Perception Flashcards
Perception
How we select, organize, and interpret (abstract) data, how we make sense of the world
Objective and subjective reality don’t always match,
Perception is Crucial in Consumer Behavior Because…
What is perceived is not necessarily what is true.
But what consumers perceive is what is reality for them and affects their actions.
Sensory Factor in Perception
Phonetic Symbolism & Brand Names
- Sounds in words convey meaning
High front sounds
/i/ /e/
small
Low back sounds
/a/ /o/ /u/
large
What Influences Perceptual Process?
- Knowledge and Expectations- perception is based on prior knowledge, leading to constructed reality
- Actual Stimulus (Perceptual Threshold)
- Needs and Goals
(if you’re hungry you want date to weigh more) - Contexts
(Perceptual Biases)
Effect of Expectations
Expectations shape our experience, especially subjective and ambiguous experiences (confirmation bias).
Expectations can also transform our physiological responses.
(Airley beer study)
Placebo Effect
-Airborne
-Efficacy of full priced vs generic cold medications
-Energy drink and anagram test (Hyped product worked better!)
Control group (9 out of 15)
Full price condition (9 out of 15) (12.3)
Discounted price condition (6.5 out of 15) (7.1)
-
Absolute Threshold
The minimum amount of stimulation at which you can detect a difference between “something” and “nothing”
Differential Threshold
When do consumers detect a difference?
When that difference exceeds the Just Noticeable Difference (j.n.d. = the minimum difference required to result in detection of a change)–between 2 things
Implications: Sensing changes!
Changes in color, smell, taste, touch, sound
Increases or decreases in product size or package or price
Want people to notice difference
Price decrease
Size increase
Don’t want people to notice difference
Downsizing: candy bars, chips,
Kraft Mac&Cheese, cigarette length
Price Increase
Brand Names & Spokesperson
Weber’s Law
The higher the initial level of an attribute, the greater the amount that attribute must be changed before people will notice the change.
K = s / S
Change in intensity over Base intensity equals k
“K” for weight = .02
What does this mean? Suppose holding 20 lbs…
What is “K” for price?
Subliminal Threshold
Subliminal = below absolute threshold
We couldn’t notice it even if we wanted to
Bottom Line for Subliminal Exposure
Yes, subliminal exposure can influence people
But there are limits to what it can influence
May affect general liking for or approach/avoid tendencies towards product
For important decisions, careful processing would probably override any subliminal influence
Anchoring and Adjusting
Anchors - initial, often irrelevant starting points for estimations
Starting with an initial evaluation and adjusting it with additional information
Affect people’s estimations because they do not adjust enough
Experiment: Happiness
First set (Correlation = .11) (1) How happy are you? (2) How often are you dating? Second set (Correlation = .62) (1) How often are you dating? (2) How happy are you?
Asch’s personality test
intelligent, industrious, impulsive, critical, stubborn, and envious
A person who knows what he wants and goes after it. He is impatient at people who are less gifted, and ambitious with those who stand in his way.
Envious, stubborn, critical, impulsive, industrious, intelligent
The individual is probably maladjusted because he is envious and impulsive.
Anchoring and adjusting- prices
reference prices: Regular price: 89 cents – Sale 79 cents (12%)
No limit: 3.5 per customer Limit 4 per person: 3.5 per customer Limit 12 per person: 7 per customer or Snickers bar Snicker Bars – Buy them for your freezer! 1.4 vs. Snicker Bars – Buy 18 for your freezer! 2.6
Default Options
aka Status Quo Bias
Consumers anchor on the default option
Higher defaults (loaded options) yield higher prices and more options added
(2) Loss vs. Gain: Framing Effects
Consider how you would evaluate the following information if you contract cancer:
32% of patients choosing radiation die in Year 1
68% of patients choosing radiation live in Year 1
People act differently when something is framed as a loss vs. a gain
-Losses loom larger than gains!
Credit surcharge vs. Cash discount
Gasoline purchase: Credit card purchases cost $.04 per gallon more than cash purchases. How to frame this to maximize purchases with credit cards?
Youthful surcharge v. senior discount
Graduate surcharge v. student discount
Endowment Effect
Consumers generally value something more once they own it (and have aversion to losing it).
“Virtual ownership”
(“Psudo-endowment effect”)
Experiment with chimps: When chimps were presented with a choice, 60% of them preferred peanut butter to a juice bar. However, when they were endowed with peanut butter, 80% of them chose to keep the peanut butter instead of exchanging it for juice (Brosnon et al. 2007).
Leveraging Loss Aversion and the Endowment Effect in the marketplace
Free trial period Trial promotions: you upgrade from a basic cable TV package to a digital gold package by a special ‘trial’ rate (only $59 a month instead of the usual $89) and think that you can always go back to basic cable or downgrade to the ‘silver package.’ Money back guarantee Creating Ownership in General Sampling Touch Catalog The default option (baseline vs. full-loaded)
