American Marketing Association

Projective Techniques in Marketing Research

Author(s): Mason Haire
Source: Journal of Marketing, Vol. 14, No. 5 (Apr., 1950), pp. 649-656
Published by: American Marketing Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1246942
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 TIHE
al o

Volume XIV APRIL, 1950 Number 5

PROJECTIVETECHNIQUESIN MARKETING
RESEARCH
MASON HAIRE
University of California, Berkeley
IT IS a well accepted maxim in merchan- what kindof peopledrankeachkind, and
dizing that, in many areas, we are
selling the sizzle rather than the steak.
Our market research techniques, how-
ever, in many of these same areas, are
directed toward the steak. The sizzle is
the subjectivereactionof the consumer;
the steak the objectivecharacteristicsof
the product. The consumer'sbehavior
will be based on the formerrather than
the latter set of characteristics.How can
we come to know them better?
When we approach a consumer di-
rectly with questions about his reaction
to a productwe often get false and mis-
leading answers to our questions. Very
often this is becausethe question which
we heard ourselvesask was not the one
(ornot the only one) that the respondent
heard.For example:A brewerymadetwo
kinds of beer. To guide their merchan-
dizing techniquesthey wanted to know
particularly,what differencesthere were
between the two groups of consumers.
A survey was conductedwhichled up to
the questions"Do you drink
beer?" (If yes) "Do you drink the Light
or Regular?"(These were the two trade
names under which the company mar-
keted.) After identifying the consumers
of each product it was possible to find
out about the characteristicsof each
groupso that appropriateappealscould
be used, media chosen,etc.
An interesting anomaly appeared in
the survey data, however. The inter-
viewing showed (on a reliable sample)
that consumersdrankLightover Regular
in the ratio of 3 to i. The companyhad
been producingand selling Regularover
Light for some time in a ratio of 9 to I.
Clearly, the attempt to identify charac-
teristics of the two kinds was a failure.
649

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650 650THEJORNA THE JOURNAL O
OF MREIN
MARKETING

What madethem miss so far? representthe truth, but the respondent

When we say "Do you drink Lightor will feel like a fool and the interviewer
Regular?"we are at once asking which will not go away. Much better produce
brand is used, but also, to some extent, a clicheand be rid of him.
saying "Do you drinkthe regularrun-of-
the-millproductor do you drinkthe one THE NATURE OF PROJECTIVETESTS
that is morerefinedand showsmoredis- Still other kinds of motives exist of
criminationand taste?" The preponder- which the respondent may not be ex-
ance of "Light"undoubtedlyflows from plicitly conscious himself. The product
this kind of distortion. may be seen by him as related to things
When we ask questions of this sort or peopleor valuesin his life, or as having
about the product we are very often a certain role in the scheme of things,
asking also about the respondent.Not and yet he may be quite unable, in re-
only do we say "What is sponse to a direct question, to describe
productlike?"but, indirectly"Whatare these aspectsof the object. Nevertheless,
you like?"Ourresponsesare often made these characteristicsmay be of great
up of both elements inextricablyinter- importanceas motives. How can we get
woven. The answersto the second ques- at them?
tion will carry cliches and stereotypes, Clinical psychologistshave long been
blocks,inhibitions,anddistortions,when- faced with a parallelset of problems.It
ever we approachan areathat challenges is quite usual for a patient to be unable
the person'sidea of himself. or unwillingto tell the therapistdirectly
There are many things that we need what kinds of things are stirring in his
to know about a consumer'sreactionto motivationalpattern.Informationabout
a productthat he can not tell us because these drives are of vital importanceto
they are to some extent socially unac- the processof cure, so a good deal of re-
ceptable. For instance, the snob appeal searchhas been directedtowardsthe de-
of a product vitally influencesits sale, velopmentof techniquesto identify and
but it is a thing that the consumerwill define them. The development of pro-
not like to discuss explicitly. In other jective techniquesas diagnostictools has
cases the consumeris influencedby mo- provided one of the most useful means
tives of which he is, perhaps, vaguely to uncover such motivations, and the
aware,but whichhe findsdifficultto put market-researcher can well affordto bor-
into words. The interviewer-respondent row their essentials from the therapist.
relationshipputs a good deal of pressure Basically, a projective test involves
on him to reply and to make sense in presentingthe subject with an ambigu-
his reply. Consequently, he gives us ous stimulus-one that does not quite
stereotypicalresponsesthat use cliches make sense in itself-and asking him
which are commonlyacceptablebut do to makesense of it. The theory is that in
not necessarily represent the true mo- orderto make it makesense he will have
tives. Many of our motives do not, in to add to it-to fill out the picture-and
fact, "make sense," and are not logical. in so doing he projects part of himself
The question-answerrelation demands into it. Since we know what was in the
sense above all. If the responsedoes not original stimulus we can quite easily
representthe truestate of affairsthe in- identify the parts that were added, and,
terviewerwill never know it. He will go in this way, painlessly obtain informa-
away. If it does not make sense it may tion aboutthe person.

