Compact summary consumer behavior
Lecture 1
Consumer behavior= The processes involved when selecting, purchasing, using or disposing
of goods and services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires.
Why study consumer behavior?
1. Better marketing
2. Better consumer decisions
a. Resisting social influence
b. Heuristics
c. Decision aids
3. Better decisions for policy makers
Lecture 2
Sensory receptors
But we are not able to sense every stimulus in the environment. Our sensory organs don’t
pick up on everything in the environment. There are thresholds; levels of strength or
intensity that stimuli must exhibit to be sensed.
- Absolute thresholds= the lowest possible amount of stimulation that can be detected
by sensory receptor. The limit of what we are physically capable of sensing. E.g. the
smallest amount of light that our eyes can sense or the lowest decibel that our ears
pick up
- Differential threshold= the smallest possible change in a stimulus or (difference
between stimuli) that can be detected.
o Just Noticeable Difference= JND
o Weber’s law= an equation to
determine the point at which
change can be detected.
Attention
Perceptual selection: consumers attend to and
process only a small portion of stimuli to which
they are exposed. Attention is like a spotlight.
Attention grabbing ads:
, - Salience= the extent to which a stimulus is noticeably different from its environment
o Figure ground principle; relationship between a stimulus and the background
in which it is perceived, something really stands out
Focus
Color
Pattern
- Vividness
o Emotionally interesting (relating to needs)
o Concrete (specific) and image provoking
o Proximate (nearby) in a temporal or spatial view
- Novelty= the extent to which a stimulus is unfamiliar and disconfirms expectations.
Often based on indirect associations with brands and products
Consumers assign meaning to sensory stimuli
Meaning based on cognitive schema, beliefs shaped by past experience. What we believe is
shaped by what we used to see in the world and what we want to or hope to see.
Annoying ads
- Animation= too distracting
- Aesthetics= ugly or cheap looking
- Attentional impact= too distracting
- Disreputable= fake of scam
- Bizarre logic= makes no sense
Psychological consequences of bad ads
The distraction hypothesis – annoying ads disrupt the reading process so it takes longer to
read texts. not supported
- annoying ads grab more attention
- still the same amount of time is put into the main text.
- Bad ads did lead to worse comprehension because they might be more present in
people’s minds.
Lecture 3
Consumer learning
Classical (pavlovian) Operant (instrumental)
Associative learning-Gorn Schedules of reinforcement
Lecture 1
Consumer behavior= The processes involved when selecting, purchasing, using or disposing
of goods and services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires.
Why study consumer behavior?
1. Better marketing
2. Better consumer decisions
a. Resisting social influence
b. Heuristics
c. Decision aids
3. Better decisions for policy makers
Lecture 2
Sensory receptors
But we are not able to sense every stimulus in the environment. Our sensory organs don’t
pick up on everything in the environment. There are thresholds; levels of strength or
intensity that stimuli must exhibit to be sensed.
- Absolute thresholds= the lowest possible amount of stimulation that can be detected
by sensory receptor. The limit of what we are physically capable of sensing. E.g. the
smallest amount of light that our eyes can sense or the lowest decibel that our ears
pick up
- Differential threshold= the smallest possible change in a stimulus or (difference
between stimuli) that can be detected.
o Just Noticeable Difference= JND
o Weber’s law= an equation to
determine the point at which
change can be detected.
Attention
Perceptual selection: consumers attend to and
process only a small portion of stimuli to which
they are exposed. Attention is like a spotlight.
Attention grabbing ads:
, - Salience= the extent to which a stimulus is noticeably different from its environment
o Figure ground principle; relationship between a stimulus and the background
in which it is perceived, something really stands out
Focus
Color
Pattern
- Vividness
o Emotionally interesting (relating to needs)
o Concrete (specific) and image provoking
o Proximate (nearby) in a temporal or spatial view
- Novelty= the extent to which a stimulus is unfamiliar and disconfirms expectations.
Often based on indirect associations with brands and products
Consumers assign meaning to sensory stimuli
Meaning based on cognitive schema, beliefs shaped by past experience. What we believe is
shaped by what we used to see in the world and what we want to or hope to see.
Annoying ads
- Animation= too distracting
- Aesthetics= ugly or cheap looking
- Attentional impact= too distracting
- Disreputable= fake of scam
- Bizarre logic= makes no sense
Psychological consequences of bad ads
The distraction hypothesis – annoying ads disrupt the reading process so it takes longer to
read texts. not supported
- annoying ads grab more attention
- still the same amount of time is put into the main text.
- Bad ads did lead to worse comprehension because they might be more present in
people’s minds.
Lecture 3
Consumer learning
Classical (pavlovian) Operant (instrumental)
Associative learning-Gorn Schedules of reinforcement
