Mass CommunicationsAlthough the job of an objective journalist reporting world events and that of an advertising executive promoting a product may seem worlds apart, both these professionals may have backgrounds in mass communications.

Mass communications is the transmission of information to large numbers of people through the mass media. Mass media includes newspapers, magazines, television, radio, film, websites, and any technology that allows for the dissemination of information to the public. Within the mass media are channels or vehicles of mass communication. These channels include news reports, books, movies, television programs, music videos, advertisements, and articles in magazines and newspapers and on websites. Mass communication is mostly a one-way process, with little feedback from the audience, although the Internet is bringing some change, with options that allow people to comment or otherwise provide feedback.

What is Mass Communications?The field of mass communications includes:

Advertising Corporate and institutional media (producing visual, audio, written, and multimedia

materials for training and instruction, internal and external communications, sales, and public relations)

Electronic media Journalism (magazines, newspapers, print, electronic, television, radio, broadcast) Production management Public relations Telecommunications (news or production) Visual communications (graphic design, production design, photography, video)

Mass communication plays four roles in society:

Surveillance: Provides news and information to the public. Interpretation: Sets a context for new information and provides commentary about

its significance and meaning. Socialization: Transmits values within a society, especially in setting models for

behavior and attitudes. Entertainment: Entertains through film, radio, television, sound recordings, books,

and magazines.

Given the role of mass communications, a number of issues can arise, including:

Freedom of the press and censorship The relationship between the media and the government Media objectivity, including media bias and political leanings The responsibility of media to society Control of mass media, such as having power concentrated in the hands of a few

mass media conglomerateshttp://www.communications-major.com/

Importance of Communication in Advertisingby Alisa Burris, studio

The average person sees an estimated five thousand ads per day. From commercials on television and pop-ups on the Internet to advertising on bathroom stalls and subway platforms, the messages are endless. Due to such supersaturation, it's not uncommon for most of these promotions to get lost in the clutter. That's why effective communication to a specific target audience is the key to making advertisements stand out and get results.Ads by Google

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Affecting Your AudienceSuccessful communication in an advertisement involves focusing on a certain audience with information that meets this group's needs. There are three main reactions that a good ad can trigger from these intended viewers. The first response is emotion, getting the target audience to feel something because of your message. Secondly, you want potential customers to think about what you have to say. And the third objective is to encourage them to take action, such as purchasing your product.Communication Through BrandingAnother essential type of communication is called branding. According to the American Marketing Association, branding is defined by a name, sign or symbol, which is designed to identify a seller's goods or services. The entire purpose of this often complex effort is to convince consumers that your product is the only one that can meet their needs. A good brand will: deliver a clear message, reflect credibility, connect with the consumer emotionally, motivate the buyer and build loyalty.Developing Your BrandSince your brand is one of the most crucial ways of communicating with a specific audience, it's important to spend time researching, developing and defining it. The goal is to make consumers feel a connection with the brand that represents your company so that you can influence their purchasing behavior in a way that benefits you. Brands that inspire an emotional response and are able to draw in the consumer build loyalty and a successful following.Emotion and BrandingEmotion is powerful in a brand because it is an effective way to connect with an audience. Brands such as Starbucks, Google and Apple have found highly prosperous approaches to making their audiences feel good about their products. Furthermore, these companies succeed on an even deeper, more meaningful level. Due to compelling marketing strategies, many consumers feel these services are integral to their lives. This kind of communication is what every company strives for in its advertising.http://smallbusiness.chron.com/

Mass communication plays an influential role in modern society. In this lesson, you'll learn what mass communication is and about some theories related to it. You'll also have a chance to take a short quiz after the lesson.

Mass communication is a process in which a person, group of people, or an organization sends a message through a channel of communication to a large group of anonymous and heterogeneous people and organizations. You can think of a large group of anonymous and heterogeneous people as either the general public or a segment of the general public. Channels of communication include broadcast television, radio, social media, and print. The sender of the message is usually a professional communicator that often represents an organization. Mass communication is an expensive process. Unlike interpersonal communication, feedback for mass communication is usually slow and indirect.

ExamplesThe following are some types of mass communication:

Advertising, which consists of communications attempting to induce purchasing behavior Journalism, such as news Public relations, which is communication intended to influence public opinion on a product or

organization Politics (for example, campaigning)

Theories of Mass CommunicationThere are too many theories of mass communication to discuss all of them here, but let's take a look at a few of them.

http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-mass-communication-definition-theories-quiz.html

Introduction

Advertising is a form of communicating information, in persuasive purposes for products (goods, services and ideas) by acknowledged sponsors through numerous media. Albert Lakert, also known as the father of advertising, defined advertising as “salesmanship in print, driven by a reason why.” (1) Advertising is directly related to the groups of people, rather than to individuals and therefore, it is a non-personal or mass communication. Those individuals could be consumers, people who buy products or business people who would buy large quantities of products for resale in their stores. Mass communication in advertising is very important, because the whole purpose of advertising would be getting the message across to those who will purchase goods, to consumers. Advertising also helps in promoting services and ideas. In terms of the channel of communication, its purpose is to be a medium. An advertising medium is any non-personal means used to present an ad to its target audience. For example, we have radio advertising, television advertising, newspaper ads, and more. Advertising is just one type of marketing communications. Marketing communications are the various efforts and tools used to communicate with customers and prospects, including solicitation letters, newspaper ads, event sponsorship, publicity, telemarketing and many more. (2) Marketing is one of the important aspects of advertising. Marketing is an organizational function, a set of processes in which the value is created, communicated and delivered to customers, and for handling customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its shareholders. Marketing communications are various efforts and tools used to communicate with customers. They are very important for maintaining the relationship with the customers. (3) What connects advertising and marketing are 4Ps of marketing mix: Products, Pricing, Places and Promotion. The final goal of marketing is to earn a profit for the firm by consummating the exchange of products or services with those customers who need or want them. Moreover, the role of advertising is to promote - to inform,

persuade, and remind groups of customers, or markets, about the need-satisfying value of the company’s goods and services. (4)

History and the business of advertising

Brief history

The history of advertising reaches to the preindustrial age. Preindustrial age indicates the beginning period of written history and approximately the start of the nineteenth century. Up to the industrial revolution, advertising and production remained primarily a local phenomenon. Items such as land, slaves, and transport (goods and services) were the one who were promoted. (5) Later, after the invention of the paper and the Gutenberg’s printing press, advertising started to develop and it became more popular. People no longer had to rely on their memories, and they had posters, handbills, and signs to remember them about certain product or service. The Industrializing age, which lasted by the end of the World War I, improved the advertising with the great social and economic changes. Specifically, Industrial Revolution provided the need and means for mass, non-local marketing, which turn led to mass advertising. People left subsistence farming and moved to the towns and the factories. (6) Mass printing eventually led to developing newspapers, which favored advertising, because now advertisers had more room to put their offers and promotions, which also favored their business. The industrial age was significant by changing the focus from the production aspect, as indicated in Industrializing age. Industrial age was a period from the end of the World War I, until the 1970s. The importance of this period in the history lays in the fact that products were branded and the promotion was greatly emphasized. Some of the products that were extremely popular were Coca-Cola, Jell-O, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and Campbell’s soup (7). Furthermore, newspapers were not the only source where people could advertise goods and services, advertising became popular on the radio as well. Radio had a great role in promotion, because radio stations had the specific program that included advertising, so that people could know when to tune in for the program. Television also played an important role, because after the World War II, advertising grew rapidly and television reached its position as the largest advertising medium in terms of profits. As the time went by and the products became more appealing due to the promotion and the design they had, advertising emphasis shifted from the product features to brand image or personality. For example, Cadillac became the worldwide image of luxury, the consummate symbol of success (8). Beginning of the 1980 marked the postindustrial age in which demarketing became popular. Demarketing is a term coined during the energy shortage of the 1970s and 1980s when advertising was used to slow the demand for products (9). Later, due to the poor economic situation in the world, many turned to more cost-effective sales promotion alternatives, such as coupons and direct marketing. For example, By 1990, advertising had lost 25 percent of its share of the marketing budget to other forms of marketing communications (10). As technology started to develop and grow, advertising was affected by it, especially with the emergence of the Internet. Today,

advertising daily occurrence that surrounds us. It is inevitable and it is everywhere, in every type of media.

