BMAN20271 10680474

Q1 (word count: 968)

Perception:

Perception is the process of capturing information from the outside world to the brain

by any means, such as seeing, hearing, tasting, etc. There are two types of perception:

top-down and bottom-up. The process by which Holly's eyes see an Under Armour

poster and perceive the information transmitted to the brain to form the impression

that 'Under Armour is just a category of clothes' is called bottom-up perception.

Furthermore, the theory called Gestalt perception illustrates that the human brain

draws on all information about the target and will fuse to only one understanding.

That is, in this case, having identified Under Armour as a cloth category, it would be

difficult to change this understanding of Holly's unless other, more detailed brand

cues appeared before her. This understanding is formed instantly, by the system 1

route.

Since for months Holly had been passing this poster with the same understanding,

these experiences had caused her impression of ‘Under Armour is a category of

clothes’ to be stored in long-term memory. So, when she saw Under Armour shirt in

the store, the top-down perception was triggered. The Under Armour shirt is the
stimulus and the expectation of Under Armour that lurks in long-term memory is

recalled back to short-term memory. At this point she either still didn't notice that it

was a brand and just felt familiar, or she discovered that it was a brand and that it

clashed with the expectation of ‘category of clothes’. But even in the latter case, Holly

has no information in her long-term memory relating to the value of the Under

Armour brand and therefore does not even have the desire to buy it.

Originally, building expectations in long-term memory was an effective way to build

brand image. For example, sneaker brand Sketchers' advertisements consistently

emphasize the comfort of their products, and after seeing the advertisements several

times 'Sketchers' and 'comfort' will be associated in the customer's long-term memory.

When the customer actually buys a Sketchers shoe and finds that the comfort is within

the acceptable range, i.e. the zone of ambiguity, then the expectations and actual

experience of Sketchers will assimilate. This will further deepen the customer's

impression of Sketchers’ comfort. This is a positive example, whereas Under Armour

failed to build brand-related expectations.

Memory:

Events, concepts, and feelings that people encounter act as nodes, interconnect and

are stored in memory. Short-term memory, which refers to valid information that a

person can remember in a short period of time, is also known as working memory.
However, the brand equity exists in long-term memory. The reason for Holly's

certainty in choosing Nike, I think, is most likely due to the fact that Nike's heavily

placed advertisements and the mentions of friends around her, in constant repetition,

made her gradually encode the short-term memory into long-term memory. In this

way Nike has successfully built brand awareness and is the first thing she thinks of

when she mentions sports shirts. At the same time, I also assume that she felt Nike

resonates with her because of Nike’s certain features such as high elasticity, which

makes her comfortable when running. This also shows that Nike has streamlined the

message it wants to convey in its advertisements to create brand associations and

differentiate itself from other brands. Yet Under Armour gave holly such a

misconception, most likely because it was not positioned clearly enough and did not

deliver a focused, impressive message in the poster. The brand equity cannot be built.

Self-congruency model:

Holly’s resonance with Nike can also be interpreted in this way. The self-congruency

model explains why consumers are attached to some brands. It states that things can

be symbols, and people always buy symbols that congruent with the picture of their

self. For holly, the identity of 'runner' is her actual self, so she wants to buy brands

that match her personality and style as a runner.

Nike's slogan "Just Do It" is very much in line with the active lifestyle of sports

enthusiasts and it produces many specialised sports shirts and sneakers that look very

professional. So whether holly is a seasoned runner who wants to feel more real about

her self or a novice runner who wants to get closer to the image of the professional

she has constructed, Nike is a great choice.

Priming:

When there is an exposure to a stimulus and it affects people’s later reactions without

awareness, we call it priming. The mere exposure effect explains that when a stimulus

is exposed fleetingly, repeatedly and in isolation, it is more likely to increase people's

subconscious liking for it. As that poster has appeared countless times before holly's

eyes, she has become familiar with the brand name of Under Armour even without

realising it herself. There are two explanations for this phenomenon, one being that

familiarity makes people feel safe: for example, when parents buy a doll for their

child, they prefer the more expensive jellycat one to a cheaper brand whose name they

have never heard of. Simply because they may have heard people talking about

jellycat, or seen its advertisements, and thus believe that the brand is better known and

has better perceived qualities.

The second explanation is perceptual fluency: our brain likes the feeling of fluency.

