The human cognitive system can interpret virtually any type of information and thereby

create knowledge, meanings, and beliefs. Broadly speaking, people have two types of
knowledge: (1) general knowledge about their environment and behaviors and (2) procedural
knowledge about how to do things.
General knowledge concerns people’s interpretations of relevant information in their
environments. For instance, consumers create general knowledge about product categories
(compact disks, fast-food restaurants, mutual funds), stores (Sears, Wal-Mart, Kmart),
particular behaviors (shopping in malls, eating ice cream, talking to salespeople), other
people (one’s best friend, the cute clerk at the 7-Eleven store on the corner, the professor for
this course), and even themselves (I am shy, intelligent, and honest).
General knowledge is stored in memory as links or connections between two concepts:

are
Nikon Camera Expensive

Most meanings are based on some personally relevant connection between the two concepts.
For instance, your knowledge that a favorite clothing store is having a sale creates a simple
linkage:

Is having a
Clothing store Sale

The connections or links are the key to understanding meaning. Knowledge or meaning exists
when a concept in memory is linked to another concept. Essentially, knowledge or meaning is
defined by the connections between concepts. Consider how the meaning changes when the
same two concepts are connected by a different type of association.

Is up for
Clothing store Sale

Consumers’ general knowledge is either episodic or semantic. 30 Episodic knowledge

concerns specific events in a person’s life. For instance, “Yesterday I bought a snickers candy
bar from the vending machine” or “My last credit card bill had another mistake” are
examples of episodic knowledge. Consumers also have general semantic knowledge about
objects and events in the environment. For instance, your personal meanings and beliefs
about Snickers candy bars—the peanuts, caramel, and calories it contains; the wrapper
design; the aroma or taste—are part of your semantic knowledge. When activated from
memory, the episodic and semantic components of general knowledge can influence
consumers’ decision making and overt behaviors. Consumers also have procedural
knowledge about how to do things. Procedural knowledge is also stored in memory as a
special type of “if . . . then . . .” link between a concept or an event and an appropriate
behavior.
Is up for
Clothing store Sale

Other examples of procedural knowledge include “If the phone rings when you are busy,
don’t answer it,” or “If a telemarketer presses you for a quick decision, say no and leave.”

Over a lifetime of experience, consumers acquire a great amount of procedural knowledge,

much of which is highly specific to particular situations. When activated afrom memory, this
knowledge can directly and automatically influence a person’s overt behavior. For instance,
Susan has learned: “If the price of clothing is reduced by 50 percent or more, I will consider
buying it.” If this procedural knowledge is actvated when Susan sees a half-price sign in the
jeans section, she is likely to stop and consider whether she wants a new pair of jeans. Like
general knowledge, people’s procedural knowledge is relevant for many everyday situations.
Consider the procedural knowledge consumers need to operate high-tech equipment such as
computers, videocameras, DVD players, MP3 players, and plasma televisions.
Many consumers lack the needed procedural knowledge and think such products have
become too complex and difficult to operate. However, other people, especially teenagers,
are able to multitask with their electronic equipment by placing and receiving calls on their
cell phones while also text messaging. taking and sending digital pictures, and even surfing
the Internet. Obviously, they have acquired the general and procedural knowledge that
enables them to accomplish these complex cognitive tasks and behaviors with relative ease.
Both general knowledge and procedural knowledge have important influences on consumers’
behaviors. Consider the grocery shopping situation described at the beginning of this chapter.
Various aspects of Greg Macklin’s general and procedural knowledge were activated as he
moved through the grocery store environment. This knowledge affected his interpretation and
integration processes as he made numerous shopping decisions.
Structures of Knowledge
Consumers’ general and procedural knowledge is organized to form structures of knowledge
in memory. Our cognitive systems create associative networks that organize and link many
types of knowledge together. 34 Exhibit 3.6 presents an associative network of knowledge for
Nike running shoes. In this knowledge structure, the Nike concept is connected to various
types of general knowledge, including episodic knowledge about past events (shopping at
Wilson’s) and semantic knowledge about the features of Nike shoes (their appearance,
weight, and cushioning). Also included is knowledge of affective responses (memory of
one’s feelings after a hard run) and the interpretations of those affective feelings (relaxed and
proud). This network of Nike knowledge also contains knowledge about appropriate
behaviors (how to run lightly, wear cushioned socks) and related semantic knowledge about
the consequences of these behaviors (avoid sore knees).

Part of this knowledge structure may be activated on certain occasions. For example, some
knowledge may be activated by exposure to an athlete wearing Nike shoes on TV or noticing
the Nike swoosh symbol on a billboard ad. Other knowledge associated with Nike may be
activated by experiencing the pleasant affective feelings of satisfaction and relaxation after a
hard workout. Finally, some meanings associated with Nike may be activated through
spreading activation as “activation energy” spreads from one meaning concept in the network
to related meanings. Whatever Nike knowledge is activated during decision making acts as a
mental frame that structures and influences consumers’ interpretation and integration
processes at that time.

