SELF-CONCEPT AND LIFESTYLE

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. Understand the nature of the self-concept, how it is measured and used to position products. 2. Understand the relationship between self-concept and lifestyle. 3. Understand how lifestyle influences the purchase and use of products and services. 4. Know what psychographics and AIOs are and how they are used to understand consumer lifestyles. 5. Know the nature of VALS, its major segments, and how marketers can use this system. SUMMARY The self-concept is ones beliefs and feelings about oneself. There are four types of selfconcept: actual self-concept, social self-concept, private self-concept, and ideal selfconcept. The self-concept is important to marketers because consumers purchase and use products to express, maintain, and enhance their self-concepts. Marketers, particularly those working in international marketing have found in useful to characterize individual and cultures by whether they have a predominately independent self-concept (the individual is the critical component) or an interdependent self-concept (relationships are of primary importance). Our self-concept, the way we define ourselves, typically includes at some of our possessions. The self-concept including the possessions one uses to define oneself is termed the extended self. Lifestyle can be defined simply as how one lives. Lifestyle is a function of ones inherent individual characteristics that have been shaped through social interaction as one move through ones life cycle. It is how one expresses ones self-concept in actions. Psychographics is the primary way that lifestyle is made operationally useful to marketing managers. This is a way of describing the psychological makeup or lifestyle of consumers by assessing such lifestyle dimensions as activities, interests, opinions, values, and demographics. Lifestyle measures can be macro and reflect how individuals live in general or micro and describe their attitudes and behaviors with respect to a specific product category or activity. The VALS system, developed by SRIC-BI, divides the United States into eight groups Actualizers, Fulfilled, Believers, Achievers, Strivers, Experiencers, Makers, and Strugglers. These groups were derived based on two dimensions. The first dimension is selforientation with three categories: principle oriented (those guided by their basic beliefs and values); status oriented (those influenced by the actions, approval, and opinions of others); and action oriented (those who seek social or physical activity, variety, and risks). The second dimension is the physical, mental, and material resources to pursue ones dominant selforientation.
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In response to the rapid expansion of international marketing, a number of attempts have been made to develop lifestyle measures applicable across cultures. GLOBAL SCAN is the largest of these. It has found five segments that exist across the 14 countries it has analyzed to date. REVIEW QUESTIONS 1) What is a self-concept? What are the four types of self-concept? It is the totality of the ones thoughts and feelings toward ones self. It is ones attitude toward ones self. The private self refers to how I do or would like to see myself. The social self refers to how I am or would like to be seen. The actual self refers to how I think I am now and the ideal self is how I would like to be. 2) How do marketers use insights about the self-concept? Marketers attempt to create product images that are consistent with the self-concept of their target market. 3) How can one measure the self-concept? A 15 item semantic differential scale (see CB-Hawkins, Table 12-2, Page 487) has been developed for this purpose. It contains terms such as rugged-delicate, Excitable-Calm, and rational-emotional. 4) How does an independent self-concept differ from an interdependent self-concept? An independent construal of the self is based on the predominant Western cultural belief that individuals are inherently separate. The independent self-concept is characterized by an emphasis on personal goals, characteristics, achievements, and desires. An interdependent construal or the self is based more on the common Asian cultural belief in the fundamental connectedness of human beings. The interdependent self-concept is characterized by and emphasis on familiar, cultural, professional, and social relationships. 5) What is the extended self? The extended self consists of the self plus possessions. That is, we tend to define ourselves in part by our possessions. Thus, some possession are not just a manifestation of our selfconcept, they are an integral part of our self identity. We are, to some extent, what we possess. If we lost key possessions, we would be somewhat different individuals. 6) What is a peak experience? A peak experience is an experience that surpasses the usual level of intensity, meaningfulness and richness and produces feelings of joy and self-fulfillment. 7) What ethical issues arise in using the self-concept in marketing? Marketers have been criticized for focusing too much attention on the importance of being beautiful with beautiful being defined as young, and slim with a fairly narrow range of facial features. While virtually all societies appear to define and desire beauty, the intense exposure to products and advertisements focused on beauty in America today is unique. Critics argue that this concern leads individuals to develop self-concepts that are heavily
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dependent on their physical appearance rather than other equally or more important attributes. 8) What do we mean by lifestyle? What factors determine and influence that lifestyle? Lifestyle is defined simply as how one lives. It is determined by our past experiences, innate characteristics, and current situation. It influences all aspects of our consumption behavior. One's lifestyle is a function of inherent individual characteristics that have been shaped and formed through social interaction as one moves through the life cycle. Thus, lifestyle is influenced by culture, values, demographics, subculture, social class, reference groups, family, and individual characteristics such as motives, emotions, and personality. It is how we enact our self-concept. 9) What is psychographics? Psychographics refers to attempts to measure consumer lifestyles quantitatively. These studies typically measure include the following: Attitudes: evaluative statements about other people, places, ideas, products, and so forth. Values: widely held beliefs about what is acceptable and/or desirable. Activities and interests: nonoccupational behaviors to which consumers devote time and effort, such as hobbies, sports, public service, and church. Demographics: age, education, income, occupation, family structure, ethnic background, gender, and geographic location. Media patterns: which specific media the consumers utilize. Usage rates: measurements of consumption within a specified product category. Often consumers are categorized as heavy, medium, light, or nonusers. A large number of individuals, often 500 or more, provide the above information. Statistical techniques are used to place them into groups. Most studies use the first two or three dimensions described above to group individuals. The other dimensions are used to provide fuller descriptions of each group. Other studies include demographics as part of the grouping process. 10) When is a product- or activity-specific psychographic instrument superior to a general one? A product- or activity-specific psychographic instrument is superior to a general one when a marketing manager is interested in positioning (or repositioning) a product or developing an advertising strategy. General ones are of more value for identifying market segments and opportunities. 11) What are the dimensions on which VALS is based? Describe each. The two dimensions of VALS are self-orientation and resources to pursue self-orientation. Self-orientation is composed of three factors (principle-orientation, status-orientation, and action-orientation) that each have underlying components which determine the psychological orientation of the individual. The second dimension,

resources, examines the full range of psychological, physical, demographic, and material resources necessary to achieve a particular self-orientation. 12) Describe the VALS system and each segment in it. Using measures of self orientation and ability to pursue ones dominant self-orientation, VALS divides the United States into eight groups: a. Actualizers: successful, sophisticated, active people with high self-esteem and abundant resources. b. Fulfilled: mature, satisfied, comfortable, reflective people who value order, knowledge, and responsibility. c. Believers: conservative, conventional people with concrete beliefs based on traditional, established codes. d. Achievers: successful career- and work-oriented people who like to, and generally do, feel in control of their lives. e. Strivers: unsure of themselves and low on resources, they seek motivation, selfdefinition, and approval from the world around them. f. Experiencers: are young, vital, impulsive, and rebellious. g. Makers: are practical people with practical skills who live within a traditional context of family and work. h. Strugglers: are poor, ill-educated, low-skilled and lacking strong social bonds.

13) What is geo-demographic analysis? Analyses that focus on the demographics of geographic areas based on the belief that lifestyle is largely driven by demographic factors. These analyses are used for target market selection, promotional emphasis, etc. 14) Describe the GLOBAL SCAN system. GLOBAL SCAN is the largest international lifestyle system. It includes five lifestyle segments: Adapters, Traditionals, Pressured, Achievers, and Strivers. These five lifestyle segments have been found to exist across 14 countries.