Chapter 2 Consumer Psychology – Consumer memory and learning
Memory systems
Sensory memory
Evoked through senses (zintuigen), visual information decays within 0,5 sec and auditory
information within 2 sec.
Short-term memory
Limited storage, G. Miller experiment magic number 7, short period of time
Long-term memory
Unlimited, related information form a network
Contents in long-term memory
Semantic
Our store of general factual knowledge about the world
Episodic
Autobiographical memories of events that happened at a particular place and time
Procedural
Information related to the performance of various tasks, knowledge about hot to do
something
Theories about why people remember and forget:
1. Encoding specificity
Is a principle that states that human memories are more easily retrieved if external
conditions (emotional cues) at the time of retrieval are similar to those in existence at the
time the memory was stored.
2. Interference
It occurs when memory performance is reduced due to having learned additional
information that is preventing a consumer from remembering another particular piece of
information.
Proactive interference: when new learning is disrupted by old information
Retroactive interference: when the forgetting of previously learned information is
caused by the learning of new information.
How can marketers aid consumer memory?
Repetition
Repeatedly exposing consumers to marketing stimuli can increase the likelihood of recalling
them as well as strengthen associations between specific attributes and brand names.
Pictorial cues
Pictorial stimuli are more likely to capture attention which explains why most consumers
tend to look at visual stimuli before they look at the text.
Marketing to older consumers
When people get older they their speed of processing slows down, short-term memory gets
affected. Marketing stimuli need to be presented in a way that is meaningful and
consequently easily fits into their schema. In the morning.
1
,Learning
A relatively permanent change in behaviour which is linked to experience. The experiences can be
direct (using a product) or indirect (observing somebody else using the product) ones. It consists
of five elements:
1. Internal drive
Individual takes action to learn, can be driven by happiness or fear.
2. Cue stimuli
Individual encounters an external stimulus that encourages, could be an advertisement etc.
3. Response
The way an individual response to the internal drive + cue stimuli, when it comes together
the likelihood of purchase increases.
4. Reinforcement
The individual experiences a positive or negative outcome.
5. Retention
This is whether or not the learned materials reach long-term memory.
Behavioural learning
Classical conditioning
When a stimulus that stimulates a response is learned to be associated with another
stimulus that does not originally stimulate a response. (Pavlov with the dog.)
Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning focuses on using either reinforcement or punishment to increase or
decrease a behaviour. Through this process, an association is formed between the
behaviour and the consequences for that behaviour.
Higher-order conditioning
Cognitive learning
This type of learning focuses upon internal mental processes. How something is learnt.
1. Attention 4. Recall and reconstruction
Requirement for the success of a Collect cognitive scripts. Cognitive
marketing message. scripts are existing knowledge
2. Comprehension structures that are organized into
New information is entered into short- concepts, for example how to behave
term memory which is rapidly analysed in a restaurant.
and the consumer will determine 5. Feedback
whether or not it interests them. Will be integrated with already existing
3. Learning memories which will in turn affect what
Takes place once the information has kind of information that consumer will
been elaborated on and integrated focus on and learn in the future. Can
with the existing store of knowledge. be direct or indirect.
Social learning
A form of vicarious learning that occurs as a result if observing the behaviour of others as well as
the consequences of the behaviour observed.
2
, Chapter 3 Consumer Psychology – Perception and Attention
Perception
Process whereby stimuli are selected, organized and interpreted by cognitive processes in the
brain.
Starts working as soon people scanning for elements to focus upon.
Perception guides attention to focus on information we have some sort of interest in.
Perception should not be confused with sensation.
o Perception – awareness of something through the senses
o Sensation – a physical feeling or perception resulting from something that happens
to or comes into contact with the body
Gestalt theories
How features are organized into whole figures. The belief that humans tend to be biased to see
distinct forms even if they encounter design features that are slightly irregular.
Laws or Prägnanz – laws and principles of how stimuli are organised so that they are
perceived as a complete object
o Law of proximity
Stimuli that are near each other tend to be grouped together. For example, next to
the pasta sauce they may place pasta or Italian wines.
o Law of closure
This law explains why consumers are able to fill in the missing letters in words used
for marketing purposes. People fail to notice figures’ incompleteness and instead see
them as entire shapes.
o Law of similarity
Humans generally group objects what are physically similar in some way together.
This can be the shape, colour, size, texture and orientation. Brand manufacturers
often make their new products similar in design so that consumers easily categorize
them as belonging to a particular brand.
o Figure-ground principle
A concept whereby one part of the stimulus appears to stand out as a solid and well-
defined object (the figure), whereas the rest is seen as less prominent (the ground).
Depending on the focus of attention, the figure and the ground switch rapidly.
Within marketing the figure is the information they wish to stand out and
the ground is the information that supports the figure.