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THE JOURNAL OF MARKETING
Examples of these tests come readily
to hand. Nearly everyone is familiar
with the RorschachTest, in whicha sub-
ject is shown a series of ink-blots and
asked to tell what they look like. Here
the stimulus is incompletein itself, and
the interpretationsupplied by the pa-
tient provides useful information.This
test yields fairly general answersabout
the personality, however, and often we
would like to narrowdown the area in
which the patient is supplyinginforma-
tion.
The Thematic ApperceptionTest of-
fers a good exampleof this function.Let
us suppose that with a particular pa-
tient we have reasonto supposethat his
relationto figuresof authorityis crucial
to his therapeuticproblem.We can give
him a seriesof pictureswherepeople are
shown, but where the relationship of
authority or the characteristicsof the
authoritarianfigure are not complete.
He is asked to tell a story about each
picture. If in each story the subordinate
finally kills the figure of authority we
have certain kinds of knowledge;if, on
the other hand, he always builds the
story so the subordinatefigure achieves
a secure and comfortable dependence,
we have quite differentinformation.It is
often quite impossibleto get the subject
to tell us these things directly. Either he
cannot or will not do so. Indirectly,
however, he will tell us how he sees
authority. Can we get him, similarly,to
tell us how a productlooks to him in his
private view of the world?
APPLICATIONOF PROJECTIVETEST IN
MARKETRESEARCH
Let us look at an exampleof this kind
of thing in market research. For the
purposes of experiment a conventional
survey was made of attitudes toward
Nescafe, an instant coffee.The question-
naire included the questions "Do you
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651
use instant coffee?" (If No) "What do
you dislike about it?" The bulk of the
unfavorableresponsesfell into the gen-
eral area "I don't like the flavor."This
is such an easy answerto a complexques-
tion that one may suspect it is a stereo-
type, which at once gives a sensible re-
sponse to get rid of the interviewerand
concealsother motives. How can we get
behindthis facade?
In this case an indirect approachwas
used. Two shoppinglists were prepared.
They were identical in all respects, ex-
cept that one list specifiedNescafe and
one Maxwell House Coffee. They were
administeredto alternatesubjects, with
no subject knowing of the existence of
the other list. The instructions were
"Read the shopping list below. Try to
projectyourselfinto the situation as far
as possible until you can more or less
characterizethe womanwho bought the
groceries.Then write a brief description
of her personalityand character.Wher-
ever possible indicate what factors in-
fluencedyourjudgement."
ShoppingList I
Poundanda halfof hamburger
2 loavesWonderbread
bunchof carrots
I canRumford's BakingPowder
Nescaf6instantcoffee
2 cansDel Montepeaches
5 Ibs.potatoes
ShoppingList II
Poundanda halfof hamburger
2 loavesWonderbread
bunchof carrots
i canRumford's BakingPowder
I lb. MaxwellHouseCoffee(DripGround)
2 cansDel Montepeaches
5 lbs. potatoes
Fifty people respondedto each of the
two shoppinglists given above. The re-
sponses to these shoppinglists provided
some very interestingmaterial.The fol-
 652 THE yOURNAL OF MARKET1NG

