Stimulus organization refers to the physical
arrangement of the stimulus objects. Organization affects
consumer interpretation and categorization. For example, you
likely perceive the letters that make up the words you are
reading as words rather than as individual letters. Proximity
refers to the fact that stimuli positioned close together are
perceived as belonging to the same category. Some proximity
comes from the stimuli itself. For example, when consumers
read the headline Have a safe winter. Drive Bridgestone Tire
they tend to infer from the proximity of the two statements
that the ad means Bridgestone Tire will help then have a safe
winter. However, the headline does not explicitly make that

claim. Sometimes proximity results from the relationship of

the stimulus to its context, as in ambush marketing. This
involves any communication or activity that implies, or from
which one could reasonably infer, that on organization is
associated with an event, when in fact it is not. Closure
involves presenting an incomplete stimulus with the goal of
getting consumer to complete it and thus become more
engaged and involved. Figure-ground involves presenting
the stimulus in such as way that it is perceived as the focal
object to be attended to and all other stimuli are perceived as
background.
Changes In order to interpret stimulus change, consumers
must be able to categorize and interpret the new stimulus
relative to the old. The physiological ability of an individual to
distinguish between similar stimuli is called sensory
discrimination. This involves such variables as the sound of
stereo systems, the taste of food products, or the clarity of
display screens. The minimum amount that one noticed is
referred to as the just noticeable difference (j.n.d.).

An inference goes beyond what is directly stated or presented.

Consumers use available data and their own ideas to drawn
conclusions about information that is provided.
Quality signals Inferences are as numerous and divergent as
consumers themselves. Some inferences related to product
quality are relativity consistent across consumers. Priceperceived quality is an inference based on the popular adage
you get what you pay for. Consumers often infer that
higher-priced brands posses higher quality than do lowerpriced brands. Advertising intensity is also a quality signal.
Consumers tend to infer that more heavily advertised brands
are higher quality. Warranties are another quality signal, with
longer warranties generally signaling higher quality. Others
include country of origin, in which consumers interpret
products more positively when they are manufactured in a
country they perceive positively, as well as brands effects,
where well-known brands are perceived as higher quality than
are unknown brands.
Interpreting images Consumer inferences from visual
images are becoming increasingly important as advertisers
increase their uses of visual imagery.
Missing information and ethical concerns When data
about an attribute are missing, consumers may assign it a
value based on a presumed relationship between that
attribute and one for which data are available; they may
assign it the average of their assessments of the available
attributes; they may assume it to be weaker than the
attributes for which data are supplied; or any of a large
number of other strategies may be used.

Cross-promotion whereby, signage in one area of the store

promotes complementary products in another.
Brand name and logo development
Linguistic considerations sometimes brand names start out
having no inherent meaning, but gain associations over time
as consumers gain experience with them.
Brand strategies Marketers engage in numerous strategies
to leverage strong existing brand names. One is brand
extension where an existing brand extends to a new
category with the same name, such as Levi Strauss putting its
Levi name on a line of upscale mens suits. Another is cobranding, an alliance in which two brands are put together
on a single product.
Logo design and typographics How a product or service
name is presented its logo is also important.
Chapter 9 Learning, Memory and Product Positioning
Learning is any change in the content or organization of long-term
memory or behavior and is the result of information processing. In
the previous, we described information processing as a series of
activities by which stimuli are perceived, transformed into
information, and stored. The four activities in the series are
exposure, attention, interpretation and memory. Memory is the total
accumulation of prior learning experience. It consists of two
interrelated components: short-term and long-term memory.
Short-term memory is that portion of total memory that is
currently activated or in use. Long-term memory is that portion of
total memory devoted to permanent information storage. Short-term
memory has a limited capacity to store information and sensations.
Individuals use short-term memory to hold information while they
analyze and interpret it. They may then transfer it to another
system; place it in long-term memory, or both. STM is an active
dynamic process, not a static structure. Maintenance rehearsal is
the continual repetition of a piece of information in order to hold it in
current memory for use in problem solving or transferal long-term
memory. For example, repeating the same formula several times
before taking an exam. STM has limited capacity. Organizing
individuals item into groups of related items that can be processed
as a single unit is called chunking. Elaborative activities are the
use of previously stored experiences, values, attitudes, beliefs and
feelings to interpret and evaluate information in working memory as
well as to add relevant previously stored information. Elaborate
activities can involve both concepts and imagery. Concepts are
abstractions of reality that capture the meaning of an item in terms
of other concepts. Thus, a consumer might bring to mind concepts
such as harmonize, coordinate, and bring together, when first
processing the new concept SYNC (vb uit boek). Imagery involves

