Transcript chp 1

Chapter 2
Perception
CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR, 10e
Michael R. Solomon
2-1
Sensation and Perception
• Sensation is the immediate
response of our sensory receptors
(eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and
fingers) to basic stimuli (light,
color, sound, odor, and texture).
• Perception is the process by which
sensations are selected,
organized, and interpreted.
2-2
The Perceptual Process
We receive external
stimuli through
our five senses
2-3
Sensory Systems
•
•
•
•
•
Vision
Scent
Sound
Touch
Taste
2-4
Vision
Color
• Color provokes emotion
• Reactions to color are
biological and cultural
• Color in the United States is
becoming brighter and
more complex
• Trade dress: colors
associated with specific
companies
2-5
Psycho-physical Illusions
• Which line is longer:
horizontal or vertical?
• If you’re given two 24 oz.
glasses, will you pour
more into the shorter,
wider glass or the taller
glass?
2-6
Smell
Odors create mood and
promote memories:
• Coffee = childhood, home
• Cinnamon buns = sex
Marketers use scents:
• Inside products
• In atmospherics
• In promotions (e.g.,
scratch ‘n sniff)
2-7
Hearing
Sound affects people’s feelings and behaviors
• Phonemes: individual sounds that might be
more or less preferred by consumers
• Example: “i” brands are “lighter” than “a”
brands
• Muzak uses sound and music to create mood
• High tempo = more stimulation, “shop fast”
• Slower tempo = more relaxing, “slow down
and stay awhile”
2-8
Touch
• Haptic Senses — or “touch”— is the most basic
of senses; we learn this before vision and smell
• Haptic senses affect product experience and
judgment
• Kansei engineering: Japanese philosophy that
translates customers’ feelings into design
elements
• Marketers that use touch: perfume companies,
car makers, furniture manufacturers
2-9
The Importance of Product Design
• The design of a
product is a key
driver of its success
or failure.
• Appealing to multiple
senses
2-10
Taste
• Flavor houses develop new
concoctions for consumer
palates
• Culture and cultural
changes determine
desirable tastes
• Examples: hot peppers,
saltiness, spiciness
• Individual Differences in
taste perception
2-11
For Reflection
• Some studies suggest that as we age, our
sensory detection abilities decline.
What are the implications of this
phenomenon for marketers who target
elderly consumers?
2-12
Psychophysics & Sensory Thresholds
• Psychophysics: Science that focuses on
how the physical environment is integrated
into our personal, subjective world
• Sensory Threshold: the minimum amount
of stimulation / stimulus intensity needed
to cause a sensation
2-13
Sensory Thresholds
• The absolute threshold refers to the
minimum amount of stimulation a person
can detect on any given sensory channel
• The differential threshold refers to the
ability of a sensory system to detect
changes in or differences between two
stimuli
• Weber’s Law
2-14
Sensory Thresholds
• Differential threshold:
differences in sensation
between two stimuli
• Minimum difference
between two stimuli needed
for detection is the JND (just
noticeable difference)
• Example: packaging updates
must be subtle enough over
time to keep current
customers from recognizing
2-15
changes
Sensory Thresholds (cont.)
• Differential thresholds used in pricing
strategies:
• $2 discount on a $10 vs. $100 item
• Reference price: price against which
buyers compare the actual selling price
• Original price versus sale price
• Do price changes cause a j.n.d.?
2-16
Sensory Thresholds
• The concept of sensory threshold is
important for marketing communications
2-17
Subliminal Stimuli & Perception
• Occurs when stimulus intensity is below the level of
consumer’s awareness.
• Subliminal techniques
• Embeds: figures that are inserted into magazine
•
advertising by using high-speed photography or
airbrushing.
Subliminal Auditory Perception: sounds, music, or
voice text inserted into advertising.
• Rumors of subliminal advertising are rampant— wellknown brands, political messages, etc.
• Most research finds subliminal advertising / priming
does NOT work.
2-18
Closure, Gestalt and Mental Schema
• We interpret the stimuli we attend to
according to learned patterns and
expectations.
2-19
Attention
• Attention is the extent to which processing
activity is devoted to a particular stimulus
• People constantly engage in Selective
Attention
2-20
Sensory Overload
• Products and commercial messages often appeal
to our senses, but because of the profusion of
these messages, most won’t influence us.
2-21
Attention
• Competition for our attention
• Exposed to 3,500+ ads per day
• Other stimuli
• Younger consumers can better process
information from more than one medium
at a time
• The multi-tasking “myth”…
2-22
How Do Marketers Get Attention?
• Personal Selection
• Experience
• Perceptual filters
• Perceptual
•
vigilance
• Perceptual
defense
Adaptation
• Stimulus Selection
• Contrast
• Size
• Color
• Position
• Novelty
2-23
Personal Selection (cont.)
• Perceptual vigilance: consumers are more likely to be
aware of stimuli that relate to their current needs
• Example: you’re in the market for a car—so you tend
to notice car ads and cars on the road more than
before
• Perceptual defense: people see what they want to see—
and don’t see what they don’t want to see
• Example: heavy smoker may block out images of
cancer-scarred lungs
2-24
Stimulus Selection Factors
• We are more likely to notice stimuli that differ
from others around them
• So, marketers can create “contrast” through:
Size
Color
Position
Novelty
2-25
For Reflection
• How have you seen brands use size,
color, and novelty to encourage you to pay
attention to them?
• Were the techniques effective?
2-26
Interpretation
• Interpretation refers to the meaning we assign to
sensory stimuli
• Through priming, certain properties of a stimulus
evoke a schema
2-27
Factors Leading to Adaptation / Habituation
Intensity
Duration
Discrimination
Exposure
Relevance
2-28
Stimulus Organization
• Gestalt: the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts
• Closure: people perceive an incomplete
picture as complete
• Similarity: consumers group together objects
that share similar physical characteristics
• Figure-ground: one part of the stimulus will
dominate (the figure) while the other parts
recede into the background (ground)
2-29
Application of the
Figure-Ground Principle
2-30
Interpretational Biases
• We interpret ambiguous stimuli based on
our experiences, expectations, and
psychological needs
• “Confabulation”
• Confirmation Bias
• Post-Purchase Distortion
• Hindsight Bias – “knew it all along”
2-31