BUYER BEHAVIOR(MGT 462)

Vanderbilt University Module IV, Spring 2001Owen Graduate School of Management Professor Gibbs

Affect and Cognition; Product Knowledge

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Last Session

• Introduction to Consumer Behavior– Driving Passions video

• Adopting a consumer orientation– May be some limits in applying this principle

• Marketing of religion?

– But generally must “get close to consumer”• Understanding/insights tactics (recall e.g., Domino’s Pizza)

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This Session

• Casette• First aspect of CB to understand: affect & cognition

– First sector of P&O’s wheel– Affect and cognition in general– more specifically, knowledge structures and relation to:

• Brand image• Means-end chains• Involvement

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Casette

Polo by Ralph Lauren

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Affect

• Various types of affective response– Emotions– Specific feelings– Moods– Evaluations (tastes)

• Somatic component to affect– Physiological arousal– Measures: GSR, FFA, blood pressure, pupillometry

• Affective system primarily reactive– Responses immediate and automatic– Not under voluntary control

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Cognition

• Process by which we make sense of the world– And make sense of marketing stimuli

• E.g., Suzuki Samurai free insurance

• Much cognitive activity not conscious– Nisbett & Wilson (1977)

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Affect-Cognition Interaction

• Mood influences thinking– E.g., positive mood more inclusive categories

• Cognitive appraisal influences emotion– E.g., satisfaction with outcome depends on reference point

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Cognition as Information Processing

• Decompose information flow– According to hierarchy of effects

• Awareness--Knowledge--Liking--Preference--Conviction--Purchase

– According to model of consumer decision making (P&O)• Environment (“inputs”)• Knowledge: new and stored• Interpretation processes (Attention and Comprehension)• Integration processes (Attitudes and Intentions, Decision Making)• Behavior (“outputs”)

• Characteristics of processing system– Limited capacity – Automaticity

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Knowledge Structures

• Associative network– Propositions linked according to how closely they are

related in memory– Activated portion represents overall meaning of product

• Influencing thinking and behavior– Schemas

• Strategic activation using cues• Symbolic advertising

– Scripts• Responsible for cognitive slips

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Brand Image

• What is brand image?• Even for a given set of cues, there is variability in

brand, product image– Differences across consumers

• E.g., Cadillac

– Differences across time• E.g., cigarettes

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Special Knowledge: Attributes and Benefits• Product as bundle of attributes: concrete, abstract• Product as bundle of benefits: functional, psychosocial

– Consequences of attributes to consumers more relevant than attributes themselves

– Benefits and costs (perceived risks)• Losses loom large

– Segmentation according to benefits• Colgate’s hair defense

– Technological breakthrough: defended hair shaft and cuticle from damage

– Marketed as therapeutic product with cosmetic end benefits– Failed

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Consumer’s Values• What counts as a benefit depends on consumer’s values• Rokeach classification

– Instrumental values = preferred modes of conduct– Terminal values = preferred states of being

• Consumer’s core values are central part of their self-schemas– Self-schema = knowledge about oneself– cluster of nodes from associative network that refer to one’s

self• Recall earlier idea of brand image

• Marketing efforts based on appeals to values– E.g., oat bran

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Means-End Chains• Pieces of the consumer’s knowledge structure

– Associative links regarding the consumer-product relationship

– Relate product attributes to consequences to values• Product attribute is viewed as a means to an end

– Essence of marketing concept• Idealized means-end chain

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Means-End Chains: Measurement• Identify key attributes

– Direct elicitation– Sorting task– Triad task

• Determine progressively higher-order consequences– Laddering technique

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Involvement

• Determined by perceived self-relevance– Enduring self-relevance– Situational self-relevance

• Accounts for consumers reactions to the product– Affective, cognitive and behavioral– Coca-Cola fiasco

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Influencing Involvement• Influencing situational self-relevance

– Clearance sales and rebates• How useful is this?

• Influencing enduring self-relevance– Design products with attributes that are linked to more

important values• Based on assessment of consumers’ means-end chains

– Reinforce means-end links via advertising– Modify consumers’ means-end chains?

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Supplementary Reading

• Lifestyle marketing:– “That’s Not a Skim Latte. It’s a Way of Life”

(New York Times)