concrete sensory representations of ideas, feelings and objects. It

persists a direct recovery of aspects of past experiences. Thus,
imagery processing involves the recall and mental manipulation of
sensory images, including sight, smell, taste and tactile (touch)
sensations. Elaboration increases the chances that information will
be transferred to LTM and be retrieved at a later time by increasing
the processing attention directed at that information and by
establishing meaningful linkages between the new information and
existing information.
Long-term memory is viewed as an unlimited, permanent storage.
It can store numerous types of information, such as concepts,
decision rules, processes and affective (emotional) states.
Marketers are particularly interested in semantic memory, which is
the basic knowledge and feelings an individual has about a concept.
It represents the persons understanding of an object or event at its
simplest level. Another type of memory marketers are interested in
is episodic memory. This is the memory of sequence of events in
which a person participated. These personal memories of events
such as first date, graduation, or learning to drive can be quite
strong. Two important structures are schemas and scripts.
Schemas are a pattern of such associations around a
particular concept. Notice that our hypothetical schema
contains: product characteristics, usage situations, episodes
and affective reactions. In the schema shown in figure 9,2,
concepts, events, and feelings are stored in nodes within
memory. Associative links connect various concepts to from
the complete meaning assigned to an item. Brands in
schematic memory that come to mind (are recalled) for a
specific problem or situation such as thirst are known as the
evoked set.
Scripts: memory of how an action sequence should occur,
such as purchasing and drinking a soft drink to relieve thirst.
The likelihood and ease with which information can be recalled from
LTM is termed accessibility. Accessibility can be enhanced by
rehearsal, repetition and elaboration. The accessibility effect for
brands is called top-of-mind awareness. Retrieval may involve
explicit or implicit memories. Explicit memory involves the
conscious recollection of an exposure event. For example, when you
read a chapter and than try to answer a question about it without
referring back to the chapter. Implicit involves the nonconscious
retrieval of previously encountered stimuli. Information processing
(and therefore learning) may be conscious and deliberate in highinvolvement situations, or it may be nonfocused and even
nonconscious in low-involvement situations. A high-involvement
learning situation is one in which the consumer is motivated to
process or learn the material. For example, an individual reading PC
magazine prior to purchasing a computer is probably highly
motivated to learn relevant material dealing with the various
computer brands. A low-involvement learning situation is one in

