2800-321

Consumer
Behavior
Consumer
Personality

Psychographics

• Use of psychological, sociological, and

anthropological factors
• Group people into homogeneous segments
on the basis of their psychological makeup

Personality
• The inner psychological characteristics that
both determine and reflect how a person
responds to his or her environment
• Properties that characterize personality
– Personality is unique
– Personality is consistent across diverse
circumstances
– Personality is not static

Diversity of Personality Theories

• Four main personality theories
– Freudian theory
– Neo-Freudian theory
– Self-concept theory
– Trait theory

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 Freudian Theory
• A theory of motivation and personality that
postulates that unconscious needs and drives,
particularly sexual and other biological drives,
are the basis of human motivation and
personality
• Personality is a result of an interaction
between id, superego, and ego
• Personality develops as we progress through a
sequence of psychosexual stages during
infancy

Freudian Theory
• Motivational research
– Believes that the id and superego operate to
create unconscious motives for purchasing
certain products
– Deep-seated purchasing motives can be
determined through indirect methods by
researching a small number of consumers

Freudian Theory
• Methods:
– Depth interview
• Interviews with an individual consumer to
determine motives
– Focus-group discussion
• 8 to 10 consumers are brought together
• Run by a moderator
• Discuss issues that may reveal needs or
motives

Freudian Theory
– Projective techniques
• Designed to determine motives that are
difficult to express or identify
• A consumer is projecting his/her feelings
regarding a product or situation without
being asked a direct question

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 Neo-Freudian Theory
• Stresses the fundamental role of social
relationships and cultures in the formation and
development of personality
• A person’s personality continues to develop as an
adult
• Recognizes the interdependence of the individual
and society
– Social and cultural variables are important in
personality development
– Insights into personality development should rely on
observation of people who function normally

Neo-Freudian Theory
• Karen Horney
– Described people on 3 personality types
• Compliant - One who moves toward others
(e.g., desires to be loved by others)
• Aggressive - One who moves against others
(e.g., competes with others)
• Detached - One who moves away from others
(e.g., desires independence)

Cohen’s CAD Study

• Based on Horney’s CAD theory
• Developed the CAD scale
– Different personalities would prefer different
products
– 35-itemed inventory, 15 product categories used
– Tested with male students in several U.S.
universities
• Findings
– Compliant: Use mouthwash, toilet soap
– Aggressive: Prefer cologne, after-shave lotion,
deodorant, shirt
– Detached: Likely to have tea

Self-concept Theory
• Focuses on how an individual’s self-image
affects his/her purchasing behavior
• Holds that an individual has a concept of self
based on:
– Actual self
– Ideal self
– Social self
– Ideal social self

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 Self-concept Theory
• Extended self
– Modification or changing of the self by which
consumers use self-altering products or
services to conform to or take on the
appearance of a particular types of person

Self-concept Theory
• Symbolic interactionism
– A person buys products for his/her symbolic
value in enhancing his/her self-concept
– Product constellations
• Complementary groups of products that are
related to each other because of their
symbolic association

Trait Theory
• A theory of personality that focuses on the
measurement of specific psychological
characteristics
– Traits are identifiable and limited in number

• Orientation is primarily quantitative and

empirical
• Trait theorists concerned with the construction
of personality tests that enable them to
pinpoint individual differences

Trait Theory

• Consumer ethnocentrism
• A consumer’s predisposition to accept or reject
foreign-made products
• Item example
• American people should always buy
American-made products instead of imports.

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 Trait Theory
• Consumer materialism
• A personality-like trait of individuals who
regard possessions as particularly essential to
their identities and lives
• Item example
• The things I own say a lot about how well I
am doing in life

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• Jung’s theory of personality
– Although people have similar internal instincts,
they are different in fundamental ways
– A person may be typed by his/her preference
• MBTI - An inventory of basic preferences
– A forced-choice, self-report inventory
– Designed for use with normal persons
– Purports to generate preference scores that
describe interaction in 4 interlocking dimensions

Four Preferences of MBTI

• Extraversion--Introversion
– The relative interest in the outer and inner worlds
• Sensing--Intuition
– The preferred way of perceiving
• Thinking--Feeling
– The preferred way of coming to conclusions
• Judgment--Perception
– The method of dealing with the world around us

Brand Personality
• Like an individual, brands also have a
personality
• Brand personification
– Specific personality-type traits or characteristics
ascribed by consumers to different brands

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Brand Personality Framework

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