CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY:Focus of Interest, Consumer Psychologist

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Introduction to Psychology PSY101

Lesson 43

CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY

Try to find answers to these questions

· Why do manufacturers advertise their products?

· Why do advertisers use models in the advertisements?

· Why do advertisers use cartoons rather than human models in the advertisements of children's

products?

Why do manufacturers introduce only one new model in a year?

How will we decide what to buy if there were no advertisements?

Consumer Psychology

The branch of psychology that studies consumers' buying behavior and the effect of

advertisement on these behaviors.

Consumer psychology focuses upon consumers' decision making and their behavior in the

market place.

The effect of advertisement on people's attitude and buying habits is an area of special interest

for a consumer psychologist.

Consumer psychology is division 23 of apa.

Focus of Interest

What Do Consumer Psychologists Study?

The responsive attitude of humans towards the product and service related information and

experiences.

Responses such as emotions, feelings, attitudes, beliefs and judgment as well as purchase

decisions and consumption practices.

Information about the product and the related service information are very important.

Variables such as advertisements, product packaging, package labels, coupons, consumer

magazines, and word- of - mouth communication with the near ones that affect consumer

behavior.

Also brand loyalty, product preference, price, marketing and selling strategies are

Aim or Goal

The main aim or goal of consumer psychology is to describe, predict, influence, and/ or explain

consumer responses.

Consumer Psychologist

Consumer psychologists are the psychologists who are educated and trained in understanding

consumer habits and the influence of advertisements on consumers' attitudes, thoughts and

behavior.

Other tasks of consumer psychologist

· Consumer psychologists are educators, trainers, researchers as well as administrators.

· Understanding and predicting consumer behavior is not an easy task.

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· Even the experienced salesmen are not able to accurately read the consumer's mind.

· The main task of a consumer psychologist is to conduct consumer research.

History of consumer psychology

j b. watson was the first ever-prominent psychologist to apply principles of psychology in the

field of advertising.

watson believed that psychology could not be recognized as a scientific discipline until its

practical utility is proved by its application and demonstration in real life situations.

According to watson

"If psychology would follow the plan i suggest, the educator, the physician, the jurist, and the

businessman could utilize our data in a practical way."

he himself designed ads for johnson and johnson's baby powder.

in that ad, he not only targeted the emotions and anxieties of mothers, but also used the experts'

recommendations and the impact of using the product.

Focus of interest

The main focus of interest of consumer psychology is:

To emphasize the consumer's problems, likes, dislikes and preferences

Develop strategies for making ads, influencing purchasing decisions, innovative marketing, brand

and product techniques.

Sub- fields of consumer psychology

Advertising

Perception

Life stages: time, experiences and preferences have a physical as well as psychological effect.

Motivation

Psychology of price

Market research

Important terminology of consumer psychology

Consumer behavior

Personality

Sales

Marketing

Product choice

Product preference

Brand loyalty

Learning principles used for attracting consumers

Classical conditioning

Advertisers use models to create a positive feeling and attraction for the product.

Operant conditioning

Manufacturers announce prizes, prize coupons, and extra amounts of product, upsized products at same

price, price reductions, and lucky draws for consumers.

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Observational learning

advertisements show renowned people using the product under question so that potential consumers feel

like following their footsteps.

Some factors affecting product preference

· personality type and brand loyalty

· peer pressure

· product price

· reputation of the product

· packaging: color, wrappers, shape, size, captions etc

· quality of the product

· advertisement

· need

Advertising appeals

Advertisements are to develop a positive image about the product by using attractive models and positive

feelings like happiness, excitement, curiosity, and desire.

Two main techniques are used to make advertisements:

i. soft sell appeals

ii. hard sell appeals

i. Soft sell appeal

An approach used to selling the product in which the softer aspects of the product are promoted.

the product is associated with an image related to the product's use.

The soft sell delivers the message that the potential buyers will obtain or radiate a desirable image through

the use of the product.

The purpose is to attract the potential buyer through the peripheral rout.

Here the image rather than the product is sold.

Examples of the soft sell appeal

Advertisements promoting cosmetics talk about the beauty of the model.

As of men's products deliver messages about the manliness of the male model, or how people

are impressed by his masculinity e.g. advertisements of cigarettes.

ii. Hard sell

The hard sell approach is the opposite of the soft sell appeal.

It focuses on the qualities of the product itself.

The advertisers promote the function of the product

Qualities like taste, smell, speed, durability, efficiency, dependability, and/or its nutritional value are

emphasized.

It is stressed as to how much improved the consumers' lives will be because of using the product being

advertised.

Examples of the hard sell appeal

Advertisements of automobiles, joggers, mechanical instruments, exercisers, metal products, air

conditioners etc.

Research findings about advertising appeals

· Children's products are sold through soft sell appeal.

· In case of women's products soft sell appeal is used in advertisements of cosmetics, toilet

soaps, and garments.

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· But in case of women's perfumes or shoes hard sell appeal is preferred.

· Advertisements of household linen and paints use the hard sell appeal.

