1.

Summary

Consumer must learn almost everything related to being a consumer-product existence,

performance, availability, values, preference, and so forth. Marketing managers, therefore, are
very interested in the nature of consumer learning.

High-involvement learning occurs when as individual is motivated to acquire the information.

Low involvement learning occurs when an individual is paying only limited or indirect attention
to an advertisement or other message. Low-involvement learning tends to be limited due to a
lack of elaborative activities.

Learning is defined as any change in the content or organization of long-term memory or

behavior. Two basic types of learning, conditioning and cognition, are used by consumers.

There are two forms of conditioned learning classical and operant. Classical conditioning refers
to the process of using an existing relationship between a stimulus and response to bring about
the learning of the same response to a different stimulus. In operant conditioning, reinforcement
plays a much role than it does in classical conditioning. No automatic stimulus response
relationship is involved, so the subject must first be induced to engage in the desired behavior
and then this behavior must be reinforced.

The cognitive approach to learning encompasses the mental activities of humans as they work to
solve problems, cope with complex situations, or function effectively in their environment. It
includes iconic note learning, vicarious learning/modeling and reasoning.

The strength of the learning depends on six basic factors: importance, reinforcement, mood,
message involvement, repetition and imagery. Importance refers to the value that the consumer
places on the information to be learned— the greater the importance, the greater the learning.
Reinforcement is anything that increases the likelihood that a response will be repeated in the
future— the greater the reinforcement, the greater the learning. Mood is the temporary mental
state or feeling of the consumer. Learning appears to be greater in positive mood conditions.
Message involvement is the degree to which the consumer is interested in the message itself—

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the greater the message involvement, the greater the learning. Repetition or practice refers to the
number of times that we are exposed to the information or that we practice a behavior.
Repetition increases the strength and speed of learning. Imagery is the degree to which concepts
evoke well-defined mental images. High-image concepts are easier to learn.

Remembering a fact or specific event is known as explicit memory. Knowing something without
awareness of the source or exact nature of the knowledge is referred to as implicit memory. Both
forms of memory are important to marketers but implicit memory is particularly important for
understanding how consumers form and use brand images.

Stimulus generalization is one way of transferring learning by generalizing form one stimulus
situation to other, similar ones. Stimulus discrimination refers to the opposite process of
learning—responding differently to somewhat similar stimuli.

Extinction or forgetting, is also of interesting to marketing managers. Extinction is directly

related to the strength of original learning, modified by continued repetition.

Memory is the result of learning. Most commonly information goes directly into short-term
memory for problem solving or elaboration where two basic activities occur—elaborative
activities and maintenance rehearsal. Elaborative activities are the use of stored experiences,
values, attitudes, and feelings to interpret and evaluate information in current memory.
Maintenance rehearsal is the continual repetition of a piece of information in order to hold it in
current memory.

Long-term memory is information from previous information processing that has been stored for
future use. It undergoes continual restructuring as new information is acquired. Information is
retrieved from retention for problem solving and the success of the retrieval process depends on
how well the material was learned and the match between the retrieval and learning
environment.

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2. Learning

Learning is the term used to describe by which memory and behavior are changed as a result of
conscious and non-conscious information processing. Learning is essential to the consumption
process. People acquire most of their attitude, values, tastes, behaviors, preferences, symbolic
meanings, and feelings from learning. Cultural and social class, through such institutions as
schools and religious organizations, as well as family, friends, mass media and advertising
provide learning experiences that greatly influence the type of lifestyle people seek and the
products they consume.

Culture
Values
Subculture

Attitude
Social Class

Family Tastes
Purchase
Friends and use
Preferences Behaviors
Learning
Institutions
Skills

Experiences
Feelings

Mass Media
Meanings

Advertising
Behaviors

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Learning is any change in the content or organization of long term memory or behavior, The
first part of the definition focuses on what we know (and can thus put to use) while the second
focuses on concrete behavior. It is the result of information processing. Learning is not all
knowledge based. For example, we may experience the sales people in one store being nicer to
us than those in the other. We thus may develop a preference for the one store over the other;
however, if pressed, we may not be able to give a conscious explanation as to the reason for our
preference.

