Amity International Business School

Amity International Business School
AMITY INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS SCHOOL
MBAIB/IMBA/3CMBA, Semester IV
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
PERSONALITY SESSION 10, 11 & 12
KOKIL JAIN 1
What Is Personality
• The inner psychological characteristics

that both determine and reflect how a
person responds to his or her environment
2
The Nature of Personality
• Personality reflects individual

differences
• Personality is consistent and enduring
• Personality can change
3
Theories of Personality
• Freudian theory
– Unconscious needs or drives are at the heart of
human motivation
• Neo-Freudian personality theory
– Social relationships are fundamental to the
formation and development of personality
• Trait theory
– Quantitative approach to personality as a set of
psychological traits
4
Freudian Theory
• Id
– Warehouse of primitive or instinctual needs for which
individual seeks immediate satisfaction
• Superego
– Individual’s internal expression of society’s moral and
ethical codes of conduct
• Ego
– Individual’s conscious control that balances the demands of
the id and superego
5
A Representation of the Interrelationships

Among
the Id, Ego, and Superego
7
Freudian Theory and

“Product Personality”
• Consumer researchers using Freud’s
personality theory see consumer purchases as
a reflection and extension of the consumer’s
own personality
8
Neo-Freudian Personality Theory

• We seek goals to overcome feelings of inferiority
• We continually attempt to establish relationships
with others to reduce tensions
• Karen Horney was interested in child-parent
relationships and desires to conquer feelings of
anxiety. Proposed three personality groups
– Compliant move toward others, they desire to be loved,
wanted, and appreciated
– Aggressive move against others
– Detached move away from others
9
Trait Theory
• Personality theory with a focus on

psychological characteristics
• Trait - any distinguishing, relatively enduring
way in which one individual differs from
another
• Personality is linked to how consumers make
their choices or to consumption of a broad
product category - not a specific brand
10
Consumer Innovators
And Noninnovators
• Innovativeness • The degree to which
• Dogmatism consumers are receptive
• to new products, new
Social character
services, or new
• Need for uniqueness practices
• Optimum stimulation
level
• Variety-novelty seeking
11
Consumer Innovators
And Noninnovators
• Innovativeness • A personality trait that
• Dogmatism reflects the degree of rigidity
• Social character a person displays toward the
unfamiliar and toward
• Need for uniqueness information that is contrary
• Optimum stimulation to his or her own established
level beliefs
12
Consumer Innovators
And Noninnovators
• Innovativeness • Ranges on a continuum for inner-
directedness to other-directedness
• Dogmatism • Inner-directedness
• Social character – rely on own values when
evaluating products
• Need for uniqueness – Innovators
• Optimum stimulation level • Other-directedness
– look to others
• Variety-novelty seeking – less likely to be innovators
13
Consumer Innovators
And Noninnovators
• Innovativeness • Consumers who avoid
• Dogmatism appearing to conform to
• expectations or standards
Social character
of others
• Need for uniqueness
• Optimum stimulation level
14
A Sample Items from a Consumers’ Need for

Uniqueness Scale
1. I collect unusual products as a way of telling people I’m
different
2. When dressing, I have sometimes dared to be different
in ways that others are likely to disapprove
3. When products or brands I like become extremely
popular, I lose interest in them
4. As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to the products
I buy and the situations in which I use them, custom
and rules are made to be broken
5. I have sometimes purchased unusual products or
brands as a way to create a more distinctive personal
image
15
Cognitive Personality Factors

• Need for cognition (NC)
– A person’s craving for enjoyment of thinking
– Individual with high NC more likely to respond to ads
rich in product information
• Visualizers versus verbalizers
– A person’s preference for information presented
visually or verbally
– Verbalizers prefer written information over graphics
and images.
18
From Consumer Materialism to

Compulsive Consumption
• Consumer materialism
– The extent to which a person is considered “materialistic”
• Fixated consumption behavior
– Consumers fixated on certain products or categories of
products
• Compulsive consumption behavior
– “Addicted” or “out-of-control” consumers
19
Sample Items to Measure Compulsive Buying
1. When I have money, I cannot help but spend

part or the whole of it.
2. I am often impulsive in my buying behavior.
3. As soon as I enter a shopping center, I have an
irresistible urge to go into a shop to buy
something.
4. I am one of those people who often responds to
direct mail offers.
5. I have often bought a product that I did not
need, while knowing I had very little money left.
20
Consumer Ethnocentrism
• Ethnocentric consumers feel it is wrong to

purchase foreign-made products
• They can be targeted by stressing nationalistic
themes
21
Brand Personality
• Personality-like traits associated with brands

