Chapter 7

Memory, Learning, and Perception

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

Chapter Spotlights
 How consumers accept, retain, and
retrieve market information from
memory
 The relationship between learning
processes and marketplace behavior
 How perceptions affect consumers’
buying behavior

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

Memory
 Two sources of product information:
 External environment: packaging, labels, POS
displays, prices, other marketing information
 Memory: past experiences, word-of-mouth, family
preferences
 Associative network of nodes (concepts) and links
(connections)
 Scripts: information organized in memory around
different types of events or episodes (e.g., a restaurant
script)

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How Information is Captured
and Stored in Memory
 Memory processing areas:
 New information is initially captured in sensory
memory.
 processing is shallow; capacity is limited
 Information is transmitted from sensory memory
to short-term (ST)memory.
 Analyzing and assigning meaning; limited capacity to a
finite number of chunks (units of memory); information
may be rehearsed to retain its meaning
 Information rehearsed in ST memory is
transmitted to long-term (LT) memory for storage
and retrieval as needed; LT memory capacity is
unlimited

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Information Retention
 It refers to the amount of material
previously learned that is remembered
 Forgetting – the loss in retention of
material previously learned
 Retention affected by:
 Incoming information
 The person receiving the information

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Retention: Characteristics of
Incoming Information and Processing
 Repetition or rehearsal
 Relevance
 Competing information (new information
competes with old; ad “clutter” issue)
 Completeness of information (Zeigarnik Effect
– if incomplete, info retained for later
completion)
 Time (lapsed time since exposure)
 Mood (positive mood impact)

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

How Retention is Influenced
by the Information Recipient
 Consumer familiarity or experience
 Being more familiar with a product category
increases the chances of remembering information
about new or existing brands
 Affects way information is organized in memory
 Consumer motivation
 Higher motivation to process info is positively
related to doing so at deeper levels of memory
and to retain info longer and more accurately.

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

How Information is Retrieved
from Memory
 Retrieval cues – “self-” or
“externally-” generated
(sensory images: sounds,
shapes, colors, smells,etc.)
 Interference from competing
cues (make cue to stand out)
 Consumer’s state of mind:
higher retrieval levels occur
when info processing and
retrieval mood and/or interest
levels match

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

Information Storage in
Memory – Processing Effects
Recall of numerically-coded information
is better than verbal information
“Surface-level processing” (“sensory”)
occurs when there is no analysis of
meaning. Consumer judgment error
rate higher.
“Meaning-level processing”
(“semantic”) implies analysis of
meaning. Consumer judgment error
rate lower.

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

Learning – Probability Theory
 Learning  formation of habits formed and
changed through experience with products or
services
 Strength of habit depends upon the amount of
reinforcement it receives
 Probability models are used to predict the
formation of habits:
 Brand loyalty
 Brand acceptance
 Brand switching
 New product forecasting

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Learning – Behavior Analysis
 The relationship between marketers
and consumers often resembles a
negotiation
 Several behavior modification principles
(BMPs) are used by marketers to induce
consumers to buy their products and
services.

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Learning – Behavior Analysis
(continued)
 Classical conditioning –learning results from a
relationship between a stimulus and a response
 Pavlov and his salivating dogs: a conditioned stimulus (the
ringing bell before each feeding) results in a conditioned
response (salivation)
 Marketing applications
 Higher order conditioning and celebrity advertising
 Strength of the unconditioned stimulus
 Number of pairings
 Forward versus backward versus simultaneous conditioning
 New versus existing products

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Learning – Behavior Analysis
(continued)
 Operant conditioning – a process in
which the frequency of occurrence of a
bit of behavior is modified by the
consequences of the behavior
 Especially relevant in low involvement
purchases
 Rewards & punishments AND consumer
behavior

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

Learning – Behavior Analysis
(continued)
 Generalization – the tendency to respond in
similar ways to similar stimuli.
 Discrimination – the process through which
consumers restrict their range of responses
and attach themselves to a particular brand.
 Modeling – the process through which an
individual learns a behavior by observing the
behavior of others and the consequences of
this behavior.