Learning as a process - learning theory

The focus on process obviously takes us into the realm of learning theories - ideas about how or
why change occurs. On these pages we focus on four different orientations (the first three taken
from Merriam and Caffarella 1991).
the behaviourist orientation to learning
the cognitive orientation to learning
the humanistic orientation to learning
the social/situational orientation to learning
As with any categorization of this sort the divisions are a bit arbitrary: there could be further
additions and sub-divisions to the scheme, and there a various ways in which the orientations
overlap and draw upon each other.
The four orientations can be summed up in the following figure:

Four orientations to learning (after Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 138)

Aspect Behaviourist Cognitivist Humanist Social and

situat
ional
Learning Thorndike, Koffka, Kohler, Maslow, Rogers Bandura, Lave
theorists Pavlov, Watson, Lewin, Piaget, and Wenger,
Guthrie, Hull, Ausubel, Bruner, Salomon
Tolman, Skinner Gagne
View of the Change in Internal mental A personal act to Interaction
learning process behaviour process fulfil potential. /observation in
(including social contexts.
insight, Movement from
information the periphery to

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 processing, the centre of a
memory, community of
perception practice
Locus of Stimuli in Internal cognitive Affective and Learning is in
learning external structuring cognitive needs relationship
environment between people
and environment.
Purpose in Produce Develop capacity Become self- Full participation
education behavioural and skills to learn actualized, in communities of
change in desired better autonomous practice and
direction utilization of
resources
Educator's role Arranges Structures content Facilitates Works to
environment to of learning development of establish
elicit desired activity the whole person communities of
response practice in which
conversation and
participation can
occur.
Manifestations Behavioural Cognitive Andragogy Socialization
in adult learning objectives development Self-directed Social
Competency Intelligence, learning participation
-based education learning and Associationalism
Skill memory as Conversation
development and function of age
training Learning how to
learn
As can seen from the above schematic presentation and the discussion on the linked pages, these
approaches involve contrasting ideas as to the purpose and process of learning and education -
and the role that educators may take. It is also important to recognize that the theories may apply
to different sectors of the acquisition-formalized learning continuum outlined above.
3. Learning under condition of High and Low Involvement

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Learning may occur in either a high-involvement or low-involvement situation. A high-
involvement learning is one in which the consumer is motivated to process or learn the material.
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 does not currently use or feel a desire for generally has little
motivation to learn the material presented in the commercial. Much, but not most, consumer
learning occurs in relatively low involvement contexts. Involvement is a function of the
interaction between the individual, the stimulus and the situation.

Learning Theories in Low and High Involvement Situation

Situation Learning Specific Learning Situation

Approach learning theory approach

Classical

Conditioning Operant Conditioning

High- High-
involvement involvement
learning learning
situation Iconic rule situation

Vicarious/
Cognitive Cognitive
Modeling

Reasoning/
analogy

Commonly used
Occasionally used

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4. Conditioning

Conditioning refers to learning based on association of a stimulus (information) and response

(behavior of feeling). Conditioned learning simply means that through exposure to some
stimulus and a corresponding response, one learns that they go together or not to go together.
There are two basic forms of conditioning learning:
i) Classical Conditioning
ii) Operant Conditioning

4.1. Classical Conditioning

If a stimulus that results in an emotional response is repeated alongside another stimulus which
does not cause an emotional response, eventually the second stimulus will result in the same
emotional response. Classical Conditioning is thus ‘learning by association’.
In more detail, we are pre-conditioned to unconditionally respond in certain ways to stimuli. For
example a sudden noise (an unconditional stimulus, US) makes us flinch (the unconditional
response, UR). If a movement is made at the same time as, or just before the noise, such as
moving hands to clap loudly (conditional stimulus, CS), then the person will learn to flinch
when the movement is made without the noise necessarily being there (the conditional response,
CR). Thus the association is made between the US and CS, with either stimulating the same
response.

Classical Conditioning does not work in all circumstances. In particular it is more effective
where the conditioning may be of evolutionary benefit.

Classical conditioning is a form of associative learning that was first demonstrated by Ivan
Pavlov. The typical procedure for inducing classical conditioning involves presentations of a
neutral stimulus along with a stimulus of some significance. The neutral stimulus could be any
event that does not result in an overt behavioral response from the organism under investigation.
Pavlov referred to this as a conditioned stimulus (CS). Conversely, presentation of the
significant stimulus necessarily evokes an innate, often reflexive, response. Pavlov called these
the unconditioned stimulus (US) and unconditioned response (UR), respectively. If the CS and
the US are repeatedly paired, eventually the two stimuli become associated and the organism

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begins to produce a behavioral response to the CS. Pavlov called this the conditioned response
(CR).

Many modern day advertisers use classical conditioning in some way. Considering this
sequence:

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4.2. Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the occurrence and form of
behavior. Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning (also called
respondent conditioning, or Pavlovian conditioning) in that operant conditioning deals with the
modification of "voluntary behavior" or operant behavior. Operant behavior "operates" on the
environment and is maintained by its consequences, while classical conditioning deals with the
conditioning of respondent behaviors which are elicited by antecedent conditions. Behaviors
conditioned via a classical conditioning procedure are not maintained by consequences. The
main dependent variable is the rate of response that is developed over a period of time. New
operant responses can be further developed and shaped by reinforcing close approximations of
the desired response.

