Interdependence 

of Needs and Goals
1.Needs and goals are interdependent; neither exists without the other.
2.People are often not as aware of their needs as they are of their goals.
3.Individuals are usually more aware of their physiological needs than they are of their
psychological needs.
4.Needs and goals are constantly growing and changing.
5.As individuals attain their goals, they develop new ones
6.If they do not attain their goals, they continue to strive for old goals or they develop
substitute goals
MASLOW NEED HIERARCHY THEORY

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR BOOK PG .21

CONSUMER LEARNING
The most famous example of classical conditioning was Pavlov's experiment with
dogs, who salivated in response to a bell tone. Pavlov showed that when a bell was
sounded each time the dog was fed, the dog learned to associate the sound with the
presentation of the food.

whenever a garage door opens, it makes a loud noise. whenever we get home, the
dogs get excited. over time, the dogs will get excited at just hearing the noise of the
garage door

CS: sound of garage door UCS: people get home

UCR: excitement CS: sound of garage door CR: excitement

Instrumental or operant conditioning views consumers as an active participant

for learning. ... It is referred to as instrumental conditioning because the individual's
response is instrumental in getting a positive reinforcement (reward) or avoiding
negative reinforcement (punishment).

Instrumental conditioning is often used in animal training as well. For example,

training a dog to shake hands would involve offering a reward every time the
desired behavior occurs

Positive reinforcement describes the best known examples of operant conditioning:

receiving a reward for acting in a certain way. Many people train their pets with
positive reinforcement.

Cognitive theory is an approach to psychology that attempts to explain human

behavior by understanding your thought processes. 1 For example, a therapist is
using principles of cognitive theory when they teach you how to identify maladaptive
thought patterns and transform them into constructive ones.
 the absolute threshold difference thresholds
For odors, the absolute threshold The smallest difference in sound for us to
involves the smallest concentration that perceive a change in the radio's volume.
a participant is able to smell. An example The minimum difference in weight for us to
of this would be to measure the smallest perceive a change between two piles of
amount of perfume that a subject is able sand. The minimum difference of light
to smell in a large room intensity for us to perceive a difference
between two light bulbs.
1. Definition
An absolute threshold is the minimum level of intensity of a particular stimulus that a
person can notice with their senses. A difference threshold is the minimum or least
difference between stimuli that a person can notice.
2. How it is measured
The way absolute threshold is measured is that the lowest intensity noticed 50% of the
time by a person is recorded. The way the difference threshold is measured is that an
upper and a lower threshold are measured and the average of the two values is taken.
3. Based on a change in the stimulus
The absolute threshold is not a value based on a person noticing and recording a
change of a stimulus. The difference threshold is based on noticing a change in the
stimulus and noticing the smallest change.
4. Uses the mean value
The mean value is not used when measuring the absolute threshold. The mean value
is used when measuring the distance threshold.
5. The minimum that is determined
The absolute threshold is the minimum intensity that is recorded. The distance
threshold is the minimum difference between the intensities that is recorded.
6. Example
An example of an absolute threshold is when a person has a hearing test and hears
sound of different intensities. An example of a difference threshold is when a person is
asked to discriminate between two auditory tones.
absolute Threshold and Related Terms
Difference Threshold, Sensory Adaptation, Transduction, and Weber’s Law
2 Sensation and Perception
To represent the world, we must detect physical energy (a stimulus) from the
environment and convert it into neural signals. This is a process called sensation.
When we select, organize, and interpret our sensations, the process is called
perception.
3 Absolute Threshold One formal definition is that absolute threshold is the smallest
intensity of a stimulus that has to be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the
time.
4 Absolute Threshold Example
Think of an electric burner on a stove. Imagine turning that burner on and then placing
your hand directly on it. At first you won't feel much heat because is takes time for the
burner to heat up. But at some point it will get hot enough for you to detect…meaning,
there is some temperature that is just hot enough for you to notice it. This isn't the
point at which you get burned, but the point at which it is just hot enough for you to
detect the presence of the heat.
5 Difference Threshold The difference threshold, a.k.a. the just noticeable difference
(jnd), is the minimum difference in stimulation needed so that a person can detect the
difference between two stimuli.
6 Difference Threshold Example
For example, let's say I asked you to put your hand out and in it I placed a pile of
sand. Then, I add tiny amounts of sand to your hand and ask you to tell me when you
notice any change in the overall weight. As soon as you can detect any change in the
weight, that difference between the weight of the sand before I added that last bit of
sand and the amount of sand after I added it, is the difference threshold.
7 Sensory Adaptation We get used to things. This goes for lots of things in life
including smells, sounds, sights, games, people, situations…seems like after a while
we get used to everything. One reason we get used to everything is because of
sensory adaptation, which is reduced sensitivity to stimulation that results from
repeated or prolonged presentations of that stimulation.
8 Sensory Adaptation Example
For example, my car was in for service recently and the dealer gave me a rental to
use while the car was being serviced. As soon as I got into the car I was overwhelmed
by the smell of smoke (even though I asked for a non-smoking car). It stunk! But after
driving the car for 30 minutes or so, I didn't really notice the smell. I got used to it
because I was immersed in it. I experienced sensory adaptation.