As mentioned above, the constant presence of the Under Armour’s poster makes its
way successfully into holly's long-term memory. And when she perceives the

exposure of Under Armour in the store again, the long-term memory recalls to

working memory, allowing her to understand it better. In fact, if there was no Nike, a

brand with stronger brand equity, on one side, and a salesman came to sell Holly on

Under Armour, she would have been more likely to buy it than anyone else, based on

her brain's familiarity with Under Armour.

Q2 (word count: 911)

Feelings as information:

People’s emotions and feelings can be signals to guide behaviours. Emotions send two

kinds of information to us. The first type of information is a general guide for our

directions of behaviours and thoughts, and the second type refers to feedback from

system 1 decision route.

Mood, as a general feeling, are divided into positive and negative, and these two

moods can have very different effects on a person. When a person is in a positive

mood, they are more willing to explore new things, to keep their options open and to

pay less attention to detail. In contrast, when a person is in a negative mood, they are

more cautious and slower to make decisions. In this scenario, Mary listens to Hank
Williams's sad song and feels heartbroken and sad, and as a result, she will slow down

and think carefully when facing a choice, and thanks to this, she avoids some of the

impulsive choices she might have made when she was in a positive mood. This

explains why she does less ‘dumb stuff’ when she is in the mood for the music. These

‘dumb stuff’ may include impulsive spending, which is easy to take when the mood is

high.

As Mary continues to be guided by this emotion and makes more sensible choices,

she becomes familiar with some of the patterns in the situation. Over time, when she

is faced with a similar situation again, her brain will automatically recognize the

pattern and intuitively avoid the 'dumb stuff' that she might have done before. This is

a reaction that she has worked out unconsciously by being guided by her emotions

and is the route of system 1. This also allows her to reflect more on the important

things in her life and cope with complex judgements.

However, feelings as information are not always effective. The concept ‘affect’ refers

to those specific emotions directed to specific things, and the appraisal tendencies

framework says that specific emotions have their meaning and action patterns. I think

that perhaps it is not all because of Hank Williams's style of song that Jorge would

develop such severe emotions of depression; it is possible that he misdirects the

feeling to the wrong target. The depression may stem from a more specific event, such

as academic stress or a bad relationship with Mary, but he mistakenly believes that the
source of the depression is only music; and in this specific emotion, he reacted by

finding ways to vent, and the reasons for his approach are discussed specifically

below.

Managing emotions & Consuming emotions

Emotions need managing. When people are in a positive mood, they usually celebrate

by partying, drinking all night, etc. to try to maintain this mood for longer. This is

called mood maintenance. And when they are in a slump and drowning in negative

emotions, they need to use their own therapy to repair. Jorge's choice to watch sitcom

is a form of emotional repair. When one is in a negative mood, one would prefer to

watch a light-hearted comedy to draw pleasure than a serious and sad movie. Not only

that, but according to the consuming emotions theory, the core benefit of some

products is emotion. Sitcom as a product brings laughter and joy to Jorge as a

consumer in its own right. This phenomenon of the product itself delivering pleasure

is called the integral affect.

Besides, Jorge also chose to repair his emotions by shopping online at Amazon.

According to consuming emotions theory, sometimes it is the process of consuming

that consumers enjoy more than the purchase of the product itself. I think Jorge gets

more pleasure from browsing the web and browsing different items than the item

itself. The theory of managing emotions also refers to a therapy called 'self gift',
where one buys a gift for oneself, even if one would pity the money spent afterwards,

but the positive emotions bought by the money spent are more valuable. However,

failure to manage his emotions can lead to compulsive buying. That is, a compulsive

frenzy to buy things he doesn't need. This does not help him to repair his emotions,

but is simply a manifestation of materialism. The regret that arises afterwards only

deepens self-denial.

Self-expansion model:

There are two main permises in the self-expansion model. The first is that people will

absorb the abilities, attributes and resources of the people or objects around them and

translate them into self-concept. The second is that people are motivated to expand

their selves in this way. This also explains why Mary became more involved in her

life after she started listening to country music.

It can be seen that Mary has a history of doing 'dumb stuff' and she is looking for

change. Country music's ideology and spirit includes the pursuit of the simplest and

truest of lives, and Hank Williams's own songs are melancholy but determined. This

was in line with the goals Mary had set for her life, so as she continued to play these

songs, she was gradually absorbing the attributes of country music, allowing herself to

expand. As she gets closer to her goal, she gains joy and can reflect on life better. If

she can sustain this process, then the expanded self is maintained. But it's also
possible that soon after she gets into rock, punk and gets bored with country music,

she could shrink back to that somewhat muddled state she was in.