It's important to note that organisms are not spoken of as being reinforced, punished, or
extinguished; it is the response that is reinforced, punished, or extinguished. Additionally,
reinforcement, punishment, and extinction are not terms whose use is restricted to the
laboratory. Naturally occurring consequences can also be said to reinforce, punish, or extinguish
behavior and are not always delivered by people.
• Reinforcement is a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with greater frequency.
• Punishment is a consequence that causes a behavior to occur with less frequency.
• Extinction is the lack of any consequence following a behavior. When a behavior is
inconsequential, producing neither favorable nor unfavorable consequences, it will occur
with less frequency. When a previously reinforced behavior is no longer reinforced with
either positive or negative reinforcement, it leads to a decline in the response.
Four contexts of operant conditioning: Here the terms "positive" and "negative" are not used in
their popular sense, but rather: "positive" refers to addition, and "negative" refers to subtraction.

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Components of Operant Conditioning

Some key concepts in operant conditioning:

• A reinforcer is any event that strengthens or increases the behavior it follows. There are
two kinds of reinforcers:
1. Positive reinforcers are favorable events or outcomes that are presented after the
behavior. In situations that reflect positive reinforcement, a response or behavior
is strengthened by the addition of something, such as praise or a direct reward.
2. Negative reinforcers involve the removal of an unfavorable events or outcomes
after the display of a behavior. In these situations, a response is strengthened by
the removal of something considered unpleasant.
In both of these cases of reinforcement, the behavior increases.
• Punishment, on the other hand, is the presentation of an adverse event or outcome that
causes a decrease in the behavior it follows. There are two kinds of punishment:
1. Positive punishment, sometimes referred to as punishment by application,
involves the presentation of an unfavorable event or outcome in order to weaken
the response it follows.
2. Negative punishment, also known as punishment by removal, occurs when an
favorable event or outcome is removed after a behavior occurs.
In both of these cases of punishment, the behavior decreases.

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5. Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning is the result of listening, watching, touching or experiencing.

It is a term that is often used in the academic arena but more recently it has started to pop up in
the business world. To most people probably very little. Essentially what ‘cognition’ means is
‘to know’, gaining knowledge through thought or perception.

Cognitive learning is a powerful mechanism that provides the means of knowledge, and goes
well beyond simple imitation of others. Conditioning can never explain what you are learning
from reading our web-site. This learning illustrates the importance of cognitive learning.
Cognitive learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge and skill by mental or cognitive
processes — the procedures we have for manipulating information 'in our heads'. Cognitive
processes include creating mental representations of physical objects and events, and other
forms of information processing.

Cognitive learning is about enabling people to learn by using their reason, intuition and
perception. This technique is often used to change peoples’ behavior. But people’s behavior is
influenced by many factors such as culture, upbringing, education and motivation. Therefore
cognitive learning involves understanding how these factors influence behavior and then using
this information to develop learning programmes.
So it is far more subtle than just telling people what you want them to do differently it involves
presenting the message in such a way that it allows people to work out the answer themselves.
This can be achieved a number of ways
• Response consequences – should you reward for demonstrating the right behavior or
punish for demonstrating the wrong behavior? Which approach will achieve the required
outcomes? In reality there needs to be a combination of both as people will be motivated
by different things.
• Observation – observation is a very powerful learning tool as it enables us to see
whether performing an action is desirable or not without making the mistake ourselves.
Also employees will be more likely to demonstrate the right behaviours if they see
managers and senior managers doing so.
• Symbolism – allows us to create mental pictures and act out scenarios so that we can
think through the consequences without actually performing it.

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6. Stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination

Stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination is truly a mouthful. Stimulus generalization

(often referred to as the "rub-off effect") means the more similar two stimuli are, the more likely
a person is to respond to them as if they were the same stimulus. For example, a green traffic
light tells the driver when to drive on through an intersection. Not all green lights have exactly
the same green colors; yet, we react to them in the exact same way.

In stimulus discrimination, the reverse is true. Stimulus discrimination refers to a situation in

which we react differently to two or more stimuli. Keeping with traffic lights as an example, we
would push down on the accelerator when the light is green, but put on the brakes when the light
turns red. Unless we are colorblind, we can clearly discriminate between the two colors.

Stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination are very important to the field of consumer
behavior and to practitioners in marketing due to the fact that both occur with classical and
operant conditioning. Both these conditions deal with behaviors and how we react to stimuli.
First described and interpreted by Pavlov (1927) using classical conditioning, stimulus
generalization has been studied extensively by Mostofsky (1965). Skinner has also done
extensive research on stimulus discrimination. (Stimulus Generalization)
Stimulus generalization does not need to be the same stimulus to generate a similar reaction.
Everyday, consumers generalize among product categories. Stimulus discrimination creates real
associations. Rule of thumb: the longer the time of learning, the greater the product association
and the more consumers will discriminate. This means the more history we have with a product,
the more we, as consumers, will discriminate.