9 Transduction Transduction: Technically speaking, transduction is the process of

converting one form of energy into another. As it relates to psychology, transduction
refers to changing physical energy into electrical signals (neural impulses) that can
make their way to the brain.

10 Transduction Example For example, your ears receive energy (sound waves) and
transduce (or convert) this energy into neural messages that make their way to your
brain and are processed as sounds.

11 Weber’s Law Psychophysics

Weber-Fechner law  Originated by the German physiologist Ernst Heinrich Weber
(1795–1878) in 1834 and elaborated by his student Gustav Theodor Fechner. The law
states that the change in a stimulus that will be just noticeable is a constant ratio of the
original stimulus. It was later shown not to hold for extremes of stimulation.

12 Weber’s Law- Example Weber’s Law – If we can distinguish a Just-Noticeable

Difference in sound intensity between 100 hand bells and 110 hand bells, we may
argue that we may be able to distinguish the difference between 10 and 11 hand bells,
or between 300 and 330 hand bells: a 10% difference in each case. So argued the
German physiologist E H Weber. Our thresholds for detecting differences are a
roughly constant proportion to the size of the original stimulus. (approx. 10%)
The perceptual process involves three components:
1. Perceptual Selection
2. Perceptual Organization
3. Perceptual Interpretation
1. Perceptual Selection:
The first, component of perception, selection, involves consumer being exposed to
marketing stimuli and then he has to attend to them.
There is a tendency among people to consciously see and hear or be attentive to only
certain aspects of the advertising message which is being communicated.
Perception is a selective process. Usually, people are able to sense and receive only
limited information from the environment and hence are characteristically selective.
During this process of selection, certain aspects of stimuli are screened out and others
admitted. These aspects of the stimuli which are admitted remain and fall within the
threshold of the person, while those which are screened out fall out or below the
threshold limit.
Consumers will identify and choose marketing stimuli based on their needs and
attitudes. A consumer intending to buy a sports bike will be more attentive to motor
bikes ad, a style conscious person will be more receptive to ads for fashionable
clothes while another consumer who is a habitual soft drink lover will be more attentive
to advertisements portraying the various soft drink brands. In all the above instances
the consumer will process stimuli selectively by picking and choosing them based on
his by her psychological set.
For perceptual selection to actually take place, the consumer must first see or hear the
stimulus and then respond to it.
There are three processes which define selection:
a. Exposure
b. Attention
c. Selective perception
a. Exposure and Attention:
When a consumer’s senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch are activated by a
stimulus, exposure is said to have occurred. But their interest and involvement with
the stimulus will be reflected at the level of attention they devote to it. Attention is
defined as the momentary focusing of a consumer’s cognitive capacity on a specific
stimulus. For example, when consumers take notice of a TV ad, a new product
displayed in the retail outlet or a new vehicle in the company showroom, it is said that
attention has taken place.
b. Selective Attention:
People will be selective in their choice of receiving various kinds of information for
different products or services based on what interests them rather than the message
content and also selection of the media.
So based on their need which is active at that point of time, people will be selective
and choose to listen to certain aspects of the advertising message, arid decide to see
and hear only a part of what is being communicated. For instance, if a person’s need
(which is active at that point of time) is to purchase a pair of formal footwear, his mind
will be ready to receive only those stimuli which will give him some information related
to footwear. He will exercise a great deal of selectivity and look out for information
messages that will help him to increase his knowledge about the retail outlets selling
his type of shoes.
Advertisers try to use structural factors such as size through large ads, strategic
placement of the ad in the print media by using eye catching photos or illustrations.
For example the sportswear brand Adidas had used suburban underground railway
system to tie in with the brand’s tagline. “Impossible is Nothing”.
During a campaign it had used time lapse images along the usually blank walls
between underground stations-positioned so that the speed of the train made it seem
like the man was running alongside. At the stations, Adidas theme advertising made
the connection between the running man and the brand.
c. Selective Exposure:
Through selective exposure people try to avoid coming into contact with or avoid any