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

Learning – Cognitive Theory
 Emphasis is on thinking rather than the doing
aspects of learning.
 Four stages:
 Formulation of hypotheses (specific testable
assumptions) about products or brands
 Exposure to evidence (passive or active)
 Encoding of the evidence
 Integration of earlier hypotheses with new
information into beliefs
 Familiarity, ambiguity, motivation

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

Cognitive Theory and
Marketing
 Strategies for market leaders (topdogs)
 Reinforcement
 Blocking
 Explaining
 Strategies for market underdogs
 Disruption
 Facilitating trial

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Perception
 Perception is the way in which an
individual gathers, processes, and
interprets information from the
environment.
 Two views of consumer perception
 Sensory perception
 Gestalt theory of perception

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Sensory Perception
 It is governed by the
five senses: sight,
smell, sound, touch,
and taste
 It focuses on product
specific sense attributes
and how these are
understood and
evaluated by
consumers.

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

Factors Affecting Sensory
Perception
 Stimulus factors (examples)
 Visual cues: color, shape, and size
 Aural cues: tempo and pitch
 Olfactory cues (taste + smell): sweet, bitter, salty, and floral
 Tactile cues: soft, coarse, and silky
 Individual Response Factors
 Sensory acuity: the capacity to recognize and differentiate
among certain sensory cues; the “limin”
 Sensory preferences: sensory product features are perceived
and evaluated based on those liked or disliked
 Consumer expectation: affects how product features are likely
to be perceived/evaluated. When features match expectations
this yields more positive preference outcomes

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

Gestalt Theory of Perception
 Gestalt principle: the whole adds up to more
than the sum of its parts
 People perceive “form” above all else
 The form may remain constant even though
some specific features of it may change (color,
tempo, etc.) – “variations on the same theme”
 Applications: size, actual/illusion of motion,
bordering for ads or displays while really the
same

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002

What do you perceive?

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Factors Influencing Gestalt
Perception
 Stimulus factors: color and contrast,
size, intensity, position, isolation, and
unity
 Individual response factors: interest,
involvement, needs, values, and
cognitive set

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How consumers Interpret
Perceptions
 Categorization: the psychological
process through which a consumer
compares the perception of a product
with a mental representation of that
product in memory.
 Analytic versus non-analytic (meeting or
not meeting required attributes to “fit”)
 Marketing implications for new products or
innovations

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Consumer Attributions
 It refers to the process through which
people connect events and behavior
with causes.
 Forms of attribution
 Product perception (a product problem)
 Self-perception (questioning oneself)
 Person perception (questioning others
motives)

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Perceptions of Product/Service
Quality
 Perceived quality – a perceptual outcome
generated from processing product or service
features (benefits delivered) that leads the
consumer to make inferences about the
quality of that product or service
 Dimensions of perceived quality for durable
goods: ease of use, versatility, durability,
serviceability, performance, and prestige
 Perceived high quality  product satisfaction

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Risk Perception/Risk
Reduction
 It refers to a perceptual process and behavior
outcomes generated from the perception of
risk in the purchase or a product or service
 Components of risk:
 Severity of consequences (how bad will it be)
 Uncertainty related to those consequences (what
are the chances the consequence will occur)
 Risk reduction strategies: behaviors to reduce
their perception of risk in purchase situations

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Price Perception
 Consumers perceive a price as either
high or low on the basis of a
comparison with an internal price (or
referent price).
 Price perceptions and the social
judgment theory – “regions”
 “Assimilation” (acceptable)
and “contrast” (too high or low)

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 Perceived Value
 The trade-off between product benefits
and product costs.

Perceived value = perceived benefits / perceived costs

Copyright Atomic Dog Publishing, 2002