Chapter 6: Consumer Decision Making

Question 1

Consumer behaviour

Answer 1

How consumers make purchase decisions, and how they use and dispose of purchased goods or services; also includes the factors that influence purchase decisions and product use.

Question 2

Consumer decision-making process

Answer 2

A five-step process used by consumers when buying goods and services. Need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase, post purchase behaviour.

Question 3

Need recognition

Answer 3

The result of an imbalance between actual and desired states.

Question 4

Stimulus

Answer 4

Any unit of input affecting one or more of the five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing.

Question 5

Engineered demand

Answer 5

Where firms, led by marketers, develop a marketable need not yet known by the consumer.

Question 6

Need

Answer 6

A state of being where we desire something that we do not possess but yearn to acquire.

Question 7

Internal information search

Answer 7

The process of recalling information stored in one’s memory.

Question 8

External information search

Answer 8

The process of seeking information in the outside environment.

Question 9

Nonmarketing-controlled information source

Answer 9

A product information source not associated with advertising or promotion.

Question 10

Marketing-controlled information source

Answer 10

A product information source that originates with marketers promoting the product.

Question 11

Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) reviews

Answer 11

Consumers’ reviews of products on the vendors’ sites where the products were purchased.

Question 12

Platform

Answer 12

A business model, usually digital, where producers and buyers exchange value.

Question 13

Evoked set (consideration set)

Answer 13

A group of the most preferred alternatives resulting from an information search, which a buyer can further evaluate to make a final choice.

Question 14

Decision confirmation

Answer 14

The reaffirmation of the wisdom of the decision a consumer has made.

Question 15

Cognitive dissonance

Answer 15

The inner tension that a consumer experiences after recognizing an inconsistency between behaviour and values or opinions.

Question 16

Involvement

Answer 16

The amount of time and effort a buyer invests in the search, evaluation, and decision processes of consumer behaviour.

Question 17

Routine response behaviour

Answer 17

The type of decision making exhibited by consumers buying frequently purchased, low-cost goods and services; requires little search and decision time.

Question 18

Limited decision making

Answer 18

The type of decision making that requires a moderate amount of time for gathering information and deliberating about an unfamiliar brand in a familiar product category.

Question 19

Extensive decision making

Answer 19

The most complex type of consumer decision making, used when considering the purchase of an unfamiliar, expensive product or an infrequently purchased item; requires the use of several criteria for evaluating options and much time for seeking information.

Question 20

Culture

Answer 20

The set of values, norms, attitudes, and other meaningful symbols that shape human behaviour and the artifacts, or products, of that behaviour as they are transmitted from one generation to the next.

Question 21

Value

Answer 21

The enduring belief shared by a society that a specific mode of conduct is personally or socially preferable to another mode of conduct.

Question 22

Subculture

Answer 22

A homogeneous group of people who share elements of the overall culture and also have their own unique cultural elements.

Question 23

Social class

Answer 23

A group of people who are considered nearly equal in status or community esteem, who regularly socialize among themselves both formally and informally, and who share behavioural norms.

Question 24

Reference group

Answer 24

A group in society that influences an individual’s purchasing behaviour.

Question 25

Primary membership groups

Answer 25

Groups with which individuals interact regularly in an informal, face-to-face manner.

Question 26

Secondary membership groups

Answer 26

Groups with which individuals interact less consistently and more formally than with primary membership groups.

Question 27

Aspirational reference groups

Answer 27

Groups that an individual would like to join.

Question 28

Norms

Answer 28

The values and attitudes deemed acceptable by a group.

Question 29

Nonaspirational reference groups (dissociative groups)

Answer 29

Groups that influence our behaviour because we try to maintain distance from them.

Question 30

Opinion leader

Answer 30

An individual who influences the opinions of others.

Question 31

Sociometric leader

Answer 31

A low-profile, well-respected collaborative professional who is socially and professionally well connected.

Question 32

Socialization process

Answer 32

The passing down of cultural values and norms to children.

Question 33

Personality

Answer 33

A way of organizing and grouping the consistency of an individual’s reactions to situations.

Question 34

Self-concept

Answer 34

How consumers perceive themselves in terms of attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, and self-evaluations.

Question 35

Ideal self-image

Answer 35

The way an individual would like to be.

Question 36

Real self-image

Answer 36

The way an individual actually perceives himself or herself to be.

Question 37

Lifestyle

Answer 37

A mode of living as identified by a person’s activities, interests, and opinions.

Question 38

Psychological factors

Answer 38

Tools that consumers use to recognize, gather, analyze, and self-organize to aid in decision making.

Question 39

Perception

Answer 39

The process by which people select, organize, and interpret stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture.

Question 40

Selective exposure

Answer 40

The process whereby a consumer decides which stimuli to notice and which to ignore.

Question 41

Selective distortion

Answer 41

A process whereby consumers change or distort information that conflicts with their feelings or beliefs.

Question 42

Selective retention

Answer 42

A process whereby consumers remember only information that supports their personal beliefs.

Question 43

Motives

Answer 43

Driving forces that cause a person to take action to satisfy specific needs.

Question 44

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer 44

A method of classifying human needs and motivations into five categories in ascending order of importance: physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization.

Question 45

Learning

Answer 45

A process that creates changes in behaviour, immediate or expected, through experience and practice.

Question 46

Belief

Answer 46

An organized pattern of knowledge that an individual holds as true about his or her world.

Question 47

Attitude

Answer 47

A learned tendency to respond consistently toward a given object.