MODULE-4

INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCES ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

DR. REMA GOPALAN

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 LEARNING ?
• ACQUIRING NEW KNOWLEDGE

• ACQUIRE A WIDE VARIETY OF OTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL

PROCESSES, INCLUDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF BOTH
APPROPRIATE AND INAPPROPRIATE SOCIAL BEHAVIORS

• LEARNING IS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT HUMAN

CAPACITY. LEARNING ALLOWS US TO CREATE EFFECTIVE
LIVES BY BEING ABLE TO RESPOND TO CHANGES.
 LEARNING DEFINED
▪ Learning can be viewed as a relatively permanent change in
your knowledge/behaviour occurring as a result of experience.
▪ Domjan and burkhard (1986) opined that learning is the
process of “enduring change in the mechanism of behaviour
that results from expertise with environmental events”.
▪ As per the studies of Hoch and Deighton (1989) in the
contemporary market, the process of learning occurs when
consumers implement their beliefs to interpret a new set of
data. They have viewed learning as a psychological attribute. It
includes the learning of attitudes of consumers
 THEREFORE….

• Consumer learning is the process by which individuals acquire the

purchase and consumption knowledge, and experience and form a
predisposition which they apply to future-directed behaviour.
Hence,
Consumer learning is a process.
Consumer accumulates knowledge and experience through the process of
learning.
The knowledge and experience thus accumulated forms predisposition in
consumer’s mind and thereby shapes the foundation of his future behaviour.
 LEARNING PROCESSES

• INTENTIONAL
Learning acquired as a result of a careful search for
information

• INCIDENTAL
Learning acquired by accident or without much effort
 IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING

Marketers must teach consumers:

❑ where to buy
❑ how to use
❑ how to maintain
❑ how to dispose of products
 EXAMPLES..

• Car dealerships offer test drives.

• Pharmaceutical reps leave samples and brochures at doctor’s offices. Other
companies give consumers free samples.
• To promote its new line of coffees, mcdonald’s offered customers free samples to
try.
• Have you ever eaten the food samples at costco or in your favourite grocery
store?
• While sampling is an expensive strategy, it gets consumers to try the product and
many customers buy it, especially right after trying in the store.
 PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS OF LEARNING
▪ Motives
Motive, motivation, or drive is very important for learning. People learn on
being driven by some motives or motivating factors.
▪ Cues
Motives stimulate learning, whereas “cues” are the stimuli that give direction
to these motives.
▪ Response
Response is how the consumers react to the motives or cues, and how do they
behave.
▪ Reinforcement
Reinforcement is an important element which increases the probability
(tendency or likelihood) of a particular response to occur in future as a result
of a given set of motives and cues.
 LEARNING THEORIES

◼ BEHAVIOURAL THEORIES: ◼ COGNITIVE THEORIES:

Theories based on the premise that A theory of learning based on
learning takes place as the result of mental information processing,
observable responses to external
often in response to problem
stimuli. Also known as stimulus
response theory. solving.
 BEHAVIOURAL THEORIES

• For example, if a song we remember fondly from high school gets

repeatedly paired with a brand name, over time our warm memories
about the tune will rub off onto the advertised product.

• Can you think of any advertisements that feature a favourite

song from your teenage years?
 BEHAVIOURAL LEARNING THEORIES

• Classical Conditioning

• Instrumental Conditioning

• Modeling or Observational Learning

 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

• Pairing a stimulus with another stimulus that elicits a

known response to produce the same response when used
alone.

• The word conditioning means a kind of “knee-jerk” or

automatic response to a situation built up through
repeated exposure. E.G., If you get a headache every time
you think of visiting a doctor. Pavlov’s demonstration of
conditioned learning in his studies with dogs is also a
good example of it.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING CONTD..
• It is still widely studied today as a type of , a form of
learning that relies on the repetitive pairing of stimuli.

• Classical conditioning has long been, and continues to

be, an effective tool in marketing and advertising

• Swedish car brand, “Volvo” has successfully paired its

name with the concept of “safety” for years, giving
consumers the sense that Volvos are among the safest
cars on the road (and ideal for young families).
 STRATEGIC APPLICATIONS OF CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
• Repetition

• Stimulus generalization
• The inability to perceive differences between
slightly dissimilar stimuli.