The business

The four distinct groups in advertising business are advertisers, agencies, suppliers and the media. Advertisers are companies that advertise by sponsoring for themselves and their products. Advertising agencies are organizations that organize advertising plans, and other promotional tools for advertisers. Suppliers are people and organizations that assist both advertisers and agencies in the preparation of advertising materials, such as photography, illustration, printing, and production. Departmental system is department of agencies based on function: account services, creative services, marketing services, and administration. (11) (12) Local advertising is sometimes called retail advertising, and it is important because most consumer sales are made locally. Local advertisers typically are dealers and local franchisees of national companies, stores that sell a variety of branded merchandise, specialty business and services, and governmental and nonprofit organizations. Product advertising is advertising that promotes goods and services. Sale advertising is advertising intended to encourage the movement of specific merchandise or increasing store traffic by emphasizing on reduced prices. Moreover, institutional advertising is advertising that obtains favorable attention for the business as a whole and classified advertising is finding a recruitment of new employees, offering services, selling, or leasing new and used merchandise (13). These types of advertising tasks are making the whole business, and they are the essence of how the advertising business should be. In addition, integrated marketing communications are important as well in building and reinforcing mutually profitable relationships with employees, customers and other stakeholders and the general public. Moving from the local advertising, there is also regional and national advertising. The difference between those two are such that the regional advertising is limited for one part of the country, whereas national advertising covers several geographical regions. Lastly, transnational advertisers advertise across different systems, environments and languages. (14)

Target audience

Segmentation

“Market segmentation involves viewing a heterogeneous market as a number of smaller homogenous markets, in response to differing preferences, attributable to the desires of consumers for more precise satisfaction of their varying wants.” (15) It usually involves two steps: identifying groups of people and combining these groups into larger market segments. In terms of identifying groups of people, several groups help differentiate each section from another. So, for example, behavioristic segmentation is the segmentation of markets by grouping consumers by their purchase behavior. Demographic segmentation is populations’ statistical characteristics such sex, age,

ethnicity, education, occupation, income or other measurable factors. Volume segmentation analyses the buying intensity of consumers. Geographic segmentation is segmenting markets by geographic regions based on the shared characteristics, needs, or wants of people within a region (16).

Communication

The communication plays important role in advertising because it is a tool by which advertising gets to be communicated by. According to the Shannon and Weaver’s model, the model consists of related parts, which are Information source, Transmitter, Channel, Receiver, and Destination. An information source produces a message. The transmitter encodes the message into signals. The channel is the medium, which encodes a message and sends to a receiver. A receiver decodes the message from the signal, and a destination is where the message arrives. Except these parts of the model, sometimes the feedback is also included. Feedback is the message that recognizes or responds to an initial message. (17) If the message gets to be misunderstood, the advertisement could send a wrong message, and thus, the whole advertising plan could fall into problems, so it is important for those who are working in advertising companies to have a sense of what message they will be sending to the public. What helps to advertisers in today’s world is the interactive media. Interactive media, such as internet and interactive television permits consumers to give feedback on the same channel used by the original sender. (18)

Planning and Creating ads

One of the most important tasks in advertising is planning on implementing advertisement material and reaching the audience. The American Marketing Association’s (AMA) definition of marketing research [which is related to advertising planning] emphasizes its role in linking marketing managers to information about their customers: “Marketing research is the function which links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information – information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve our understanding of marketing as a process.” (19) Advertising research uncovers the information needed for making advertising decisions. It is the systematic gathering and analysis of information to help develop and evaluate advertising strategies, ads, and entire campaigns. (20) Advertising strategy consists of creative strategy, media strategy, product concept, target audience, media alternative and possible message elements. Advertisers need to be creative in order to attract consumers; therefore, their ads need to be composed to appeal consumers. Creative strategy is a written statement that is creative team’s guidance for writing and producing ad. In terms of the media strategy, advertisers need to be aware of where do their consumers usually go to check the information. Is it television, or internet or newspaper? Then, they need to decide where they will publish the ads. Product concept is important because consumers want to know the qualities of their brands, so they can develop (potentially) a brand loyalty. Advertisers also need to know what the target audience for a specific brand is. The major purpose is

to develop a rich profile of the brand’s target audience. So when it comes to doing a research, usually what companies tend to do is pretesting. Pretesting is the testing the effectiveness of an advertisement for gaps or flaws in message content before recommending it to clients often conducted through focus groups. After pretesting, usually what advertisers do is posttesting. Posttesting is the testing of the effectiveness of the advertisement after it has been run. (21)

There are five basic steps in the research process:

1. Situation analysis and problem definition

2. Informal research

3. Construction of research objectives

4. Formal research

5. Interpretation and reporting of findings

In the analysis of the situation and defining the problem, companies often use marketing information system, which helps them generate and continuously follow the flow of information for use in making marketing decisions. In informal research, one learns about the market, the competition, and the business environment so that one can better define a problem. The data from the research is divided into two groups: primary and secondary data. Primary data is a research information gained directly from the marketplace. Secondary data is the information that has been previously collected or published. (22) Research objectives include the research on the market share, customers and competition. Conducting the formal research consists of formal, qualitative and quantitative research. Formal research occurs when a company wants to gather primary data directly from the marketplace about the problem. Qualitative research conducts usually conducts a general impression of the market, the consumer or the product, whereas qualitative research conducts surveys and numbers. The report of the findings usually involves having tables, graphs and statistics, so that the problem can be both explanatory and measurable, so that the ones who are doing the research know what they are dealing with. The challenging as well as fun part is creating advertisements. Creative strategy is the guidance to the team for writing and producing the advertisement. It is a simple written statement of the most important issues to consider in the development of an ad or campaign. It identifies the benefits to the presented to consumers, but it does not cover execution. How the benefits will presented is the creative team’s job (23). A creator may be a person/company who crafts original content with the purpose of selling advertisement or content to an advertiser. The idea is that a large number of ads created for an advertiser can help persuade the future advertiser and that they are a profitable and creative way of making their own brands. (24) When creating print advertisements, the most important is design. Design is how the art director, graphic artist, or a graphic designer chooses and structures the artistic elements of an ad. Furthermore, layouts are very important, because they arrange all the format elements of an ad: visual, headline, subheads, body copy, slogan, seal, logo and signature. Moreover, layout helps in developing the nonverbal and

symbolic components of an ad. (25) The design process has several components, thumbnail sketches, rough layout, dummy and comprehensive layout. Thumbnail sketch is a very small, rough, rapidly produced drawing that the artist uses to visualize layout approaches without wasting time on details; they are very basic. Rough layout is the layout of an actual ad. A dummy is the handheld look and feel of brochures, multipage materials, or point-of-purchase displays. Comprehensive layout is a facsimile of finished ad with copy set in type and pasted into position along with proposed illustrations. (26) The work of the copywriter and art director is always subject to approval. The larger agency and the larger the client, the more formidable this process becomes. After creating ads, they have to be produced and sent through various forms of media. These tasks are usually the responsibility of the print production manager, or for electronic media, a producer. The job of this manager is keeping the project going smoothly, taking care of the budget, while continuing the necessary level of quality through every step of the invention process. Production managers and producers implement the four tasks of management: planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. The costs of making the ad have to be within the planned budget. (27) For the production process to run efficiently, everyone concerned must understand the procedure. The later errors are discovered, the more expensive is to fix them. Advertisements are present in all forms of the media. In terms of radio, radio spots are among quickest, simplest, and least expensive ads to produce. Spots are also known as radio commercials. Digital media channels of communication apply to telecommunication, television and computer technologies. It is in the interest of the advertisers to reach the mass audience. Television production, for example, consists of three segments, which are preproduction, production and postproduction. Preproduction is all the work prior to the actual day of filming. Production is the day when the commercial is filmed or videotaped. Postproduction is the all the work done after shooting to edit and finish commercial. Digital media production process is a hybrid of other processes that were stated. It is the most expensive one as well.(28)

Communication

“Advertising considerations began to influence greatly on the operations of media, particularly their orientation to content and programming, and the organization of audiences in terms of social, spatial, and temporal qualities. (29)” When it comes to select the media, advertisers are basically looking for two things: the number of people exposed to their advertisements, and how often it occurs. Print media, since it was the first media ever used for advertising, is still today very important, even though the digital media is far popular. Print advertising can be an important for the media mix, which is the combination of media types that work together to most effectively deliver an advertiser’s message. (30) The most of the advertisements that we see are in magazines, such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health and so on. It sure benefits the advertising business, but those ads are also expensive and they do not come so often, such as television advertisements or radio advertisements do. Magazines are usually separated into categories of content geography and size. Content magazines are usually consumer magazines, farm magazines and business magazines.

