Perception

Chapter 2
 Objectives
• • Perception is a process that translates raw stimuli into
meaning.
• Products and commercial messages often appeal to
our senses, but many of them will not succeed.
• The design of a product today is a key driver of its
success or failure.
• We interpret the stimuli to which we do pay attention
according to learned patterns and expectations.
• The science of semiotics helps us to understand how
symbols are used to create meaning.

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 Perception
• The process by which
an individual selects,
organizes, and
interprets stimuli into
a meaningful and
coherent picture of
the world (Solomon,
2009, p.78)
• How we see the world
around us

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 Overflowing Sensations
• Our world is a symphony of
colors, sounds, odors, tastes,
etc.
– Marketers contribute to the
commotion (A condition of turbulent
motion)
– Advertisements, product
packages, radio & TV
commercials, billboards, Internet
– FOX Broadcasting Company: The
Simpsons
– ABC.com - Desperate
Housewives
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 Sensation & Perception
• Sensation
– Immediate response of
our sensory receptors…
• …eyes, ears, nose, mouth,
fingers…
– …to basic stimuli (action, or
condition that elicits or
accelerates a physiological or
psychological activity or
response)…
• …such as light, color,
sound, odor, and texture

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Sensation & Perception (Cont’d)
• Perception
– Process by which sensations are selected,
organized, and conceptualized
• Adding meaning to raw sensations

Figure 2.1
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 Sensory Systems
• We receive external
stimuli through our five
senses
– Perceptual process begins
sensory input
• Hedonic Consumption:
 Today we focus on the
emotional impact of the
product
– In this environment:
Form = Function

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 Vision
• Color
– Color provokes
emotion
– Reactions to color
are biological &
cultural
– Color in marketing is
serious business!

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 Vision (Cont’d)
• Size
– We tend to eat more:
• When food container
is larger
• When our plate still
contains food
• When we see VERTICAL HORIZONTAL ILLUSION
assortment of foods
– We focus on height
rather than width
(wide) when pouring
liquid into a glass
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 Smell
• Odors = mood & memory (limbic system)
the most primitive part of the brain
– Fresh cinnamon buns = male sexual arousal
– Scented marketing (The sense of smell)
• P&G Febreze presented on 2004

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 Hearing
• Many aspects of sound affect people’s
feelings and behaviors
– Phonemes of brands = unique product
meanings
– Effect of Muzak: The Muzak corporation estimates that 80
million people heard its recordings every day. This called
functional music is played in stores, shopping malls, and offices
to either relax or stimulate consumers (Solomon, 2009 p. 87).

MUZAK.COM

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 Touch
• Haptic (touch) senses affect product experience & judgment
• Japanese: Kansei engineering (philosophy that translates
customers feelings into design elements)
• Fabric textures and surfaces with products & packaging

Perception Male Female

High Class Wool Silk Fine

Low Class Denim Cotton

Heavy Light Coarse (Low)

Table 2.1: Tactile - Quality Associations 2-12

(Solomon 2009, p. 89)
 Taste
• “Flavor houses” Develop new concoctions
(To prepare by mixing ingredients, as in cooking)
for consumer palates (The sense of taste)
• Cultural changes determine desirable
tastes
• Spanish ad for Raffles hot chili flavor

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 Exposure
• A stimulus comes
within range of
someone’s sensory
receptors
– We can concentrate,
ignore, or completely
miss stimuli

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 Elements of Perception
• Sensation
• Absolute threshold
• Differential threshold
• Subliminal perception

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 Sensory Thresholds
• Psychophysics • Absolute threshold
• The immediate and refers to the minimum
direct response of the amount of stimulation
sensory organs to that can be detected
stimuli on a given sensory
• A stimulus is any unit channel
– Dog whistle
of input to any of the
senses.

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 Sensory Thresholds (Cont’d)
• Differential threshold
refers to the ability of
a sensory system to
detect changes or
differences between
two stimuli
– Minimum difference it
can be detected
between two stimuli is
the j.n.d. (just
noticeable difference)
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 Weber’s Law
• The j.n.d. (just noticeable difference)
between two stimuli is not an absolute
amount but an amount relative to the
intensity of the first stimulus
• Weber’s law states that the stronger the
initial stimulus, the greater the additional
intensity needed for the second stimulus to
be perceived as different.

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 Subliminal Perception
• Subliminal perception
occurs when the stimulus
is below the level of the
consumer`s awareness
• It is believed that many
ads are designed to be
perceived unconsciously
(below threshold of
recognition)

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 Attention
• The extent to which
processing activity is
devoted to a particular
stimulus
– Competition for our
attention
• 3,500 ad info pieces per day
• Multitask
– Marketers need to break
through the clutter
- Sen. Obama in Europe 2-20
 Perceptual Selection
• Psychic economy – Perceptual defense
(people see what they want
• Personal Selection to see)
Factors – Adaptation (the degree to
which consumers continue
 Perceptual vigilance to notice a stimulus over
time)
(Consumers are more
– Several factors can lead to
likely to be aware of adaptation:
stimuli relates to their • Intensity,
current needs) • duration,
• discrimination,
• exposure, and
• relevance

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 Perceptual Selection (Cont’d)
• Stimulus Selection Factors
– Differences in size, color, position, & novelty (stimuli
that appears in unexpected ways or places)
– Interpretation: assigned meaning to stimuli
• Schema leads to stimulus evaluation

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 Stimulus Organization - Interpretational Biases

• Interpretation refers • We often interpret

to the meaning that ambiguous stimuli
we assign to sensory based on our
stimuli experiences,
• Stimulus expectations, and
interpretation is needs
associated with other – Barcelona FC vs.
related events, Real Madrid football
game
sensations, or images

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 Semiotics
• Correspondence between signs and
symbols and their role in the assignment
of meaning
• Consumer products = social identities
– Advertising - culture - quantity of something
consumed

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Semiotic Relationships
Object
(Product)

Marlboro
Cigarettes

Cowboy Rugged
American

Sign Interpretant
(Image) (Meaning)
Figure 2.3 (Solomon
2009, p. 104)
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 Semiotics (Cont’d)
• Signs are related to
objects in 3 ways:
– Icon
– Index
– Symbol
• Hyperreality
– Marlboro cigarettes =
American frontier spirit
– “Heidiland” in Switzerland

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 Reference
Solomon, M.R. (2009) Consumer Behavior,
Buying, Having, and Being, 8th ed. New Jersey:
Pearson-Prentice Hall, pp. 74-113

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