which the consumer has little or no motivation to process or learn

the material. A consumer whose television program is interrupted by
a commercial for a product he or she doesnt currently use or feel a
desire for generally has little motivation to learn the material
presented in the commercial. Much consumer learning occurs in
relatively low-involvement contexts.
Conditioning is probably most appropriately described as a set of
procedures that marketers can use to increase the chances that n
association between two stimuli is formed or learned. There are two
basic forms of conditioning:
Classical conditioning attends to created an association
between a stimulus (e.g., brand name) and some response
(e.g., behavior or feeling). The process of using an established
relationship between one stimulus (music) and response
(pleasant feelings) to bring about the learning of the same
response (pleasant feelings) to a different stimulus (the brand)
is called classical conditioning. Hearing popular music
(unconditioned stimulus) automatically elicits a positive
emotion (unconditioned response) in many individuals. If this
music is consistently paired with a particular brand of pen or
other product (conditioned stimulus), the brand itself may
come to elicit the same positive emotion (conditioned
response).
Operant conditioning (or instrumental learning) involves
rewarding desirable behaviors such as brand purchases with a
positive outcome that serve to reinforce the behavior. The
more often a response is reinforce, the more likely it will be
repeated I the future as consumer learn that the response is
associated with a positive outcome. Unlike the relatively
automatic associations created by classical conditioning,
operant conditioning requires that consumer first engage in a
deliberate behavior and come to understand its power in
predicting positive outcomes that serve ass reinforcement.
Shaping is the process of encouraging partial responses
leading to the final desired response (free samples, special
price discount).
Cognitive learning encompasses all the mental activities f
humans as they work to solve problems or cope with situations.
There are three types of cognitive learning:
Iconic Rote Learning is known as learning a concept or the
association between two or more concepts in the absence of
conditioning. For example, one may see an ad that states,
Keptoprofin is headache remedy and associate the new
concept keptoprofin with the existing concept headache
remedy.
Vicarious Learning or Modeling It is not necessary for
consumers to directly experience a reward or punishment to

learn. Instead they can observe the outcomes of others

behaviors and adjust their own accordingly. Similarly, they can
use imagery to anticipate the outcome of various courses of
action this is known as vicarious learning or modeling.
Analytical reasoning represents judgments made upon
statements that are based on the virtue of the statement's
own content. No particular experience, beyond an
understanding of the meanings of words used, is necessary for
analytic reasoning. For example, "John is a bachelor." is a
given true statement. Through analytic reasoning, one can
make the judgment that John is unmarried. One knows this to
be true since the state of being unmarried is implied in the
word bachelor; no particular experience of John is necessary
to make this judgment. Analogical reasoning is an inference
process that allows consumers to use an existing knowledge
base to understand a new situation or objects.

Stimulus discrimination or differentiation refers to the process

of learning to respond differently to similar but distinct stimuli. For
example, the management of Bayer aspirin feels that consumers
should not see its aspirin as being the same as other brands. In
order to obtain a premium price or a large market share, Bayer must
teach consumers that its aspirin is distinct form other brands.
Stimulus generalization often referred to as the rub-off effect,
occurs when a response to one stimuli sis elicited by a similar but
distinct stimulus. Thus, a consumer who leans that Nabiscos Oreo
Cookies taste good and therefore assumer that the companys new
Oreo Chocolate Cones will also taste good has engaged in stimulus
generalization.
In conditioned learning, forgetting is often referred to as extinction,
since the desired response decays or dies out if learning is not
repeated and reinforce. In cognitive learning, forgetting is often
referred to as retrieval failure, since information that is available
in LTM cannot be accessed, that is retrieved from LTM into STM.
The strength of learning: the stronger the original learning, the more
likely relevant information will be retrieved when required. This is
enhanced by six factors:
1. Importance refers to the value that consumer place on the
information to be learned.
2. Message involvement When a consumer is not motivated to
learn the material, processing can be increased by causing the
person to become involved with the message itself. For
example, playing an instrumental version of a popular song
with lyrics related to product attributes may cause people to
sing along, either out loud or mentally.