message that may go against or be contradictory to the strongly held beliefs and
attitudes. A person’s belief very strongly influences his perception about people or
things. Because of this, a fact is conceived not on what it is but on what a person
believes it to be. Thus the individual normally puts a censorship on the stimulus
(inputs) to avoid disturbance of his existing beliefs and value. This is also known as
maintenance of cognitive consistency.
Consumers also look out and seek messages that they feel are pleasant or which are
sympathetic to their causes and action. They try to avoid painful or unpleasant
messages or are against those which they perceive to be threatening in nature. This is
also referred to as a part of the process of cognitive dissonance.
If a consumer is dissatisfied or unsure after the purchase of a particular product he or
she will try to reduce the dissonance. In the words of Leon Festinger, this drive is “to
establish internal harmony, consistency or congruity among his opinions, knowledge
and values ” Such dissatisfied consumers will try to reduce the dissonance by seeking
information that will reiterate the high value of the product purchased by them and
avoid information which may speak against the (presumed high value) product.
For instance, those people who have developed the habit of chewing paan or tobacco
will avoid all information which may link ‘chewing tobacco’ to cancer. Consumers will
selectively expose themselves to advertisements that will reassure and reinforce them
of the wisdom in their purchase decision.
In today’s age of e-technology, when consumers are bombarded with a lot of
information, it becomes humanly impossible to take in all of it. So, they indulge in
selective exposure.
In other words:
i. People are more likely to get attracted to the stimuli which relates to the current
need.
ii. It is more likely that people may observe the stimuli that they anticipate.
iii. People are more likely to notice a large deviation of the stimuli than the usual size
of the stimuli (For example, a consumer who is interested in the purchase of a car is
more likely to notice an ad offering? 15000/- off the list price of an “A” brand than ‘B’
offering Rs. 1500/- off the list price).
Selective Perception:
Consumers will perceive marketing experiences stimuli selectively because each
person will be unique in terms of her needs, attitudes experiences and personal
characteristics. Selective perception means that different persons may perceive the
same product, advertisement package in a different way.
For example, one consumer may believe that Tide washing powder washes and
makes clothes whiter than the other washing powders. Whereas, there could be
another consumer who may not agree with this claim, for she may believe that all the
washing powders are the same.
Selective perception occurs at every stage in the perceptual process. Selective
exposure takes place because each individual’s belief will influence what she decides
to read or hear. Selective organisation occurs because each person will organize
information so that it is consistent to her beliefs. And selective interpretation will take
place such that perception will conform to prior beliefs and attitudes.
For example, Oral B toothbrush claims that its toothbrush will indicate when the user
has to purchase a new toothbrush. This, the marketer assumed would be consistent to
the consumers beliefs that such a toothbrush will be helpful. However, dentists, in
general, may not concur with the claim. Such consumers’ perception can be
influenced by brand name associations arrived at from advertising and social stimuli,
where the association tends to conform to the consumer’s current knowledge and past
experiences.
Such selective perception can affect both high involvement and low involvement
purchase decisions. In case of low involvement purchases, consumers will selectively
screen out more information so as to avoid informational clutter and cognitive activity.
Whereas, in case of high involvement, consumers’ will selectively choose
information so that:
i. It helps them to evaluate brands which meet their needs
ii. They can select brands which conform to their belief and predispositions.
Perceptual Vigilance and Perceptual Defense:
Since selective perception will help the consumer to receive information having
relevance to her needs, this process is also called perceptual vigilance.
During high involvement purchases, consumers, through perceptual vigilance obtain
the necessary information which matches their requirement. For low involvement
purchases, consumers will screen out and minimize information processing through
perceptual vigilance. In such instances, the consumer tends to selectively screen out
information.
Perceptual defense refers to the individual being vigilant and screening out all those
stimuli or elements which create conflict or may give rise to a threatening situation.
Consumers may subconsciously screen out the stimuli which is found to be
psychologically threatening, even if the exposure has taken place. They may even