Essentially, consumer magazines are magazines that are purchased for entertainment, information or both, and edited for consumers who buy products for their own personal consumption. Farm publications are for farmers and their families or to companies that manufacture or sell agricultural equipment, supplies, and services. Business magazines, by far the largest category, target business readers. They include trade publications for retailers, wholesalers, and other distributors (31). In terms of geography, magazines are divided as local, regional and national. Local city magazines are magazines by most major U.S. cities that have typical readership that is upscale, professional people interested in local arts, fashion, and business. Regional publications are targeted to a specific area of the country, such as the West or the South. National magazines are magazines that are distributed throughout a country. (32) The electronic media refers to the television, radio and internet. The companies that measure the program audiences of TV and radio stations for advertises are rating services. Rating services and media planners use many terms to define a station’s audience, penetration and efficiency. They are very important to advertisers, because of the successfulness of their business, as well as the money. The process of buying a TV time can be lengthy and, depending on the number of stations that are bought. What usually advertisers do is calculate the cost per rating point and cost per thousand for each program. The equation is cost divided by rating. That is how advertisers usually know if they are getting the desired outcome of the possible target audience. In addition, the growth of social media as improved advertising much more over the past decade. Advertisements on the Facebook and other social media are inevitable and it is hard to avoid them. (33)

Collaboration with other branches

It is not unknown that advertising tends to collaborate with other branches such as media, marketing and public relations. In terms of media, advertisers are well known with the term media planning. Media planning is a process of conceiving, analyzing, and selecting channels of communication that will direct advertising messages to the right people in the right place at the right time. Media objectives are key terms for what advertisers should look for. Audience objectives are types of people the advertiser wants to reach. Message-distribution objectives define where, when and how often advertising should appear. In this sense, the term reach is very important. Reach is the total number of different people exposed, at least once, to a medium during a given period of time (34). Also, media strategy is divided in five factors, which are markets, money, media, mechanics and methodology. Markets are different targets of a media plan: trade and consumer audiences, global, national, or regional audiences. Media includes all communication vehicles available to a marketer. Mechanics are what the advertising is transferred through, television, radio, etc. Methodology element is the overall strategy of selecting and scheduling media vehicles to achieve the desired message.(35) Beyond the media, marketing is very important for advertising. Direct marketing, according to the Direct Marketing Association, “an interactive process of addressable communication that uses one or more advertising media to effect, at any location, a measurable sale, lead, retail

purchase, or charitable donation, with this activity analyzed on a database for the development of ongoing mutually beneficial relationships between marketers and customers, prospects, or donors. Along with mass advertising, direct marketing allows organizations to inform potential customers, create brand awareness, or spur immediate purchase behavior. In addition, direct marketing enjoys certain advantages over mass advertising such as measurability, accountability, efficiency, and higher return on investment.” Direct marketing has components, such as direct sales, which are divided into direct sales, with representatives selling products to customers directly, and telemarketing, by selling products over the telephone. Direct – response advertising is a type of advertising where the customer provides a feedback to a marketer. (36) “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society.” Bernays (37) Public relations refers to management function that focuses on the relationships and communications that individuals and organizations have with the society in reaching the mutual benefits. Since both of them are very similar, the difference between advertising and the public relations is that advertising is selling something (a product or idea), whereas public relations is just promoting a product or idea. The job of public relations within the advertising is to maintain the reputation of the organization, and balance the organization’s agenda and their business with the publicity. (38)

- Advertising is form of communicating information, in persuasive purposes for products (goods, services, and ideas) by acknowledged sponsors through numerous media.

- Marketing communications are various efforts and tools used to communicate with customers.

- Product advertising is advertising that promotes goods and services.

- Sale advertising is advertising intended to encourage the movement of specific merchandise or increasing store traffic by emphasizing on reduced prices.

- Institutional advertising is advertising that obtains favorable attention for the business as a whole.

- Classified advertising is finding and recruitment of new employees, offering services, or selling or leasing new and used merchandise.

- Departmental system is department of ad agencies based on function: account services, creative services, marketing services, and administration.

- Behavioristic segmentation is the segmentation of markets by grouping consumers by their purchase behavior.

- Demographic segmentation is population’s statistical characteristics such as sex, age, ethnicity, education, occupation, income, or other measurable factors.

- Channel is the medium which encodes a message and sends to a receiver.

- feedback is message that recognizes or responds to an initial message.

- Interactive media is the media that allows consumers to give feedback on the same channel used by the original message sender. Examples: Internet.

- Advertising research is the systematic collecting and analysis of information to develop or evaluate advertising strategies, ads and commercials, and media campaigns.

- Creative strategy is a written statement that is creative team’s guidance for writing and producing an ad.

- Media mix is the mixture of various media types that work together to deliver an advertiser’s message.

- Media planning directs advertising messages to the right people in the right place at the right time.

- Direct marketing is a type of marketing in which companies build their own record of customers and use a variety of media to communicate with them directly such as through ads and catalogs.

- Public Relations is the management/communication practice of maintaining the information and relationships between an organization and the public for the purpose of creating mutual goodwill.

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Mass_Media/Advertising

Role of Mass Communication in BusinessPosted By businesscom Leave a Comment

Mass communication is an indispensable part of business. Business activities would be restricted without mass media. In this post modern age, the success of business largely depends on mass communication. The role of mass communication in business is mentioned below-

Launching business: Media of mass communication are used to make wide circulation of news regarding forming and launching a new business. Mass media can bring the matter to the knowledge of concerned parties very quickly and seek their patronization and support.

Advertising products and services: Mass communication plays a vital role in adverting products and services. Mass media like radio, television, newspapers and magazines are the prime vehicles of advertisement. Through advertisement on mass media, businesses can persuade potential customers easily.

Informing market demand and supply: Equilibrium condition of demand and supply of goods in the market is essential for market stabilization. If there is more demand than the supply, prices will go up again in the reverse situation, the prices will go down. Both

of these conditions are harmful for business. Mass media bring these matters to the knowledge of business executives and help to maintain market stability.

Facing competition: Business organizations are engaged in constant competition. In

order to survive and to face the communication media like, advertisement, publicity,

personal selling etc. greatly contribute to enhance demand and to prepare better for

facing competition.

Administering the business organization: A large organization may employ

thousands of employees. Top-level executives cannot personally communicate with all

of them. In such a situation mass communication is the best way to provide the

employees with the necessary information instruction orders, guidelines etc.

Interdepartmental coordination: Large organizations usually have various

departments like production, procurement, marketing sales, administration, accounts

etc. Success of that business depends on timely completion of various departmental

activities in a coordinated way. Mass communication helps in coordinating those

activities in a coordinated way. Mass communication helps in coordinating those

activities through monthly, quarterly or yearly reports, handbill, circular letter etc.

Maintaining good labour-management relationship: Congenial labour-management

relationship is a pre-requisite for organizational success. Creating and maintaining good

relationship require frequent communication between workers and managers. Mass

communication media facilitate frequent communication and thus maintain good labour-

management relationship in the organization.

From the above discussion we can say that, role of mass communication is unlimited in

business. Its importance is severely felt in business especially, in the production and

distribution of consumer goods. So for gaining business success the businessmen

should be well aware of it.

Objectives of mass communication, Role of mass communication

1. Contact with families and friends: With the help of mass communication many people

can communicate with heirs’ families or with their friends. Actually people travel around the

world and by this reason they need a good way in order to not lose the contact with their

families in their native country. The studies reveal that approximately 95% of the

population use electronic devices for their communication for example: Mobile phones,

Telephones, Computers etc.

2. Universality: This refers to the extensiveness or commonness of a medium and

acceptability of messages. A person does not need to be literate or educate in a particular

language before listening to a radio program or a watch television program in that native

language.

3. Permanency: This refers to the period for which a medium can hold its message

thereby making the message reviewable. A reader of a book, newspapers and

magazines can read and re-read and store it for a long term.

4. Launching business and introducing new products: Mass communications

are used to make wide circulation of senses regarding forming and launching a

business and introducing new products of the organization.

5. Wide cover: The audiences of mass communication are spread over a vast or a

wide geographic area in a given time. It can spread the product and business

news of the organization over a large part of the country and the world.