3. Mood Learning enhancement caused by a positive mood

suggests the types of programs that marketers attempting to
encourage consumer learning should advertise on.
4. Reinforcement Anything that increases the likelihood that a
given response will be repeated in the future is considered
reinforcement.
5. Repetition enhances learning and memory by increasing the
accessibility of information in memory or by strengthening the
associative linkages between concepts.
6. Dual coding Consumers can store (code) information in
different ways. Storing the same information in different ways
(dual coding) results in more internal pathways (associative
links) for retrieving information. For example, when consumers
learn information in two different contexts for example, a
consumer sees two ads for the same brand of dandruff
shampoo, one with an office theme and one with a social
theme. The varied theme (context) provides multiple paths to
the brand and therefore enhances recall later on.
Memory interference occurs when consumers have difficulties
retrieving a specific piece of information because other related
information in memory gets in the way. There are a number of
strategies to decrease competitive interference:
Avoid competing advertising
Strengthen initial learning
Reduce similarity to competing ads
Provide external retrieval cues
Brand image refers to the schematic memory of a brand. It
contains the target markets interpretation of the products
attributes, benefits, usage situation, users and
manufacture/marketer characteristics.
Product positioning is a decision by a marketer to try to achieve a
defined brand image relative to competition within a market
segment.
Perceptual mapping offers marketing managers a useful
technique for measuring and developing a products position.
Perceptual mapping takes consumers perceptions of how similar
various brands or products are to each other and relates these
perceptions to product attributes.
Product repositioning refers to a deliberate decision to
significantly alter the way the market views a product.
Brand equity is the value consumers assign to a brand above and
beyond the functional characteristics of the product.
Brand leverage refers to marketers capitalizing on brand equity
using an existing brand name for new products.
Chapter 10 Motivation, Personality and Emotion
Motivation is the reason for behavior. A motive is a construct

representing an unobservable inner force that stimulates and

compels a behavioral response and provides specific direction to
that response. There are numerous theories of motivation. This
section describes two particularly useful approaches. First Maslows
need hierarchy is a macro theory designed to account for most
human behavior in general terms. The second approach, based on
McGuires work, uses a fairly detailed set of motives to account for
specific aspects of consumer behavior.
Maslows hierarchy of needs is based on four premises:
1. All humans acquire a similar set of motives through genetic
endowment and social interaction.
2. Some motives are mote basic or critical than others.
3. The more basic motives must be satisfied to a minimum level
before other motives are activated.
4. As the basic motives become satisfied, more advanced
motives come into play.
Maslow presented a hierarchical set of five basic motives, and other
researchers have proposed hundreds of additional, very specific
motives. McGuire developed a
classification system that
organizes these various theories
into 16 categories. This system
helps marketers isolate motives
likely to be involved in various
consumption situations. McGuire
first divides motivation into four
main categories using criteria:
1. Is the mode of motivation
cognitive or affective?
2. Is the motive focused on
preservation of the status
quo or on growth?
Cognitive motives focus on the persons need for being adaptively
oriented toward the environment and achieving a sense of meaning.
Affective motives deal with the need to reach satisfying feeling
states and to obtain personal goals. Preservation-oriented motives
emphasize the individual as striving to maintain equilibrium, while
growth motives emphasize development. These four categories are
further subdivided on the bases of source and objective of the
motive:
3. Is this behavior actively imitated or in response to the
environment?
4. Does this behavior help the individual achieve a new internal
or a new external relationship to the environment?
McGuires 16 motives and their implications are described in the
following section.

Cognitive preservation motives

Need for Consistency (active, internal) A basic desire is to
have all facets of oneself consistent with one another.
Cognitive dissonance is a common motive of this type. For
example, making a major purchase is not consistent with the
need to save money.
Need for attribution (active, external) This set of motives deals
with our need to determine who or what causes the things
that happen to us and relates to an area of research called
attribution theory.
Need for categorize (passive, internal) People have a need to
categorize and organize the vast array of information and
experiences they encounter in a meaningful yet manageable
way. So they establish categories or mental partitions to help
them do so.
Need for objectification (passive, external) These motives
reflect needs for observable cues or symbols that enable
people to interferer what they feel and know.
Cognitive growth motive
Need for autonomy (active, internal) The need for
independence and individuality is a characteristic of the
American culture.
Need for stimulation (active, external) people often seek
variety and difference out a need for stimulation.
Teleological Need (passive, internal) Consumers are pattern
matchers who have images of desired outcomes or end states
with which they compare their current situation. Behaviors are
changed and the results are monitored in terms of movement
toward the desired end state.
Utilitarian Need (passive, external) These theories view the
consumer as a problem solver who approaches situations as
opportunities to acquire useful information or new skills.
Affective preservation motives
Need for tension reduction (active, internal) People encounter
situation in their daily lives that crate uncomfortable levels of
stress. In order to manage tension people seek ways to reduce
arousal. (Recreational products)
Need for expression (active, external) This motive deals with
the need to express ones identity to others. People feel the
need to let others know who and what they are by their
actions, which include the purchase and use of goods.
Need for ego defense (passive, internal) The need to defend
ones identity or ego is another important motive. When ones
identity is threatened, the person is motivated to protect his
or her self-concept and utilize defensive behaviors and
attitudes.
Need for reinforcement (Passive, external) People are often
motivated to act in certain ways because they were rewarded
for behaving that way in similar situations in the past.

