CHAPTER

SEVEN

Consumer Learning
LEARNING PROCESSES
• Intentional
–learning acquired as a result of
a careful search for information
Incidental
-- learning acquired by accident
or without much effort
 LEARNING
• A process by which individuals acquire the
purchase and consumption knowledge and
experience that they apply to future related
behavior.
 ELEMENTS OF LEARNING
THEORIES
• Unfilled needs lead to motivation. Motivation

Motivation acts as a drive to learning

• Often, a consumer does not realize they have a
need

• Stimuli that direct motives. They are the stimuli

that give direction to these motives.
Cues • They include price, styling, packaging,
advertising, and store displays (product spesific
cues)

• Consumer reaction to a drive or cue. Learning

Response can occur even when responses are not overt.

• The response is how the consumer behaves after
being exposed

• Reward - Increases the likelihood that a response

Reinforcement will occur in the future as a result of a cue
 TWO MAJOR LEARNING THEORIES
Behavioral Learning Cognitive Learning

• Based on observable • Learning based on

behaviors mental information
(responses) that processing
occur as the result of • Often in response to
exposure to stimuli problem solving
•(observation – response) •(mental process)

Chapter Seven Slide

 BEHAVIORAL LEARNING
THEORIES
• Behavioral Learning theories assume that learning
takes place as the result of responses to external
events.
 BEHAVIORAL LEARNING
1. Classical Conditioning: Automatic responce to a
situation built up through repeated exposure.
2. Instrumental (Operant) Conditioning:
Learning occurs through trial and error
process, with habits formed as a result of
received reward from trial.

Chapter Seven Slide

 BEHAVIORAL LEARNING
It is a process of
CLASSICAL
behavior modification CONDITIONING
made famous by Ivan
Pavlov and his • A behavioral learning theory
experiments according to which a stimulus
conducted with dogs. is paired with another
Ivan Pavlov
stimulus that elicits a known
response that serves to
Classical/Pavlovian produce the same response
Conditioning when used alone.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
• The dogs associated the bell sound
(conditioned stimulus) with the meat
paste (the unconditioned stimulus), and
after a number of pairings, gave the
same (unconditioned response)
• Salivation to the bell alone as they did
with the meat paste.
Models of Classical Conditioning
Figure 7-2a

Chapter Seven Slide

 Marlboro Cowboy Campaign

• May people viewed a cowboy as conveying strength, masculinity and

quiet security.
• The cowboy is the unconditioned stimulus.
• The positive feeling that the cowboy evokes (strength, masculinity)
is the unconditioned response.
• The product is conditioned stimulus (positive feeling when you use
the product)
• The brand purchase is the conditioned response.
 Strategic Applications of
Classical Conditioning
• Increases the association
Basic Concepts between the conditioned and
unconditioned stimulus
• Repetition • Slows the pace of forgetting
• Stimulus • Advertising wearout is a
generalization problem
• Advertising wearout can be
• Stimulus a big problem for
discrimination advertisers, which is why
they change their ads
frequently.
• Think of the ad you have just seen
so many times you feel like you
can’t stand to see it again.
Repetition of the Message with Varied Ads Results in
More Information Processing
by the Consumer
 Strategic Applications of
Classical Conditioning
The inability to perceive
Basic Concepts differences between
slightly dissimilar stimuli.
•An example you might
• Repetition recognize is when we
react to someone in a
• Stimulus certain way because they
generalization remind us of someone
we know and have
• Stimulus interacted with before.
discrimination • Useful in:
– product extensions
– family branding
– licensing
Licensing
Strategic Applications of Classical
Conditioning
• Is closely linked to the
• Repetition concept of positioning.
• Stimulus • Marketers want you to
think of their product
generalization differently than the rest
• Stimulus when you are looking at
the shelf in the grocery
discrimination store.
– Using the example of the
brand Tylenol, the
manufacturer would want you
to know that it is superior to
the store brand.
Honda Amaze
Maruti DZire
 Instrumental (Operant) Conditioning

• The famous psychologist B.F. Skinner is associated

with this type of conditioning.
• He pointed out that learning occurs based on rewards.
• The difference between this and classical conditioning
is that the learned response is the one that is most
satisfactory of responses.
• He pointed out that individual learns to perform
behaviors that produce positive outcomes and to
avoid those that yield negative outcomes.
• Through trial and error, consumers learn which
behaviors lead to rewards and which do not.
A Model of Instrumental Conditioning

Chapter Seven Slide

 TYPES OF
REINFORCEMENT
• Positive: Consists of events that strengthen the likelihood of a
specific response.
– Using a shampoo that leaves your hair feeling silky and clean is
likely to result in a repeat purchase of the shampoo.
– Going to the gym made you feel good so you go every other day.
• Negative: It is an unpleasant or negative outcome that also serves to
encourage a specific behavior.
– Fear appeals in ad messages are examples of negative
reinforcement.
– Many life insurance advertisements rely on negative reinforcement to
encourage the purchase of life insurance. .
– You ate a donut every morning for breakfast so gained a lot of weight
over the past week. This causes you to go to the gym every other day
and to stop eating donuts.
• Punishment – not the same as reinforcement
– Choose reinforcement rather than punishment
 REINFORCEMENT OF BEHAVIOR