6. Rapid and continuous dissemination: In mass communication, information

rapidly reaches and continuous disseminate to large and vast number of

heterogeneous audiences.

7. Interpretation: Interpretation is the function of mass media that provides a

context for new information and commentary about its significance and meaning.

Traditionally, newspapers provided such interpretation in their editorial and

commentary sections, reserving news pages for supposedly neutral information.

8. Cultural transmission or exchange: This function entails the passing on or the

transfer of a nation’s (or society) social values and heritage from one generation

to another. Cultural transmission function as the preservation of past heritage

culture from one ethnic group to another, one nation to another and from

generation to generation for the purpose of promoting and even integrating

culture. Television and film have the greatest potential for socialization because

they seem to be the most realistic.

9. Entertainment: One of the most popular functions of mass communication is

entertainment. Entertainment always has been part of society and higher

percentage of audience prefers entertainment to information. Those in this

category include students, youths, teenagers, sport lovers, kids (cartoons).

Through sound recordings, film, radio and television, entertainers have been able

to attract audiences around the globe.

10. International Trade: Mass communication is only the tool for creating foreign

market of a product. In a market economy, mass communication reaches the

product message across the world and creates a market.

11.Creating new market: Mass communication helps to create a new market of a

new product and services. It uses mass media to convey the product message

across the world and creates a market

12. Increasing business goodwill and image: Mass communication helps to

increase business goodwill and image the country and the world. It

communicates with the people about mission, social activities, educational

promotion etc. Which create a favorable organizational image.

13.Advertising product and services: Mass communication plays an important

role in advertising product and services. Mass media like radio, television,

newspaper and internet are the main vehicles of advertisement.

14. Interdepartmental coordination: Generally, large organizations have various

departments like procurement, production, marketing, administration, human

resource; accounts etc. Through the help of mass communication, managers of

this department cooperate and coordinate each other.

15. Inform market price, demand and supply: Mass communication helps to

inform market price, demand and supply of product and services for home and

abroad.

http://thebusinesscommunication.com/role-of-mass-communication-in-business/

Independent variable

An independent variable is exactly what it sounds like. It is a variable that stands alone and isn't changed by the other variables you are trying to measure. For example, someone's age might be an independent variable. Other factors (such as what they eat, how much they go to school, how much television they watch) aren't going to change a person's age. In fact, when you are looking for some kind of relationship between variables you are trying to see if the independent variable causes some kind of change in the other variables, or dependent variables.

An independent variable is the variable that is changed or controlled in a scientific experiment to test the effects on the dependent variable.

Dependent variable

Just like an independent variable, a dependent variable is exactly what it sounds like. It is something that depends on other factors. For example, a test score could be a dependent variable because it could change depending on several factors such as how much you studied, how much sleep you got the night before you took the test, or even how hungry you were when you took it. Usually when you are looking for a relationship between two things you are trying to find out what makes the dependent variable change the way it does.

Many people have trouble remembering which is the independent variable and which is the dependent variable. An easy way to remember is to insert the names of the two variables you are using in this sentence in they way that makes the most sense. Then you can figure out which is the independent variable and which is the dependent variable:

(Independent variable) causes a change in (Dependent Variable) and it isn't possible that (Dependent Variable) could cause a change in (Independent Variable).

For example:

(Time Spent Studying) causes a change in (Test Score) and it isn't possible that (Test Score) could cause a change in (Time Spent Studying).

We see that "Time Spent Studying" must be the independent variable and "Test Score" must be the dependent variable because the sentence doesn't make sense the other way around.

A dependent variable is the variable being tested and measured in a scientific experiment.

The dependent variable is 'dependent' on the independent variable. As the experimenter changes the independent variable, the effect on the dependent variable is observed and recorded.

For example, a scientist wants to see if the brightness of light has any effect on a moth being attracted to the light. The brightness of the light is controlled by the scientist. This would be the independent variable. How the moth reacts to the different light levels (distance to light source) would be the dependent variable.

When results are plotted in graphs, the convention is to use the independent variable as the x-axis and the dependent variable as the y-axis.

What Motivates Impulse Buying?Personality, pleasure, and product connections can all lead to impulse buys.

Posted Jul 18, 2012

Ian Zimmerman Ph.D.

Impulse buying is a common behavior today.  Our culture of consumption enables us to

succumb to temptation and purchase something without considering the consequences

of the buy. Is that a bad thing? In my view, yes, it can be. Impulse buying is related

to anxietyand unhappiness, and controlling it could help improve your psychological

well-being. To control something though, it’s important to first understand it. To

understand impulse buying from a psychological perspective, we should ask the

question “What motivates us to impulsively buy products?” There are in fact a number of

answers to this question, and knowing them will help you make smarter, more rational

decisions the next time you’re shopping or the next time you just catch yourself wanting

to buy something.

Some people possess a personality trait called an impulse buying tendency, which as

you may have guessed means they have a habit of making impulsive purchases. That

might sound innocent, but there are a number of behaviors that go along with this trait

that reflect its detrimental influence. First, impulse buyers are more social, status-

conscious, and image-concerned. The impulse buyer may therefore buy as a way to

look good in the eyes of others.  Second, impulse buyers tend to experience more

anxiety and difficulty controlling their emotions, which may make it harder to resist

emotional urges to impulsively spend money.  Third, impulse buyers tend to experience

less happiness, and so may buy as a way to improve their mood. Last, impulse buyers

are less likely to consider the consequences of their spending; they just want to have it.

People who like to shop for fun are more likely to buy on impulse. We all want to

experience pleasure, and it can be a lot of fun to go shopping and imagine owning the

products we see that we like. Once we start experiencing pleasure as a result of this

sense of vicarious ownership, we’re more likely to buy those products so that we can

continue to experience that pleasure.

The concept of vicarious ownership is related to another impulse buying motivator,

which is a connection between a consumer and a product. When we’re connected to a

product it literally changes the way our minds perceive it. Our minds essentially start

acting like we already own the product, which makes it harder to go without buying it.

This begs the question “How are connections with products formed?” A physical

connection with a product is created when we’re close to it, and when we’re able to

touch it. A temporal connection with a product is created when we’re able to purchase it

immediately. Finally, a social connection with a product is created when we see

someone using it and compare ourselves to that person.

How do all these factors go together to interact on us as consumers? Well, consider the

following hypothetical example: The impulse buyer may feel unhappy, and may think

that being seen with an expensive new purchase will bring respect and happiness. This

perceived road to happiness motivates the impulse buyer to go shopping. Once in the

retail environment a product catches the impulse buyer’s eye. S/he looks at it, probably

picks it up and inspects it, and maybe thinks of a friend who owns it. The impulse buyer

likes the product, and experiences pleasure at the thought of being able to purchase it

immediately and go home with it. The impulse buyer can’t resist the urge to buy the

product and does so, without considering whether it’s too expensive and/or frivolous.

This inevitably leads to buyer’s remorse, paradoxically bringing unhappiness, the very

feeling the impulse buyer wanted to stop experiencing.

Knowing what motivates impulse buying and whether these motivators are affecting you

can help you spend less money on impulse. There is one caveat I’d like to mention,

which is that everyone behaves impulsively now and then, and a certain (modest) level

of impulse buying can be harmless. However, an excessive level of impulse buying can

lead to debt and unhappiness, so it’s in your best interest to know the warning signs. If

you find that you often spend money without really thinking about what you’re buying or

why, and you fit the description of an impulse buyer, you may have an impulse buying

tendency. If you get a lot of enjoyment from shopping or are a comfort shopper, you

may be buying as a way to experience pleasure and are probably buying some products

on impulse. If you get a sudden urge to buy something after you play around with it, or

after realizing you can buy it immediately, or after thinking of a friend who owns it,

you’re probably experiencing an impulse buying urge that came from a connection

between you and the product.  Ultimately, an easy way to tell if a purchase is impulsive

is to ask “Did I plan to buy this, or did I get the urge to buy it just now?” If you didn’t plan

to buy it, you’re probably experiencing an impulse buying urge. By putting that product

back on the shelf and refusing to purchase it, you’re doing something to help yourself.