lowing main characteristicsof their de- On the other hand, coffee has a pecu-
scriptions can be given: liar role in relationto the householdand
I. 48 per cent of the peopledescribedthe the home-and-familycharacter.We may
woman who bought Nescafe as lazy; well have a picture,in the shadowypast,
4 per cent describedthe woman who of a big black range that is always hot
bought MaxwellHouse as lazy. with baking and cooking,and has a big
2. 48 per cent of the peopledescribedthe enamelledpot of coffee warmingat the
woman who bought Nescaf6 as failing back. When a neighbordrops in during
to plan householdpurchasesandsched- the a cup of coffeeis a medium
ules well; I2 per cent described the of morning, that does somewhat the
woman who bought Maxwell House same hospitality
this way. thing as cocktails in the late after-
noon, but does it in a broader sphere.
3. 4 per cent describedthe Nescaf6woman
as thrifty; I6 per cent described the These are real and important aspects
MaxwellHouse woman as thrifty. of coffee. They are not physical charac-
12 per cent describedthe Nescaf6 wo- teristicsof the product,but they are real
man as spendthrift;o percent described values in the consumer'slife, and they
the MaxwellHouse womanthis way. influence his purchasing. We need to
4. I6 per cent described the Nescaf6 know and assess them. The "labor-sav-
woman as not a good wife; o per cent ing" aspect of instant coffee, far from
describedthe Maxwell House woman
this way. being an asset, may be a liability in that
it violates these traditions. How often
4 percent describedthe Nescafewoman have we heard a wife
as a good wife; i6 per cent described respondto "This
the Maxwell House woman as a good cake is delicious!" with a pretty blush
wife. and "Thank you-I made it with such
and such a prepared cake mix." This
A clear picture begins to form here. responseis so invariableas to seem al-
Instant coffee represents a departure most compulsive.It is almost unthink-
from "home-made"coffee, and the tra- able to
anticipate a reply "Thank you,
ditions with respect to caring for one's I made it with
Pillsbury'sflour,Fleisch-
family. Coffee-making is taken seriously, man's yeast, and Borden'smilk." Here
with vigorous proponents for laborious the specificationsare
unnecessary. All
drip and filter-paper methods, firm be- that is relevant is the implied "I made
lievers in coffee boiled in a battered it"-the art and the credit are carried
sauce pan, and the like. Coffee drinking
directlyby the verb that coversthe proc-
is a form of intimacy and relaxation that ess of
mixing and processingthe ingre-
gives it a special character. dients. In ready-mixedfoodsthereseems
On the one hand, coffee making is an to be a
art. It is quite common to hear a woman for the
compulsivedrive to refusecredit
product,becausethe accomplish-
say, "I can't seem to make good coffee," ment is not the housewife's but the
in the same way that one might say, "I
company's.
can't learn to play the violin." It is ac- In this experiment, as a penalty for
ceptable to confess this inadequacy, for using "synthetics" the woman who
making coffee well is a mysterious touch buys Nescaf6 pays the price of
that belongs, in a shadowy tradition, to seen as being
lazy, spendthrift, a poor wife,
the plump, aproned figure who is a little and as to plan well for her family.
lost outside her kitchen but who has a The failing who rejected instant coffee
sure sense in it and among its tools.
people
in the original direct question blamed

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THE JOURNAL
I
OF MARKETING
ITP
653p

its flavor. We may well wonder if their Descriptionsof a womanwhobought,

dislike of instant coffee was not to a amongotherthings,Nescafe
largeextent occasionedby a fearof being Instant Coffee
seen by one's self and others in the role "This woman appearsto be either single
they projectedonto the Nescafe woman or living alone. I would guess that she had
in the description.When asked directly, an officejob. Apparently,she likes to sleep
however, it is difficult to respondwith late in the morning,basing my assumption
this. One can not say, "I don't use Nes- on what she bought such as Instant Coffee
caf6 becausepeople will think I am lazy whichcan be made in a hurry.She probably
and not a good wife." Yet we know from also has can [sic]peachesfor breakfast,cans
these data that the feeling regarding beingeasy to open.Assumingthat she is just
laziness and shiftlessness was there. average, as opposed to those dazzling nat-
ural beauties who do not need much time
Later studies (reported below) showed to make up, she must appearrathersloppy,
that it determined buying habits, and takinglittle time to makeup in the morning.
that something could be done about it. She is also used to eating supper out, too.
Perhaps alone rather than with an escort.
Analysis of Responses An old maid probably."
"She seems to be lazy, because of her
Someexamplesof the type of response purchases of canned peaches and instant
received will show the kind of material coffee. She doesn't seem to think, because
obtained and how it may be analyzed. she bought two loaves of bread, and then
Three examplesof each group are given baking powder, unless she's thinking of
below. making cake. She probablyjust got mar-
ried."
"I think the womanis the type who never
Descriptionsof a womanwhobought, thinks aheadvery far-the type who always
amongotherthings,Maxwell sends Junior to the store to buy one item
HouseCoffee
at a time. Also she is fundamentallylazy.
"I'dsayshewasa practical,frugalwoman. All the items, with possibleexceptionof the
She boughttoo many potatoes.She must Rumford's,are easily prepareditems. The
liketo cookandbakeas sheincludedbaking girl may be an office girl who is just living
powder.She mustnot caremuchabouther from one day to the next in a sort of hap-
figureas shedoesnot discriminateaboutthe hazard sort of life."
foodshe buys."
"Thewomanis quite influencedby ad- As we read these complete responses
as
vertising signifiedby the specificname we begin to get a feeling for thepicture
brandson hershoppinglist. Sheprobablyis that is created by Nescafe. It is particu-
quite set in her ways and acceptsno sub- larly interesting to notice that the Nes-
stitutes." cafe woman is protected, to some extent,
"I havebeenableto observeseveralhun- from the
dredwomenshopperswho havemadevery opprobrium of being lazy and
similarpurchasesto that listed above,and haphazard by being seen as a single
theonlycluethatI candetectthatmayhave "office girl"-a role that relieves one
somebearingon her personalityis the Del from guilt for not being interested in
Montepeaches.This item whenpurchased the home and food preparation.
singlyalongwiththeothermorestaplefoods The references to peaches are signifi-
indicatesthat she may be anxiousto please cant. In one case (Maxwell House) they
eitherherselfor membersof herfamilywith are singled out as a sign that the woman
a 'treat.'Sheis probablya thrifty,sensible is thoughtfully preparing a "treat" for
housewife." her family. On the other hand, when the