Figure-ground principle
3
Memory systems
Sensory memory
Evoked through senses (zintuigen), visual information decays within 0,5 sec and auditory
information within 2 sec.
Short-term memory
Limited storage, G. Miller experiment magic number 7, short period of time
Long-term memory
Unlimited, related information form a network
Contents in long-term memory
Semantic
Our store of general factual knowledge about the world
Episodic
Autobiographical memories of events that happened at a particular place and time
Procedural
Information related to the performance of various tasks, knowledge about hot to do
something
Theories about why people remember and forget:
1. Encoding specificity
Is a principle that states that human memories are more easily retrieved if external
conditions (emotional cues) at the time of retrieval are similar to those in existence at the
time the memory was stored.
2. Interference
It occurs when memory performance is reduced due to having learned additional
information that is preventing a consumer from remembering another particular piece of
information.
Proactive interference: when new learning is disrupted by old information
Retroactive interference: when the forgetting of previously learned information is
caused by the learning of new information.
How can marketers aid consumer memory?
Repetition
Repeatedly exposing consumers to marketing stimuli can increase the likelihood of recalling
them as well as strengthen associations between specific attributes and brand names.
Pictorial cues
Pictorial stimuli are more likely to capture attention which explains why most consumers
tend to look at visual stimuli before they look at the text.
Marketing to older consumers
When people get older they their speed of processing slows down, short-term memory gets
affected. Marketing stimuli need to be presented in a way that is meaningful and
consequently easily fits into their schema. In the morning.
1
,Learning
A relatively permanent change in behaviour which is linked to experience. The experiences can be
direct (using a product) or indirect (observing somebody else using the product) ones. It consists
of five elements:
1. Internal drive
Individual takes action to learn, can be driven by happiness or fear.
2. Cue stimuli
Individual encounters an external stimulus that encourages, could be an advertisement etc.
3. Response
The way an individual response to the internal drive + cue stimuli, when it comes together
the likelihood of purchase increases.
4. Reinforcement
The individual experiences a positive or negative outcome.
5. Retention
This is whether or not the learned materials reach long-term memory.
Behavioural learning
Classical conditioning
When a stimulus that stimulates a response is learned to be associated with another
stimulus that does not originally stimulate a response. (Pavlov with the dog.)
Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning focuses on using either reinforcement or punishment to increase or
decrease a behaviour. Through this process, an association is formed between the
behaviour and the consequences for that behaviour.
Higher-order conditioning
Cognitive learning
This type of learning focuses upon internal mental processes. How something is learnt.
1. Attention 4. Recall and reconstruction
Requirement for the success of a Collect cognitive scripts. Cognitive
marketing message. scripts are existing knowledge
2. Comprehension structures that are organized into
New information is entered into short- concepts, for example how to behave
term memory which is rapidly analysed in a restaurant.
and the consumer will determine 5. Feedback
whether or not it interests them. Will be integrated with already existing
3. Learning memories which will in turn affect what
Takes place once the information has kind of information that consumer will
been elaborated on and integrated focus on and learn in the future. Can
with the existing store of knowledge. be direct or indirect.
Social learning
A form of vicarious learning that occurs as a result if observing the behaviour of others as well as
the consequences of the behaviour observed.
2
, Chapter 3 Consumer Psychology – Perception and Attention
Perception
Process whereby stimuli are selected, organized and interpreted by cognitive processes in the
brain.
Starts working as soon people scanning for elements to focus upon.
Perception guides attention to focus on information we have some sort of interest in.
Perception should not be confused with sensation.
o Perception – awareness of something through the senses
o Sensation – a physical feeling or perception resulting from something that happens
to or comes into contact with the body
Gestalt theories
How features are organized into whole figures. The belief that humans tend to be biased to see
distinct forms even if they encounter design features that are slightly irregular.
Laws or Prägnanz – laws and principles of how stimuli are organised so that they are
perceived as a complete object
o Law of proximity
Stimuli that are near each other tend to be grouped together. For example, next to
the pasta sauce they may place pasta or Italian wines.
o Law of closure
This law explains why consumers are able to fill in the missing letters in words used
for marketing purposes. People fail to notice figures’ incompleteness and instead see
them as entire shapes.
o Law of similarity
Humans generally group objects what are physically similar in some way together.
This can be the shape, colour, size, texture and orientation. Brand manufacturers
often make their new products similar in design so that consumers easily categorize
them as belonging to a particular brand.
o Figure-ground principle
A concept whereby one part of the stimulus appears to stand out as a solid and well-
defined object (the figure), whereas the rest is seen as less prominent (the ground).
Depending on the focus of attention, the figure and the ground switch rapidly.
Within marketing the figure is the information they wish to stand out and
the ground is the information that supports the figure.
Figure-ground principle
3