You’re rejecting the idea that by purchasing that product you’ll be happier, better

respected, or more complete. In so doing, you’ll not only get to keep more of your

money, but you’ll become a smarter consumer and possibly a happier person.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sold/201207/what-motivates-impulse-buying

Consumer socialization is the process whereby one acquires the skills to consume, as well as the values associated with being a consumer. This can involve identification with the role of consumer in consumption society or a critical awareness of the problematic nature of being a consumer and of consumption society more generally. The socialization process is not necessarily limited to learning how to buy, but can also include how not to buy, how to limit consumption, or how to shop for a variety of purposes, such as economic value, status and distinction, or ecological sustainability.

In one of the earliest studies, David Riesman and Howard Roseborough distinguished different contexts for socializing children into consumer behavior: home for goal-directed, peers for expressive, and school for ...

http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/consumerculture/n121.xml

Consumer Socialization: Origins, Trends and Directions For Future ResearchGeorge P. Moschis, Georgia State UniversityRuth B. Smith, University of Maryland

ABSTRACT - Consumer socialization is becoming a popular area of scientific inquiry. This paper presents a historical perspective on consumer socialization by reviewing origins and reasons for its emergence. It also reviews theoretical perspectives and trends in other disciplines and, on the bases of these trends, provides directions for future research.

[ to cite ]: George P. Moschis and Ruth B. Smith (1985) ,"Consumer Socialization: Origins, Trends and Directions For Future Research", in SV - Historical Perspective in Consumer Research: National and International Perspectives, eds. Jagdish N. Sheth and Chin Tiong Tan, Singapore : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 275-281.

[ direct url ]:

http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/12159/volumes/sv05/SV-05

Historical Perspective in Consumer Research: National and International Perspectives, 1985     Pages 275-281

CONSUMER SOCIALIZATION: ORIGINS, TRENDS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

George P. Moschis, Georgia State University

Ruth B. Smith, University of Maryland

ABSTRACT -

Consumer socialization is becoming a popular area of scientific inquiry. This paper presents a historical perspective on consumer socialization by reviewing origins and reasons for its emergence. It also reviews theoretical perspectives and trends in other disciplines and, on the bases of these trends, provides directions for future research.

INTRODUCTION

Researchers have traditionally borrowed various theoretical perspectives from a wide range of disciplines in their efforts to understand and predict consumer behavior. While such efforts have enjoyed various degrees of success, consumer behavior research over the past three decades has lead us to believe that no single theory or approach in itself can adequately explain consumer behavior.

In response to growing demands for approaches using multi-theoretical perspectives, some researchers have begun using models that integrate several theories. Examples of approaches that use multi-theoretical perspectives are found in the area of consumer socialization. Consumer socialization is the process by which individuals develop consumption-related cognitions and behaviors. Consumer socialization models generally assume that people develop such patterns of thought and actions partly as a result of their interactions with "significant others"--i.e., the so-called socialization agents, and partly due to internal biological or cognitive-psychological changes. These changes affect the individual's ability to learn, and they create needs that directly or indirectly (by impacting upon one's interaction with agents) can affect consumer learning. In addition, consumer socialization is affected by several social structural factors (e.g., social class, race, sex) which again directly or indirectly can affect consumer learning (cf. Moschis and Churchill 1978).

When the emphasis is placed upon socialization agents, a number of sociological and psychological theories are offered for explanations of consumer learning. Internal processes, on the other hand, are based usually upon theories of cognitive development and biology, offering sometimes competing and other times supplementary explanations. Finally, the effects of social structural factors are examined in the context of social-system theories.

Consumer socialization research has followed a trend popular in other disciplines--greater emphasis on socialization perspectives, integrating several theories to explain human behavior. Thus, the scope of consumer socialization research has been widened from studies focusing on short-term cognitive effects of television advertising on children to more general studies of multiple influences on the development and change of patterns of consumer behavior over

the person's life cycle. Given these trends and the potential contribution to the field of consumer behavior, consumer socialization appears to be an approach that deserves close examination.

The present paper has several objectives: (a) to present consumer socialization origins and developments, (b) to present major contributions of other disciplines, (c) to review trends in socialization theory and research, and on the basis of these trends, (d) to provide directions for future research.

ORIGINS OF CONSUMER SOCIALIZATION

As with so many other approaches to the study of consumer behavior, consumer socialization has its origins in the social sciences. In this section, the emergence of socialization is first presented, followed by the emergence of consumer socialization.

Socialization

The term "socialization" has been around for a long time, even before its study as a concept by social scientists. One source notes its presence in The Oxford Dictionary of the Englis   Language in 1828 (Clausen 1968). Early usage of the term was confined to "making one fit for living in society," while more recent uses of the concept have been broader and include the development of values, attitudes, and behaviors, both socially functional and dysfunctional (Clausen 1968).

Socialization has been the concern of several writers in various areas of social sciences. In sociology, the concept was first addressed around the turn of the century. Cooley, for example, was among the first to initiate interest in the development of "self" through the process of social interaction, recognizing the importance of primary reference groups in the development of personality. Similarly, Thomas saw the emergence of the person as the product of both social demands and internal individual (mostly biological) processes. Other early writers contributing to the development of socialization include Park and Burgess who were among the first to address socialization processes influencing to the development of the person in the society; and Dewey, whose work had a profound impact not only on sociologists but also on social psychologists, anthropologists and students of child development (cf. Clausen 1968).

George H. Mead was the first to directly address the socialization process by focusing upon the development of self through the process of modeling, and he is credited with the development of the symbolic interaction approach. More recent contributors to the field of socialization include Dollard who set forth criteria for studying socialization.

Unlike sociologists, psychologists   developed interest in socialization at a later time, and their work was influenced a great deal by the writings of early sociologists (cf. Clausen 1968). Perhaps the greatest contribution to this area comes from students of child psychology and several social psychologists, including Allport, Lewin, Hull, Hoveland and Sears. The psychologists' contributions to socialization include the reinforcement mechanism of learning and the integration of the sociological and psychological approaches responsible for the development of the social learning point of view and specific learning processes. This early work has led to the development of three major approaches that are now popular in socialization research: stimulus-response analysis of the neo-Hullians; functional analysis, which is closely related to Skinner's position; and the social learning theories.

Anthropologists   have also contributed to the field of socialization in their course of studying how culture is transmitted from one generation to the next. Margaret Mead is credited with most of the work in this area, although several other researchers have contributed as well. For example, major contributions were made by Kluckhon and his student who make distinctions between "socialization" and .. culturation" and between individual development and culture changes.

Finally, communication   researchers more recently have contributed to the study of socialization, borrowing from several other disciplines. Early studies dealing with public opinion formation and influence (e.g., Katz and Lazersfeld

1955) focused mostly on the effects of significant others on the individual's changes in cognitions and behavior. The effects of other communication processes (e.g. mass media) were assumed to have little significance (Klapper 1960). While these studies did not directly address socialization, more recent research places greater importance on interpersonal and mass media influence on consumer socialization. For example, one finds studies of family interaction patterns (e.g., McLeod and Chaffee 1972) and mass media uses and gratifications (Katz et al. 1974) relating to socialization. These later approaches are more elaborate in specifying the communication processes and the type of learning taking place.

Consumer Socialization

The field of consumer socialization as an area of scientific inquiry is relatively new. Early contributions to the field come from researchers outside the field of marketing who wished to better understand human behavior. For example, Guest's (1942, 1944, 1955) early attempts to understand the development of brand preferences are among the first descriptive psychological studies. Similarly, Parsons et al. (1953), as well as Riesman and Roseborough (1955), are among the first sociologists to speculate on consumer socialization processes and outcomes.

The major contribution to the emergence of the area of consumer socialization comes from the area of communication. During the late 60's, Steve H. Chaffee and Jack M. McLeod, codirectors of the Mass Communication Center in the School of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin, had just developed a family interaction process typology (Chaffee and McLeod 1966) and were engaged in a significant amount of research in political communication. Among their students were Scott Ward, Chuck Atkin and Danny Wackman, all of whom went on to do a great deal of work in the area of consumer socialization. Scott Ward, however, is credited with the introduction of consumer socialization to the area of consumer behavior. In a monograph, Ward (1974) observed that political socialization and consumer socialization have several things in common, making both areas amenable to a similar research approach. His early thinking and research influenced some of his colleagues at Harvard's School of Business, former professors, and later students at Wisconsin (e.g., Roy Moore and George Moschis) studying under Chaffee and McLeod.

