Consumer Behavior Learning
Consumer Behavior Learning
Consumer Behavior Learning
INFLUENCE ON CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR
229
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Unit-9
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Lesson - 1 :
Introduction
A consumers past experience or learning determines his future purchase
decisions. Learning may be understood using two basic types of theoriesbehaviorist and the cognitive theory.
Background of Considering
Consumer Behavior
Learning
in
Explaining
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Need or Drive
Leads to
Wants
Combined with
Stimulus &
Cues
To produce
Response
(action or decision)
Which receives
Reinfordcement
(positive or negative)
Satisfaction
Dissatisfaction
Which produces
Learning
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Learning is a process
of interactions
between four factors:
drives, cues,
responses, and
reinforcements.
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Drives basically
cause an individual
to act.
Drives
A drive is a strong stimulus that encourages action by which the
individual can reduce his need. Drives are internal. They are the reasons
behind certain behavior patterns. In marketing, a product purchase is the
result of a drive to satisfy some need. Thus a drive can be associated with
a specific need that the individual seeks to satisfy. Drives basically cause
an individual to act. Drives could be both primary/basic and secondary.
Physiological motivators, such as hunger, thirst, sex, sleep, etc. are
primary or basic drives. The other type of drives, secondary drives are
learned by the individuals. They are learned through experiences received
from social and cultural environments. Some of the secondary drives are:
need for love and warmth relationship, desire for recognition (Figure-9.1:
Showing the Consumer learning Process) and prestige, and the desire for
particular position. Drive or arousal function is essential in the sense that,
it activates the energy needed to engage in learning activity. Marketing
managers cannot create internal drives in consumers. Some critics imply
that marketers can somehow manipulate consumers to buy products
against their will. Most marketing managers realize that trying to get
consumers to act against their will is not a very fruitful activity. A good
marketing manager, therefore, studies what consumer drives and needs
already exist and how they can be satisfied better.
Cues
Cues are basically stimuli exist in the individuals environment. They are
weaker stimuli that direct the individuals responses to the drive by
determining how, when, and where it will occur. Cues, thus, trigger drives
in individuals. They are capable of providing direction to motivated
activities. Cues influence the manner in which consumers respond to a
motive. Cues could be the products themselves, their advertisements,
signs, colors, price, product design, store displays, or promotional offers.
Cues suggest specific ways to satisfy motives. If consumers expectations
are found to be consistent with certain cues, those cues can direct
consumer activities. Some marketers try to identify cues that have positive
associations from some other situation and relate them to their marketing
mix. Many people, for example, associate the smell of lemons with a
fresh, natural cleanliness. Thus, marketers of many household cleaning
products add lemon scent to their products keeping in minds this
association. Using positive cues is especially common when new products
are introduced because consumers have no past experience with the
product itself. Some firms copy favorable cues associated with a
competitors popular product hoping that the same consumer response
will carry over to their product.
A response is an
effort to satisfy a
drive.
Response
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Reinfordcement
Ibid, p. 388.
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Reinforcement is the
result of the response.
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need to know how consumers learn, and how they learn to avoid or seek
products, and how they remember them.
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The basic difference between these two theories of learning is the way
they presented the human being. Behaviorists consider human
behavior with that of laboratory animals such as rats. They believe
that, whenever an individual is esxposed to a stimulus, he will make a
response such as a machine. But, in reality, we human beings do not
always respond to stimuli. The cognitive theorists, on the otherhand,
think human being as adaptive problem solvers.
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Self Evaluation
Objective Questions
1. Our consumption decisions are the outcomes of
a. Our past experiences
b. Our learning
c. Both a & b
d. None of the above.
2. Some of the learning occur
a. Intentionally
b. Unintentionally
c. Both a & b
d. None of the above.
3. Appreciation of learning and memory processes can aid our
understanding of
a. How frequently to repeat advertising messages
b. How visual symbols, songs, and other techniques can facilitate
consumers learning
c. Both a & b
d. None of the above.
4. Knowledge of learning principles can be useful in
a. Understanding how consumers wants and motives are acquired
b. Understanding how consumers tastes are developed
c. Both a & b
d. None of the above.
5. Psychologists broadly describe learning as
a. Relatively permanent changes in thought
b. Relatively permanent changes in thought and behavior that result
from experience
c. Relatively permanent changes in behavior that result from
experience
d. All of the above.