Self- monitoring and buying behaviors

Self monitoring has been found to be an important variable in ones buying behavior and experimenting

with new products.

Self monitoring is the tendency to consider our own behavior and changing it in order to present us well in

particular social situations

High self- monitors are flexible in nature and adjust their behavior from situation to situation in an attempt

to present them in an effective manner.

They are concerned about the image they project and are apt to show conspicuous variations in their

behavior from one social context to the next

In contrast, low self- monitors are relatively more "fixed" in their general attitude.

They are much less sensitive to the demands of different social settings, and their behavior is more

indicative of their attitudes, values and beliefs.

The behavior of low self- monitors is considerably more consistent across situations, as compared to that of

high self- monitors

High self-monitors are affected more by advertisements in general and soft sell appeal in particular.

Psychographics: investigating the psychology of the consumers

When the manufacturer launches a product, or the advertiser plans a campaign, they have to be aware of the

needs of the potential buyers.

Research has shown that people belonging to different backgrounds and different socioeconomic classes

have different buying needs and behaviors.

It has been identified that people with different lifestyles and needs go for different varieties of products.

Researchers have used different psychological profiles of people based upon their lifestyles to predict and

target their needs.

Psychographics is a technique for dividing people into life style profiles that are related to purchasing

patterns.

Such profiles take into account characteristics as marital status, race and ethnic background, and educational

level, as well as the kinds of activities that potential buyers engage in.

One of the most popular and widely used general classification systems for consumers is vals or values and

lifestyles (mitchell, 1983).

the vals approach divides consumers into four major groups.

vals nine american lifestyles

Need driven consumers include?

Survivors

Sustainers

Outer- directed consumers include

·belongers

emulators

achievers

Inner- directed consumers include

i- am- me

experientials

Societal conscious

Combined outer- and inner- directed group

integrateds

research findings show that members of particular subcultures will have distinct purchasing patterns.

Different groups have significant differences in values and interests, besides the socio- economic

variations.

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·awareness of these differences enables the sellers to attempt to target products and advertisements toward

certain groups.

a. Need- driven consumers

they make purchases primarily to satisfy basic, elemental needs.

Outer- directed consumers:

they make purchases in order to increase their own self- awareness.

the outer- and inner- directed consumers have similar social and self- needs

like maslow's hierarchy, the first few levels in the vals hierarchy classify groups of individuals whose needs

are largely related to two particular lifestyles,

The survivors and the sustainers

both of these are small, impoverished groups whose basic preoccupation is to simply ` living'.

these groups have limited material resources.

the range of products that are advertised through advertisers is quite limited for the sustainers and the

survivors.

the manufacturers, sellers, and the advertisers are keener to work upon the groups that have the financial

means to purchase the products that they are there to sell.

there are two other categories:

the i- am-me's (young, egocentric people confused about their goals in life).

the experientials (former i-am- me `s who become surer of their goals and more outward looking) and

socially conscious (mature, well informed individuals with a strong interest in social issues such as politics or

the environment).

Psychographic profiles can be used for many reasons

· Identifying specific needs of people coming from specific backgrounds i.e., where to sell tissue

papers, and where to paste the advertising posters.

Also, these help in deciding the medium of advertising.

For example, in areas without electricity tv ads would be meaningless.

Instead radio could be an apt medium since most people will be listening to a transistor.

Sub cultural differences in consumer behavior

consumer research has revealed a lot about the understanding of differences that exist between sub groups

within the general population.

the way different groups make decisions regarding purchase are different e.g. in our culture taking loans for

buying household goods is generally not considered desirable.

studies on sub cultural differences in consumer behavior have revealed that clear differences exist between

different racial and ethnic groups.

Consumer cognitive processing: decision making in the marketplace

how do you decide which product to buy, which brand to stick to, and which new brand or product to buy?

Micro marketing is a technique of targeting marketing efforts to particular buyers on a neighborhood or

even individual store level.

Problem recognition:

the first process in the model is to recognize that some types of needs exist.

in the case of the cell phone that continually breaks down, the need is to buy a new one. in the other cases,

such as buying a music system, the need is not fully clear, and a certain amount of cognitive efforts is

required before one can make decision.

Information search:

once the problem is clear; the consumer gathers relevant information through different sources.

Evaluations of alternatives:

different alternatives gathered after research are compared and contrasted.

their pros and consequence are evaluated.

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Brand beliefs:

consumers also make decisions regarding their brand beliefs and brand loyalties.

brand beliefs are the assumptions held by consumers of a product, based on their knowledge of the

reputation of the manufacturer.

prior experience with a brand also plays a role in taking a decision.

Purchase

finally the purchase is made.

when purchasing a product the consumer tries to keep the risk to the minimum.

he may seek a guarantee or assurance.

post purchase evaluation

Last stage in the decision buying process

In this stage, we assess the decision to buy, including the choice of the product.

Advantages and qualities are also evaluated.

In case of an expensive choice, the consumer may experience cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance reduction strategies may be used here

However if the re evaluation suggests that in spite of being expensive the product was worth

buying, then there may be no cognitive dissonance.

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