Consumer Personality and

Consumer motivation and

Learning
Dr. Geeta Marmat, NET, PhD Assistant Professor, Marketing Management
Faculty of Management Studies (IIIM),
Charotar University of Science and Technology,
Changa, Anand (Gujarat)
Email: geetamarmat.mba@charusat.ac.in
Introduction
• Personality : The complex of characteristics that distinguishes an
individual or a nation or group
• "Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of
those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristics
behavior and thought" (Allport, 1961, p. 28).
• “The characteristics or blend of characteristics that make a person
unique” (Weinberg & Gould, 1999).
• The business definition of the personality “ the sum total of those
inner characteristics of a person that direct and dictate the
person’s responses to environment”.
• Consumer resides in a person, thus personality guides consumer
behavior. Therefore we have to look at all the inner characteristics
of a person to understand the consumer behavior.
Characteristic feature of
personality(the traits)
• Personality is consist of most important characteristics
that influence the behavior most.
• This is included in trait theory that personality traits
talks about those characteristic of the person which is
important.
• These personality traits are usually ingrained in person
and differ from person to person
• This traits possessed by a person influence him and
exhibit themselves through consistent and enduring
behavior of the person.
• Based on the traits people can be grouped to predict
their consumption behavior or preferences
Continu..
• Personality is highly individualized: the probability of o
two persons having an identical personality is very low,
however, it is possible that a sizeable number have
sufficient common traits to enable one to broadly
classify personalities and predict behaviors class wise.
• Personality is enduring and consistent. However, it can
change gradually by aging and maturity, happenings,
etc.
• Certain affinities are formed by humans due to
influence of personality, persons of a particular type of
personality feel an affinity towards other personality of
the same type. This affinity characteristics of the
personality is exploited by the markets in their
marketing or branding strategy.
Self image and its formation
• A self image is developed and nurtured by all person or
consumers.
• This self image constantly exhibit in their purchase behavior
or consumption behavior.
• The is a co-relation of self image and consumer behavior
identified by the researchers.
• Self image is nearer to the person’s practical achievement
and capabilities than the ideal.
• Self image has great effect on consumer behavior
• What the other consumers are speaking about the product
and what the marketer of the product is projecting as the
image of the product.
• Products have images attributed to them and consumers try
to match their self-image with the product image.
Theories of personality
• The Freudian theory
• The Neo-Freudian theory
• The Jungian theory
• The trait theory
The Freudian theory

• Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of

personality argues that human behavior is the
result of the interactions among three component
parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego.
• This theory, known as Freud’s structural theory of
personality, places great emphasis on the role of
unconscious psychological conflicts in shaping
behavior and personality.
• Dynamic interactions among these fundamental
parts of the mind are thought to progress through
five distinct psychosexual stages of development.
The Freudian theory and consumer
behavior
• Freud believed that the human psyche could be divided into
the conscious and unconscious mind.
• The ego, the representation of the conscious mind, is made
up of thoughts, memories, perceptions, and feelings that
give a person their sense of identity and personality.
• The id, which represents the unconscious mind, is the
biologically determined instincts that someone possesses
since birth.
• The superego represents the moderating factor of society's
traditional morals and taboos as seen in the fact that not
every person acts on impulse.
• These ideas can help market researchers determine why a
consumer has made a particular purchase by focusing on
their conscious and unconscious motivations, as well as the
weight of societal expectations.
• When companies want to measure the probability of
success for a new product, they try to uncover the
hidden motivations of a selected group of consumers to
determine what might trigger their buying habits.
• They may utilize a number of techniques to discover
such deeper meanings, such as role-playing, picture
interpretation, sentence completion, or word
association, among others(Qualitative technique).
• It can help researchers to learn about how consumers
react to products and how to best market them as a
result.
• Example: buying a car of particular brand can make a
person feel unique, smart, successful, prestigious.
