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Chap- 3
Perception
 

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Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of this chapter the student will be able to understand :

 Define perception
 Dynamics of Perception
 Perceptual risk

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 What is perception?

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Definition of Perception
 Perception can be described as “How we see the world
around us.”
 Two individuals may be subject to the same stimuli under
the same apparent conditions, but how each person
recognizes them, selects them, organizes them, and
interprets them is a highly individuals process based on
each person’s wants, needs, values, and expectations.
 Perception is defined as the process by which an individual
selects, organizes, and interprets stimuli into a meaningful
and coherent picture of the world.
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Dynamics of Perception
 
 Human beings are constantly bombarded with stimuli
during every minute and every hour of every day.
 The sensory world is made up of an almost infinite
number of discrete sensations that are constantly and
subtly changing.

 Let us examine in some detail each of these aspects of

perception: the Selection, organization, and interpretation
of stimuli.

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Perceptual Selection
 Consumers subconsciously exercise a great deal of
selectivity to which aspects of the environment –
which stimuli – they perceive.
 An individual may look at some things, ignore
others, and turn away form still others.
 In actuality, people receive – or perceive-only
a small fraction of the stimuli to which they are
exposed.
 Consider, for example, a woman in a supermarket.

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 She may be exposed to over 20,000 products of different colors, sizes, and
shapes; to perhaps 100 people (looking, walking, searching, talking); to
smells (from fruit, form meat, from disinfectant, form people); to sounds
with in the store (Cash registers ringing, shopping carts rolling, air
conditioners humming, and clerks sweeping, mopping aisles, stocking
shelves); and to sounds from out side the store (Planes passing, cars
honking, tires screeching, children shouting, car doors slamming).

 Yet she manages on a regular basis to visit her local

supermarket, select the items she needs, pay for them, and leave
all with in a relatively brief time, without losing her sanity or her
personal orientation to the world around her.
 This is because she exercises selectivity in perception.

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Important Selective Perception Concepts

 The consumer’s “selection” of stimuli from the environment

is based on the interaction of expectations and motives with
the stimulus itself.

 These factors give rise to a number of

important concepts concerning perception.

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Selective Exposure:
 Consumers actively seek out messages that they find pleasant
or with which they are sympathetic, and they actively avoid
painful or threatening ones.
 Thus, heavy smokers avoid articles that link
cigarette smoking to cancer.
 Instead, they note (and even quote) the
relatively few articles that deny the relationship.
 Consumers also selectively expose themselves
to advertisements that preassure them of the
wisdom of their purchase decisions.
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Selective Attention

 Consumers tend to have a heightened awareness of stimuli that meet their

needs or interests and minimal awareness of stimuli irrelevant to their needs.
 Thus, they are likely to note ads for products that would satisfy their needs and
for stores in which they shop, and disregard those in which they have no
interest.
 People also vary in terms of the kind of information in which they are
interested and the form of message and type of medium they prefer.
 Some people are more interested in price, some in appearance, and some in
social acceptability.
 Some people like complex, sophisticated messages; others like simple graphics.
 Clearly, consumer exercises a great deal of selectivity in terms of the attention
they give to commercial stimuli.

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Perceptual Organization
 The specific principles underlying perceptual organization are
often referred to by the name given the school of psychology that
first developed it: Gestalt psychology. (Gestalt, in German, means
pattern or configuration.)
 The three of the most basic principles of perceptual
organization are figure and ground, grouping, and
closure.

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II) Grouping

 Individuals tend to group stimuli so that they

form a unified picture or impression.
 The perception of stimuli as groups rather than as discrete bits of
information, facilitates their memory and recall.

 Grouping can be used advantageously by marketers to imply certain

desired meanings in connection with their products.

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 For Example,
 An advertisement for tea may show a young man
and woman sipping tea in a beautifully appointed
room before a blazing hearth.

 The overall mood implied by the grouping of stimuli leads

the consumer to associate the drinking of tea with
romance, fine living, and winter warmth.

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iii) Closure
 Individuals have a need for closure.
 They express this need by organizing their
perceptions so that they form a complete picture.
 If the pattern of stimuli to which they are exposed is
incomplete, they tend to perceive it, nevertheless, as
complete; that is, they consciously or subconsciously
fill in the missing pieces.
 Thus, a circle with a selection of its periphery missing
is invariably perceived as a circle, not as an arc.

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 The need for closure is also seen in the tension an individual

experiences what a task is incomplete, and the satisfaction and
relief that come with its completion.
 The tension created by an incomplete message leads to
improvement in memory for that part of the message that has
already been heard.  
 The need for closure has some interesting implications for
marketers.
 The presentation of an incomplete advertising message "begs" for
completion by consumers, and the very act of completion serves to involve
them more deeply in the mess itself.

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Perceived Risk
 Consumers must constantly make decisions regarding what
products or services to buy and where to buy them because
the outcomes (or consequences of such decisions are often
uncertain, the consumer perceive some degree of “risk” in
making a purchase decision.
 Perceived risk is defined as the uncertainty that consumer
face when they cannot foresee the consequences of their
purchase decisions.

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Types of Perceived Risk

The major types or risks that consumers perceive when making product
decisions include functional risk, physical risk, financial risk, social risk,
psychological risk, and time risk.
 Functional Risk: is the risk that the product will not
perform as expected. (“Will the new electric car operate
a full day with out needing to be recharged?”)
 Physical Risk: is the risk to self and others that the
product may pose. (“Is a cellular Phone really safe, or
does it emit harmful radiation?”).
 Financial Risk: is the risk that the product will not be
worth its cost. (“Will art school really help me become
an artist?”).
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 Social Risk: is the risk that a poor product choice may

result in social embarrassment. (“Will that new deodorant
really eliminate perspiration odor?”)
 Psychological Risk: is the risk that a poor product choice
will bruise the consumer’s ego. (“Will I really be proud to
invite friends to this house?”)
 Time Risk: is the risk that the time spent in product
search may be wasted if the product does not perform as
expected. (“Will I have to go through the shopping
effort all over again?”).
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Consumer perception of risk varies,

depending on:
a) The Person

 The amount of risk perceived depends on the

specific consumer. Some consumers tend to
perceive high degrees of risk in various
consumption situations; others tend to perceive
little risk.
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b) The Product/Product Category:

 For Example,
 Consumers are likely to perceive a higher degree of risk
in the purchase of large screen television set (e.g.,
functional risk, financial risk, time risk) than their
expectation
 A recent study showed that consumers perceive
service decisions to be riskier that product
decisions, particularly in terms of social risk,
physical risk, and psychological risk.
 Why?
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C) The Shopping Situation

 The degree of risk perceived by a consumer is also

affected by the shopping situation (e.g., a traditional
retailer, by mail or telephone, form catalogs or direct-mail
solicitations, or form door – to- door salespeople.
 The sharp increase in mail-order catalog sales in recent
years suggests that on the basis or positive
experiences and word of mouth, consumers now tend
to perceive less risk in mail-order shopping than they
once did, despite their inability to physically inspect the
merchandise before ordering.

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d) Culture
 Not all people around the world exhibit the same level
of risk perception.

 For this reason, marketers who do business in several countries

cannot generalize the results of consumer behavior studies
conducted in one country to other countries with out additional
research

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!! !
Y ou
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Chap-4 Perception 06/25/2021