Explanation of the topic

Stimulus generalization includes for a learned association between a given stimulus and
response, a very similar stimulus may elicit the same response. The more similar the two
stimuli, the more likely this new stimulus will elicit the learned response.

For example, Pepsi and Coke are very similar causing consumers to react to them similarly.
Areas of application in marketing are brand name, advertising, and product packaging. Stimulus
discrimination is when the organism learns to make a response to a given stimulus, but avoids

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making the same response to a similar stimulus. Going back to Pepsi and Coke, packaging and
trademarks allow us to discriminate between products and discriminate when purchasing.
Classical and operant conditioning share many of the same basic principles and procedures. For
example, Kimble (1961) has pointed out that the basic principles of acquisition, extinction,
spontaneous recovery, and stimulus generalization is common to both classical and operant
conditioning. Stimulus generalization occurs when a response is uniformly rewarded in many
conditions and environments. For example, if a child is encouraged in their environment to be
aggressive both at home and at school, they will develop general aggressive tendencies. In
stimulus discrimination indicates when an operant response will or will not have favorable
consequences. For example, we learn to belch in our own rooms at home but not in the presence
of our teachers.

A consumer who learns that Nestles' Crunch candy bars taste good and therefore assumes that
their new Nestles' Nesquik chocolate drink will also taste good has engaged in stimulus
generalization. At some point, stimulus generalization becomes dysfunctional because less and
less similar stimuli are still being grouped together. At this point, consumers must begin to be
able to differentiate among the stimuli. This process refers to stimulus discrimination, the
process of learning to respond differently to similar but very distinct stimuli.

Stimulus Generation and Marketing

Learning theory teaches marketers that they can build up demand for a product by associating it
with strong drives which are strong internal stimulus impelling action, using motivating cues
which are minor stimuli that determine when, where, and how a person responds, and providing
positive reinforcement. A new company can enter the market by appealing to the same drives
that competitors use and providing similar cue configurations because buyers are more likely to
transfer loyalty to similar brands (generalization). Or the company might design its brands to
appeal to a different set of drives and offer strong cue inducements to switch (discrimination).
(Marketing Management)
The issue of stimulus generalization has relevance within a marketing context in two basic areas
(Till, 2000). Stimulus generalization relates to brand extensions and private-label marketing
strategies.

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7. Memory

In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information.

Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of
artificially enhancing the memory. The late nineteenth and early twentieth century put memory
within the paradigms of cognitive psychology. In recent decades, it has become one of the
principal pillars of a branch of science called cognitive neuroscience, an interdisciplinary link
between cognitive psychology and neuroscience.

Multiple Store Model of Memory

This is a "black box" model which concentrates on external inputs and the consumer behavior
outputs that seem to ensue from them.
• Sensory
o Pre-attention stage
o Brief analysis to determine if additional processing capacity should be devoted to
stimulus
• Short-Term
o Where information is actively processed
• Long-Term
o Where information is stored after encoding for later retrieval
Encoding:
the process of transferring information from short- to long-term memory for permanent storage
Retrieval:
the process of accessing information stored in long-term memory so that it can be utilized in
short-term memory

Cognitive Process Terms

• Activation
Stored cognitive representations are made available for retrieval from memory for
processing.
• Spreading Activation
Activation of one representation will spread to and activate other representations with
which it is associated.

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 • Capacity Limits
The cognitive processing system has a finite limit in the amount of information that can
be processed at one time.
• Automatism
As cognitive processes are practiced (i.e., the limited capacity system is used), they
eventually require less conscious control and less capacity.

Forgetting
• Retroactive interference
After old material has been learned, new material interferes with the retrieval of old
material from memory
• Proactive interference
Material learned prior to the new material interferes with the learning of the new
material
• Advertising pulsing
Forgetting occurs rapidly at first, and then levels off: why do advertisers often use a
pulsing strategy?

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8. Bibliography

• Leon G. Schiffman, Leslie Lazar Kanuk, Consumer Behavior

8th Edition, Prentice-Hall Inc.

• Peter & Olson, Consumer Behavior

Latest Edition

• Del. I. Hawkins, Roger J. Best, Consumer Behavior, Building Marketing Strategy

9th Edition, The McGraw Hill

• Armstrong Gary, Kotler Philip, Principles of Marketing

11th ed., Prentice-Hall Inc.

• Steven J. Skinner, John M. Ivancevich, Business for the 21 Century

• www.wikipedia.en.com

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