Chapter 4

MEMORY AND
KNOWLEDGE
Learning Objectives:
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
1.Distinguish among sensory, working, long-term, implicit, and
explicit memory, and explain why marketers must be aware of
these different types of memory.
2.Describe how schemas and scripts affect consumers’ knowledge
content.
3.Explain how and why the content and structure of knowledge,
including associative networks, categories, and prototypicality, are
relevant to marketers; and
4.Discuss what memory retrieval is, how it works, and how
marketers try to affect it.
 WHAT IS MEMORY?
• Consumer Memory- is the persistence of learning
over time, via the storage and retrieval of
information, either consciously or unconsciously.
• Retrieval- the process of remembering or accessing
what was previously stored in memory.
• SENSORY MEMORY- Input from the five senses stored
temporarily in memory.
• WORKING MEMORY(WM)- The portion of memory where
incoming information is encoded or interpreted in the
context of existing knowledge, and kept available for more
processing.
• LONG-TERM MEMORY(LTM)-The part of memory where
information is permanently stored for later use.
–Episodic (autobiographical) memory- knowledge we
have about ourselves and our personal, past
experiences.
- Semantic memory- General knowledge about an
entity, detached from specific episodes.
• EXPLICIT MEMORY- When consumers are
consciously aware that they remember
something.
• IMPLICIT MEMORY- Memory without any
conscious attempt at remembering something.
HOW MEMORY IS ENHANCED
Recognition - The process of identifying whether we
have previously encountered a stimulus when re-
exposed to it.

Recall - The ability to retrieve information from

memory without being re-exposed to it.
Several techniques help to improve working memory and
increase the likelihood that information will be transferred
to long term memory:

Chunking - Marketers can increase the likelihood that

consumers will hold information in short-term memory
and transfer it to long-term memory by providing larger
bits of information that chunk together smaller bits.

Rehearsal - When motivation is low, marketers may use

tactics such as jingles, sounds, and slogans to instigate
rehearsal.
Recirculation - Is an important principle for
marketing because it explains why repetition of
marketing communications affects memory,
particularly in low-involvement situations.

Elaboration - Transferring information into long-

term memory by processing it at deeper levels.
KNOWLEDGE CONTENT: Schemas &
scripts
 Knowledge content- is not stored in memory as
a bunch of random facts. Instead, content takes
the form of schemas or scripts.
 Schema – is the group of associations or
associative network linked to an object or
person (more in general to a “concept”).
Spreading of Activation – the process by which
retrieving a concept or association spreads to the
retrieval of a related concept or association.
Priming – the increased sensitivity to a certain
concepts and associations due to prior experience
based on implicit memory.
Associative network – is a set of concepts
connected by links.
The association in schemas vary in three dimensions that are
crucial to building and maintaining strong brands:
1. Favorability
2. Uniqueness
3. Salience
 Brand image – a subset of salient and feeling-related
associations stored in a brand schema
 Brand personality – the set of associations included in a
schemas that reflect a brand’s personification.
 Script – a special type of schema that represents
knowledge of a sequence of events.
 Marketing Implications
Knowledge Content - is important to marketers brand with favorable,
unique, and silent associations that are meaningful to consumers have
high brand equity and are valuable to the company.

Creating Brand Images and Personalities - Help consumers understand

what it is, what it can do for them, and how it differ from competing
offerings.

 Creating Brand Extension

• Brand extension- using the brand name of a product with a well-
developed image on a product in a different category.
Maintaining Brand images and Personalities - Marketers must
maintain and develop the brand images and person abilities.
Overtime, consistent advertising can help to accomplish this.

Changing Brand images and Personalities - In a brand or

product image become state, outdated, or linked to negative
association, marketers need to add new and positive
association.

Protecting Brand Image and Personalities - Brand harm, such

as reports of contaminated products or health problem that
are linked to specific product.
NOWLEDGE STRUCTURE: CATEGORIES
Knowledge structure- is an interrelated collection
of facts or knowledge about a particular topic.
What is taxonomic category? -it is specifically
defined as division within an orderly classification
of objects with similar objects in the same
category.
Ex: a classification of objects in the same category
for coke, pepsi, diet coke & etc.
Taxonomic Category Structure -process of resembling
an organism placed in a group and group which have
similarities placed into larger groups/rank in
classification are known as taxonomic category.
Graded Structure & Prototypicality -measure of how
representative an object is in a category. It is measured
by individual ratings of how “good an example” they
consider.
Prototype- best example of a cognitive category
Prototypicality- when an object is a representative of
its category.
Hierarchical Structure- another way in which taxonomic
categories structured is hierarchical which affects the
number of associations.
Correlated Associations -an associate network contains
attributes that are linked in the consumers mind, these
attributes are correlated.
Prototypical Brands- viewed as the best of product
category. tend to have many features in common with
other brands in category that are encountered
frequently.
 Knowledge Flexibility
Goal-Derived Categories
Classifying things together because they satisfy the
same goals
Different way of categorizing (as opposed to
taxonomic categorization)
Construal Level Theory: high vs. low construal
High construal: abstract thinking (e.g. desirability)
Low construal: concrete thinking (e.g. feasibility)
Factors: time; geographical distance
 Why Consumers Differ in
Knowledge content and structure
 Culture (different sets of associations,
category members, prototypes, etc.)
Level of Expertise (“Ability” to process
new information –experts vs. novices)
Memory and Retrieval
Marketers not only want consumers to store
information in memory, properly organized, and with
favorable, unique associations. They want consumers
to retrieve this information from memory when
making decisions. Retrieval Failure has three
elements:
Decay- occurs when memory strength deteriorates
over time, for instance, because it has not been used.
Interference- occurs when the strength of a
memory deteriorates over time because of
the presence of other memories to compete
with it.
Serial Position Effects: Primary and Recency-
it is the fact that the things we encountered
first or last in a sequence are often those
most easily remembered.
Retrieval Errors- Memory is not always accurate or
complete and may be subject to selection,
confusion, and distortion.

Enhancing Retrieval- marketers needs to understand

how they can enhance the likelihood that
consumers will remember something about the
specific brands.
Characteristics of the Stimulus
SILENCE
PROTOTYPE
REDUNDANT CUES
THE MEDIUM IN WHICH THE
STIMULUS IS PROCURED
What the stimulus is linked to:
Retrieval can also be affected by what the
stimulus is linked to in memory.
Retrieval cue
A stimulus that facilitates the activation of
memory
Retrieval cues can be generated internally and
externally
How a stimulus is processed in working memory
Another factor affecting retrieval is the way
information is processed in working memory.
One consistent finding is that messages
processed through imagery tend to be better
remembered that those process discursively.
Consumer characteristics affecting retrieval
Consumers mood and expertise can affect
retrieval.
The End --- Thank You