Consumer Psychology

BUS 318 Module

Semester A
2023

Session 4: In the consumer’s mind

 Today’s Outline:
• Consumer Psychology
– Test your knowledge (Chapter 3)
– Memory and Retrieval (Chapter 4)
 Consumer Psychology- Chapter 3:

• Test your knowledge:

The process by which a stimulus loses its attention-getting abilities by virtue of its
familiarity is known as
a. habituation.
b. categorization.
c. comprehension.
d. stimulus familiarization.
e. sunk cost effect.
 Consumer Psychology- Chapter 3:

• Test your knowledge:

The process by which a stimulus loses its attention-getting abilities by virtue of its
familiarity is known as
a. habituation.
b. categorization.
c. comprehension.
d. stimulus familiarization.
e. sunk cost effect.
 Consumer Psychology- Chapter 3:
• Best store designs (from Seminar):
 Consumer Psychology- Chapter 3:
• Best store designs (from Seminar):
 Consumer Psychology- Chapter 3:
• Best store designs (from Seminar):
 Consumer Psychology- Chapter 3:
• Best store designs (from Seminar):
 Consumer Psychology- Chapter 3:
• Best store designs (from Seminar):
 Consumer Psychology- Chapter 3:
• Best store designs (from Seminar):
 Consumer Psychology- Chapter 3:
• Best store designs (from Seminar):
 Consumer Psychology- Chapter 4:
• Today we will understand the way we learn and store
information

• The Memory Process

• Knowledge Types
• Knowledge Structures
• Retrieval
 The Memory Process
• The learning part of the memory
– Why is learning important in a marketing context?...
– How do consumers learn?
• Simple Learning
• Complex Learning
• Classical Conditioning
• Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning.
 The Memory Process
• Learning is the process of acquiring new & lasting
information or behaviours.

• Why is learning important in a marketing context?

– Marketers have long realized that learned connections between
products and memories are the best way to build and keep brand
loyalty.
 The Memory Process
• Simple Learning (simple exposure)
– Habituation: an organism’s decreasing response to a stimulus with
repeated exposure to it

Habituating to caffeine

– Mere Exposure Effect: A learned preference for stimuli to which we

have been previously exposed.

If you see oatmeal often enough…

 The Memory Process
• Examples of Mere Exposure in advertisement:
– Repetition, repetition, repetition

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUyxIoitg_M
 The Memory Process
• Complex Learning (included feedback)
– Behavioural learning theories: assume that learning takes place
as the result of responses to external event

– Cognitive learning theories: learning occurs when new knowledge

is acquired or existing knowledge is modified by experience.
 The Memory Process
• Classical Conditioning
– Learning by association
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo7jcI8fAuI
 The Memory Process
• Classical Conditioning
– More examples from Marketing: Brand extensions

• Family Branding

• Product line extensions

• Look-alike packaging
 The Memory Process
• Operant Conditioning
– The individual learns to perform behaviours that produce positive
outcomes or avoid those that yield negative outcomes.
 The Memory Process
• Operant Conditioning
– Example: Buying electronic cars
• Positive Reinforcement: If you buy an
electric car, you get a bonus of £2000
Increases purchases
• Negative Reinforcement: If you buy an
of electric cars
electric car, you won’t have to pay taxes
on it.
 The Memory Process
• Operant Conditioning
– Example: Buying electronic cars
• Positive Reinforcement: If you buy an
electric car, you get a bonus of £2000
Increases purchases
• Negative Reinforcement: If you buy an
of electric cars
electric car, you won’t have to pay taxes
on it.
• Positive Punishment: If you do not buy
an electric car, you have to pay a fine of Decreases
£2000 extra
purchases of non-
• Negative Punishment: If you do not buy
electric cars
an electric car, your insurance is taken
away
 The Memory Process
• Operant Conditioning
– Example: Buying electronic cars
• Positive Reinforcement: If you buy an
electric car, you get a bonus of $2000
Increases purchases
• Negative Reinforcement: If you buy an
of electric cars
electric car, you won’t have to pay taxes
on it.
• Positive Punishment: If you do not buy
an electric car, you have to pay a fine of Decreases
$2000 extra
purchases of non-
• Negative Punishment: If you do not buy
electric cars
an electric car, your insurance is taken
away
Positive = Stimulus is introduced (either a bonus or a fine)
Negative = Stimulus is taken away (either having to pay taxes or ability to be insured)
 The Memory Process
• The memory process:
 Sensory Memory
• Related to the senses
– Echoic memory – hearing
– Iconic memory – seeing
• Usually stored only for a short time
 Working/Short Term Memory
• Imagery processing
– e.g. visual representation of object
– May help create strong emotions and liking for a product
 Working/Short Term Memory
• Imagery processing
– e.g. visual representation of object
– May help create strong emotions and liking for a product
• Discursive processing
– Representation through a word (e.g. “vacation”)
• Characteristics
– Limited (7±2)
– Short lived
 Long-Term Memory
• Explicit Memory
– Consciously aware you remember something
• Implicit Memory
– Not consciously aware you remember something
• Autobiographical (episodic)
– Things that happened to you
• Semantic (general knowledge, concepts)
What are some of your childhood memories with brands?
 Enhancing Memory
There are techniques to enhance your memory:
• Chunking
• Rehearsal
• Recirculation (repetition in different contexts)
• Elaboration (transfer of info into LTM).
 Knowledge and Information Storage
• Objective Knowledge
– What is actually stored in memory
• Subjective Knowledge
– What individuals perceive that they know
– Includes individuals’ degree of confidence in his/her knowledge
 Knowledge and Information Storage
• Knowledge is coded at different levels of abstraction and
complexity

• Activation models of memory propose that information is

stored in associative networks containing bits of related
information which is organized in a set of relationships.
Semantic (Associative) Networks
 Knowledge Content
• Knowledge stored as Schemas & Associations
− Schema is a set of stored information
− Dimensions of associations:
− Favorability
− Uniqueness
− Salience
− What is favorable, unique, salient about: Burger King? Subway?
• Types of schemas:
– Images…
– Scripts…
 Knowledge Content
Schema as an image:
• Brand image (what?)
• Brand extension (what else?)
• Brand’s personality (who?)
 Marketing Strategy and Memory
2 objectives related to LTM:
• Establish linkages between the brand and other nodes
– Positive associations are created through different types
of learning (e.g., classical conditioning)
– Maintaining these linkages once they are established
• Activating these linkages once they are established.
 Marketing Strategy and Memory
2 Brand personality - Celebrity Use/Endorsement
Establish linkages between the brand and other nodes
Green Givenchy Black Belted Rouland Mouret Givenchy
Matching Separates Emilia Wickstead Dress Shift Dress Pants Suit
 Marketing Strategy and Memory
2 Brand personality - Celebrity Use/Endorsement
Establish linkages between the brand and other nodes
The Kate Effect
 Marketing Implications
• Creating new schemas, images, & personalities
• Developing existing schemas, images, & personalities
• Changing schemas, images, & personalities
• Protecting brand images.
 Retrieval Failures
• Retrieval failures = failure to retrieve information from LTM
– Decay
– Interference
• Serial position effects
– Primacy & recency
• Retrieval errors (remembering the wrong thing).
Memory and Retrieval

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjW2teW1mgE
Any questions?
See you all next time!