MAR 3211, Consumer Behavior 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit III
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
3. Explain how consumers interpret information about products and people.
3.1 Explain how consumers interpret information about products and people through their
perceptions, learning, and memory.
5. Describe how self-perception influences consumers’ actions.
5.1 Describe the importance of self-perception and its influence on consumer buying.
6. Explore how one’s personality influences lifestyle choices.
6.1 Explain how differences in consumer personalities impact their buying choices and overall
lifestyle choices.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes
Learning Activity
3.1
Unit Lesson
PowerPoint Presentation
Nakamura (2014) article
Olynk Widmar and McKendree (2014) article
TED (2012) video
Web Assignment
5.1
Unit Lesson
PowerPoint Presentation
Hart (2011) article
Nakamura (2014) article
Olynk Widmar and McKendree (2014) article
TED (2012) video
Web Assignment
6.1
Unit Lesson
PowerPoint Presentation
Hart (2011) article
Nakamura (2014) article
Olynk Widmar and McKendree (2014) article
TED (2012) video
Web Assignment
Reading Assignment
In order to access the following resources, click the links below.
Click here to access the Unit III PowerPoint presentation. (Click here to access a PDF version of the
presentation.)
Hart, L. (2011). Tips for influencing consumer perceptions. Kitchen & Bath Design News, 29(4), 32.
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libraryresources.c
olumbiasouthern.edu/docview/864589615?accountid=33337
UNIT III STUDY GUIDE
Perception, Learning, and Memory
MAR 3211, Consumer Behavior 2
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Nakamura, L. (2014). Hidden value: How consumer learning boosts output. Business Review – Federal
Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, 9–14.
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olumbiasouthern.edu/docview/1565808769?accountid=33337
Olynk Widmar, N., & McKendree, M. (2014). How do consumer perceptions impact your market? National
Hog Farmer, 59(4), 24–29.
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t=true&db=bth&AN=95698066&site=ehost-live&scope=site
TED (Producer). (2012, July 19). TEDTalks: Joseph Pine—What do consumers really want? [Video]. Films on
Demand.
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ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=48396
Click here to access the transcript for the video above.
Unit Lesson
Why does a marketer need to understand consumer perceptions, learning, and memory? Let us remember
that marketing strategy is really all about how a company presents a bundle of benefits to the consumer. In
order to present this bundle, the marketer must ultimately understand the value proposition or, in other words,
what the customer considers to be of value. It is through these efforts of understanding what the consumer
thinks to be of value that the marketer attempts to discover consumer perceptions, learning, and memory.
Beginning with a few definitions, learning refers to the change in behavior resulting from the interaction
between a person and a stimulus. Perception involves how a consumer views and responds to his or her
surroundings. Value is interpreted from learning, and perception plays an instrumental role in learning. The
two are intertwined within the context of consumer behavior. The consumer perception process is important to
marketers as it identifies components involved with how consumers become aware of and interpret the
environment. The consumer perception process involves three stages.
These phases of the consumer perception process enable marketers to understand how consumers perceive
stimuli, process it, and ultimately decide to buy or not buy the items that marketers are advertising.
Sensing
•Immediate response to stimuli
•Consumer enters store or Internet site and is exposed to a variety of things
Organizing
•Assembly of sensory evidence into something recognizable
•Consumer tries article of clothing on and recognizes whether the style is right for his
or her uses
Reacting
•Taking action
•Consumer decides to buy or not buy item
MAR 3211, Consumer Behavior 3
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Because of the large amount of marketing and advertising that consumers are exposed to on a daily basis,
consumers have learned how to selectively process these stimuli through selective perception. This is done
through the methods described below.
• Selective exposure: Consumers screen out most marketing efforts, not even seeing much of what is
presented to them.
• Selective attention: Consumers only pay attention to the marketing that is of interest to them.
• Selective distortion: Consumers interpret marketing based on their own beliefs.
We live in a very cluttered world with respect to marketing and advertising. Consumers look to unclutter with
these methods of selective perception. Joseph Pine (TED, 2012) discusses how perception plays into
customer buying with his TED Talk, What Do Customers Really Want? He believes that customers want to
feel or perceive that what they buy is authentic. The concept of mass customization really lines up contrary to
this customer need. Look at his TED Talk in the Required Reading section of this unit.
Learning and memory are the next discussion points in this lesson. Comprehension, memory, and cognitive
learning focus on the mental processes that occur in the consumer’s mind as he or she receives and
processes the marketing stimuli. Beginning with several definitions, comprehension refers to the level of
understanding that a consumer has about a certain stimuli. This involves both cognitive and affective
elements that include both thoughts and feelings. Obviously, there are many things that will affect the level of
comprehension, including the message itself, the receiver, and the environment in which the information is
being received. Within the message, components could be the colors, loudness, source of the message, or
even the font used. Looking at the receiver, components of this could include his or her level of intelligence,
knowledge of the topic, level of involvement with the advertisement, or his or her personal expectations.
Environmental components would include anything that is going on within the environment as the marketing
information is being received. This could include the physical environment (i.e., situational factors) that are
presented within a retail setting that the consumer may be visiting. Some retail stores use atmospherics to
present a pleasing experience to their targeted customers. For example, the Hollister store creates a
California-type of atmosphere with graphics, objects, and music to appeal to their target market of teenagers.
The popular Bass Pro Shops creates an outdoor feel with bridges, fountains, and trees, appealing to its target
market of outdoors people.