Marketers can use this information to cultivate brand
identity.
Advertisement directed to ID: gratification, or “pleasure principle” these
Ads that signal to consumers that their products will make them look
more attractive and appear more desirable speak directly to the
id. Consumers are drawn to the kinds of advertisements represent.
Product categories geared towards maximum pleasure are desirable
results include clothing, cigarettes, cars, makeup, and perfume.
Advertisement directed to ‘super-ego’ The superego, representing
consumers’ conscience, tells us what we ought to do. It has or best
interest in mind and seeks to counter the allure and seduction of the “id.”
Advertisements appealing to our rational and balanced sensibilities
include health food, self-care, charitable donations, and PSA’s (public
service announcements) such as anti-smoking campaigns.
Neo-Freudian theory
• The neo-Freudian theories are theories based on Freudian
principles that emphasize the role of the unconscious and early
experience in shaping personality but place less evidence on
sexuality as the primary motivating force in personality and are
more optimistic concerning the prospects for personality growth
and change in personality in adults.
• Social relationships are fundamental to the formation and
development of the personality.
• Erikson later proposed a psychosocial theory of development,
suggesting that an individual’s personality develops throughout
the lifespan — a departure from Freud’s view that personality is
fixed in early life.
• In his theory, Erikson emphasized the social relationships that
are important at each stage of personality development, in
contrast to Freud’s emphasis on sex. The development of a
healthy personality and a sense of competence depend on the
successful completion of each task.
The Jungian theory
• Carl Jung (1875-1961) was another student of Freud and
developed his own theories about personality.
• Jung argued that in addition to the personal unconscious,
there was also a collective unconscious, or a collection of
shared ancestral memories or inherited ideas.
• Carl Jung (1875-1961) theoretical work on personalities
included archetypes, which he believed to be "ancestral
memories" reflecting the common experiences of people all
over the world.
• His explanation of archetypes included a strong belief that
they were mostly biological and handed down to us. More
recent research on archetypes suggests that they come from
our lived experiences and reflect our cultural characteristics
(and are not biological or handed down).
• Jung also proposed two attitudes or approaches
toward life: extroversion and introversion (Jung,
1923)
• If you are an extrovert, then you are a person who
is energized by being outgoing and socially
oriented: You derive your energy from being
around others.
• If you are an introvert, then you are a person who
may be quiet and reserved, or you may be social,
but your energy is derived from your inner psychic
activity.
• Jung believed a balance between extroversion and
introversion best served the goal of self-realization.
• Another concept proposed by Jung was persona
• According to Jung, we consciously create this
persona; however, it is derived from both our
conscious experiences and our collective
unconscious. What is the purpose of the persona?
Jung believed that it is a compromise between who
we really are (our true self) and what society
expects us to be. We hide those parts of ourselves
that are not aligned with society’s expectations.
Trait theory
• The fundamental work on trait dimensions
conducted by Allport, Cattell, Eysenck, and many
others led to contemporary trait models
• The most common is five factor model of
personality
• According to this model, there are five fundamental
underlying trait dimensions that are stable across
time, cross-culturally shared, and explain a
substantial proportion of behaviour (Costa &
McCrae, 1992; Goldberg, 1982).
• A large body of research evidence has supported the
five-factor model. This system includes five broad traits that
can be remembered with the acronym “OCEAN”: Openness,
Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and
Neuroticism.
• Various personality types, like people with various motives,
are likely to respond in different ways to different market
offerings. For example, an extrovert may enjoy the shopping
experience and rely more on personal observation to secure
information; thus, in-store promotion would become an
important communication tool.
• Knowing the basic personality traits of target customers can
be useful information for the manager in designing the
marketing mix. Marketers have, however, found personality
to be difficult to apply in developing marketing strategy.
• The primary reason for this is the lack of good ways to
measure personality traits. Most available measures were
developed to identify people with problems that needed
medical attention. These have little value with consumers
who are mentally healthy. As a result, most marketers have
turned to lifestyle analysis.