 Extinction: When a learned response is no longer reinforced, it

diminishes to the point of extinction.
 If a consumer is no longer satisfied with the service a retail store
provides, the link between the stimulus (the store) and the response
(expected satisfaction) is no longer reinforced, and there is little
likelihood that the consumer will return.
 Forgetting: Here the behaviour is unlearned because of lack of
use rather than lack of reinforcement.
 Forgetting is often related to the passage of time; this is known as the
process of decay.
 Marketers can overcome forgetting through repetition, and can combat
extinction through the deliberate enhancement of consumer satisfaction.
 INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING AND
MARKETING
• Reinforcement schedules can vary.
• They can be total (or continuous) reinforcement (discount after every purchase) 2% discount
at Lavender
• A systemic (fixed ratio) reinforcement, or (every time you reach a certain mileage point) –
Star Alliance millage points
• A random (variable ratio) reinforcement schedule. Marketers will often used random
reinforcement as a bonus for the customer and fixed reinforcement as loyalty points or rewards.
(occasion based) Aarong
• Shaping (attract first then sell) the consumer can be given the offer of a reward before they
actually make their decision and purchase a product.
• Test drive
• Sample test
• Massed (all at once = new product) versus Distributed Learning (learning spread in a period of
time)
– Should the learning and the exposure to the stimuli happen in a relatively short period of time or be drawn out? Media
planners are often faced with this decision when putting together an advertising campaign.
 A process by which individuals
observe how others behave in
response to certain stimuli and
reinforcements.
Observational Also known as modeling
Learning Their role models are usually
people they admire because of
such traits as appearance,
accomplishment, skill, and
even social class.
 Learning based on
mental activity is
called cognitive
learning.
Holds that the kind of
Cognitive learning most
Learning characteristic of
human beings is
Theory problem solving,
which enables
individuals to gain
some control over
their environment.
 COGNITIVE LEARNING
THEORY
• Movement from short-term to long-term storage
depends on
– Rehearsal : The purpose of rehearsal is to hold
information in short-term storage long enough for
encoding to take place.
– Encoding: It is the process by which we select a word or
visual image to represent a perceived object.
• Marketers, for example, help consumers encode brands by using
brand symbols. Kellogg's uses Tony the Tiger on its Frosted
Flakes, Dell Computer turns the e in its logo on its side for quick
name recognition.
 RETENTION
• Information is stored in
long-term memory
–Episodically: by the order
in which it is acquired
–Semantically: according to
significant concepts
 RETRIEVAL
• Retrieval: Retrieval is the process
by which we recover information
from long-term storage.
–For example, when we are unable to
remember something with which we
are very familiar, we are experiencing
a failure of the retrieval system.
INVOLVEMENT THEORY
• The basic premise of split-brain theory is
that the right and left hemispheres of the
brain “specialize” in the kinds of information
they process.
– The left hemisphere is primarily responsible for
cognitive activities such as reading, speaking, etc.
– The right hemisphere of the brain is concerned
with nonverbal, pictorial , and holistic information.
• The left side of the brain is rational, active, and realistic;
the right side is emotional, impulsive, and intuitive.
 Hemispheric Lateralization
Both Sides of the Brain are Involved in Decision

Chapter Seven Slide

 ISSUES IN INVOLVEMENT
THEORY
• Consumer Relevance
– High involvement purchases are:
• Very important to the consumer (e.g., in terms of perceived
risk)
• Provoke extensive problem solving (information
processing)
• Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion
– Highly involved consumers are best reached
through ads that focus on the specific
attributes of the product (the central route)
– Uninvolved consumers can be attracted
through peripheral advertising cues such as
the model or the setting (the peripheral
route).
MEASURE OF INVOLVEMENT
– In recognition tests, the consumer is shown an ad
and asked whether he or she remembers seeing it
and can remember any of its salient points.
– In recall tests, the consumer is asked whether he
or she has read a specific magazine or watched a
specific television show
• Recognition tests are based in aided recall, whereas recall tests
use unaided recall.
MARKETING APPLICATIONS OF
INVOLVEMENT
• Ads in video games
• Avatars
• Sensory appeals in ads to get more
attention
• Forging bonds and relationships
with consumers
BRAND LOYALTY VS. HABIT
• These three factors can lead to the
• Habit: consumer four types of loyalty including
picks product • no loyalty
without much • covetous loyalty, which is no
purchase but a strong attachment
thought; may be to the brand,
due to convenience • inertia loyalty, which is
purchasing the brand out of habit
• Loyalty: consumer or convenience with no
attachment, or
actively seeks out • premium loyalty, which is a high
product attachment to the brand.
• Brand equity reflects brand
loyalty and together they lead to
increased market share and
greater profits for the firm.