Products designed to be used in public situations (clothes,

furniture and artwork)
Affective growth motives
Need for assertion (active, internal) Many people are
competitive achievers who seek success, admiration, and
dominance. Important to them are power, accomplishment
and esteem.
Need for affiliation (active, external) Affiliation refers to the
need to develop mutually helpful and satisfying relationships
with others. It relates to altruism and seeking acceptance and
affection in interpersonal relations.
Need for identification (passive, internal) The need for
identification results in the consumers playing various roles.
Need for modeling (passive, external) The need for modeling
reflects a tendency to base behavior on that of others.
Modeling is major means by which children learn to become
consumers.

Manifest motives are motives that are known and freely admitted.
Example of J. Crew clothes Clothes are high quality and
comfortable.
Latent motives are motives that were unknown to the consumer or
were such that she war reluctant to admit them. Example of J. Crew
clothes It will show that Im sophisticated and trendy.
Techniques for identifying those motives are: laddering, or
constructing a means-end or benefit chain.
Involvement is a motivational state caused by t consumer
perceptions that a product, brand or advertisement is relevant or
interesting. Needs play a strong role in determining what is relevant
or interesting to consumers. For example, watches may be involving
because they tell time (utilitarian need), because they allow for selfexpression *expressive need), or because they provide a way to fit
in (affiliation need).
There are three key types of motivation conflicts:
1. Approach-approach motivational conflict A consumer
who must choose between two attractive alternatives faces
this conflict. The more equal the attractions, the greater the
conflict.
2. Approach-avoidance motivational conflict A consumer
facing a purchase choice with both positive and negative
consequences confronts this conflict. Consumers who want a
tan but dont want to risk skin damage and health risks.
Instant Bronze Sunless tanner resolves this conflict.
3. Avoidance-avoidance motivational conflict A choice
involving only undesirable outcomes produces this conflict.
When a consumers old washing machine fails, this conflict
may occur. The person may not want to spend money on a

new washing machine, or pay to have the old one repaired, or

go without one.
Promotion-focused motives resole around a desire for growth
and development and are related to consumers hopes and
aspirations.
Prevention-focused motives revolve around a desire for safety
and security and are related to consumers sense of duties and
obligations.
Regulatory focus theory suggests that consumers will react
differently depending on which broad set of motives is most salient.
Personality is an individuals characteristic response tendencies
across similar situations. Thus, two condemners might have equal
need for tension reduction, but differ in their level of extroversion,
and as a consequence, engage in very different behaviors designed
to satisfy that need. Trait theories examine personality as an
individual difference and thus allow marketers to segment
consumers as a function of their personality differences.
Some traits research attempts a consumers entire personality
profile across a set of relatively exhaustive dimension. Specifically,
multitrait personality theory identifies several traits that in
combination capture a substantial portion of the personality of the
individual. The five-factor model identifies five basic traits formed
by genetics and early learning.
Single trait theories emphasize one personality trait as being a
particularly relevant to understanding a particular set of behaviors.
Consumer ethnocentrism reflects an individual difference in
consumers propensity to be biased against the purchase of foreign
products.
Need for cognition reflects an individual difference in consumers
propensity to engage in and enjoy thinking.
Consumers need for uniqueness reflects an individual
difference in consumers propensity to pursue differentness relative
to others through the acquisition, utilization, and disposition of
consumer goods.
Brand personality is a set of human characteristics that become
associated with a brand.
Communicating brand personality:
Celebrity endorsers
User Imagery involves showing a typical use along with
images of the types of activities they engage in while using
the brand.
Executional factors go beyond the core message to include
how it is communicated. The tone of the ad, the appeal used,
the logo and typeface characteristics, the pace of the ad, and
even the media outlet chosen can all communicate a brands
personality.