Types of Knowledge Structures

People have two types of knowledge structures: schemas and scripts. Each is an associated
network of linked meanings, but schemas contain mostly episodic and semantic general
knowledge, whereas scripts are organized networks of procedural knowledge. Both schemas
and scripts can be activated in decision-making situations, and they can influence cognitive
processes. The structure of knowledge in Exhibit 3.6 is a schema that represents one
consumer’s general knowledge about Nike running shoes. Marketers should seek to
understand consumers’ schemas about brands, stores, and product categories.
When consumers experience common situations, such as eating in a fast-food restaurant, they
learn what behaviors are appropriate in that situation. This procedural knowledge may be
organized as a sequence of “if . . ., then . . .” propositions called a “script.” Following is an
example of a simple script for eating in a fast-food restaurant:

As another example, consumers who frequently go to auctions may develop a generalized

script containing procedural knowledge about how to register with the auctioneer before the
sale starts, how to bid, when to use particular bidding tactics, how and when to pay for one’s
purchases, and so on. Their cognitive systems may organize this knowledge into a script.
When activated in an auction situation, the script automatically guides and directs many (but
not necessarily all) of the consumer’s overt behaviors. Thus, consumers who have a well-
developed script do not have to make conscious decisions about many auction-related
behaviors because those behaviors are controlled by the script. Instead, they can focus their
cognitive capacity on their bidding strategy.
Consumers, with lifetimes of experiences and learning, are likely to have a great many scripts
about recurring situations in their lives. For instance, consumers may know how to acquire
information about products and services from tests in Consumer Reports, from friends and
acquaintances who are “experts,” from the Internet, or from salespeople. Many consumers
have scripts for how to access money to pay for purchases (by check, by credit card, or by
getting a bank loan). Most consumers know how to shop for products in various types of
stores (discount store, department store, boutique, from a catalog, via the Internet).
Experienced consumers may have scripts for negotiating a purchase (from an automobile
dealer, a seller at a flea market, an appliance salesperson). Exhibit 3.7 presents a simplified
script for eating in a “fancy” restaurant.

Marketing Implications
To understand consumers’ behavior, marketers need to know what product knowledge
consumers have acquired and stored in memory. For instance, marketers may wish to
determine how consumers organize a product category into product forms. (Do consumers
see freeze-dried and instant coffee as separate product forms?) Marketers might want to know
the contents of consumers’ product schemas (see Exhibit 3.6 for some examples) or shopping
scripts (associative networks of procedural knowledge regarding how to shop). In addition,
marketers might need to know what types of knowledge are likely to be activated by
particular marketing strategies. This may require a detailed analysis of the meanings that are
activated when consumers are exposed to a particular color of a car or a certain typeface for a
print ad. In the next chapter, we examine consumers’ product knowledge and involvement.
Cognitive Learning
Cognitive learning occurs when people interpret information in the environment and create
new knowledge or meaning. Often these new meanings modify their existing knowledge
structures in memory. Basically, consumers come into contact with information about
products and services in three ways. Consumers can learn about products or services through
direct personal use experience . Marketers use a variety of strategies, such as in-store trials
and free samples, to give consumers direct experience with the product. Auto dealers
encourage consumers to drive the car “around the block.” Clothing stores provide changing
rooms for customers to try on garments and mirrors to evaluate their appearance. Ice cream
parlors offer free sample tastes, and bedding retailers nearly always set up beds so customers
can lie down and experience the feel of a mattress before buying.
Cognitive learning can also occur through consumers’ vicarious product experiences. That is,
consumers can acquire knowledge indirectly by observing others using the product. Most
vicarious observation probably occurs accidentally when consumers notice other people using
a product or service (seeing people using skateboards). Marketers can create vicarious
product experiences for consumers through marketing strategies such as using in-store
demonstrations or paying sports stars to wear certain clothes or shoes. Brands with higher
market shares have an advantage over less popular brands because consumers are more likely
to observe other people using a best-selling brand. Finally, much cognitive learning occurs
when consumers interpret product-related information from the mass media (news stories,
advertising, etc.) or from personal sources (friends and family).
Interpreting information about products and services can result in three types or levels of
cognitive learning: accretion, tuning, and restructuring. Exhibit 3.8 illustrates how these three
types of cognitive learning can create and modify associative networks of knowledge.
Marketers may develop strategies to influence each type of cognitive learning.
Accretion. Most cognitive learning probably occurs by accretion . As consumers interpret
information about products and services, they add new knowledge, meanings, and beliefs to
their existing knowledge structures: “Nike shoes are expensive,” “Nike shoes have good
cushioning” (see Exhibit 3.8 ). Much learning research has focused on how people form new
items of knowledge through accretion learning. However, more complex types of cognitive
learning that involve changes to the structure of the associative knowledge network can also
occur.
Tuning. As consumers gain experience with a product, knowledge structures tend to become
larger and more complex through accretion processes. At some point, consumers may adjust
their knowledge structures to make them more accurate and more generalizable. Most
knowledge structures undergo minor changes in meaning as consumers continue to process
information from the environment. As shown in Exhibit 3.8 , tuning can occur when parts of
a knowledge structure are combined and given a new overall meaning. For instance, several
characteristics of a Nike shoe (lacing pattern, insole, reinforced heel) might be interpreted to
mean “good support for backpacking.”
Restructuring. Restructuring involves the revision of the entire associative network of
knowledge, which might include creation of entirely new meaning structures and/or
reorganization of an old knowledge structure. Accretion, and sometimes tuning, can occur
without much cognitive effort or awareness (essentially unconsciously and automatically). In
contrast, restructuring usually involves extensive conitive effort and substantial thinking and
reasoning processes. Therefore, restructuring tends to be rare, occurring only when existing
knowledge structures become excessively large and cumbersome (and possibly inaccurate).
As illustrated in Exhibit 3.8 , this may have happened in the athletic shoe market with the
proliferation of specialized shoe models and styles introduced in the 1990s.
Sometimes the introduction of a new product that is quite different from current products can
force consumers to restructure their existing product knowledge to accommodate the new
product. For instance, many consumers had to restructure their knowledge about cooking
techniques when they began using microwave ovens.
Changes in consumers’ values can also precipitate a restructuring of consumers’ product
knowledge. For instance, the increasingly strong environmental values of the late 1980s may
have led some consumers to restructure their knowledge about disposable diapers and aerosol
containers.