Week 8 - Self and Personality Flashcards
When it comes to “self”, Eastern cultures focus on what types of self? (2)
- The collective self - (person’s identity comes from
group) - The interdependent self (person’s identity defined
from relationships with others)
When it comes to “self”, Western cultures focus on what? (2)
- Individuality
* Individual appearance
The self can be divided into what two things?
- An inner, private self
* An outer, public self
What is personal identity?
How we create ourselves as separate and unique (internally and ego driven)
What is social identity?
How we seek to affiliate with others and belong to a group
“Identity” is marketed as what?
A means to personal happiness and freedom
What is the privatisation of identity?
Consumer identity is being privatised through micro made-to-measure products and services
e.g. iPods, iTunes, private global networks (i.e. Facebook)
Organisations market one-to-one relationships with consumers.
What is self concept?
The beliefs a person holds about his or her own attributes and how he or she evaluates these qualities
What are the attribute dimensions of self concept?
- Content (e.g., facial attractiveness)
- Positivity (e.g., self-esteem)
- Intensity
- Stability over time
- Accuracy (e.g., the degree to which one’s self-assessment corresponds to reality)
What is self-esteem?
Refers to the positivity of a person’s self-concept
What is a social comparison?
A process by which consumers evaluate themselves by comparing themselves with others (e.g., particularly comparisons with idealised images of people in advertising)
What is a downward comparison? (Social comparison)
This occurs when people compare themselves to people who are worse off.
What is an upward comparison? (Social comparison)
This occurs when people compare themselves to people who are better than they are.
What does self-esteem advertising attempt to do?
Change product attitudes by stimulating positive feelings about the self (e.g., you look lovely today)
What is the ideal self?
A person’s conception of how he/she would like to be.
Partially moulded by elements of consumer’s culture (e.g. mass media)
What is the actual self?
A person’s realistic appraisal of the qualities he/she does and does not possess.
What is fantasy?
A self-induced shift in consciousness
What are fantasy appeals?
Marketing comms aimed at individuals with large discrepancy between
their real and ideal selves.
Can a person have multiple selves?
Yes, a person can have as many selves as he or she has different social roles. The situation we are in defines the self we are.
e.g. woman, daughter, wife, mother, actress, model, spokesperson, philanthropist
What is symbolic interactionism?
Individuals interact with society at large and with reference groups to determine how behaviour should be structured.
Individuals are assumed to related to objects or events based on their symbolic meaning (e.g., blue jeans—informality) given by society.
We tend to pattern our behavior on the perceived expectation of others.
“Who am I in this situation?” The answer to the question is greatly influenced by “Who do other people think I am?”
What is the Looking-Glass Self?
We imagine how we appear to other people.
We imagine how other people judge the appearance that we think we present.
If we think the evaluation is favourable (unfavourable), our self concept is enhance (diminished).
The results of individual imagination might produce incorrect interpretations.
What is self-consciousness?
An awareness of oneself magnified by the belief that others are watching intently
What is symbolic self-completion theory?
Suggests people who have an incomplete self-definition (e.g., ideal self) tend to complete this identity by acquiring and displaying symbols associated with it.
e.g., Adolescent boys may use “macho” products.
Self-image congruence models suggest what?
Products will be chosen when their attributes match some aspect of the self.
What is the extended self?
External objects that consumers consider a part of themselves
What are the four levels of the extended self?
(1) Individual Level: personal possessions
(2) Family Level: residence and furnishings
(3) Community Level: neighbourhood or town
(4) Group Level: social groups (e.g., sports)
Society, traditionally, stresses agentic goals to men, which means what?
Stresses self assertion and mastery.
Society, traditionally, stresses communal goals to women, which means what?
Stresses affiliation and harmonious relations
What is an autonomic decision?
When one family member chooses a product.
What is a syncratic decision?
When the family jointly makes a decision (e.g., travel, homes..)
What are the factors determining the degree to which decisions will be made jointly or by one spouse?
Sex-role stereotypes: Couples who believe in traditional sex-role stereotypes tend to make individual decisions for sex-types products.
Spousal resources: The spouse who contributes ($$$) the most has greater influence.
Socioeconomic status: Middle-class families make more joint decisions than either high or lower class families.
What are sex-typed traits?
Characteristics stereotypically associated with gender
What are sex-typed products?
Products that take on either masculine or feminine attributes and are associated with one gender
Define body cathexis
Person’s feelings about his or her own body. Some parts of the body are more central to self-concept than others
What is a personality?
A person’s unique psychological makeup and how it consistently influences the way a person responds to his/her environment
Consumers behave in one of two ways:
Psychodynamic approach – determined by genetics
Developmental approach – learned over time.
The 3M model of motivation and personality explicitly includes situational traits, which can influence motivation for purchase choices. What do the 3 M’s stand for?
Meta-theoretic Model of Motivation
What is Freudian Theory? (Psychodynamic theories)
One’s adult personality stems from a fundamental conflict between a person’s desire to gratify his/her physical needs and the necessity to function as a responsible member of society. This struggle is carried out between three systems: Id, superego and ego.
What are the 3 Freudian systems?
Id: oriented toward immediate gratification.
- Pleasure principle: behaviour is guided by the primary desire to maximise pleasure and avoid pain.
- The id is selfish, illogical and ignores consequences.
Superego: a person’s conscience.
Ego: the system that mediates between the id and the superego.
- Reality principle: the ego finds ways to gratify the id, which will be acceptable to the outside world.
What is trait theory?
An approach to personality that focuses on the quantitative measurement of personality traits.
What are 6 traits related to trait theory?
Innovativeness - The degree to which a person likes to try new things.
Materialism - Amount of emphasis placed on acquiring and owning products.
Self-consciousness - The degree to which a person deliberately monitors and controls the image of the self that is projected to others.
Susceptibility to interpersonal influence - Likelihood of being influenced by other’s opinions and behaviours.
Need for cognition - The degree to which a person likes to think about things.
Frugality - Tendency to deny short-term purchasing whims and resourcefully use what one already owns.
What are indiocentrics?
Individuals who have an individualist orientation.
What are allocentrics?
Individuals who have a group orientation.
What are some problems with trait theory for predicting consumer behaviours?
Measurement scales are not sufficiently valid or reliable.
Scales misapplied to the general population.
Tests not administered under the proper conditions.
Ad hoc changes to the measures dilute the validity of the measures.
Generalised trait measures used to make predictions about specific behaviours.
Shotgun approach using a number of scales.
What are the Big 5 personality dimensions to compare brands?
Sincerity – domestic, honest, genuine, cheerful.
Excitement – daring, spirited, imaginative, up-to-date.
Competence – trusted, reliable, dependable, efficient.
Ruggedness – tough, strong, outdoorsy, rugged.
Sophistication - glamorous, pretentious, charming, romantic.
What is animism?
The practice whereby inanimate objects are given qualities that make them somehow alive.
What are the two types of animism?
Level 1: People believe the object is possessed by the soul of the being (e.g., the spirit of the celebrity is available through the brand)
Level 2: Objects are anthropomorphised or given human characteristics.
A statement about what the brand wants to be in the eye of its consumers (especially relative to its competition) is called what?
A brand’s positioning strategy
