Psychology B2 - behaviourist approach to consumer behaviour Flashcards
use of reinforcement and association in marketing: classical conditioning — emotional associations
-used to associate the focus of an advert with other stimuli that produce positive feelings
-example, an advert for a burger might show attractive people enjoying themselves as they visit the burger restaurant
-advertisers hope this will affect the consumer’s behaviour
-even if this doesn’t happen, other desirable outcomes are possible
-example, more positive attitude towards the product, or greater awareness of it in the marketplace
use of reinforcement and association in marketing: classical conditioning — repetition
-over time, conditioned response (CR) to a product weakens until it disappears
-called extinction
-can be avoided through repeated pairing of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the conditioned stimulus (CS)
-a product is continually advertised in longer-term campaigns, to restrengthen the association and produce the desired CR
use of reinforcement and association in marketing: operant conditioning — positive reinforcement
-any behaviour that results in a pleasurable consequence is likely to be repeated
-example, you buy a product from a certain brand and have a good experience of it
-find this rewarding and this makes it more likely you will buy this brand’s products again (and less likely if you have a bad experience)
use of reinforcement and association in marketing: operant conditioning — BOGOF and loyalty points
-companies use schemes to provide reinforcement of buying behaviour -BOGOF (buy one, get one free) is reinforcing because you feel you are getting a bargain
-Loyalty schemes offer points for each purchase in a certain store
-collect points and exchange them for something tangible
-example, cinema tickets, free meals
-reinforces your loyalty to the store or brand and means you are more likely to buy again
use of reinforcement and association in marketing: social learning — modelling and imitation
-modelling occurs when someone observes the behaviour of another person (the model) and imitates it -adverts often show people using products
-example, vacuum cleaner, car, phone
-just observing someone else using or buying a product is not usually enough for us to imitate that behaviour
-another social learning process is needed
use of reinforcement and association in marketing: social learning — vicarious reinforcement
-more likely to imitate a model when we observe them enjoying using the product
-experience vicarious reinforcement from the positive emotions of the model, imagining ourselves imitating their behaviour and enjoying the same feelings
-may be enough to motivate us to buy a product
use of reinforcement and association in marketing: social learning — use of celebrities in advertising
-celebs are used in advertising as they’re powerful models
-observer is more likely to imitate a celebrity if the observer identifies with the celebrity
-Identification can happen in two main ways:
1. celebrity may possess something the consumer admires - status, wealth etc., observer wants to be like the celebrity, so may buy products the celebrity appears to use themselves
2. identification can also occur when the consumer believes the model is similar to themselves, or they simply like them, is why some adverts use ‘down-to-earth’ or friendly celebrities, or place celebrities in everyday situations to ‘humanise’ them
evaluation: research support (+)
-evidence to support conditioning and social learning
-one study, a fictitious brand of toothpaste was associated with positive images
-Pps expressed more positive attitudes towards the brand, increasing with the number of presentations, which highlighted the role of repetition (Stuart et al. 1987)
-review of 46 studies showed that consumers’ attitudes towards products were more positive when the products were endorsed by a celebrity than when they were not (Knoll and Matthes 2017)
-shows that conditioning and social learning can influence positive consumer attitudes towards a product
evaluation: ignores key factors (-)
-conditioning doesn’t explain the central role of cognitive factors
-we associate an advertised product or brand with positive emotions, cognitive factors must be involved otherwise everyone would teel the same way
-for instance, how positively you feel about a product advertised by Jamie Oliver depends on what you think about Jamie Oliver
-also make rational decisions when we buy products and services, which is why comparison websites exist
-behaviourist approach ignores the role of such cognitive factors
-suggests that conditioning is an incomplete explanation of how marketing works
evaluation: real world effects are unclear (-)
-research into conditioning has been mostly laboratory based
-in the real world of TV viewing and social media use, the influence of advertising is ‘messier
-for instance, lab research investigates the short-term effects of advertising on a narrowly-defined behaviour
-research into the long-term effects of conditioning suggests the effects are much weaker (Schachtman et al. 2011)
-the research tells us little about the effects of advertising in the real world where conditions are less controlled