Learning, Memory and
communication
• Learning can be defined as acquisition of knowledge
• For learning the function of human brain like memory, logic,
retrieval are very important.
• Consumer learning is about how an individual acquires the
information knowledge in the matter of consumption
• Consumer learning is mostly an unstructured and
personalized process
• It is partly erasable in the sense that it allows
newly-acquired knowledge or experience to modify the
earlier learning.
• At any given time the behavior of the consumer dictated and
influenced by the learning retained till that time.
Continue..
• Human mind is the basis for thinking, feeling, wanting, perceiving,
learning and memory, curiosity, and behavior.
• Memory is a fundamental mental process, and without memory
we are capable of nothing but simple reflexes and stereotyped
behaviors.
• Memory can be defined as a behavioral change caused by an
experience, and learning can be defined as a process for acquiring
memory.
• There are different kinds of memory. Some memories, such as
those concerning events and facts, are available to our
consciousness; this type of memory is called “declarative
memory.”
• However, another type of memory, called “procedural memory,”
is not available to consciousness. This is the memory that is
needed, for example, to use a previously learned skill. We can
improve our skills through practice. With training, the ability to
play tennis, for example, will improve.
• Declarative memory and procedural memory are independent.
 • The two perspective are behavioral and cognitive
approaches.
1. Behavioral approaches view learning as a
behavior. The behavior is observable and can be
measured.
2. Cognitive approaches explain learning as the
acquisition of knowledge and the processing of
information.
Learning theory
• Marketers should understand learning theories to
gain the insights for formulating effective messages
• There are two important theories of learning
1. Behavioral and 2. Cognitive learning theory
Behavioral learning
theory(Stimulus response theory)
• Based on the fact that human receive stimuli
continuously, react or reorganize the stimuli most
of the time and associate the stimuli with
experiences before reacting.
• Initially the receiver just recognizes simultaneity of
the actual experience generated and the stimulus.
• If the same stimulus is repeated and the experience
also is repeated, the brain of the individual learns
the relationship between the cause and effect.
Cognitive learning theory
• Cognitive theory argues that much of the learning
that matters is based on active search for
information and active participation and thinking
by the learner.
• The individual forms mental images of everything
• This theory assumes that the individual is not a
passive receiver but seeks and process information
and formulate own learning by experience and
perceptions.
Behavioral and cognitive learning
theory
• Behavioral learning theory(Stimulus-Response-Theory:
Behavioral theories stress the importance of the environment
in encouraging learning. Behaviorists speak a great deal about
stimulus response. The stimulus comes from the environment
and the individual responds. Behaviorists see learning as an
experience in reinforcement. Individual difference is not a
major concern as everyone should act in a similar manner
when facing similar stimuli.
• Cognitive learning theory:
Cognitivist agree with the influence of the environment in
learning but downplay its role. For them, learning is about
how students’ encode, store, and or transfer learning within
their mind. The learner’s thoughts play an important role in
their learning. Reflection and asking questions all play a part in
the learning of students.
• Behavorists have a simple notion of learning. If some one
remembers something it is because they are reinforced
connection due to stimulus response. Forgetting for
behavorists is caused from a lack of response to stimuli over
time. Connections fade due to lack of use. For this reason, a
teacher should review material occasionally to maintain the
connections the students have developed. This will help in
remembering what they learned.
• Cognitivist see memory as the encoding of information in
the mind. It is similar to storing data on a hard drive. From
this perspective, forgetting is the inability to retrieve a
memory. This can be caused by interference, lack of
adequate mental triggers, or a loss of memory. These are all
problems we sometimes face when dealing with computers.
For teachers, this means helping students to organize what
they learn and connect it to what they already know. By
doing this, it assures that they will remember.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59I5IitGiNM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRqYeHxVILQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJhnAgKHKf0