Unit 2.

Personality
and Self Concept
 Unit 2. Personality and Self Concept

A) Personality:
The personality of a person is the result of his individual
traits he inherits and acquired as he grows up in life. These
individual traits so developed provide him with a unique
personality.

This unique and inborn personality of an individual

distinguishes his personality form other human being with
whom he interacts and deals with in his day-to-day life.
a) Definitions: Personality

Personality - is the way a person that

presents themselves outwardly. Personality
is "the sum total of the psychical, mental,
emotional, and social characteristics of an
individual," (dictionary.com 2011). 
 Personality and Self Concept
b)
 Personality- Personality - is the way a person that presents
themselves outwardly. A way of organizing and grouping the
consistencies of an individual’s reactions to situations.  
 Personality signifies the inner psychological characteristics
that reflect how a person reacts to his environment. Personality
shows the individual choices for various products and brands.
It helps the marketers in deciding when and how to promote
the product. Personality can be categorized on the basis of
individual traits, likes, dislikes etc.

 .
 2.2 Personality and Self Concept
A) Personality:
c) Influence of Personality on Purchase Decisions:

The
Depending
Profession
on the
or the
Different
Occupation
Classes
of Person

Group
According to
Purchasing
Life Style
Behavior
 A) Personality:
c) Influence of Personality on Purchase Decisions:

The most challenging concept in marketing deals with understanding why buyers do
what they do (or do not do). But such knowledge is critical for marketers since
having a strong understanding of buying behavior will help shed light on what is
important to customer and also suggest the important influences on customer decision
making.
1) Depending on the Different Classes:
Consumers purchase products to reflect their personality. The type of house, cloths,
furniture, appliances, automobiles, jewelry people buy may reflect their personalities.
2) The Profession or the Occupation of Person:
Today people are very concerned about their image and the status in the society,
which is a direct outcome of their material prosperity.
A) Personality:
c) Influence of Personality on Purchase Decisions:

 3) According to Life Style:

Like the social class the human life cycle can have a significant
impact on consumer behavior. The life cycle occurs because of
developing maturity, experience, income, and status.
 4) Group Purchasing Behavior:
Marketing interest in the personality is based on the assumption that,
in spite of their uniqueness as individuals, members of groups may
possess a given trait or type common with each other.
 2.2 Personality and Self Concept

B) Self Concept:
a) Meaning:
The self-concept means a person's perception of himself which
includes his physical being, other characteristics such as strength,
honesty, and good, and even extending to include certain possessions
and his creations.

b) Self-Concept and Consumer Behavior:

It is an important determinant of consumer behavior, because it
describes how consumers see themselves and how they think other
people see them.
2.2 Personality and Self Concept

Consumers define their sense of self at least partially from

the products and services they consume. They attempt to
support their self-concepts by using those products that
communicate particular personal characteristics to
themselves and those around them.
Example of Self-Concept:
Self-concept is the basis for why a consumer wears certain
fashions, purchases particular products, and drives special
cars. Products and brands are an important part of how an
Individual defines himself.
2.2 Personality and Self Concept

 Self Concept-  this relates to how a person feels about

themselves inwardly. How consumers perceive themselves
in terms of attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, and self-
evaluations. According to simply psychology (2011) self
concept is how we think or evaluate ourselves in different
ways such as; physical, morally, personally, family and in
social situation dimensions
Psychodynamic Theories

• Psychodynamic Theories are based on Sigmund Freud’s theory

of Psychoanalysis and emphasize unconscious motives and the
importance of childhood experiences in shaping personality.
• Information in the unconscious emerges in slips of the tongue,
jokes, dreams, illness symptoms, and associations between ideas.
• The personality is made up of three components that are in constant
conflict: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego.
• The Id contains biological impulses, is governed by the Pleasure
Principle, and is characterized by Primary Process Thinking.
Behaviorist Theories
Behaviorist Theories

• Behaviorist explanations of personality focus on learning.

• B. F. Skinner believed that people’s personalities arise from Response
Tendencies and that consequences shape the responses.
• Albert Bandura said that people learn responses by watching others. He believes that
thinking and reasoning are important in learning.
• Walter Mischel’s research showed that people behave differently in different
situations.
• Psychologists agree that personality is formed through a two-way interaction between
personal characteristics and the environment. This interaction is called Reciprocal
Determinism.
• Critics argue that behaviorists often generalize inappropriately from animal studies to
humans and that they often underestimate biological factors.
Rogers' Three Parts of Self-Concept

 Humanist psychologist Carl Rogers believed that your

self-concept was made up of three different parts:
• Ideal self: The person you want to be
• Self-image: How you see yourself, including attributes
like your physical characteristics, personality traits, and
social roles
• Self-esteem: How much you like, accept, or value
yourself, which can be impacted by a number of factors
including how others see you, how you think you
compare to others, and your role in society2
Humanistic Theories

• Humanistic theories have an optimistic view that focuses on humans’ rationality,

consciousness, and freedom.
• Abraham Maslow studied the healthy personality and described the
characteristics of the Self-Actualizing personality.
• Carl Rogers’s person-centered theory suggests that the Self-Concept is the most
important feature of personality. Children’s self-concepts match reality if their
parents give them unconditional love. Rogers said that people experience anxiety
when reality threatens their self-concepts.
• Critics argue that humanistic theories and concepts are too naïvely optimistic,
vague, difficult to test, and biased toward individualistic values.
Biological Approaches

• Hans Eysenck believes that genetics largely determine personality.

• Studies of Temperament and Heritability provide the most empirical evidence
for genetic contributions to personality.
• Environment influences peer relationships and situations.
• Sharing a family environment does not lead to many similarities in personality.
• Evolutionary theorists explain personality in terms of its adaptive value.
 Brand personality

 Brand personality refers to the association of human

characteristics and traits with the brand to which the customers
can relate.
 In simple terms, it refers to brand personification. It is the set of
human trait and characteristics assigned to the brand.
 A brand personality comes into existence when human-like
adjectives – like unique, caring, funny, trustworthy, creative,
straightforward, dishonest, rebel, etc. – are assigned to a brand.
 The concept of brand personality is best understood when we
imagine the brand to be a person. How would that person
speak? How would s/he behave in certain situations? How does
s/he dress up?
Examples Of Brand Personality
:
Psychological Factors
 Perception- The process by which people select, organize, and
interpret stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture.
Selective Exposure- The process whereby a consumer notices
certain stimuli and ignores others.
Selective Distortion- A process whereby a consumer or distorts
information that conflicts with his or her personal beliefs.
Selective Retention- A process whereby a consumer remembers
only that information that support his or her personal beliefs.

Selective Exposure
Perception
Selective Retention Selective Distortion
Dynamics of Perception

 Sensation – immediate and direct

response of the sensory organs to stimuli.
  Stimulus – any unit of input to any of
the senses.
 Sensory receptors – Eyes, Ears, Nose,
Mouth and Skin
Elements of Perception

 Perceptual Selection
 Perceptual Organization
 Perceptual Interpretation
Perceptual Process
Perceptual Selection
 Perceptual selection is driven by internal and external factors.
 Internal factors include:
• Personality – Personality traits influence how a person selects perceptions. For
instance, conscientious people tend to select details and external stimuli to a
greater degree.
• Motivation – People will select perceptions according to what they need in the
moment. They will favor selections that they think will help them with their
current needs, and be more likely to ignore what is irrelevant to their needs.
• Experience – The patterns of occurrences or associations one has learned in the
past affect current perceptions. The person will select perceptions in a way that
fits with what they found in the past.
 Perceptual selection is driven by internal (personality, motivation ) and
external (contrast, repetition) factors. 
 Perceptual organization includes factors that influence how a person
connects perceptions into wholes or patterns. These include proximity,
similarity, and constancy, among others.
Perceptual Selection

