Learning & Memory

Individual Determinants of Consumer Behaviour

Objectives
To understand the principal elements of learning To explore various ways learning can occur and the implications of this for understanding consumer behaviour To understand the role of behaviour modification in consumer behaviour To understand the major characteristics and operating mechanisms of memory systems and their impact on consumers behaviour

Learning

Why is it important to know about learning theories?

Marketing and advertising want to induce brand preference and preferences can be taught (Alreckand Settle, 1999) Designing brands (what is this brand going to be associated with) (Till and Lynn Priluck, 2000; Kim et al., 1998) Communicating brand attributes (the role of conditioning) Reinforcing consumers attitudes towards a brand Triggering desired behaviour, modifying existing undesirable behaviour Showing consumers how products are being used and who is using them

Denition
A relatively permanent change in behaviour which comes with direct or vicarious experiences (i.e. we experience it directly or we observe events that affects others) (Baron, 1989)

Principal Elements of Learning

Motive: Marketers strive to have their brand or its name available when relevant consumer motives are aroused because it is expected that consumers will learn a connection between the product and motive. Cues: May be viewed as a weak stimulus not strong enough to arouse consumers, but capable of providing direction to motivated activity. Response: May be viewed as a mental or physical activity the consumer makes in reaction to a stimulus situation. Reinforcement: Anything that follows a response and increases the tendency for the response to reoccur in a similar situation.

Classical Conditioning
Developed by Ivan Pavlov a Russian psychologist (1920) In his famous experiment he struck a bell (NS) (conditioned stimulus: it is not natural for dogs to salivate when they hear a bell ring) when dogs were fed (US) (unconditioned stimulus: because it would naturally cause dogs to salivate) CS + US= CR (salivation) Stimulus Generalisation: After a while, when the bell rang, the dogs would drool (conditioned response: because it has been induced through associating a neutral stimuli (bells) with a one that would elicit that sort of behaviour (food))

Designing a Brand
Food
Status Sex Appeal

Salivate RESPONSE
Brand X is Status Brand Y is Sex Appeal

Bell
Brand X Brand Y

Designing a Brand
Paired stimuli: You can transfer the meaning of an unconditioned stimulus (rugged, very macho Marlboro man) to a conditioned stimulus (cigarettes) Marketing does not create needs, it encourages a want for a product because it associates its acquisition with a satisfaction of a need (Moutinhoet al., 1996)

Creating & reinforcing POSITIVE cue association & attitudes towards a brand
Acquisition Extinction Higher Order Discrimination Generalisation
Use a salient CS & a strong US

Preferences will last as long as pairing remains

Objects already conditioned can be used as US

Find US that are not associated by your rivals

For me too brand use competitors US (McSweeney and Bierley, 1984)

Instrumental/Operant Conditioning
Developed by B.F Skinner, who demonstrated the effects of operant conditioning by teaching animals to dance and even play ping-pong by rewarding them for the desired behaviour Individuals learn on the basis of rewards and punishments Behaving in one way or another is instrumental to gain a desired outcome or avoid a negative result

Response
Mom hugs her boy to soothe him POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

Result
Frequency of tantrums increase

Mom stops telling her boy that he cant eat candy

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT

Frequency of tantrums increase

Mom tells her boy off!

PUNISHMENT

Frequency of tantrums decrease

Rewarding consumers (PRIMARY REINFORCERS)

Drive Cue Response Reinforcer
Basic consumer needs

Signage, packaging, marketing material at POS

Purchase/Consumption

Strong Positive Experience Avoid Negative Experience

Rewarding consumers (SECONDARY REINFORCERS)

Continuous Schedule of Reinforcement

VS

Intermittent Schedule of Reinforcement

Cognitive Learning Theories

Learning occurs as a result of mental processes People are problem solvers who actively use information from their surroundings to master their world Learning is a creative process We model those who we admire or respect

Modeling/Observational Learning
We can learn new behaviour simply by observing live or symbolic models Bandura(1971) proposes that in order for modeling to take place the following must happen: Attention: The consumers attention must be directed towards the appropriate model Retention: The consumer must remember what the model says or what happens to her/him Action: The consumer must convert this into action Motivation: The consumer must be motivated to perform this action

Memory

Memory
Consumers act on the basis of their recognitions, or their knowledge or beliefs about the world. These cognitions are stored in memory and they influence how incoming stimuli are interpreted

Characteristics of Memory System

Sensory Memory: Input is in the form of sensations that have been produced by the sensory receptors. Information is stored only a fraction of a second and will be lost through decay unless sufficient attention is allocated to it so that it can be analyzed and transferred to short-term memory for further processing. Short Term Memory: It is a portion of memory activated to temporarily store and process information in order to interpret it and comprehend its meaning Long Term Memory: The relatively permanent storehouse for information that has undergone sufficient processing.

Memory Process

External Input

Encoding

Storage

Retrieval

Marketing/Advertising Applications
Message with unique aspects have a greater potential for being remembered The order in which materials is presented seems to influence how well it will be retained, with the middle portion being most easily forgotten Messages that encourage immediate rehearsal of material stimulate its retention More information can be processed and retained if it is chunked

Marketing/Advertising Applications
The amount of information that can be transferred to long-term memory is a function of the time available of processing Memory is cue-dependent, and presentation of relevant cues will stimulate recall Material retained in long term memory can be quite different from the information presented in a learning situation Material that is meaningful to the individual is learned more quickly and therefore has a greater chance of being retained than does nonmeaningful material

Summary
Learning theories and socialisation processes are of great importance to advertising/marketing practitioners because they tell them how to increase the likelihood of consumers learning to buy and like their products Learning is a permanent change in behaviour that results from direct or vicarious experiences Behaviourists assume that learning takes place as a result of external stimuli (classical and operant conditioning) Marketers can use paired stimuli to make their products more desirable

Summary
The cognitive approach emphasises the individuals active role in the learning process Modeling theory argues that learning can take place through imitation Advertising/marketing use of cognitive theories is best summarised in the use of celebrity endorsers and product demonstrations Memory processes are of considerable importance to the understanding of consumers. On a more concrete level of illustration, consider the goal of marketers who strive to have consumers retain their brand name or information about it