perceive other factors to be present, which may not be a part of the stimulus situation.
Perceptual vigilance or defense can also be said in reference to the way in which
people maintain their prior beliefs. For instance, going by the saying “The customer is
always right”, the restaurant manager will deal in a proper manner with the customer
who is upset with the customer service, ignoring the fact that it was actually the
customer who behaved badly. This example again emphasises that individuals
unconsciously may distort information that is not consistent with their needs, beliefs,
opinions or attitudes.
Perceptual-Equilibrium and Disequilibrium:
Perceptual Equilibrium:
The underlying principle influencing selective perception is that consumers seek
perceptual equilibrium i.e., consistency between prior beliefs they have about a brand
and the information they receive about a brand. There are three theories which are
based on the Principle of Selective Perception and Perceptual Equilibrium.
Sherif’s Social Judgment theory which says that consumers process information in
order to ensure consistency by either rejecting contradictory information or by
interpreting acceptable information such that it fits in more closely with their views.
Heider’s Balance theory which states that when information received about an object
conflicts with consumer’s belief, they will try to achieve balance by changing their
opinion about the object or the source of information or both, i.e., consumers will try to
get a balance in beliefs about the information and the object.
According to the Cognitive Dissonance theory when post purchase conflicts arise,
consumers will try to seek balance in the psychological set by seeking supporting
information or by distorting contradictory information.
Each of the above theories indicate that consumers are seeking consistency between
consumer’s perception of marketing stimuli and their belief and attitudes.
Perceptual Disequilibrium:
Sometimes consumers would accept discrepant information about a selected product.
If they did not, it will mean that every time a consumer was dissatisfied, he or she will
try to rationalize the purchase and would never switch brands. There are two theories
which predict different outcomes of customer dissatisfaction.
The learning theory suggests that when a brand does not meet expectations,
consumers learn from the negative experience and will adjust their belief and attitudes
accordingly. The outcome is a reduction in the probability of repurchase. For example,
even though a majority of the non paan eating consumers accept the link between
eating paan and cancer, only half of the heavy paan eaters could be in a state of
perceptual disequilibrium. Many of such paan consumers may accept this dissonant
information and try hard to stop eating paan i.e., change their behaviour to conform to
the information.
Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that when a brand does not meet expectation,
consumers will disbelieve the negative information received. For example, the heavy
paan eaters may disbelieve the link between cancer and eating paan and rationalize
their paan eating behaviour.
Marketing Strategy and Selective Perception:
Marketers can communicate messages which are clear cut or ambiguous. When
consumers are engaged in perceptual defense, then ambiguous messages will be
more effective because consumers are being given latitude to interpret their messages
according to their belief about the brand.
For example, advertisers use ambiguity in advertising when the product or service is
important to consumers but its benefits are not clear cut. But since consumers are
utilizing beliefs which are consistent with their needs, this can be referred to as
perceptual defense.
For example Indian Oil’s Ad asks –
“Correct quality?
Correct quantity?
Special services?
Here’s where you should be heading….”
The above questions from the Indian Oil gives consumers enough reasons for using
Indian Oil’s products and services. This ad enables consumers to selectively perceive
a range of application with a minimum of informational content and relate it to the ad.
When consumers are engaged in perceptual vigilance, clear cut messages are likely
to be more effective, especially when the information is supportive or contradictory to
the consumer’s belief. When the product or service benefits are clear cut and it is
targeted at a specific target market, marketers use an advertisement where the
informational content dominates and ambiguity is at the minimum.
For example, in case of industrial advertising, most of the ads are providing direct
informational content to match the consumers’ needs of receiving straight forward
information. Here the principle of perceptual vigilance is being used.
Chunking or grouping of information will help consumers to evaluate various brands of
products by making use of a variety of attributes.
Perceptual Blocking:
Another aspect of perceptual selectivity is perceptual blocking. When consumers are
bombarded with lots of information, there is a general tendency to ‘block out’ some
