PERSONALITY AND SELF IMAGE AS A DETERMINANT OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Note: In some of the slides Individual here refers to consumer since we are concerned with consumer behaviour

Personality

How a person understands and views himself as a pattern of inner and outer measurable traits and how he affects others Personality influences individuals product choices Helps in development of firms market segmentation strategies

Nature of Personality

Individuals are similar in terms of some personality characteristic thereby it enables to categorize consumers based on one or several traits Personality is consistent It may change under some circumstances thereby consumer behaviour also changes

Theories of personality

Freudian Theory : Based on his analysis human personality consists of three interacting systems Id , superego and ego ID was conceptualized as warehouse of impulsive drives, basic psychological needs such as hunger, thirst for which individual seeks immediate satisfaction Superego is individuals internal expression of societys moral and ethical codes of conduct

Ego is individuals conscious control , it balances needs of ID and socio cultural constraints of superego Based on this theory according to researches , it can be derived that consumer behaviour is largely unconscious and is considered as reflection and extension of individual personality

E.g. In a study of 19,000 consumers it was concluded that Potato chips are associated with ambitious, successful, high achiever individuals Similarly Pretzels another variety of chips were associated with lively, easily bored with old routine individuals

Non Freudian Theory

A non freudian classified personality into three groups one type of individuals who move towards others , second as aggressive who move against others and detached individuals who desire independence Marketers would be guided by characterization of these

Trait Theory

Focuses on measurement of personality in terms of special psychological characteristics called traits Measuring of Traits such as consumer innovativeness e.g. Is consumer receptive to a new brand Consumer Materialism(materialistic possessions e.g. money) , consumer ethnocentrism (degree of liking towards foreign products)

Trait researches concluded personality to be linked with how consumer purchases a broad product category E.g. Study of 1000 U.S. adults found Chicken noodle soup lovers watch a lot of T.V, are outgoing Tomato soup lovers were passionate about reading and loved pets

Consumer Diversity

Innovative consumers: Open to new things Dogmatism: Degree of rigidity versus openness towards unfamiliar and info contrary to individuals beliefs Social character: Inner directedness to outer directedness Variety seeking: seeking multiple features in single product, optimum stimulation level

Cognitive personality factors

Need for cognition : Persons craving Visualizers : Visual information Verbalizers: Verbal or written information

Fixated consumption behaviour : Deep interest in a particular object or product category Compulsive Consumption behaviour: Addiction to certain products Consumer ethnocentrism: Responses to foreign made products

Self Image

Image of ones own self: what one thinks of himself/herself Ideal self image: what image one wants to have of his / her own Social self image: what image one has socially

Ideal social self image: what image one wants to have socially Extended Self: how one extends his/her image e.g. a rational consumer may feel his image extended by wearing a gold chain Altering Self: changing in one self for e.g physical looks like grooming, new style related to consumer materialism

Thank You