Chapter 3: Consumer Behavior Flashcards
Belongingness and Love Needs
According to Maslow, the needs related to the social and gregarious nature of humans and the need for companionship.
Cognitive Dissonance
A lack of harmony among a person’s thoughts after a decision has been made- that is, the individual has doubts and second thoughts about the choice the was made.
Current Conditions
Situational influences such as momentary moods and conditions that influence consumer behavior.
Disconfirmation Paradigm
Approach that views consumer satisfaction as the degree to which the actual performance of a product is consistent with expectations a consumer had before purchase. If the product is as good as expected, then the consumer will be satisfied; if not, then the consumer’s expectations are disconfirmed.
Esteem Needs
According to Maslow, the needs that consist of both the need for awareness of importance to others (self-esteem) and actual esteem from others.
Experiential Sources of Information
The information a consumer gets from handling, examining, and perhaps trying a product while shopping.
Family Life Cycle
Framework that divides the development of a family into a number of stages based on the needs, assets, debts, and expenditures that change as a family begins, grows, and matures.
Group Sources of Information
A common source of information for purchase decisions that comes from communication with other people such as family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances.
Internal Sources of Information
Stored information and experience a consumer has in memory for dealing with a particular need.
Limited Decision Making
Level of decision making that requires a moderate amount of time and effort to search for and compare alternatives.
Lower Americans
Comprise 16 percent of the population and have the lowest education levels and resources; the bottom of the social class hierarchy.
Marketing Sources of Information
Include such things as advertising, salespeople, dealers, packaging, and displays offered by marketers to influence consumer decision making and behavior.
Middle Class
Middle social class; comprises 34 percent of the population and is concerned with doing the right thing and buying what is popular. This class tends to emulate Upper Americans.
Need Recognition
The first step in the consumer decision making process; the recognition by the consumer of a felt need or want.
Physical Features of a Situation
The geographical and institutional decor, sounds, aromas, lighting, weather, and visible configurations of merchandise or other materials.
Physiological Needs
According to Maslow, the primary needs of the human body such as food, water, and sex.
Product Knowledge
The amount of information a consumer has stored in her or his memory about particular product classes, product forms, brands, and models, and ways to purchase them.
Public Sources of Information
Publicity, such as newspaper articles about the product, and independent ratings of the product, such as Consumer Reports.
Reference Groups
Groups that an individual looks to (uses as a reference) when forming attitudes and opinions.
Routine Decision Making
The most common type of decision making, involves little in the way of thinking and deliberation. It is often habitual and is the way consumers commonly purchase packaged goods that are inexpensive, simple, and familiar.
Safety Needs
According to Maslow, things such as protection from physical harm, ill health, and economic disaster and avoidance of the unexpected.
Self-Actualization Needs
According to Maslow, the desire to become everything one can become and fully realize talents and capabilities.
Situational Influences
All of the factors particular to a time and place that have a demonstrable and systematic effect on current behavior.
Social Features of a Situation
Include other persons present in a situation, their characteristics, their apparent roles and interpersonal interactions.
Task Features of a Situation
Include the intent or requirement to select, shop for, or obtain information about a general or specific purchase.
Time Dimension of a Situation
The temporal dimension of a situation such as the time of day or season of the year. It can also be relative to other life events such as the time since the last purchase or time until payday.
Upper Americans
Social class that comprises 14 percent of the population and is differentiated mainly by having high incomes. This social class remains the group in which quality merchandise is most prized and prestige brands are commonly sought.
Working Class
Social class that comprises 38 percent of the population; “family folk” who depend heavily on relatives for economic and emotional support.