Consumer emotional intelligence is defined as a persons ability

to skillfully use emotional information to achieve a desirable
consumer outcome.
Chapter 11 Attitudes and influencing attitudes
An attitude is an enduring organization of motivational, emotional,
perceptual and cognitive processes with respect to some aspect of
our environment. An attitude is the way one thinks, feels and acts
towards some aspect of his or her environment, such as a retail
store, television program, or product. Attitude has three
components:
1. Cognitive component consists of a consumers beliefs about
an object.
2. Affective component represents feelings or emotions to an
object. For example, a consumer who states I like Diet Coke
is expressing the results of an emotional or affective
evaluation of the product.
3. Behavioral component of an attitude is ones tendency to
respond in a certain manner toward an object or activity. A
series of decisions to purchase or not purchase Diet Coke or
recommend it or other brands to friends would reflect the
behavioral component. Actual behaviors reflect these
intentions as they are modified by the situation in which the
behavior will occur. Actual behaviors and response tendencies
are most often measured by fairly direct questioning. For a
more sensitive topic indirect questioning comes to mind.
Consistent means that a change in one attitude component tends to
produce related changes in the other components. At least six
factors may account for inconsistencies between measures of
beliefs and feelings and observations of behavior.
1. Lack of need
2. Lack of ability
3. Relative attitudes
4. Attitude ambivalence: holding mixed feelings/beliefs about an
attitude object.
5. Weak beliefs and affect
6. Interpersonal and situational influences
Four basic marketing strategies are used for altering the cognitive
structure of consumers attitude:
1. Change beliefs
2. Shift importance Most consumers consider some product
attributes to be more important than others. Marketers often
try to convince consumers that those attributes on which their
brands are relatively strong are the most important. For
example, General Motors uses detailed narratives of drives in
distress to emphasize the importance of instant

communication and emergency assistance, which its

proprietary OnStar system provides.
3. Add beliefs For example, the California Pomegranate Council
want consumers to know that beyond processing vitamins and
minerals, new search shows that pomegranates contain
powerful antioxidants that help retard aging and can
neutralize almost twice as many free radicals as red wine an
seven times as many as green tea.
4. Chang ideal Many conservation organizations strive to
influence our beliefs about the ideal product in terms of
minimal packaging, nonpolluting manufacturing, extensive
use of recycled materials, and nonpolluting disposition after its
useful life.
There are three basic approaches to directly increase affect
(changing the affective component):
1. Classical conditioning A stimulus the audience likes, such
as music, is consistently paired with the brand name. Over
time, some of the positive affects associated with the music
will transfer to the brand.
2. Affect toward the ad or website Liking the advertisement
generally increases the tendency to like the brand.
3. Mere exposure This is simply presenting a brand to an
individual on a large number of occasions might make the
individuals attitude toward the brand more positive.
Familiarity breeds liking.
The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) is a theory about how
attitudes are formed and changed under varying conditions of
involvement. ELM integrates select individual, situational and
marketing factors to understand attitudes.
The source of a communication represents who delivers the
message. There are different ways to deliver the same message by
different sources.
Source credibility consists of trustworthiness and expertise.
A source that has no ulterior motive to provide anything other
than complete and accurate information would generally be
considered trustworthy.
Celebrity sources are widely used in advertising. Celebrity
sources are effective for a variety of reasons: attention,
attitude toward the ad, trustworthiness, expertise, aspirational
aspects and meaning transfer. Rather than using celebrities
many firs are creating spokes characters.
Sponsorship a company providing financial support for an
event such as the Olympics or a concert, is one of the most
rapidly growing marketing activities.

