Learning and Attitudes Flashcards
What is learning?
Learning: The activity or process of acquiring knowledge or skills by studying, practicing or experiencing something.
- Behavioural learning: Learning as a response to changes in our environment (Stimulus-Response).
- Cognitive learning: Focuses on learning through internal mental processes.
Learning Theories:
- Classical Conditioning
- Operant (or instrumental) Conditioning
- Cognitive Learning
Classical conditioning:
A process of learning by an extension of a pre-existing response from one stimulus onto another stimulus through exposure to the two stimuli simultaneously and repeatedly.
Classical Conditioning: Marketing Applications
- Principles of classical conditioning widely used.
- Pairing with music.
- Use of celebrities: Aim is to transfer the endorser’s characteristics and what they stand for to the brand.
- Process of extinction.
Associations can change over time and are based on different pairing of stimuli and contexts and eras:
I
Associations can change over time and are based on different pairing of stimuli and contexts and eras:
II
Operant Conditioning:
Behavioural change through reinforcement.
- Based on the work of Skinner (1938) who rewarded animals for behaviours - process known as shaping.
- One learns a behaviour because it is rewarding!
- Learning can be encouraged through the use of positive and negative reinforcements.
Behavioural Learning: Operant (or Instrumental) Conditioning
Cognitive Learning:
Rejects the behavioural approach.
- Focus: What happens in the consumer’s mind and the cognitive processes of evaluation and interpreting information.
- Internal mental processes.
Analogical learning:
Example of cognitive learning strategy.
- Transfer of knowledge from a familiar domain (the base) to a novel domain (the target) as a function of the structural correspondence between the two (Gentner, 1989).
- Analogies work because they make the unfamiliar familiar!
Potential risks of analogies:
1) May have negative perceptions of the base, which will be transferred to target (Google Glass…);
2) May not know the base and not understand analogy;
3) May wrongly infer that aspects of the base can transfer to the target (You may think that Plowz will be there within minutes, like Uber would, which is not the case).
4) May focus mainly on corresponding features, ignoring others which may be important (Walkzee wants to improve chances of adoption: Not communicated by the Uber analogy).
Memory:
System whereby information is received, sorted, organized, stored and retrieved over time.
- Encoding: How information enters memory.
Can be facilitated by brand names that include main product benefit
- Storage is how the encoded information is retained in memory.
- Strategic memory protection: We protect our ability to remember important experiences
Memory Types:
- Sensory Memory: Short-lived, automatic representation of information while processed by senses.
- Short-term memory (or working memory): Where current information is processed. Short- term but conscious and active processing. Limited capacity and duration.
- Long-term memory: Can store information for longer periods of time. Names of hundreds of friends, colleagues, hundreds of events, lyrics etc.
Active vs. Passive
How accurate are our memories?
Which of these words appeared in the three lists you just scanned?
Top - Chair - Sleep - Seat - Slow - Strong - Yawn - Mountain – Sweet
Classic study by Roediger and McDermott (1995) People claimed to recognize the associated words (like sleep) about as often as words that were actually presented on the list – around 85% of the time.
How can you improve the likelihood that information will be transferred from short term to long term memory?
Transferring information from STM to LTM (Encoding)
Repetition: Incidence of an occurrence more than once. Saying something again and again, hearing it often etc.
Mnemonics: Help us remember information through some nonsensical associations.
Elaboration: Active processing of information in conjunction with information already in the memory so as to identify meaning in the new information.
Methods that help learning via repetition
- Use music (including jingles) and distinctive imagery.
- Learning via repetition also called “rote learning” – One of the easiest ways that we learn.
- Use visual information: Iconic rote memory;
- Aural (heard) information: Echoic rote memory.
Measuring recognition and recall:
Recognition: Identifying a stimulus as having been encountered before.
Recall:
-
Unaided Recall: Accessing information without any clues.
- What advertisements did you see yesterday while watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine?
-
Aided Recall: Accessing information with some clues.
- Did you see an advertisement for the NHS?