stimuli from their conscious awareness. It will be noticed that when consumers are
exposed to many advertisements together, they will automatically switch off, from their
mental set, most of the advertisements.
For example, popular T.V. programmes are sponsored by marketers of products with
commercial viability. The advertisements of all the sponsored products are shown (at
times even repeated many times) in short intervals of time during the time of telecast.
But most of these ads are perpetually ‘blocked out’ by consumers due to over
exposure of the same.
2. Perceptual Organisation:
People do not experience all the stimuli selected by them as separate and discrete
sensations. They rather, organise this stimuli into groups and perceive them as a
unified whole. This method of perceptual organisation enables individuals to view life
in a simplified manner.
The underlying principles helping individuals in perceptual organisation was first
developed by the Gestalt psychologists. (Gestalt, when translated from German
means total configuration or whole pattern). These principles help in understanding
perceptual organisations, which are primarily related to the physiological events
occurring in the nervous system of the individual in direct reaction to stimuli by the
physical objects. There are three basic principles used in perceptual organisation –
grouping, closure and context.
Grouping:
In grouping, the perceiver groups the different stimuli based on the principles of
similarity, continuity and proximity. This means all those stimuli which are grouped
together are likely to be perceived as having the same characteristics. The perception
of stimuli as groups of information will facilitate easy memorising and recall by
consumers.
Marketers are using this principle to enable consumers to get a unified picture and co-
relate desired connection with their products. For instance, one of the commercials for
Cadbury used to show an old grandfather blowing bubbles with his little grandchildren.
Cadbury was promoting chocolates by associating with the natural spontaneous
behaviour on the part of adults. The ad also conveyed the message “The real taste of
life”. This grouping will convey to the consumer that chocolates is a universal product
to be enjoyed by all, irrespective of age barriers.
Through the ad of Nokia N 91, the advertiser is attempting to associate the brand with
music and phone. The ad of The Economic Times (Now in Lucknow) tries to illustrate
the concept of similarity through grouping the various editions of The Economic Times
by providing different business news relevant to the particular city although it caters to
the needs of the business news readers across the country as a whole.
The principle of continuity can be applied to the ad of Microsoft software which says
that it can be used by all the company’s employees, where the transition is
continuous. The software can be utilized by all people and also provides them the
software to match their ambition to succeed far and wide equally.
Context:
Figure and Ground:
Consumers tend to perceive an object in the context in which it is shown. While
organizing information, people have the tendency to keep certain phenomena in focus
and some other phenomena in the background. This is said to be the working of the
figure and ground principle. This is a very important principle of context.
According to Gestalt psychologists, when individuals organize stimuli into wholes, they
will distinguish stimuli which are prominent (the figure that is generally in the
foreground) from the stimuli which is less prominent (those in the ground or
background).
Advertisers, usually try to ensure that the product is the figure and the setting is in the
background.
This can be seen in the ad of Johnnie Walker given below:
Closure:
When faced with incomplete information, individuals have the tendency to fill in the
gaps themselves so as to gain a more meaningful information. They feel ill at ease
when faced with an incomplete picture. They prefer to organise their perceptions so as
to form a complete picture. In other words, if people are exposed to incomplete stimuli,
they tend to perceive it as complete, by either consciously or subconsciously filling up
the missing gaps.
This may be done on the basis of his or her (the individual’s) past experience, past
information or on the basis of hunches. This concept of closure can be seen as the
tension experienced by a person when a task is incomplete, and the satisfaction and
relief that may be experienced on its completion.
At times, some of the advertisements are given in an incomplete manner, where
broken lines are put, which have to be filled in with certain alphabets in order to
convey some meaning. People usually fill up these gaps to get the picture or meaning.
3. Perceptual Interpretation:
We have seen that perception is a personal phenomenon. People have the tendency
to interpret the meaning of what they have selectively perceived and organised on the
basis of their own assumptions about the stimuli. This interpretation of the stimuli will
