Chapter 4

Learning
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Buying, Having, and
Being

ELEVENTH EDITION

Michael R. Solomon

Consumer Behavior 4-1

 Learning Objectives
1. Understand how consumers learn about
products and services.

Consumer Behavior
4-2
 Learning Objective 1

• It is important to understand how consumers learn

about products and services.

• We will focuses on the way we mentally store

information we perceive, and how it adds to our
existing knowledge about the world during the
learning process.

Consumer Behavior
4-3
Learning

The Learning Process

• Products are life
experiences

• Products + memory =
brand equity/loyalty

• Learning: a relatively
permanent change in
behavior caused by
 Learning Theories

Behavioral Cognitive
Learning Learning
Theories Theories
connections between actions understanding relationships
and consequences
and problem solving.

Focus on stimulus-response
connections. Focus on consumers
as problem solvers
A. Instrumental conditioning
who learn when they
B. Classical conditioning observe relationships.

Consumer Behavior
4-5
 1. Behavioral Learning Theories
• Behavioral learning theories assume that learning
takes place as the result of responses to external
events.
• Psychologists who subscribe to this viewpoint,
approach the mind as a “black box”.

Things that come out of the box

Things that go into the box (the responses, or reactions to
(the stimuli or events perceived these stimuli)
from the outside world)
Exposure, Attention, Interpretation
Consumer Behavior
4-6
A. Instrumental Conditioning
• Instrumental conditioning is a learning method
that uses reward and punishments and is
strengthened or weakened by the behaviour
consequences

Behaviors = positive outcomes or negative

outcomes

• Instrumental conditions occurs in one of these

ways:
• Positive reinforcement
• Negative reinforcement
Instrumental Conditioning
 Types of Reinforcement
• Marketers have to decide on a reinforcement
schedule.

• The schedule refers to the details concerning what

behavior has to occur before the consequence is
delivered.

• The schedule decision relates to the amount of effort

and resources they must apply.

Consumer Behavior
4-9
 Types of Reinforcement
Fixed Interval Reinforcement
• A reward is issued in response to a behavior after a
specified period of time.
• e.g. Kohl’s store offers 10$ at next visit for every
50$ spent

Variable Interval Reinforcement

• When the reward is issued in response to a
behavior is varied. The consumer doesn't know
when reinforcement will occur.
• e.g. surprise gift while purchasing

Consumer Behavior
4-10
 Types of Reinforcement
Fixed Ratio Reinforcement
• The reinforcement occurs after a fixed number of
responses.
• e.g. Grocery store reward when you collect 50
register receipts, frequent flyer miles.

Variable-ratio Schedule
• The reinforcement occurs after a varied number of
responses.
• e.g. Slot machines.

Consumer Behavior
4-11
 B. Classical Conditioning
• Classical conditioning occurs when a stimulus that
causes a response is paired with another stimulus
that initially does not cause a response on its own.
• Over time, the second stimulus causes a similar
response because we associate it with the first
stimulus.
Unconditioned
Unconditioned Conditioned
Conditioned Conditioned
Conditioned
Stimulus
Stimulus Stimulus
Stimulus Response
Response
(UCS)
(UCS) (CS)
(CS) (CR)
(CR)

• Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist who conducted

research on digestion in animals, first demonstrated
this phenomenon in dogs.
Consumer Behavior
4-12
 B. Classical Conditioning
• He paired a neutral stimulus (a bell) with a stimulus
known to cause a salivation response in dogs (meat
powder).
• The powder was an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
because it was naturally capable of causing the
response.
• Then, over time, the bell became a conditioned stimulus
(CS). The bell did not initially cause salivation but the
dogs learned to associate the bell with the meat powder
and began to salivate at the sound of the bell only.
• The salivating of the dog over a sound, now linked to
feeding time, and it turned to be a conditioned response
(CR).
Consumer Behavior
4-13
 B. Classical Conditioning
• Conditioning effects are more likely to occur after the
conditioned (CS) and unconditioned (UCS) stimuli
have been paired several times (repetition).
• Repeated exposures to the relation increase the
strength of the associations and prevent decay of
these relations in memory. Many classic advertising
campaigns consist of product slogans repeated often
to enhance recall.
• Ex: The relation between the Marlboro man and the
cigarette is so strong that in some cases the company no
longer even bothers to include the brand name in its ads
that feature the cowboy riding off into the sunset.
Consumer Behavior
4-14
 B. Classical Conditioning
• Otherwise, extinction occurs. Extinction means that
the relation is forgotten.
• Even when relations are established, too much
exposure can turn negative.
• That’s what happened to ISO 9001 when its logo
became too exposed on a variety of products.