- Metro trains, Melbourne, Australia, released a 3-minute message designed to encourage young people to behave safely around trains.
- Generally: Rather boring message, not that one young people pay attention to…
BUT: This one was different! Over 160 million views onYoutube… What was it?
Dumb Ways to Die
Repetition:
- STRONG VISUAL IMAGERY (Iconic rote memory)
- CATCHY SONG – Message at the end (Echoic rote memory)
- Campaign generated more than 160 million views on YouTube
- 450,000 pledges to be safe around trains on the campaign site
- A song that charted on iTunes in 28 countries
- Most importantly, within just two months of launching: 20% reduction in rail-related accidents in November to January 2013, compared to the same time the previous year - This well exceeded the 10% objective for the entire year
Hierarchy of Effects
Balance Theory of Attitudes:
- Psychological drive to ensure all elements are balanced.
- Linked to the theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957): State of having inconsistent beliefs and attitudes.
Value-expressive function
Also called social identity function.
- Drive to express important aspects of the self.
- Consumers using products or brands to project, rather than hide, some aspects of themselves/ how they would like to be perceived.
Example:
Louis Vuitton and Japanese artist Kusama.
- Emphasizes further symbolic meanings for the brand around cultural values and cultural authenticity.
- Wearing bag designed by artists brings consumer closer to the artists, expressing consumers’ social capital!
Knowledge function:
Looking to change mobile phone? If you have Samsung and are happy with the brand, you are likely to draw on positive knowledge as you look for new phone.
- Knowledge-based attitudes act as frame of reference to help consumer understand consumption context.
- Important to predict attitudes/brand extensions.
Multiple functions:
Products and brands can often serve multiple functions.
- Car: Multi-functioned product (utilitarian concerns: safety; value expressive: implied social status).
-
Tents:
- Utilitarian: Cheap and easy to pitch;
- Value-Expressive: Trendy for a festival!
- Also: knowledge function based on past experiences
Expectancy value model (or Fishbein model):
- Is it tasty?
- Is it healthy?
- What is most important to you?
Theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 2005)
- Behavioral belief: Belief/ consequences behavior.
- Attitude toward behavior: Degree to which performance of behavior is positively/ negatively valued.
- Normative beliefs: Perception of relevant others’ beliefs that you should/ should not perform such behavior.
- Subjective norm: Perception about the particular behavior, influenced by judgment of significant others.
- Control beliefs: Beliefs about the presence of factors that may facilitate or impede performance of the behavior.
- Perceived behavioral control: Perceived ease or difficulty of performing the particular behavior.
Attitudes and behaviour change: Changing the basic motivational function
Builds on Katz’ s motivational theory of attitudes;
- “Simply M&S”: Satisfying utilitarian needs, good value for money, simple product;
- Different from existing line “Your M&S”, where utilitarian value was emphasized less, and more value-expressive with link to identity:“Your”.
Attitude and behaviour change – Altering components of the multi-attribute models
Influencing attitudes and behaviours through changing beliefs.
Meet the Superhumans Paralympics campaign. What was the aim here?
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986
Rational Message Appeal:
- Works best for functional products.
- Intends to change attitudes by changing beliefs.
Emotional Message Appeal:
Designed to mold our feelings, including:
- Romance
- Sympathy
- Nostalgia
Works best for expressive products
Sexual Appeal:
Takes one of the following forms:
- Skin shown;
- Suggestive poses;
- Intimate embrace.
Works by attracting attention and raising the salience of the brand name
When can they backfire? Sexism
Fear Appeal:
- Works best when consumers are sufficiently motivated
- Raises the problem’s salience
- Helps to lift consumers out of apathy and inaction
- The solution should be clear and not too difficult to implement
When can they backfire? negative emotions but doesn’t trigger a change in behaviour..
One vs. Two-Sided:
- Two-sided messages present both the merits and the demerits of a brand, product or issue.
- Help raise credibility
- Advisable where there is a likelihood that the audience will find out about the less attractive (or even unattractive) side of the product.