Another impactful environmental issue that could influence spending levels is the state of the economy, which
obviously affects discretionary spending levels. Another concept is that of framing, which suggests that the
method by which the marketing is presented will actually influence the message in different ways. For
example, if the label on beef states “5% fat” or “95% lean,” which would you think is more favorably
perceived? Another example might be a consumer passing a sign that states that there are no gas stations for
25 miles. If you are driving through your hometown, this might not have as much of an impact as if you were
driving through an unfamiliar area of the country.
Memory is a process by which the knowledge received by the consumer is recorded and stored. At the end of
the day, the goal for marketers is that consumers receive and remember the marketing message presented.
The human memory system, at its basic level, consists of three areas, which are shown in the figure below.
Sensory Memory
• Storage of
everything
consumer is
exposed to
Workbench Memory
• Short-term area
where information is
temporarily stored
and encoded for
future use
Long-Term Memory
• Permanent
repository for
information
MAR 3211, Consumer Behavior 4
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
The process of sensory memory to workbench memory to long-term memory creates a flow of information
that leads to learning, which activates certain consumer buying behaviors. Associated in this long-term
memory area is nostalgia that refers to a desire to relive the past, typically associated with emotions. Many
times, this replays itself as a preference toward objects, songs, or situations that were familiar when the
consumer was younger. Why do you think this is such an effective method of marketing and advertising?
Could it be that when we think of the past, we tend to remember the good times? From a marketer’s
standpoint, using these images and ideas from the past is actually less costly. Additionally, it is less risky than
a new idea because the marketer already knows how the image is perceived. The use of nostalgia in
marketing has proven to have an incredibly large amount of positive emotional engagement as well as
increased brand retention and perception.
Moving beyond nostalgia, but related to memory, is the concept of social stereotypes; social stereotypes are
present when consumers perceive a certain type of person to have certain roles. For instance, if the company
would like to present the image of wholesomeness, it might use a celebrity such as Ellen DeGeneres who has
the image of a nice, wholesome person. If the marketers would like to portray a wilder image, they might use
a celebrity such as Justin Bieber who is perceived in a much different light. This also applies to non-celebrity
people who might present an image of a rough, tough figure or maybe a more intellectual type. This could
involve clothing, physical stature, personality, or a host of other characteristics that project this type of image.
Marketers select celebrity endorsers and actors/actresses in their marketing campaigns carefully because
their brand image and perception can be quickly confirmed or completely changed with the use of different
people who hold different social stereotypes. The keys to selecting the person to appear in the marketing
effort (e.g., whether it is a celebrity or not) are listed below:
• person has relevant characteristics appealing to the target market,
• person has broad appeal within the target market,
• person’s known image must be perceived positively by the target market,
• person would most likely use the products and/or services being advertised,
• person would most likely be able to influence the target market,
• person being used would be able to position the brand image identified by the company, and
• person could attract new users.
In order to be an effective partnership, the social stereotype must fit within the overall brand image that the
company would like to present as well as align with the product/service features and benefits. Using
celebrities in advertising costs companies hundreds of thousands of dollars, thus the image and perception
need to be aligned perfectly. If done correctly, the use of celebrities can increase a brand’s worth
exponentially.
Another related area is that of neuromarketing, which is the science of human decision-making. Neuroscience
is actually exiting hospitals and reaching into the marketing discipline. This science suggests that consumers
do not know what they want, so asking them is not an effective method for understanding consumer buying
behavior. Neuromarketing as a discipline moves beyond this and attempts to understand how marketing
impacts people by observing and interpreting their emotional reactions. This is then tied to the fact that
emotional processes in the brain are related to consumer behavior and ultimately consumer buying behavior.
The marketer’s ability to understand their target market’s perception, learning, and memory will enable the
marketer to compile and present the most effective marketing campaigns. Patrick Renvoise, presents some
interesting examples of how neuromarketing can actually enhance advertising and marketing efforts (TEDx
Talks, 2013). The video link is located in the Suggested Readings for this unit.
MAR 3211, Consumer Behavior 5
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
References
Cook, K. (2016, September 26). 12 ads that prove nostalgia is a powerful marketing tactic. HubSpot.
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/examples-nostalgia-marketingads#sm.00001vgs39u582ejdwaof5b0yrwx5
TED (Producer). (2012, July 19). TEDTalks: Joseph Pine—What do consumers really want? [Video]. Films on
Demand.
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPla
ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=48396
TEDx Talks. (2013, May 20). Is there a buy button inside the brain: Patrick Renvoise at TEDxBend [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rKceOe-Jr0
Suggested Reading
In order to access the following resources, click the links below.
In the following article, researchers explored earned entitlement and whether it affected the perception of
fairness in the study of participants.
Feng, C., Luo, Y., Gu, R., Broster, L. S., Shen, X., Tian, T., & Krueger, F. (2013). The flexible fairness:
Equality, earned entitlement, and self-interest. Plos ONE, 8(9), 1.
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t=true&db=a9h&AN=90530789&site=ehost-live&scope=site
The following article examines electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and how it supports social interaction and
helps consumers learn about products and services found on the Internet.
Lu, X., Li, Y., Zhang, Z., & Rai, B. (2014). Consumer learning embedded in electronic word of mouth. Journal
of Electronic Commerce Research, 15(4), 300–316.
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olumbiasouthern.edu/docview/1629950036?accountid=33337
In the following video, Gilbert explains delayed gratification and how consumers think that more is better and
that sooner is better than later.
TED (Producer). (2012, March 15). Illusions of temporal perspective (Segment 8 of 13) [Video]. In TEDTalks:
Dan Gilbert—How we are deceived by our own miscalculations of the future. Films on Demand.
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ylists.aspx?wID=273866&xtid=48137&loid=132977
Click here to access the transcript for the video above.