The nature of the appeal, or how a message is communicated

affects the attitude formation and change.
Fear appeal uses the threat of negative consequences if
attitudes or behaviors are not altered. (smoking)
Humorous appeals opposite from fear appeals. Ads build
around humor appear to increase attention and liking of the
ad.
Comparative ads directly compare the features or benefits
of two ore more brands.
Emotional appeals are designed primarily to elicit a positive
affective response rather than to provide information or
arguments.
Value-expressive versus utilitarian appeals Valueexpressive appeals attempt to build a personality for the
product or create an image of the product user. Utilitarian
appeals involves informing the consumer of one or more
functional benefits that are important to the target market.
Which is best under what conditions?
In advertisements and sales presentations, marketers generally
present only the benefits of their product without mentioning any
negative characteristics it might possess or any advantages a
competitor might have. These are one-sided messages, since only
one point of view is expressed. The idea of two-sided message,
presenting both good and bad point, is counterintuitive, and most
marketers are reluctant to try such an approach. Message framing
refers to the presenting one of two equivalent value outcomes either
in positive or gain terms (positive framing) or in negative or loss
terms (negative framing). There are various types of message
frames, and the type of frame influences whether positive or
negative framing is best. The simplest form appears to be attribute
framing where only a single attribute is the focus of the frame. For
example, only mentioning 80% fat free not 20% fat). Goal framing
is where the message stresses either the positive consequences of
performing an act or the negative consequences of not performing
the act.
Benefit segmentation is segmenting consumers on the basis of
their most important attribute or attributes.
Chapter 12 Self-concept and lifestyle
Self-concept is defined as the totality of the individuals thoughts
and feelings having reference to himself or herself as an objet. It is
an individuals perception of and feeling towards him-or herself. In
other words, your self-concept is composed of the attitudes you hold
towards yourself. The self-concept can be divided into four basic
parts: actual versus ideal, and private versus social. The actual-ideal
distinction refers to the individuals perception of who I am now
(actual perception) and who I would like to be (ideal selfconcept). The private self refers to how I am or would like to be to

myself (private self-concept), and the social self is how I am seen

by others or how I would like to be seen by others (social-self
concept). It is useful to categorize self-concepts into two types:
1. Independent self-concept emphasizes personal goals,
characteristics, achievements and desires.
2. Interdependent self-concept emphasizes family, cultural,
professional and social relationships.
The extended self consists of the self plus possessions: that is,
people tend to define themselves in part by their possession. Thus,
some possession are not just a manifestation of a persons selfconcept: they are an integral part of that persons self-identity.
A peak experience is an experience that surpasses the usual level
of intensity, meaningfulness and richness and produces feelings of
joy and self-fulfillment. The mere ownership effect or the
endowment effect is the tendency of an owner to evaluate an object
more favorably than a nonowner. The etend to which brands
become part of the extended self appears to be affected by
individual differences in brand engagement. Brand engagement
refers to the extent to which an individual includes important brands
as part of his or her self-concept.
Lifestyle indicates basically how a person lives. It his how a person
enacts her or his self-concept and determined by past experiences,
innate characteristics, and current situations. Attempts to develop
quantitative measures of lifestyle were initially referred to as
psychographics psychographics studies typically include the
following:

Attitudes
Values
Activities and interests
Demographics
Media patterns
Usage rates

By far the most popular application of

psychographic research by marketing
managers is Strategic Business Insights (SBIs)
VALS program. VALS provides a systematic
classification of American adults into eight
distinct consumer segments. The primary
motivations underlie VALS:

Ideals motivation
Achievement motivation
Self-expression motivation