6. Michael L. Ray defines learning as the more or less permanent
acquisition of tendencies
a. To behave in particular ways in response to particular situations
or stimuli
b. To behave in particular ways
c. Both a & b
d. None of the above.
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Lesson - 2 :
Behavior Modification
Principles
Using
Learning
Introduction
You know that there are two major schools of thought relating to learning
the cognitive and the behaviorist. The first one basically emphasizes on
the mental process that consumers go through in order to learn about
stimuli. This has received greatest attention by the marketing scholars.
The other one, behaviorist approach to learning centers on those factors
that are observable, and not on the covert aspects, such as motivation,
attitudes etc. This approach is based on experimental findings of
behavioral scientists conducted in laboratories with animals. Though this
approach has received relatively less attention by marketing scholars, but
it suggests a number of lessons for the marketers, one of which is behavior
modification of consumers. The experimental study of learning
(behaviorist approach) has been dominated by the use of two models or
paradigms, known as (1) classical conditioning and (2) operant or
instrumental conditioning. The first of these procedures stems from the
work of the famous Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov; the latter derives
largely from the work of B. F. Skinner, and E. L. Thorndike (of Columbia
Universitys Teachers College). These two types of conditioning
principles may by successfully used by the marketers in shaping or
reshaping (modifying) the behaviors of target consumers. The most
important areas of their application are advertising and sales promotion.
Using the knowledge of these conditioning principles in either advertising
or sales promotion activities, marketers may offer stimuli to consumers
that may modify or shape behavior that goes in favor of the concerned
firm.
Before discussing these two conditioning concepts and their application in
modifying consumer behavior, you should be given the idea of what
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Unconditioned
Response (UCR)
[Salivation]
Conditioned
Stimulus (CS)
[Ringing a bell]
Conditioned
Response (CR)
[Salivation]
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(conditioned stimulus). After a few trials, it may be seen that the brand
itself will come to elicit the same positive emotion (conditioned response).
Thus, this concept may be used successfully by the marketers in
advertisements or commercials to change or modify consumer behavior
causing them to act in favor of the advertised brand.
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Reinforcement plays
a much larger role in
operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning
is a matter of
reinforcement.
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shampoo next time increase. If next time again you find equal or
more satisfaction using it, you are likely to settle to this particular
brand, since you have learned that this is the kind of shampoo you
were looking at.
If you experience a negative outcome buying and using a particular
brand of a product, you are highly unlikely to buy the same brand next
time. The reason is that, you have learned it to be punishing or
unsatisfactory.
In another case, if an individual is negatively reinforced or punished
for a particular response, but if he is assured of reward next time, he is
likely to respond as before. For example, you have bought a particular
product from a nearby shop and found it dissatisfactory, and
immediately reported it to the shopkeeper. If the shopkeeper
apologizes, replaces you the product, and assures of the most
apologizes, replaces you the product, and assures of the most
satisfactory service from now onward, you are likely to buy form the
said shop again.
Companies want consumers to learn about their brands and to retain
what they have learned. Marketers generally want learning to occur
and to last for a long. But it does not always work. Sometimes learned
responses are disappeared, that is, extinction does take place. It occurs
because the reinforcement for the learned responses is withdrawn, or
learned responses are no longer used. Extinction of a response may
take place when the relationship between the conditioned stimulus and
the unconditioned stimulus is broken. For example, if you do not get
the same type and level of service from a store which you used to get
before, you may stop visiting that shop and buying from there.
From the above discussion it is clear that, marketers are interested in
teaching consumers that their products have attributes that will satisfy one
or more of customers goals (reinforcing consumers). If they are
successful in reinforcing consumers, sales of their products are very likely
to increase.
Generalization and Discrimination Two Important Learning
Related Concepts Having Marketing Significance
There are quite a few learning related concepts that have important
marketing implications. Of these, generalization and discrimination are the
two concepts that deserve special attention. Now we shall look at them in
turn:
Generalization
This tendency to make
the same response to a
similar stimulus as to
the old one is known
as generalization.
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point out brand differences which may facilitate discrimination on the part
of consumers. A marketer may also use this concept successfully for
consumers to discriminate his brand through the physical attributes of the
brand, such as developing an unique product, price it uniquely, package it
differently, or distribute it through a different channel of distribution. A
particular brand of a product may also be discriminated by consumers, if
the said brand offers distinctive services unlike competing brands.