• Stimulus discrimination
 REPETITION
• Repetition increases strength of associations and
slows forgetting, e.g., A brand name is often repeated a
number of times in just one advertisement
• But over time may result in advertising wear out.
• Varying the ad message can decrease the advertising
wear-out effect. This can be accomplished by repeating the
same message or theme in a variety of execution formats.
• Cosmetic variations reduce satiation.
 STIMULUS GENERALIZATION
• This principle states that a new but similar stimulus or
stimulus situation will produce a response that is the same
or similar as that produced by the original stimulus.

• The inability to perceive differences between slightly

dissimilar stimuli.

• Marketing applications
• Product line, form and category extensions
• Family branding
• Licensing
• Generalizing usage situations
 EXAMPLES OF STIMULUS GENERALIZATION
Bajaj, Philips, Sony, Lakme, Pepsi and Coke etc. follow a policy of generalisation
and use family branding.
• PRODUCT LINE EXTENSION- : Palmolive soap is available in pink, white and light
bluish pack. Maggi noodles are available in different flavours
• PRODUCT FORM EXTENSION -Dettol soap cake and dettol liquid soap. Many
drugs are available as tablet, syrup, injections, or as inhalers.
• PRODUCT CATEGORY EXTENSION- Milkmaid condensed milk and introduced
milkmaid gulabjamun, kesar kulfi, shahi rabri and milkmaid pudding.
• FAMILY BRANDING- Lakme ponds, pepsi co, coca-cola, tata, sony, nikon, canon,
epson, microtek and hewlett packard etc. Produce different products under the
same family brand name
 STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION
• Unlike reaction to similarity of stimuli, discrimination is a reaction to
differences among similar stimuli.
• The ability to discriminate among stimuli is learned. For example,
frequent users of a brand are better able to notice relatively small
differences among brands in the same product category.

• Innovators and market leaders strive to convince consumers to discriminate

and consider their brands as different from generic-type of products and
other brands in the same product category. For example, the entire ad
campaign of maggi hot and sweet tomato chilli sauce focused on convincing
consumers that “it is different” and thereby position the brand.
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING AND MARKETING
STRATEGY
• Identify and pair product with a known, well-liked stimulus

• More attention
• More favourable attitudes
• Greater intention to buy the product
• Learning of key attributes

• Use stimulus generalization effectively

 INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING (OPERANT
CONDITIONING)
• Instrumental conditioning involves developing association between
stimulus and response but requires the subject to discover a correct
response that will be reinforced.

• For instance, let us assume that in a Pavlov like experiment, dogs or rats are
provided with two levers instead of just one. Pushing one lever will produce food
(reward) and the other an electrical shock (punishment). When hungry, the animals
would quickly learn to press the lever that produced food and avoid the lever
that produced an electrical shock.
 INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING (OPERANT
CONDITIONING)
• Consumers learn by means of trial and error process in which
some purchase behaviours result in more favorable outcomes
(rewards) than other purchase behaviours.

• A favorable experience is instrumental in teaching the

individual to repeat a specific behaviour.
 REINFORCEMENT

• Positive reinforcement: • Negative Reinforcement:

Positive outcomes that strengthen the Unpleasant or negative
likelihood of a specific response outcomes that serve to
encourage a specific behaviour
• Example: Ad showing beautiful hair as
a reinforcement to buy shampoo Example: Ad showing wrinkled
skin as reinforcement to buy skin
cream
 OTHER CONCEPTS IN REINFORCEMENT

• Punishment
• Choose reinforcement rather than punishment
• Extinction
• Combat with consumer satisfaction
• Forgetting
• Combat with repetition
 INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING AND MARKETING

• Make the product the ultimate reward

• Provide samples and free trials
• Provide non-product rewards
• Practice relationship marketing
• Reinforcement schedules
• Shaping
• Massed versus distributed learning
CONSUMER ATTITUDE
 A learned predisposition to
behave in a consistently
Attitude favorable or unfavorable
manner with respect to a
given object.
 CONSUMER ATTITUDE
• Customer attitudes are a composite of a person’s beliefs
about, feelings about, and behavioral intentions toward
products/brands/retail store.

• Attitudes play an important part in determining a store's

standing among consumers.