be dependent on what the individual expects to see in the light of his previous
experience, intuition, data received, motives and interests at the time of perception.
It is likely that the stimuli are highly ambiguous. Some stimuli may be strong while
others may be weak. Moreover, based on the angles at which stimuli are viewed,
varying distances and changing levels of illumination, it is likely that there may occur
fluctuations in the stimuli.
Due to the ambiguity of the stimuli, the individual will prefer to interpret the sensory
inputs received by him or her, such as to fulfill their personal needs, interests and so
on. Thus, we can say that the perceptual interpretations of the stimuli by individuals
are also done in relative terms. So there are chances of misinterpretation.
But in order to understand how close a person’s interpretation is to reality, we will
have to determine the clarity of the stimuli, the previous experience of the perceiver,
the individual’s motives (or needs) and interests.
Thus, after consumers have selected and organized stimuli, they interpret them.
Consumers are able to interpret marketing information by making use of two
principles:
(a) Categorization:
This principle is with reference to the tendency of consumers to process and place
information into their interpretation of logical categories. For example, “This new ad of
mineral water must be probably just like ‘Bisleri mineral water'”.
(b) Inference:
This principle refers to consumers reasoning out and developing an association
between two stimuli. For example, consumers might associate herbal extracts in body
care products with natural ingredients.
Perceptual Distortion:
There are certain factors which could influence the individual, leading to perceptual
distortion.
These are briefly discussed below:
Personality or Physical Appearance:
Personality of the perceiver greatly influences the perception process. Researches
have shown that people have a tendency to perceive others to be having the same
attributes or qualities as themselves. People have the tendency to associate certain
persons with others who may have certain attributes, irrespective of whether they
consciously recognise the attributes or not.
This is why, advertisers give a lot of importance to the selection of models for
advertisements. Portrayal of an attractive model to promote the product or service will
have an added touch of persuasiveness. This can automatically induce the consumer
to develop a positive attitude and behaviour towards the product. For instance, using
celebrity, to endorse a product or brand is more appealing to the consumer’s mind.
Example of celebrities endorsing certain brands are:
1. Hema Malini — Kent water purifier, Malabar Gold
2. Amitabh Bachchan — Reid & Taylor, Boroplus Antiseptic tube
3. Juhi Chawla — Kurkure snacks
4. Kajol — Marie gold biscuits, Whirlpool washing machine, Asmi diamonds
5. Sania Mirza — Tata Tea Premium
I. Stereotypes:
This term ‘Stereotype’ is used to describe ‘biases’ involved in perceiving people. This
means that there could be a bias involved when the perceiver sees/perceives the
person or individual on the basis of a single class or category to which he or she
belongs.
Stereotypes also convey another meaning that is there is a general concurrence on
the attributed traits and also the possibility of a discrepancy between attributed traits
and actual traits. Accordingly, stereotypes may attribute favourable and unfavourable
traits to the person being perceived.
For example, statements such as:
“All salespersons are fast talkers and bluff a lot.” Stereotypes indicate the expectations
from certain specific stimuli and how these (stimuli) will ultimately be perceived.
II. Halo Effect:
The term ‘Halo effect’ is used to describe a process, in which judges use the general
impression (either favourable or unfavourable) to evaluate certain specific traits. Here
‘Halo’ acts as a barrier or screen to keep the perceiver away from actually seeing the
trait he is judging.
The broad difference between the halo error and stereotyping error is that in
stereotyping the person is perceived on the basis of a single category, while under the
halo effect the person is perceived on the basis of one trait or event.
According to consumer behaviourists, ‘halo effect’ includes the evaluation of multiple
brands (say a product line of a firm) by evaluating just one dimension (either the brand
name or celebrity endorsement). Going by this perspective of halo effect, marketers
can extend the use of a brand name associated with one line of products to another.
The knowledge or familiarity which consumers have with the product or brand is likely
to influence their perception of the brand and extensions, if any. For example, Amul
with the ‘Taste of India’ tag line has successfully been extended to its ice creams.
Horlicks brand name has been successfully extended to its Horlicks biscuits also. The
value of the brand as perceived by the consumer will be in terms of assurance of
quality, reliability and acceptable price.