Discrimination becomes easier for customers if they can easily recognize
the differences between brands. Marketers should, therefore, try to add
different features in their brands to facilitate discrimination on the part of
the consumers. If different brands in a particular product category are
found to be generically equal to one another, marketers can best apply the
concept of market positioning to help consumers differentiate their brands.
There could be situation where different brands of products in a particular
product category are generically same and positioning strategy is
ineffective. In such a situation, discrimination may be facilitated by
offering the brand at lower price or by offering different inducements to
the customers. These offers will give them sufficient ground to
discriminate a particular brand from the competing brands.
Retention and Forgetting of Advertising Messages Marketing
Implications: Advertisers want that their messages should be retained or
remembered long by their target audience. Studies of human memory
conclude that our memory is selective, and as a result we cannot retain or
remember everything that we learn. Retention is that amount of learned
material which we can recall or remember, and forgetting is the rest that
is the amount of learned material which cannot be remembered. Marketers
have quite a few lessons to take from this. These are the lessons
prescribed by the researchers from their experimental findings on retention
and forgetting of advertising messages. The prescriptions are mentioned
below:
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Activity:
Identify three advertisements, one based on classical conditioning,
another based on operant conditioning, and the third based on cognitive
learning. Discuss the nature of each advertisement and how it utilizes a
certain type of learning.
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Self Evaluation
Objective Questions
1. Behaviorist approach to learning centers on those factors
a. That are observable
b. That are covert
c. Both a & b
d. None of the above.
2. According to Hawkins, Best, and Coney, conditioning referes to
a. Learning based upon association of stimulus and information
b. Learning based upon association of stimulus and responses
c. Association of stimulus and responses
d. None of the above.
3. Classical conditioning refers to the process of
a. Using a natural physiological relationship between a stimulus and
response
b. Bringing about the learning of the same response to a different
stimulus
c. Using a natural physiological relationship between a stimulus and
response to bring about the learning of the same response to a
different stimulus
d. None of the above.
4. UCR in Pavlovs experiment stands for
a. Unconditioned reflex
b. Unconditioned return
c. Unconditioned response
d. Both a & c.
5. Classical conditioning
a. Does have some very real applications to consumer learning
b. Can explain a great deal of the associations made between brand
names and other familiar symbols
c. Both a & b
d. None of the above.
6. The concept of classical conditioning may be used successfully by the
marketers
a. In advertisements or commercials
b. To change or modify consumer behavior
c. Causing customers to act in favor of the advertised brand
d. All of the above.
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Answers:
1. a, 2. b, 3. c, 4. d, 5. c, 6. d, 7. a, 8. a, 9. b, 10. d, 11. c, 12. c,
13. b, 14. a,.
Descriptive Questions
1. Explain the concept of classical conditioning using which consumer
behavior may be modified.
2. Elaborate the concept of operant conditioning that may be used to
modify consumer behavior.
3. Describe the two important learning related concepts, generalization
and discrimination. Explain their marketing significance.
4. Show how retention of advertising messages may be increased and
forgetting may be reduced.
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Lesson - 3 :
Introduction
The habit of repeatedly purchasing the same brand of a product develops
through learning. As learning contributes to the development of brand
loyalty among consumers, marketers take keen interest in it. Because
marketers obviously hope to establish brand loyalty, they band every
effort toward associating their products with powerful consumer needs by
developing motivating cues and attempting to ensure positive
reinforcement. Of course, products of superior quality tend to generate
consumer satisfaction; such positive reinforcement encourages habit
formation toward purchasing a particular brand. Whatever the source of
their rewards, however, satisfied consumers do translate their satisfaction
into repeat purchases, just as the negative reinforcement resulting from
dissatisfaction pushes consumers toward other brands. Habits refer to the
automatic connection of a stimulus with a response. Habit is established
more quickly for weak stimuli, providing that consumers do not have to
make discriminations. Consumers develop habits about a product more
rapidly the less important the product is to them. But, if the consequences
of a wrong decision are important for social reasons, consumers will be
slower to develop a habit. Research suggests that, if a habit is strong, the
response to the stimulus will also be strong.