• Attitudes directly affect purchase decisions and these in turn

directly affect attitudes through experience in using the
product or service.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTITUDE

• Difficult to measure
• May create inflexibility and stereotypes
• Formed largely from continuous process of socialization
• Once formed not easy to change
 STRUCTURAL MODELS OF ATTITUDES
• TRICOMPONENT ATTITUDE MODEL

• MULTI-ATTRIBUTE ATTITUDE MODEL

• THE TRYING-TO-CONSUME MODEL

• ATTITUDE-TOWARD-THE-AD MODEL
A SIMPLE REPRESENTATION OF THE TRICOMPONENT
ATTITUDE MODEL

Cognition
 THE TRICOMPONENT MODEL

Components

• COGNITIVE (Beliefs and thoughts)

The knowledge and perceptions
• AFFECTIVE that are acquired by a
• CONATIVE combination of direct experience
with the attitude object and
related information from various
sources
THE TRICOMPONENT MODEL (ABC MODEL)
Components

• COGNITIVE (Feelings)
A consumer’s emotions or
• AFFECTIVE
feelings about a particular
• CONATIVE product or brand
Starbucks Coffee
 THE TRICOMPONENT MODEL
Components
(Behaviour/Action)
• COGNITIVE
The likelihood or tendency that an
• AFFECTIVE individual will undertake a specific
action or behave in a particular way
• CONATIVE
with regard to the attitude object,
Such as Brand Loyalty
 Attitude models that examine
the composition of consumer
attitudes in terms of selected
Multiattribute product attributes or
Attitude beliefs.
Models
For e.g., in case of an automobile, more
mileage per litre of petrol, attractive
styling, reliable performance etc. are
viewed as favourable beliefs
 MULTI-ATTRIBUTE ATTITUDE MODELS

Types
• THE ATTITUDE-TOWARD- • Attitude is function of evaluation
OBJECT MODEL (ATO of product-specific beliefs and
MODEL) evaluations
• THE ATTITUDE-TOWARD-
BEHAVIOR MODEL • Useful to measure attitudes
• THEORY-OF-REASONED- toward brands
ACTION MODEL
 ATTITUDE-TOWARD-OBJECT MODEL
• A product has many attributes (size, features, style and so on) and an individual will
process information and develop beliefs about many of these attributes.
• Consumers generally have favourable attitudes towards those products or brands
that they believe have an acceptable level of positive attributes. Conversely, they
have unfavorable attitudes toward those brands that they believe do not have an
acceptable level of desired attributes, or have too many negative attributes. The
model is usually shown by the following equation:
 MULTIATTRIBUTE ATTITUDE MODELS
Types
• THE ATTITUDE-TOWARD- • Is the attitude toward behaving or
OBJECT MODEL acting with respect to an object,
• THE ATTITUDE-TOWARD- rather than the attitude toward
BEHAVIOR MODEL the object itself
• THEORY-OF-REASONED- • Corresponds closely to actual
ACTION MODEL behavior
 MULTIATTRIBUTE ATTITUDE MODELS
Types
• THE ATTITUDE-TOWARD- • Includes cognitive, affective,
OBJECT MODEL and conative components
• THE ATTITUDE-TOWARD- • Includes subjective norms in
BEHAVIOR MODEL addition to attitude
• THEORY-OF-REASONED-
ACTION MODEL
A Simplified Version of the Theory of
Reasoned Action
 WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?
• The transmission of a message from a sender to
a receiver via a medium of transmission.
• The sponsor must establish the primary
communications objectives. These might consist of
creating awareness of a service, promoting sales
of a product, encouraging (or discouraging)
certain practices etc.
 ELEMENTS OF THE
COMMUNICATIONS PROCESS

• THE MESSAGE INITIATOR (THE SOURCE)

• THE SENDER
• THE RECEIVER
• THE MEDIUM
• THE MESSAGE
• THE TARGET AUDIENCE (THE RECEIVERS)
• FEEDBACK - THE RECEIVER’S RESPONSE
 RECEIVER (TARGET AUDIENCE)

• Companies that have many diverse audiences sometimes find it useful

to develop a communications strategy that consists of an overall
communications message to all their audiences, from which they spin
off a series of related messages targeted directly to the specific
interests of individual segments.
 MEDIA STRATEGY

• Calls for the placement of ads in the specific media read,

viewed or heard by each targeted audience. To accomplish
this, advertisers develop, through research, a customer profile
of their target customers that includes the specific media they
read or watch
8-54 Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education
Canada Inc.
 FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS

• CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOURCE

• MESSAGE CHARACTERISTICS
• CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RECEIVER
• CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MEDIUM