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 654 THE JOURNAL OF MMARKETING

Nescafe womanbuys them it is evidence way. To test this a variation was intro-
that she is lazy, since their "canned" ducedinto the shoppinglists. In a second
characteris seen as central. experimentone hundredand fifty house-
In termsof the sortof resultspresented wives were tested with the form given
above, it may be useful to demonstrate above, but a sample was added t6 this
the way these stories are coded. The group which respondedto a slightly dif-
following items are extracted from the ferent form. If we assume that the re-
six storiesquoted: jection in the firstexperimentcame from
MaxwellHouse Nescafe the presenceof a feelingabout synthetic
I. practical I. single shortcutswe might assumealso that the
frugal officegirl addition of one more shortcut to both
likesto cook sloppy lists would bring the Maxwell House
old maid woman more into line with the Nescaf6
2. influenced by advertising 2. lazy woman,since the formerwouldnow have
set in her ways does not plan the same guilt that the Nescafe woman
newlywed originallyhad, whilethe Nescafewoman,
3. interestedin family 3. lazy
thrifty does not plan alreadyconvictedof evading her duties,
sensible officegirl would be little furtherinjured.
In order to accomplishthis a second
Items such as these are culled fromeach preparedfood was added to both lists.
of the stories. Little by little categories Immediately after the coffee in both
are shaped by the content of the stories lists the fictitious item, "BlueberryFill
themselves. In this way the respondent Pie Mix" was added. The results are
furnishesthe dimensionsof analysis as shownin the accompanyingtable.
well as the scale values on these dimen- It will be seen immediately,in the first
sions. two columns,that the groupto whomthe
Second Test originalformof the list weregivenshowed
the same kind of differenceas reported
It is possible to wonder whether it is above in their estimates of the two wo-
true that the opprobrium that is heaped men. The group with an additionalpre-
on the Nescaf6 woman comes from her pared food, however, broughtthe Max-
use of a device that represents a short- well Coffee woman down until she is
cut and labor-saver in an area where virtually undistinguishable from the
she is expected to embrace painstaking Nescafe. There seems to be little doubt
time-consuming work in a ritualistic but that the prepared-food-character,
TABLE I. PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS ASCRIBED TO USERS OF PREPARED FOODS

No Prepared Food
If They Use (Maxwell House Nescafe Maxwell House Nescafe
alone) (alone) (plus Pie Mix) (plus Pie Mix)

They are seen as: Number Per Cent Number Per Cent Number Per Cent Number PerCent
Not Economical 12 17 24 32 6 30 7 35
Lazy 8 II 46 62 5 25 8
Poor Personality and 40
Appearance 28 39 39 53 7 35 8 40
N= 72 20 20
74

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THE JOURNAL
/OURNAL OF
OP MARKETING 655
655