• Marketing strategies focus on the establishment of

relations between stimuli and responses.
• Examples include unique brand image, and linkage
between a product and an underlying need.

Consumer Behavior
4-15
 Conditioning Issues
• Repetition increases the strength of stimulus-response
associations and prevents their decay. Conditioning is more
likely after conditioned stimulus is paired repeatedly with the
unconditioned stimulus. Marketer must ensure consumer are
exposed enough times to make it stick and avoid advertising
wear out.

• Stimulus generalization refers to the tendency of stimuli

similar to a CS to evoke similar, conditioned responses.

• Stimulus discrimination when a stimulus similar to a CS is not

followed by an UCS. When this stimulus happens, reactions
are weakened and disappear.
Consumer Behavior
4-16
 Conditioning Issues
• Brand equity is a brand that has a strong positive
association in a consumer’s memory and commands a lot
of loyalty as a result.
• Repetition can be valuable. Too much repetition, however,
results in advertising wear-out (when consumers become
so used to hearing or seeing a marketing stimulus that they
no longer pay attention to it).
• Advertisements often pair a product with a positive stimulus
to create a desirable association. The order in which the
conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus are
presented can affect the likelihood that learning will occur:
presenting unconditioned stimulus before the conditioned
stimulus (backward conditioning) is not effective.
Consumer Behavior
4-17
 Marketing Applications of
Behavioral Learning Principles
• So, marketers try to set some strategies to generalize
stimulus.

• The process of stimulus generalization is critical to

branding and packaging decisions that try to benefit
from consumer’s positive relations with an existing
brand or company name.

• Strategies include: Family branding, Product line

extensions, Licensing, Look-alike packaging.

Consumer Behavior
4-18
 Marketing Applications of
Behavioral Learning Principles
Family Branding
• Enables products to benefit from the reputation of a
company name.
• Using a company name/positive corporate image to sell
product lines like: Lipton, Knorr, Dove

Product Line Extensions

• Marketers can use product line extensions by adding
related products to an established brand.
• Adding related products to an established brand like:
MacDonald's Breakfast and Coffee

Consumer Behavior
4-19
 Marketing Applications of
Behavioral Learning Principles
Licensing
• Allows companies to rent well-known brand that makes a
different type of products like: Mercedes Benz Perfumes
with INCC company .

Look-alike Packaging
• Unique packaging designs create strong associations with
a particular brand.
• Companies that make generic or private-level brands and
want to communicate a quality image often exploit this
linkage when they put their products in similar packages to
those of popular brands.
Consumer Behavior
4-20
 Types of Behavioral Learning Theories
Classical Conditioning:
Works to condition responses to
unconscious behaviors.
A stimulus that causes a
response is paired with another
stimulus that initially does not
cause a response on its own. Instrumental Conditioning:
It occurs when we learn to
perform behaviors that produce
positive outcomes and avoid
those that yield negative
outcomes.

Consumer Behavior
4-21
 2. Cognitive Learning Theory
• Cognitive learning theory approaches stress the
importance of internal mental processes.

• This perspective views people as problem solvers who

actively use information from the world around them to
master their environment.

• Cognitive development discusses how a person perceives,

reflects, and expands an understanding of his or her world
through the interaction of genetic and learned elements.

Consumer Behavior
4-22
 Marketing Applications of Cognitive
Learning Principles
• Observational learning occurs when we watch the
actions of others and note the reinforcements they
receive for their behaviors.

• People store these observations in memory as they

accumulate knowledge and then they use this
information at a later point.

• Imitating (copying) the behaviour of others is called

modeling.
Consumer Behavior
4-23
 Marketing Applications of Cognitive
Learning Principles
• Consumers seem to enjoy using “models” for guidance
in purchasing.

• The degree to which a person follows someone else

depends on the model’s social attractiveness (based
on physical appearance, expertise and how socially
desirable they are)

• For a marketer to start observational learning, four

conditions must be met.
Consumer Behavior
4-24
 Modeling the Process of Imitating
(copying) the Behavior of Others
The consumer’s
attention must be
directed to the
appropriate model
that is desirable to The consumer The consumer The consumer
follow for reasons of must remember must convert must be motivated
attractiveness, what the model this information to perform these
competence, status,
says or does. into actions. actions.
or similarity

Consumer Behavior
4-25
Consumer Behavior
2-26