Psychology B2 - social approach to consumer behaviour Flashcards
role of others: conformity to social rules
-social norms = beliefs, expectations and unwritten rules about what any social group considers to be ‘proper’ behaviour
-most people have a strong desire to conform to these social norms and this is often exploited by advertising
-behaviours that are publicly visible are ways we signal our group memberships
-example, the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the phone we use
-campaigns and adverts try to influence us by promoting the message that if you buy this product, you are like these other people
-conformity to social norms is partly explained by normative social influence
(NSI, first explained on page 24).
role of others: normative social influence and consumer behaviour
-qcceptance by other people is a powerful reason for conforming to the norms of a group (Deutsch and Gerard 1955)
-appeals to natural desire to be liked and to avoid being rejected
-leads to compliance
-someone subjected to NSI may buy products (or specific brands) in order to ‘fit in’ with their friends because not doing so might risk rejection
-may be willing to change our behaviour if a group’s social norms dictate that as the ‘price’ of membership.
role of others: the bandwagon effect
-a social phenomenon similar to NSI -most people tend to do something because other people are doing it (a ‘herd mentality’)
-bandwagon advertising operates on the basis that ‘success breeds success
-once a product or brand is adopted by a ‘critical mass’ of people, many more join in
-this is why companies use ‘social media influencers’ such as Kylie Jenner to promote their products
-hope is that once a trend is adopted by influencers and their followers, it will ‘go viral’ and potentially be taken up by millions
-adverts try to create the illusion that a product (or behaviour) is already popular, perhaps by showing lots of people using it or talking about it
-manipulates consumer behaviour by stimulating demand for a product that was not previously there
-example, the cosmetics company Rimmel uses the slogan ‘Live the London Look’, implies that huge numbers of people in London are using their products
role of others: social proof
-social proof is another term for informational social influence (ISI)
-often go along with other people because we believe that they know more than us about the current situation
-more people there are who agree on a course of action or a belief, the more influenced we are.
-Cialdini (1984), in a situation in which we don’t know what to think or do, we look to others for social proof of what is happening and how we should behave
-example, in the context of health, a campaign to change behaviour might imply that lots of people like us are doing something (72% of people lost weight after following this tip”)
-is social proof of what people are doing
-also explains why rating systems on websites such as Amazon are influential
evaluation: practical applications (+)
-conformity to social norms can be used to influence consumer behaviour
-example, significantly more people use the stairs instead of the lift when they read a notice
-example, ‘Did you know? more than 90% of the time, people in this building use the stairs instead of the elevator Why not you?’ (Burger and Shelton 2011)
-works because most people who read the notice take it as social proof that the norm is to use the stairs
-demonstrates how social norms and social proof can help change health-related behaviours
evaluation: research support (+)
-research support for the bandwagon effect
-in a study teenage students saw an advert for a luxury product which was associated in the experiment with a famous person
-compared with a control group of students who saw the advert without the famous person
-experimental group were willing to display a significantly bigger Ralph Lauren logo on their T-shirt (Niesiobedzka 2018).
-shows that the bandwagon effect can explain the sudden popularity of even expensive products in terms of conformity to social norms
evaluation: cultural differences in social proof
-the effectiveness of social proof differs between cultures
-Cialdini et al. (1999) compared social proof in an individualist culture (USA) and a collectivist culture (Poland)
-pps in both cultures were more willing to agree with a request when told all their peers had agreed than when told none of them had agreed
-level of agreement was much greater in Poland, suggesting that social proof is more effective in a collectivist culture
-confirms previous findings showing that conformity is more common in collectivist cultures
-means that campaigners and advertisers who wish to use social proof should take cultural factors into account