and the stigma of avoiding housewifely buy instant coffeeherself.The projected

duties is responsible for the projected unacceptable characteristics go with
personalitycharacteristics. failureto buy, and it does not seem un-
warrantedto assumethat the association
Relationto Purchasing is causal.
It is still relevant to ask whether the Furthermore, these projected traits
existence of these feelingsin a potential are, to some extent, additive. For in-
consumeris related to purchasing.It is stance, if a respondent describes the
hypothesizedthat these personalityde- woman as having one bad trait only,
scriptions provide an opportunity for she is about twice as likely not to have
the consumerto project hopes and fears instant coffee. However, if she sees her
and anxieties that are relevant to the as having two bad traits, and no good
way the product is seen, and that they ones (e.g., lazy, can not cook), she is
representimportantparts of her motiva- about three times as likely not to have
tion in buyingor not buying.To test this instant coffeeas she is to have it. On the
hypothesis, a small sample of fifty otherhand,if she sees her as having two
housewives,comparablein every way to good traits (e.g., economical, cares for
the groupjust referredto, was given the family), she is aboutsix times as likely to
original form of the shoppinglist (Nes- have it as not.
cafe only). In addition to obtaining the It was pointed out earlier that some
personalitydescription, the interviewer, women felt it necessaryto "excuse"the
on a pretext,obtainedpermissionto look womanwho bought Nescaf6 by suggest-
at her pantry shelves and determine ing that she lived alone and hence could
personally whether or not she had in- not be expected to be interested in
stant coffeeof any brand.The resultsof cooking, or that she had a job and did
this investigation are shown in the ac- not have time to shop better. Women
companyingtable. who had instant coffee in the house
LE II

By Women Who Had By Women Who Did Not

The woman who buys Nescaf6 is seen as: Instant Coffeein Have Instant Coffee
the House in the House
(N=32) (N= 8)

Number Per Cent Number Per Cent

Economical** 22 70 5 28
Not economical o o 2 II
Can not cook or does not like to** 5 6 o1 55
Plans balanced meals* 9 29 2 II
Good housewife, plans well, cares about family** 9 29 0 0
Poor housewife, does not plan well, does not care about family* 5 6 7 39
Lazy* 6 19 7 39
*A
single asterisk indicates that differences this great would be observed only 5 times out of Ioo in repeated
samplings of a population whose true difference is zero.
** A double asterisk indicates that the chances are I in Ioo. We are
justified in rejecting the hypothesis that there
is no difference between the groups.

The trend of these data shows con- found excuses almost twice as often as
clusively that if a respondent sees the those who did not use instant coffee (12
woman who buys Nescaf6 as having out of 32, or 42 per cent, against 4 out of
undesirable traits, she is not likely to i8, or 22 per cent). These "excuses" are

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656
656
vitally importantformerchandizing.The
need for an excuse shows there is a bar-
rier to buying in the consumer'smind.
The presenceof excusesshowsthat there
is a way aroundthe barrier.The content
of the excuses themselves provides
valuable clues for directing appeals to-
ward reducingbuying resistance.
CONCLUSIONS
There seems to be no questionthat in
the experimental situation described
here:
(I) Motives exist which are below the
levelof verbalization
becausetheyare
sociallyunacceptable,difficultto ver-
balizecogently,or unrecognized.
(2) Thesemotivesare intimatelyrelated
to the decisionto purchaseor not to
purchase,and
(3) It is possibleto identifyand assess
such motives by approachingthem
indirectly.
Two important general points come
out of the work reported.The first is in
the statement of the problem. It is
necessaryforus to see a productin terms
of a set of characteristicsand attributes
whicharepartof the consumer's"private
world,"and as such may have no simple
relationship to characteristics of the
object in the "real"world. Each of us
lives in a world which is composed of
more than physical things and people.
It is made up of goals, paths to goals,
barriers,threats, and the like, and an
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THE
THE yOURNAL OF MARKETING
JOURNAL OF MARKETING
individual's behavior is oriented with
respect to these characteristicsas much
as to the "objective"ones. In the area
of merchandizing,a product'scharacter
of beingseen as a path to a goal is usually
very muchmoreimportantas a determi-
nant of purchasingthan its physical di-
mensions. We have taken advantageof
these qualities in advertisingand mer-
chandizingfora long time by an intuitive
sort of "playing-by-ear"on the subjec-
tive aspects of products.It is time for a
systematic attack on the problemof the
phenomenologicaldescriptionof objects.
What kinds of dimensionsare relevant
to this worldof goals and paths and bar-
riers? What kind of terms will fit the
phenomenologicalcharacteristicsof an
object in the same sense that the centi-
metre-gram-second system fits its physi-
cal dimensions?We need to know the
answersto such questions,and the psy-
chologicaldefinitionsof valued objects.
The second general point is the
methodologicalone that it is possible,
by using appropriatetechniques,to find
out from the respondentwhat the phe-
nomenologicalcharacteristicsof various
objects may be. By and large, a direct
approach to this problem in terms of
straightforwardquestions will not yield
satisfactoryanswers.It is possible,how-
ever, by the use of indirect techniques,
to get the consumer to provide, quite
unselfconsciously,a description of the
value-characterof objectsin his environ-
ment.