Week 8 - Self and Personality

Question 1

When it comes to “self”, Eastern cultures focus on what types of self? (2)

Answer 1

• The collective self - (person’s identity comes from
  group)
• The interdependent self (person’s identity defined
  from relationships with others)

Question 2

When it comes to “self”, Western cultures focus on what? (2)

Answer 2

• Individuality

* Individual appearance

Question 3

The self can be divided into what two things?

Answer 3

• An inner, private self

* An outer, public self

Question 4

What is personal identity?

Answer 4

How we create ourselves as separate and unique (internally and ego driven)

Question 5

What is social identity?

Answer 5

How we seek to affiliate with others and belong to a group

Question 6

“Identity” is marketed as what?

Answer 6

A means to personal happiness and freedom

Question 7

What is the privatisation of identity?

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

What is self concept?

Answer 8

The beliefs a person holds about his or her own attributes and how he or she evaluates these qualities

Question 9

What are the attribute dimensions of self concept?

Answer 9

1. Content (e.g., facial attractiveness)
2. Positivity (e.g., self-esteem)
3. Intensity
4. Stability over time
5. Accuracy (e.g., the degree to which one’s self-assessment corresponds to reality)

Question 10

What is self-esteem?

Answer 10

Refers to the positivity of a person’s self-concept

Question 11

What is a social comparison?

Answer 11

A process by which consumers evaluate themselves by comparing themselves with others (e.g., particularly comparisons with idealised images of people in advertising)

Question 12

What is a downward comparison? (Social comparison)

Answer 12

This occurs when people compare themselves to people who are worse off.

Question 13

What is an upward comparison? (Social comparison)

Answer 13

This occurs when people compare themselves to people who are better than they are.

Question 14

What does self-esteem advertising attempt to do?

Answer 14

Change product attitudes by stimulating positive feelings about the self (e.g., you look lovely today)

Question 15

What is the ideal self?

Answer 15

A person’s conception of how he/she would like to be.

Partially moulded by elements of consumer’s culture (e.g. mass media)

Question 16

What is the actual self?

Answer 16

A person’s realistic appraisal of the qualities he/she does and does not possess.

Question 17

What is fantasy?

Answer 17

A self-induced shift in consciousness

Question 18

What are fantasy appeals?

Answer 18

Marketing comms aimed at individuals with large discrepancy between
their real and ideal selves.

Question 19

Can a person have multiple selves?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

What is symbolic interactionism?

Answer 20

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?”

Question 21

What is the Looking-Glass Self?

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

What is self-consciousness?

Answer 22

An awareness of oneself magnified by the belief that others are watching intently

Question 23

What is symbolic self-completion theory?

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Self-image congruence models suggest what?

Answer 24

Products will be chosen when their attributes match some aspect of the self.

Question 25

What is the extended self?

Answer 25

External objects that consumers consider a part of themselves

Question 26

What are the four levels of the extended self?

Answer 26

(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)

Question 27

Society, traditionally, stresses agentic goals to men, which means what?

Answer 27

Stresses self assertion and mastery.

Question 28

Society, traditionally, stresses communal goals to women, which means what?

Answer 28

Stresses affiliation and harmonious relations

Question 29

What is an autonomic decision?

Answer 29

When one family member chooses a product.

Question 30

What is a syncratic decision?

Answer 30

When the family jointly makes a decision (e.g., travel, homes..)

Question 31

What are the factors determining the degree to which decisions will be made jointly or by one spouse?

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

What are sex-typed traits?

Answer 32

Characteristics stereotypically associated with gender

Question 33

What are sex-typed products?

Answer 33

Products that take on either masculine or feminine attributes and are associated with one gender

Question 34

Define body cathexis

Answer 34

Person’s feelings about his or her own body. Some parts of the body are more central to self-concept than others

Question 35

What is a personality?

Answer 35

A person’s unique psychological makeup and how it consistently influences the way a person responds to his/her environment

Question 36

Consumers behave in one of two ways:

Answer 36

Psychodynamic approach – determined by genetics

Developmental approach – learned over time.

Question 37

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?

Answer 37

Meta-theoretic Model of Motivation

Question 38

What is Freudian Theory? (Psychodynamic theories)

Answer 38

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.

Question 39

What are the 3 Freudian systems?

Answer 39

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.

Question 40

What is trait theory?

Answer 40

An approach to personality that focuses on the quantitative measurement of personality traits.

Question 41

What are 6 traits related to trait theory?

Answer 41

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.

Question 42

What are indiocentrics?

Answer 42

Individuals who have an individualist orientation.

Question 43

What are allocentrics?

Answer 43

Individuals who have a group orientation.

Question 44

What are some problems with trait theory for predicting consumer behaviours?

Answer 44

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.

Question 45

What are the Big 5 personality dimensions to compare brands?

Answer 45

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.

Question 46

What is animism?

Answer 46

The practice whereby inanimate objects are given qualities that make them somehow alive.

Question 47

What are the two types of animism?

Answer 47

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.

Question 48

A statement about what the brand wants to be in the eye of its consumers (especially relative to its competition) is called what?

Answer 48

A brand’s positioning strategy