Interest in the area of consumer socialization by communication researchers was developed in part due to the issues raised by consumer advocate groups in the late 60's and the FTC efforts to respond to these groups during 1970's. For this reason, early efforts to use the socialization approach to the study of the consumer behavior of young people were limited to the effects of advertising. Later attempts, however, examined more systematically variables derived from the socialization model (e.g., Moore and Stephens 1975, Moschis and Churchill 1978), while more recently the socialization approach has been suggested as a means for understanding consumer behavior over the individual's life cycle (Moschis 1981, Smith and Moschis 1985).

CONTRIBUTION OF DISCIPLINES

Generally three types of theories have been used to explain consumer socialization over the person's life cycle. These can be classified as developmental, social learning, and social-system theories. Within the developmental category one can include maturational theories, although the distinction between the two is worth noting. Developmental theories focus upon psychological changes, while maturational changes reflect biological changes and organic growth. Examples of developmental theories include theories of cognitive development.

The developmental approach has been used to understand changes not only in the individual's consumer behavior-but also in family consumer behavior decisions (Hill 1965). The latter area has been a topic of sociological research pioneered by Hill and his associates.

The social learning model, on the other hand, views socialization as an outcome of environmental forces applied on the person rather than internal psychological processes, focusing almost exclusively upon socialization agents. Social learning theories can be divided into formal connectionist learning theories and  interaction theories. The first kind are

represented by the stimulus-response contiguity theories of Watson and Guthrie and by reinforcement theories of Skinner, Miller and others.

In general, connectionist theories view the process as one which is externally controlled, regardless of the person's state (active or passive). For example, classical conditioning stimulus-response theories consider learning where the outcomes are dependent on externally imposed reward contingency schedules with an external agent having complete control over the process. Similarly, instrumental conditioning theories focus on learning that occurs as a result of rewards and punishments rendered by the external agent because of active behavior of the learner.

In contrast to connectionist learning theories, interaction theory stresses an active view of the individual in the socialization process. Within this school of thought, symbolic interaction theorists attempt to explain the individual's behavior in relation to his environment which is symbolic as well as physical in nature. The individual is viewed as an active participant in the learning process, and the development of values, attitudes, and behaviors results from his interaction with others and the cues he receives from them about his behaviors and attitudes. Cooley's notion of the "looking-glass self" is the cornerstone of this theory.

Role theorists view the individual both as a passive and an active participant in the socialization process. Some early theorists subscribe to the view that roles are externally constructed without the individual's input while others see roles as socially structured but stress the individual's active participation in learning, performing, and modifying roles in the process of socialization (e.g., Thorton and Nardi 1975).

Symbolic interaction and role theory are capable of studying socialization throughout the individual's life cycle because both theories recognize that the individual changes group affiliations and confronts new environments in the course of a lifetime.

Finally, social system theories contend that the source of influence is within an organization or a group of which the learner is part. The individual is expected to acquire the norms and behaviors that are unique to the particular segment of the society referred to as "culture" or "sub-culture." Hence, socialization involves the learning of one's culture, and the learning process is often known as inculturation. Since different cultures show different norms, behaviors, and value orientations, the content of learning outcome is expected to differ across cultures and sub-cultures. However, it should be noted that these differences may be due not only to the accepted norms but also due to different socialization processes that may operate differently in each specific sub-cultural setting (Moschis and Moore 1984).

Childhood and Adolescence

Developmental perspectives.   For children and adolescents, cognitive developmental perspectives appear to be most applicable to consumer socialization. Two major theories of cognitive development are Piaget's theory of intellectual development and Ausubel's learning theory. Piaget's theory suggests that learning occurs through interaction between the child and the environment. Learning is viewed as an active process involving manipulative and exploratory interaction with concrete objects and events. Intellectual development is expected to occur as a series of stages   characterized by specific cognitive operations, and the course of development is an invariant sequence.

Ausubel, on the other hand, describes cognitive structure in terms of concepts and propositions arranged in hierarchial structures (e.g., Ausubel and Robinson 1969). It is expected that meaningful learning will occur when the individual can relate new knowledge nonarbitrarily to established ideas previously learned. This type of learning is expected to reduce rote learning and enhance long-term memory. Ausubel proposes that meaningful learning can best be promoted by the use of general ideas which, once learned, are expected to provide a potentially meaningful set of anchoring ideas under which subsequently presented subordinate knowledge can be subsumed. Ausubel places major Emphasis on sequential transfer. Ideas must first be identified and taught which are approximately   inclusive; that is, their level of generality or inclusiveness places them in a super-ordinate level of only slightly more abstract than concepts and specific facts presented in subsequent learning activities.

Although the cognitive-development models (e.g., Piaget's) which suggest that all socialization occurs by the age of 15 have been widely accepted, some researchers have presented findings suggesting that socialization, including consumer socialization takes place after 15 years of age (e.g., Jennings and Niemi 1968, Moschis 1981).

The notion that individuals fully develop their cognitive skills by late adolescence has been challenged in recent years as a result of several studies showing that cognitive development is a life-time process (e.g., Long et al. 1980). In addition, it has been found that skills disappear in the reverse order of their acquisition, with the more difficult last acquired skills disappearing first. Not only does reverse horizontal decalage appear to take place with advancing age, but also the transition into a fifth stage of cognitive development during adulthood occurs. This stage is problem finding as opposed to Piaget's fourth (and final) stage of formal operations which is problem solving (cf. Long et al. 1980).

Social Learning   Theories. Social learning models of consumer socialization differ from developmental models with respect to the emphasis and importance on environmental forces-i.e., socialization agents. While cognitive developmental theories view the individual as playing an active role in the socialization process, with socialization agents being rather passive, social learning perspectives view the individual as playing a rather passive-role, with the socializers being more instrumental in shaping attitudes and behaviors. Theories of social learning are often non-explicit, with the effects of learning from socialization agents often inferred from the socializee's interaction with the various agents. In the field of consumer socialization, for example, learning from television ads (as a result of the person's frequency of advertising viewing) has been attributed to instrumental conditioning, modeling, and cognitive learning (Adler 1977). Similarly, learning from parents may be attributed to modeling processes (Ward et al. 1977), reinforcement (positive and negative) (Moschis et al. 1983), as well as cognitive learning involving purposive consumer training (Ward et al. 1977).

Socio-cultural   Theories. Socio-cultural effects on consumer socialization address theoretical perspectives regarding the influence of demographic variables. Social class is considered to be an important social system and will be used here as an example. The effects of social class on socialization can be viewed from a "life-space" perspective (Lewin 1951). With increasing socioeconomic status comes an expanded life space for the individual, resulting in increased availability of alternative stimuli which fall into one's environment.

Similarly, Hess (1970) states that:

The relative isolation of the lower-class person from the paths of experience of the dominant middle class is one antecedent of his relatively low skill and experience in obtaining and evaluating information about events and resources that affect or might affect his life (p. 408).

Speculations by Riesman and his associates (1950), as well as by Ward (1974), appear to be in line with the life space notion; they suggest that youths from more affluent families are likely to have more experience with money and may be more aware of the range of consumer goods available than youths from less affluent families. Support for the "life-space" notion comes from several studies of consumer socialization (e.g., Moschis and Churchill 1978; Moschis and Moore 1984).

Adulthood and Late Adulthood

Most explanations of differences in the behavior of older individuals are closely tied to theories of alterations in socio-psychological and bio-physical stages of life-span development. Socio-psychological perspectives include both sociological and psychological theories, in line with the social learning approach to socialization. Examples of the first type are the disengagement, activity, and social breakdown theories, whereas psychological approaches include mostly personality theories. In addition, social-system theories explain group behavior among older adults (for detailed discussion and documentation see Smith and Moschis 1984 and 1985).

Social Learning Theories. Disengagement   Theory maintains that mutual withdrawal of the elderly and our social systems from each other occurs as a natural consequence of aging. As people grow old, the theory contends, there is a voluntary severing of social ties and retreat into isolation. After this inevitable process gradually shifts the relationship between self and society, a new equilibrium emerges that is mutually gratifying to both self and society. It is characterized by contraction of previous interpersonal contacts and increased interiority of the individual. Schramm was among the first to suggest that the elderly use mass media to help combat disengagement.

Engagement Theory,   also called activity theory, holds that the contraction of the aged individual's life space is an involuntary exile imposed by society by the elderly. The aged individual, given a choice, will seek out other activities to substitute for previous role behaviors. If successful substitution is made, the individual's psychological well-being is enchanced. Activity theory, in fact, was espoused by early gerontologists. A media perspective known as activity substitutions has emerged from activity theory, although little application of this perspective has been attempted in consumer behavior.

