Lecture 4

Question 1

Define learning

Answer 1

= Is the process by which individuals acquire purchase and consumption knowledge

• Allows individuals to apply the knowledge they have previously acquired to future related behaviour
• > Can be intentional or incidental

Question 2

Behavioural Learning Theory includes classical conditioning. Part of classical conditioning involves stimulus generalisation and stimulus discrimination. Explain these two phenomena and their components.

Answer 2

STIMULUS GENERALISATION = learning to make the same response to slightly different stimuli

• > ‘me too products’ (one has the process of sending the message but then competitors make it hard to distinguish between one to another)
• Product line extension (new sizes, colours and flavours of an existing product
  eg. So good, so good chocolate, coffee etc)
• Product form extension
  eg. omo liquid to omo sensitive liquid
• Product category extensions ->same brand name used in new product category
  eg. Cadbury chocolate bars, chocolate biscuits and ice creams
• > Success of product extensions depends on factors including relevancy of the new product to marketplace image of the brand name; if the image of the parent brand is one of quality and the new item is logically linked to the brand, consumers are more likely to bring positive associations to the new offerings introduced as product line, form or category extensions
• Family branding (one company brand, many products eg. sanitarium weetbix, so good, up and go
• > Consumers generalise favourable brand associations from one product to others
• Licensing (famous personalities endorse a product, the attributes become associated with the product they endorse)
• > Can achieve instant recognition and implied quality

STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION = selection of a specific stimulus from among many stimuli

• Market challengers want consumers to generalise
• Market leaders want consumers to discriminate (trying to distinguish brand from competition)

Question 3

Describe involvement theory

Answer 3

= Amount of effort consumers direct towards information search and processing (learning and decision making) is influenced by their involvement

• Refers to the tendency for individuals to make a personal connection between their own life and stimulus object
• Can differ by
• > Product: low involvement (eg. toothpaste, soft drink) vs high involvement (eg.car, insurance)
• > Context (eg. recently bought car vs need to buy car)
• > Person (eg. buying first car vs salesperson)
• High involvement product for one person may be low involvement for another

Question 4

Explain hemispherical lateralisation

Answer 4

Hemispheral lateralisation = split brain theory

• The right and left hemispheres of the brain ‘specialise’ in the kinds of information they process
• > Left is primarily responsible for cognitive activities (reading, speaking) whereas the right is responsible for non-verbal, timeless and holistic information
• > Products mean different things to different people, and consumers see them as varying in their importance and personal relevance and as such form differing attachments to them

Question 5

Explain the 3 factors affecting level of involvement

Answer 5

1. ANTECEDENT
   - serve to drive a consumers involvement towards an advertisement or advertised product
   -> person component = captures the amount of interest a consumer has in the product category
   …if the product is personally relevant for consumers, they are more likely to become involved in information about that product eg. higher-knowledge consumers generally are more involved in that product category
   ->situation component = captures the importance or personal relevance of the occasion the consumer faces
   ….if the product is to be used as a tool for communicating something about yourself to others, involvement will probably increase eg. if you are presenting a bottle of wine to your boss upon arrival at a dinner party, you will be more likely to involve yourself with product information than if the wine is intended for a casual dinner at home
   -> product/stimulus component = captures the aspects of the product category or advertisement that could potentially encourage or discourage involvement
   …to the degree that there is perceived risk involved in the consumption of the product, involvement is expected to increase eg. more expensive products are suually more involveing because of the financial implications of a wrong decision
   ….if one of the objectives of the ad is to encourage the involvement of relatively uninvolved consumers, the stimulus designed to increase involvement should be included in the tagline or photo (as this is where most time is spent looking)
2. MODERATING FACTORS
   - certain conditions may exist that limit the degree to which consumers become involved in a product category even though they may be predisposed by the antecedents to a high level of involvement
   -> opportunity to process the information: other cognitive demands or distractions in the environment during presentation of the information
   ….other tasks may be of more immediate importance and therefore inhibit a higher level of involvement with the stimulus eg. driving past a billboard during peak hour traffic
   -> ability to process the information: whether the consumer possesses the required knowledge and familiarity with the product category to understand the information presented
3. DEGREE OF INVOLVEMENT
   -characterised by intensity, direction and persistence
   -> involvement intensity = the degree of involvement felt by the consumer (high/low) – continuum
   -> Direction of involvement = target of the involvement intensity level or the stimulus towards which the involvement is channeled, not the cues initially encouraging involvement
   ….Eg. tagline in an advertisement might have been the catalyst for involvement with the information, but then you become involved in the text itself
   ->Involvement persistence = the duration of involvement intensity
   ….Enduring type of persistence usually accompanied by a large body of knowledge about a product category acquired over time
   ….Situational type will be accompanied by a short-term collection of knowledge about the product category, which might quickly fade after the situation abates

Question 6

Explain the Elaboration Likelihood Model including the two routes of problem solving (central and peripheral)

Answer 6

= Shows how involvement can influence information search and processing
- Two routes to problem solving:
->Central: careful evaluation of information and products (high), attitude change depends on quality of argument-> For high involvement purchases
…..Marketers should use arguments stressing the strong, solid, high-quality attributes of their purchases
-> Peripheral: limited info search and evaluation (low), attitude change relies on peripheral cues (eg. celebrity or cartoon used in advertising)
….. Marketers should focus on the method of presentation rather than content of message (eg. use of celebrity, highly visual or symbolic advertisements)
- Level of involvement determines which route is likely to be effective
- Individuals are more likely to weigh information about a product carefully and devote considerable cognitive efforts to evaluating it, when they are highly involved wioth the product category