III. Irrelevant Cues:
Sometimes, consumers form perceptual judgement based on their giving importance
to irrelevant cues. In the case of purchase of automobiles, at times, consumers’
purchase decisions are based on the importance given to the look, colour, leather
upholstery etc. rather than giving due consideration to the mechanical and technical
superiority.
IV. First Impressions:
There is a very old saying which goes as “First impressions tend to be lasting ones”
However, this wisdom will depend on the context and also on the extent to which the
perceiver is aware of the relevance of the stimuli considered by him or her.
Firms have to exercise care, especially when launching new products and trying to
create a good first impression on the minds of the consumers. If the product fails to
make the desired ‘first’ impact, a ‘second chance’ to taste success may not occur.
And, any subsequent attempts at communicating the advantages may not be sufficient
to delete from the consumer’s mind about its (unsuccessful) earlier attempts.
For decades, Coca-cola Company was known only for its Coca-cola brand. Later on
the company tried to introduce other flavours and fruit juices and extend the Coca-cola
name but consumers had learnt to perceive and link the brand name to the cola drink
only. Finally they decided to advertise and support them separately.
V. Hasty Conclusions:
Often people have the tendency to arrive at conclusions very quickly, before
examining all the relevant evidence. This behaviour can be based on the person’s
attitude, motivation level, interest and past experience also. Consumers at times
develop the attitude of drawing conclusions based on limited receipt of information.
This factor will also act as a distorting factor and come in the way of his perceptual
process. There is one ad which appears on the mass media, showing a spokesperson
for ‘consumer rights’ cautioning consumers against blindly accepting the packaged
product received from the shopkeeper.
Consumers are advised that rather than jumping to conclusions about the verbal
assurance of the contents, it is the consumer’s right to ask the retailer to measure and
verity the same in their presence.
Inspite of the above mentioned distorting influences, it is reassuring to observe that
often an individual’s past experience may help in resolving stimulus ambiguity in a
more realistic way, right up to the ‘interpretation’ in the perceptual process. Moreover,
it is only under changing stimulus condition situation that the individual’s expectations
may lead to wrong interpretations.
VI. Perceptual Inference:
Consumers draw inferences about brands, outlets, and associations. For instance,
consumers may associate a Tanishq watch with quality. This inference could be drawn
on the basis of word of mouth communication from peer group, friends or
advertisements. We can understand this better by having a look at discussions, on
product symbols and semiotics.
VII. Product Symbols:
Many of the symbols we see in the ads and packages are socially and culturally
derived. For example, Air India’s Maharaja symbolizes royal treatment, even the
usage of orange, white and green colours on many of the packages can be associated
with patriotism.
Symbols can affect the consumption process. For example the advertisement of Bajaj
Discover DTS-i can be associated with fantasy (computer graphics showing how the
pipes follow the bike rider) and conveys the message that the bike is fuel efficient.
However, advertisers have to remember that consumers will perceive symbols
selectively. For example, Blackberry may indicate the iconic status to some while there
could be others who may find it too fanciful for usage.
VIII. Semiotics:
The study which examines the role of signs and symbols in assigning meaning to
objects is called semiotics.
Semiotics tries to determine the meaning consumer’s assign to symbols
through three components:
i. The object or product (say, Kent Mineral RO)
ii. The symbol associated with the object (water purifier)
iii. The interpretant or meaning of the symbol (domestic, pure and healthy water).
For marketing purposes, semioticians view the symbols used in the packaging as a
kind of culture or consumption dictionary, where the entries are considered to be
products, which are culturally defined. Now, going back to the example of Kent Mineral
(RO), Water Purifier, assume that the associations mentioned are what the company
wants the consumer to associate with the symbol (water purifier).
In reality, if the consumers were to associate with the symbol positively (i.e., as the
company hoped to elicit), then it can be said that the consumer’s perception matches
with that of the company’s symbolic representation. Under such circumstances, a
positive perceptual inference has taken place suggesting that consumer perception
has positively interpreted the said symbol.
However, if the meaning many consumers associate with the symbol (Kent Mineral
RO water purifier) does not match with what the company had hoped to elicit, the very
purpose of using the symbol, by the company, is defeated.