Social breakdown theory   argues that individuals approaching retirement are confronted with ambiguous toles (e.g., "senior citizen") and tend to assume those behaviors they feel are expected of them. Since perceptions of the elderly among other groups are generally negative, the elderly presumably internalize such negative characteristics. The "consumer role," one which changes significantly for (or is even lost by) the aging individual, may be affected by negative prescriptions, leading older consumers to perceive their consumption roles as declining, as opposed to the developing of the consumer role in-childhood and adolescence.

Personality   Theory. The main thrust of personality theory is to identify personality characteristics of the individual that predict behavior with age, since the concensus among social gerontologists and personality theorists is that personalities do not change dramatically with age. Reichard, Livson, and Peterson (1962), for example, identified types of personalities indicative of successful and unsuccessful aging: mature, rocking chair, and armored (successful); angry, and self-hating (unsuccessful). One application of personality theory to the area of consumer behavior of the elderly was by LaForge, French, and Crask (1981) who tested Reichard et al.'s (1962) personality typology of the elderly for its utility in market segmentation.

Developmental Perspectives.   In contrast to the theories which attempt to explain socio-psychological-changes   in aging, the developmental perspective focuses on alterations in behavior due to biological and physiological changes. Cognitive problems in the decision process are thought to be age-related. The elderly have been reported to process information less efficiently than younger people in that they require more time, slower pacing of stimuli, and less distracting influences. They also exhibit greater difficulty inputting and integrating information so as to make an optimal response.

Some developmental psychologists and social gerontologists believe that certain aspects of the aging individual's behavior can be explained by biological and physiological factors. For example, data have supported a reverse horizontal decalage hypothesis--i.e., cognitive skills acquired most recently disappear first (cf. Long et al. 1980). Similarly, Clark and Anderson (1967) posit a developmental theory of aging involving five adaptive tasks, including redefinition of physical and social life space, substitution of alternative sources of need satisfaction, and reassessment of criteria for evaluation of self. The theory further posits that environmental constraints on life space (e.g., illness, loss of companions) may limit available sources of gratification and force substitution of alternative sources. Environmental forces, motivation and other developmental factors interact with and contribute to the individual's need structure which is likely to affect his behavior.

Social System   theories include subculturation.   This perspective views the elderly as a unique and identifiable subculture. Because of common role changes, common generational experiences in a rapidly changing society, and physical limitations, the elderly exhibit a positive affinity for one another and constitute a subsociety," much like the adolescent subsociety." As a result, the aged interact more often with their peers, identifying with the group and even

exhibiting a structure for attaining status within the group through such factors as good mental and physical health and maintenance of social activity.

TRENDS IN SOCIALIZATION THEORY AND RESEARCH

Consumer socialization theory and research rely a great deal upon socialization developments in other areas. Thus, changes in socialization perspectives and research approaches are likely to affect research in consumer socialization. It would, therefore, be useful to review developments in socialization research in other areas because such developments are likely to set the stage for consumer socialization research in the years to come.

Perhaps the most significant development is the tendency to use socialization perspectives to understand human behavior (e.g., Baltes 1973). This trend is not surprising given that no single theory can adequately explain human behavior. The socialization approach can incorporate several theories, providing a more realistic perspective on explanations of human behavior.

Another trend closely related to the first is the use of socialization perspectives to explain behavior over the life cycle. While early work on socialization focused on children, researchers have gradually applied the socialization explanation to other age groups. For example, Brim (1968) has viewed the development of values, attitudes, and skills related to the enactment of various roles (e.g., occupational) adults assume from a socialization perspective. Others (e.g., Ahammer 1969; Kuypers and Bengtson 1973) have used socialization approaches to understand behavior at later stages in the life cycle.

More recent developments include revisions of socialization theories and the integration of theories. Examples of the first type include Piaget's theory of intellectual development which has been extended by Flavell (1970), as well as the cognitive developmental perspective which has been extended to adulthood and late dulthood (e.g., Kohlberg 1973; Long et. al. 1980).

Social scientists have not only been modifying existing socialization theories but they also have integrated them into broader socialization perspectives. The following statement by Riley et al. (1968) illustrates this trend:

... to aid us in providing new insights into age-related phenomena over the approximate future ... two lines of research and theory in psychology and sociology ... have begun to converge over the past decade ... that now form a broad social science perspective for the study of the aging over the life course. We have begun to forge links between life span developmental psychology ... and the sociological analysis of age ... , no single stage of a person's life (childhood, middle age, old age) can be understood apart from its antecedents and consequences" (pp. 3-4).

Finally, there have been developments in the methodologies used to study socialization and test socialization theories. While early studies have used cross-sectional (stage-related) designs, more recent approaches have used longitudinal and causal designs. Causal designs, with the ordering of variables in line with the expected (hypothesized) "flow" of influence, have been in part logical outgrowths of the integration of several theories.

DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Several research avenues are open to those interested in consumer socialization. These directions are suggested in part from developments in socialization theory and research in other disciplines. One opportunity exists in applying socialization perspectives to the study of consumer behavior over the life cycle. While most of the research has focused upon the study of young people, more recent research has addressed later stages (e.g., Smith and Moschis 1985). The application of socialization perspectives to several stages would be a logical extension of socialization theory and research in other disciplines.

Adult stages in the life cycle will not only be associated with learning of different consumption-related variables but also with changes in existing patterns of behavior. The latter type of learning has been referred to as "resocialization"

(Riesman and Roseborough 1955). In this category one could include the learning of new roles related to consumption such as shopping at home through the assistance of a home computer (Moschis et. al. 1985) and the learning of new consumption-related skills and behaviors due to relocation.

Socialization perspectives also provide opportunities for understanding differences among sub-cultures. Students of consumer behavior find few theoretical bases for explaining demographic and socioeconomic differences in consumer behavior. The socialization approach provides opportunities for understanding such differences, since sub-cultural differences are tied into socialization theories of subcultures (e.g. age groups, social classes, races, and ethic groups).

Research in consumer socialization could be enhanced through the use of multi-theoretical perspectives. The development and change of consumer behavior are influenced by several factors and, therefore, no single theory of socialization is likely to describe accurately the entire picture. Developmental perspectives should be integrated into other theoretical perspectives, including learning theories and social-system theories. This approach would not necessarily involve devising new models but rather incorporating existing theories into a broader model. Such a model would have to include a larger number and variety of variables which would have to be derived from socialization theories.

Finally, we advocate the use of more vigorous research methodologies. Efforts in this area should include better conceptualization of variables, development of valid and reliable measures, selection of appropriate sampling units, and the use of appropriate research designs (cf. Moschis 1http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=12159981).

Social Learning Theory (Bandura)

People learn through observing others’ behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors[1]. “Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.” (Bandura). Social learning theory explains human behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences.

Necessary conditions for effective modeling:

1. Attention — various factors increase or decrease the amount of attention paid. Includes distinctiveness, affective valence, prevalence, complexity, functional value. One’s characteristics (e.g. sensory capacities, arousal level, perceptual set, past reinforcement) affect attention.

2. Retention — remembering what you paid attention to. Includes symbolic coding, mental images, cognitive organization, symbolic rehearsal, motor rehearsal

3. Reproduction — reproducing the image. Including physical capabilities, and self-observation of reproduction.

4. Motivation — having a good reason to imitate. Includes motives such as past (i.e. traditional behaviorism), promised (imagined incentives) and vicarious (seeing and recalling the reinforced model)

5. Bandura believed in “reciprocal determinism”, that is, the world and a person’s behavior cause each other, while behaviorism essentially states that one’s environment causes one’s behavior[2], Bandura, who was studying adolescent aggression, found this too simplistic, and so in addition he suggested that behavior causes environment as well[3]. Later, Bandura soon considered personality as an interaction between three components: the environment, behavior, and one’s psychological processes (one’s ability to entertain images in minds and language).

6. Social learning theory has sometimes been called a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses attention, memory, and motivation. The theory is related to Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory and Lave’s Situated Learning, which also emphasize the importance of social learning.

http://www.learning-theories.com/social-learning-theory-bandura.html

1. The Social Learning Theory says that people can learn by watching other people perform the behavior. Observational learning explains the nature of children to learn behaviors by watching the behavior of the people around them, and eventually, imitating them. With the "Bobo Doll" experiment(s), Bandura included an adult who is tasked to act aggressively toward a Bobo Doll while the children observe him. Later, Bandura let the

children play inside a room with the Bobo Doll. He affirmed that these children imitated the aggressive behavior toward the doll, which they had observed earlier.