Brand Loyalty
Marketers are particularly interested in the concept of brand loyalty as
they seek to have a steady group of loyal customers for their products or
services. With the increase in brand loyal customers, market share of a
compnay keeps on risking. Thus, every single producer of branded
merchandise is interested in developing loyalties among its target
customers. Brand loyalty is usually taken to refer to repeat purchase
patterns. But it implies, beyond mere repetition, a commitment to a brand
, store, or manufacturer, a commitment that can persist for years. Jacob
Jacoby and Robert W. Chestnut defined brand loyalty as the biased
behavioral response expressed over time by a decision making unit with
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When a habit is
strong, the response to
the stimulus will also
be strong.
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respect to one or more alternative brands out of a set of such brands, and
is a function of psychological processes. Brand loyalty, therefore, is a
particular kind of repeat purchasing behavior which includes a
commitment or preference which is the cause of the pattern of repeated
purchases of the brand. Brand loyalty is just what the name implies
loyalty to a particular brand demonstrated by purchases of that brand. A
person who always buys and uses a certain brand of toothpaste and who
would go to a different store if one store was out of that brand is highly
brand loyal.3 Brand loyalty is an elusive concept as described below.
There is no socioeconomic characterisics associated with different degrees
of brand loyalty for low-price, frequently purchased items. In the absence
of positive evidence to the contrary, manufacturers had better check
carefully before they make assumption that they can distinguish between
high-loyalty and low-loyalty families in their particular market by certain
socioeconomic characteristics.
Despite all the changes that take place in ones life, there is evidence to
suggest that brand preferences linger on. There is little indication that sex,
intelligence, or marital status is related to persistence of brand preference.
Age has some effect on brand preference, for older people seem to stick
with the same brands more than younger people.
Most loyalty studies simply measure repeat sales but they do not develop
into the attachment felt by the consumer for a brand or store. It is clear
that a great deal of repeat buying does exist, but it is also clear that
considerable brand and store switching take place. Since any ingredient of
marketing mix can influence a buyer, brand loyalty has to contend with
price competition, new products, advertising, product availability, and
external forces such as personal influence. The evidence is not very
precise, yet intuitively it would seem that people do feel some attachment
toward brands and stores. There is certainly an element of familiarity and
experience that lessens the risk for the buyer. Certainly, there are many
factors to take into account in attempting to generalize about the extent of
and reasons for brand loyalty. It is worth reminding ourselves that single
elements in buying are seldom overpowering. Buyers will drop into and
out of any brand pattern for all kinds of reasons.
Conclusions Offered by Tucker About Brand Loyalty
W.T. Tucker expressed brand loyalty as biased choice behavior with
respect to branded merchandise. In his article, The Development of
Brand Loyalty, published in August 1964, volume 3, of the Journal of
Marketing Researdch, he offered few interesting conclusions about brand
loyalty, which should be taken into active consideration by the marketers
trying to develop loyalties toward their brands. The conclusions are
summarized below:
3
Consumer Behavior, Zaltman G., and Wallendorf Ml, John Wiley and Sons,
Inc., 1979, p. 288.
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Self Evaluation
Objective Questions
1. Marketers band every effort toward associating their products with
powerful consumer needs by
a. Developing motivating cues
b. Attempting to ensure positive reinforcement
c. Both a & b
d. None of the above.
2. Habits refer to
a. The automatic connection of a stimulus with a response
b. The forced connection of a stimulus with a response
c. The induced connection of a stimulus with a response
d. None of the above.
3. Consumers develop habits about a product more rapidly
a. The more important the product is to them
b. The less important the product is to them
c. The less complicated the product is to them
d. None of the above.
4. Research suggests that, if a habit is strong
a. The response to the stimulus will weak
b. The response to the stimulus will be slow
c. The response to the stimulus will be faster
d. The response to the stimulus will also be strong.
5. Brand loyalty implies, beyond mere repetition
a. A commitment to a brand, store, or manufacturer, a commitment
that can persist for years
b. A commitment to a brand, store, or manufacturer
c. A commitment to a brand, that can persist for years
d. None of the above.
6. Brand loyalty has to contend with
a. Price competition
b. New products and advertising
c. Product availability and external forces
d. All of the above.
7. Tucker noticed that brand loyalty may develop in some consumers
a. Based on the names
b. Based on the discriminating differences that exist among brnads
c. Both a & b
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