 Stimuli get selected on two factors:-

  Consumers previous experience affects their expectation 
Motives at the time
  1) Nature of the stimulus
  Nature of the product, physical attributes, the package design,
brand name and advertisements (includes copy, choice and sex of
the model, positioning, size of ad)
  CONTRAST – Difference creates more attention towards the ad.
Perceptual Selection

 2) Expectations:-
 People see what they want to see, based on previous
experience, familiarity and preconditioned set of expectations. 
Marketers believed that high degree of sexuality creates more
attention.
 3) Motives  People perceive the things they need and want –
Stronger the need – Greater tendency to ignore unrelated things.
 People who are obese see ads related to gyms and diet. Example:
Airtel Super Singer.
Perceptual Selection

 Selective exposure:-
  People look for pleasant and sympathetic messages and avoid painful or
threatening ones.
  Selective attention:-
  People look into ads which will satisfy their need.
  Perceptual Defense:-  People avoid psychologically threatening ones.
Hence constantly change the ad nature. [ Smoking – warning with words,
and now with images ]
  Perceptual Blocking:-  People block stimuli which is bombarded.
Perceptual Organization

 People see everything as a whole.  Figure and Ground  Grouping  Closure

PERCEPTUAL INTERPRETATION

 Stimulus are often highly ambiguous

or weak.  Stereotypes  Physical
Appearances  Descriptive terms 
First Impression  Halo Effect
 Stereotypes

  People carrying biased pictures in their minds of the meanings of various

stimuli.
  People hold meaning related to stimuli
  Stereotypes influence how stimuli are perceived
  Bias in United Colors of Benetton.
Physical Appearances

  People associate quality with people in the ads.  Attractive models have
positive influence  Colors of juices.  Shape of the package  Average men are
not considered as businessman.  Ex: Bill gates Vs Sarathbabu Elumalai
Descriptive Terms

  Stereotypes are reflected in Verbal messages.  Accenture – High

Performance, Delivered.  KFC – Spicy Chicken  McDonald – Happy price
(targeting Indians who are price conscious)
First Impressions

 First impressions are lasting  The perceiver is trying to determine which stimuli
are relevant, important, or predictive
Halo Effect

  Consumers perceive and evaluate product or service or even product line based
on just one dimension.  Important with spokesperson choice.  Tampering the
halo effect is detrimental to the organization.  Toyota – Quality.  Ford –
Safety.  Sony - Music
Perceived Price

  Perceived price should reflect the value that the customer receives from
purchase.  Perceived price reflect on Purchase intentions and Purchase
Satisfaction.  REFERENCE PRICE:-  Internal – From customers memory 
External – From companies and environment.
Perceived Quality

 Intrinsic Cues – People actually experience the product here. Physical Attributes
of the product.  Eg) Shape, Size, and Color.  Extrinsic Cues - Absence of
actual experience with a product.  Consumer often “evaluate” quality on the
basis of factors quite external to the product itself, such as its price, the image of
the store(s) that carries it, or the image (that is, the reputation) of the manufacturer
that produces it
Price/Quality Relationship

  Most consumers rely on price as an indicator of product quality.  Consumers

use price as a surrogate indicator of quality when they have less information of
the product. Eg:-purchase of apparels of a new brand.  When consumers are
familiar with the product or have used it before price declines as a determining
factor in evaluation.
Perceived Risk

 “The uncertainty that consumers faces when they cannot foresee the consequences
of their purchase decisions” Types of Risk 1) Functional 2) Physical 3) Financial
4) Social 5) Psychological 6) Time
Handling Risk

  Consumers seeks information  Consumers are brand loyal  Consumers

select by brand image  Consumers rely on store image  Consumers buy most
expensive model  Consumers seeks reassurance