• Examples
– Nike and athlete
– BMW is performance driven
– Levi’s 501 jeans are dependable and rugged
• Brand personality which is strong and favorable
will strengthen a brand but not necessarily demand
a price premium
22
Product Personality Issues

• Gender
– Often used for brand personalities
– Some product perceived as masculine (coffee and
toothpaste) while others as feminine (bath soap and
shampoo)
• Geography
– Actual locations names used
– Color
– Color combinations in packaging and products
denotes personality
24
The Personality-like Associations of Colors

• America’s favored color
• IBM holds the title to blue
• Associated with club soda
BLUE • Men seek products packaged in blue
Commands • Houses painted blue are avoided
respect, authority • Low-calorie, skim milk
• Coffee in a blue can perceived as “mild”
Caution, novelty, • Eyes register it faster

• Coffee in yellow can perceived as “weak”
YELLOW temporary,
• Stops traffic
warmth • Sells a house
Secure, natural, • Good work environment
• Associated with vegetables and chewing gum
relaxed or easy-
GREEN • Canada Dry ginger ale sales increased when it
going, living changed sugar-free package from red to green25
things and white
Human, exciting, • Makes food “smell” better

hot, passionate, • Coffee in a red can perceived as “rich”
RED strong • Women have a preference for bluish red
• Men have a preference for yellowish red
• Coca-Cola “owns” red
ORANGE Powerful, •Draws attention quickly
affordable, informal
Informal and •Coffee in a dark-brown can was “too
BROWN
relaxed, masculine, strong”
nature
Goodness, purity, •Suggests
Men seekreduced
productscalories
packaged in brown
WHITE chastity, •Pure and wholesome food
cleanliness, •Clean, bath products, feminine
delicacy,
Sophistication,
refinement, •Powerful clothing
BLACK
power, authority,
formality •High-tech electronics
SILVER, mystery
Regal, wealthy, •Suggests premium price 26
GOLD
Self and Self-Image

• Consumers have a variety of enduring
images of themselves
• These images are associated with
personality in that individuals consumption
relates to self-image
27
Issues Related to
Self and Self-Image
• One or multiple • A single consumer will act
selves differently in different
• Makeup of the self- situations or with different
image people
• We have a variety of social
• Extended self
roles
• Altering the self- • Marketers can target
image products to a particular “self”
28
Issues Related to
Self and Self-Image
• One or multiple • Contains traits, skills,
selves habits, possessions,
• Makeup of the self relationships and way of
-image behavior
• Extended self
• Developed through
background, experience,
• Altering the self-
and interaction with others
image
• Consumers select products
congruent with this image
29
Actual Self-
Ideal Self-Image
Image
Ideal Social
Social Self-Image
Self-Image
Expected
Self-Image
Different Self-Images
30
Issues Related to
Self and Self-Image
• One or multiple • Possessions can extend
selves self in a number of ways:
– Actually
• Makeup of the – Symbolically
self-image – Conferring status or rank
• Extended self – Bestowing feelings of
immortality
• Altering the self- – Endowing with magical
image powers
31
Issues Related to
Self and Self-Image
• One or multiple • Consumers use self-
selves altering products to
• Makeup of the express individualism by
– Creating new self
self-image – Maintaining the existing
• Extended self self
• Altering the self – Extending the self
– Conforming
-image
32

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Amity International Business School

Amity International Business School

• The inner psychological characteristics

The Nature of Personality

• Personality reflects individual

A Representation of the Interrelationships

Freudian Theory and

Neo-Freudian Personality Theory

• Personality theory with a focus on

A Sample Items from a Consumers’ Need for

Cognitive Personality Factors

From Consumer Materialism to

Sample Items to Measure Compulsive Buying

1. When I have money, I cannot help but spend

• Ethnocentric consumers feel it is wrong to

• Personality-like traits associated with brands

Product Personality Issues

The Personality-like Associations of Colors

Caution, novelty, • Eyes register it faster

Human, exciting, • Makes food “smell” better

Self and Self-Image

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