2. After his studies, Bandura was able to determine 3 basic models of observational learning, which include:

a. A Live Model, which includes an actual person performing a behavior.

b. A Verbal Instruction Model, which involves telling of details and descriptions of a behavior.

c. A Symbolic Model, which includes either a real or fictional character demonstrating the behavior via movies, books, television, radio, online media and other media sources.

3. The state of mind (mental states) is crucial to learning.In this concept, Bandura stated that not only external reinforcement or factors can affect learning and behavior. There is also what he called intrinsic reinforcement, which is in a form of internal reward or a better feeling after performing the behavior (e.g. sense of accomplishment, confidence, satisfaction, etc.)

4. Learning does not mean that there will be a change in the behavior of an individual.

B. Modeling ProcessThe Modeling Process developed by Bandura helps us understand that not all observed behaviors could be learned effectively, nor learning can necessarily result to behavioral changes. The modeling process includes the following steps in order for us to determine whether social learning is successful or not:

Step 1: Attention

Social Cognitive Theory implies that you must pay attention for you to learn. If you want to learn from the behavior of the model (the person that demonstrates the behavior), then you should eliminate anything that catches your attention other than him. Also, the more interesting the model is, the more likely you are to pay full attention to him and learn.

Step 2: Retention

Retention of the newly learned behavior is necessary. Without it, learning of the behavior would not be established, and you might need to get back to observing the model again since you were not able to store information about the behavior.

Step 3: Reproduction

When you are successful in paying attention and retaining relevant information, this step requires you to demonstrate the behavior. In this phase, practice of the behavior by repeatedly doing it is important for improvement.

Step 4: Motivation

Feeling motivated to repeat the behavior is what you need in order to keep on performing it. This is where reinforcement and punishment come in. You can be rewarded by demonstrating the behavior properly, and punished by displaying it inappropriately.

https://explorable.com/social-learning-theory

What Is Social Learning Theory?

Social learning theory combines cognitive learning theory (which posits that learning is influenced by psychological factors) and behavioral learning theory (which assumes that learning is based on responses to environmental stimuli). Albert Bandura integrated these two theories and came up with four requirements for learning: observation (environmental), retention (cognitive), reproduction (cognitive), and motivation (both). This integrative approach to learning was called social learning theory. 

One of the most famous experiments performed by Bandura is the famous bobo doll experiment. Children observed as adults modeled either violent or passive behavior towards the doll, and this observation was found to influence the manner in which the children subsequently interacted with the dolls. Children who observed violent behavior behaved violently toward the doll and vice versa.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/social-learning-theory

By Kendra CherryUpdated July 15, 2016

The social learning theory proposed by Albert Bandura has become perhaps the most influential theory of learning and development. While rooted in many of the basic concepts of traditional learning theory, Bandura believed that direct reinforcement could not account for all types of learning.

While the behavioral theories of learning suggested that all learning was the result of associations formed by conditioning, reinforcement, and

punishment, Bandura's social learning theory proposed that learning can also occur simply by observing the actions of others.

His theory added a social element, arguing that people can learn new information and behaviors by watching other people. Known as observational learning (or modeling), this type of learning can be used to explain a wide variety of behaviors.

Important Concepts In Social Learning Theory

There are three core concepts at the heart of social learning theory. 

1. First is the idea that people can learn through observation. 2. Next is the notion that internal mental states are an essential part of this

process. 3. Finally, this theory recognizes that just because something has been learned,

it does not mean that it will result in a change in behavior.

Bandura explained:

"Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action."-Albert Bandura, Social Learning Theory, 1977

Let's explore each of these concepts in greater depth.

1. People can learn through observation.

Observational Learning

In his famous Bobo doll experiment, Bandura demonstrated that children learn and imitate behaviors they have observed in other people. The children in Bandura’s studies observed an adult acting violently toward a Bobo doll.

When the children were later allowed to play in a room with the Bobo doll, they began to imitate the aggressive actions they had previously observed.

Bandura identified three basic models of observational learning:

1. A live model, which involves an actual individual demonstrating or acting out a behavior.

2. A verbal instructional model, which involves descriptions and explanations of a behavior.

3. A symbolic model, which involves real or fictional characters displaying behaviors in books, films, television programs, or online media.

2. Mental states are important to learning.

Intrinsic Reinforcement

Bandura noted that external, environmental reinforcement was not the only factor to influence learning and behavior. He described intrinsic reinforcement as a form of internal reward, such as pride, satisfaction, and a sense of accomplishment. This emphasis on internal thoughts and cognitions helps connect learning theories to cognitive developmental theories. While many textbooks place social learning theory with behavioral theories, Bandura himself describes his approach as a 'social cognitive theory.'

3. Learning does not necessarily lead to a change in behavior.

While behaviorists believed that learning led to a permanent change in behavior, observational learning demonstrates that people can learn new information without demonstrating new behaviors.

The Modeling Process

Not all observed behaviors are effectively learned. Factors involving both the model and the learner can play a role in whether social learning is successful. Certain requirements and steps must also be followed. The following steps are involved in the observational learning and modeling process:

Attention:In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that distracts your attention is going to have a negative effect on observational learning. If the model interesting or there is a novel aspect of the situation, you are far more likely to dedicate your full attention to learning.

Retention:The ability to store information is also an important part of the learning process. Retention can be affected by a number of factors, but the ability to pull up information later and act on it is vital to observational learning.

Reproduction:Once you have paid attention to the model and retained the information, it is time to actually perform the behavior you observed. Further practice of the learned behavior leads to improvement and skill advancement.

Motivation:Finally, in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be motivated to imitate the behavior that has been modeled. Reinforcement andpunishment play an important role in motivation. While experiencing these motivators can be highly effective, so can observing other experience some type of reinforcement or punishment. For example, if you see another student rewarded with extra credit for being to class on time, you might start to show up a few minutes early each day.

Final Thoughts

In addition to influencing other psychologists, Bandura's social learning theory has had important implication in the field of education. Today, both teachers and parents recognize important modeling appropriate behaviors. Other classroom strategies such as encouraging children and building self-efficacy are also rooted in social learning theory.

https://www.verywell.com/albert-bandura-biography-1925-2795537

Piaget’s Stage Theory of Cognitive Development

Swiss biologist and psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) observed his children (and their process of making sense of the world around them) and eventually developed a four-stage model of how the mind processes new information encountered. He posited that children progress through 4 stages and that they all do so in the same order. These four stages are:

Sensorimotor stage (Birth to 2 years old). The infant builds an understanding of himself or herself and reality (and how things work) through interactions with the environment. It is able to differentiate between itself and other objects. Learning takes place via assimilation (the organization of information and absorbing it into existing schema) and accommodation (when an object cannot be assimilated and the schemata have to be modified to include the object.

Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 4). The child is not yet able to conceptualize abstractly and needs concrete physical situations. Objects are classified in simple ways, especially by important features.

Concrete operations (ages 7 to 11). As physical experience accumulates, accomodation is increased. The child begins to think abstractly and conceptualize, creating logical structures that explain his or her physical experiences.

Formal operations (beginning at ages 11 to 15). Cognition reaches its final form. By this stage, the person no longer requires concrete objects to make rational judgements. He or she is capable of deductive and hypothetical reasoning. His or her ability for abstract thinking is very similar to an adult.

http://www.learning-theories.com/piagets-stage-theory-of-cognitive-development.html

4IMPRINT--- http://info.4imprint.com/wp-content/uploads/1P-02-0112-Jan-Blue-Paper-Product-Placement.pdf

CSMOSCHIS-- http://www.consultmcgregor.com/documents/resources/moschis_consumer_socialization.pdf

RETROSPECTIVE--- http://www.sfu.ca/media-lab/cmns320_06/readings/roedder_john_consumer_socialization.pdf

SCOTTWARDIMAGE--- http://abs.sagepub.com/content/21/4/501.extract

Bandura_SocialLearningTheory--- http://www.jku.at/org/content/e54521/e54528/e54529/e178059/Bandura_SocialLearningTheory_ger.pdf

piaget- the first....--- http://psych.colorado.edu/~colunga/P4684/piaget.pdf