Consumer behavior SELF ch05 solomon-book By: Bahman Moghimi

Prof. Bahman MoghimiDoctor of Business Administration

Master of Industrial Marketing & E-commerce

University of Georgia. Tbilisi

Source: Michael R. Solomon. 9e

[email protected]

Chapter Objectives

When you finish this chapter, you should understand why:

• The self-concept strongly influences consumer behavior.• Products often play a pivotal role in defining the self-concept.• Sex-role identity is different from gender, and society’s expectations

of masculinity and femininity help to determine the products we buy to be consistent with these expectations.

• A person’s sex-role identity is a major component of self-definition. The media plays a key role in teaching us how to behave as “proper” males and females.

• The way we think about our bodies (and the way our culture tells us we should think) is a key component of self-esteem.

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Perspectives on the Self

• We buy products to highlight/hide aspects of the self

• Eastern cultures focus on:• The collective self (person’s identity comes from group)

• The interdependent self (person’s identity defined from relationships with others)

• Western cultures focus on:• Individuality• Individual appearance


Self-Concept

• Self-concept: the beliefs a person holds about his/her own attributes, and how he/she evaluates these qualities

• Attribute dimensions: content, positivity, intensity, stability over time, and accuracy


Self-Esteem• Self-esteem: the positivity of a person’s

self-concept– Low self-esteem: think they will not

perform well– High self-esteem: think they will be

successful and will take risks

• Ads can trigger social comparison

• Attractive models using products

In social comparison, the person tries to evaluate her appearance by comparing it to the people depicted in ads.

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Discussion

• Self-esteem advertising: products

provide remedy to low self-esteem

• Think about/locate examples of

self-esteem advertising

• Evaluate the probable

effectiveness of these appeals. Is it

true that “flattery gets you everywhere?”


Real and Ideal Selves

• Ideal self: our conception of how we would like to be• Actual self: our more realistic appraisal of the qualities we

have• Products can:

• Help us reach ideal self• Be consistent with actual self

• Impression management means that we work to “manage” what others think of us

We choose some products because we think they are consistent with our actual self, while we buy others to help us reach an ideal standard. We may strategically choose clothing and other products to show off to others. In other words, we are managing their impression of us with our product choices.


People may manage impressions with

their posts on social networking sites.

These impressions, however, may

ultimately be positive or negative.

How would a prospective employer

view your posts? How do you think

your friends view your posts? Are

you impression managing when you

use social networks?

What Impression-Management do you have on FB?


Fantasy Appeals• Fantasy: self-induced shift in consciousness

A fantasy or daydream is a self-induced shift in consciousness. It might be a way to compensate for a lack of external stimulation or to escape from problems in the real world. In this Photo, the author is fantasizing to be honored by leaders of his own country….


Multiple Selves• Each of us has many selves and roles• Marketers pitch products needed to facilitate active role

identities

We all have multiple roles we play in our lives. We may have as many selves as we do different social roles. For myself depicted in in my FB page, I play the roles of professor of marketing, family-lover, Husband, Brother, friend, Activist for dog rescue and in business environment and so on. I may behave differently in one role than in another, and I shall buy products associated with the various roles. Often times, these roles are situation-specific. Consequently I would probably not wear my suit to visit my student’s Birthday Party. Not only are roles sometimes situation-specific, some are also more central to our overall selves than others. Role of love and inspiring person as is probably more central to my identity than is the role for example as an Iranian origin.


Virtual Identity• People are assuming virtual identities in cyberspace• Avatars represent visual identity• How do online “selves” affect consumer behavior?


On virtual world sites, people assume visual identities, or avatars. These may include realistic versions of their real selves or exaggerated images like dragons or superheroes. The role playing may take on a physical life too. Have you visited Second Life or another virtual world?

Symbolic Interactionism

• Symbolic interactionism: relationships with others play a large part in forming the self

If each person potentially has many social selves, how does each develop? “Who am I in this situation?” … “Who do other people think I am?” How do we decide which to activate at any point in time?

• Symbolic interactionism stresses that relationships with other people play a large part in forming the self. We pattern our behavior on the perceived expectation of others—a self-fulfilling prophecy

When we act the way we assume others expect us to act, we are confirming perceptions of who we are and who others think we are!


Looking-Glass Self• Looking-glass self: taking the role of the otherWe take readings of our own identity by “bouncing” signals off

others and trying to project what impression they have of us

Sociologists call the process of imagining others’ reactions “taking the role of the other,” or the looking-glass self. © [email protected] 14

Self-consciousness: awareness of self

Researchers say that those who score high in:◦ Public self-consciousness

are more interested in clothing and use more cosmetics

◦ Self-monitoring areattuned to how they present themselves in social environments


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Consumption and Self-Concept

• Identity marketing: consumers alter some aspects of their selves to advertise for a branded productProduct consumption = Definition of the self

Identity marketing is a promotional strategy where consumers alter some aspects of their selves to advertise for a branded product.

For instance, Air New Zealand created “cranial billboards” in exchange for a round-trip ticket to New Zealand. 30 participants shaved their heads and walked around with an ad for the airline on their skulls.

The Casa Sanchez restaurant in San Francisco gives free lunches for life to anyone who gets its logo tattooed on their body. The restaurant estimates that the cost of the identity marketing promotion is $5.8 million – in terms of the free lunches redeemed.


http://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/5-8-Million-Tattoo-Sanchez-family-counts-the-2936629.php

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You Are What You Consume

• Social identity as individual consumption behaviors• Question: Who am I now?• Answer: To some extent, your possessions!

The reflected self helps shape self-concept, which implies that people see themselves as they imagine others see them. Because what others see includes a person’s clothing, jewelry, furniture, car, and so on, it stands to reason that these products also help to create the perceived self. A consumer’s possessions place her into a social role which helps to answer the question, “Who am I now?”

• Symbolic self-completion theory: people who have an incomplete self-definition complete the identity by acquiring and displaying symbols associated with it.


Self/Product Congruence

• Consumers demonstrate their values through their purchase behavior

• Self-image congruence models: we choose products when attributes matches the self

• Research supports this idea that there is a match between product usage and self-image. In one study, car owners’ rating of themselves tended to match their perceptions of their cars. In another study, observers were able to match photos of male and female drivers to the cars they drove 70% of the time.


Product Usage Self-Image=

The Extended Self

• Extended self: external objects that we consider a part of us

• Levels of extended self:• Individual: personal possessions

(cars, clothing)• Family: residence and furnishings• Community: neighborhood or

town where you live• Group: social or other groups


The Italian ad shown demonstrates that our products

are part of who we are.

Class Discussion

• Construct a “consumption biography” of

a friend, family member, or classmate.

• Make a list of his/her most favorite

possessions, and see if you or others can

describe this person’s personality just

from the information provided by this

catalogue.


Gender Differences in Socialization

• Gender roles vary by culture but are changing• Many societies still expect traditional roles:

• Men are expected to be assertive and have certain skills• Women are taught to foster harmonious relationships


This ad for Bijan illustrates how sex-role identities are culturally bound by contrasting the expectations of how women should appear in two different countries.

• Sex-typed traits: characteristics we stereotypically associate with one gender or the other.

• Sex-types products: take on masculine or feminine attributes

Sex-Typed Traits and Products


Thor’s Hammer vodka: Brand comes in a short,

squat bottle and it is described as “bold,

broad, and solid – this is a man’s vodka.”

Androgyny

• Androgyny: possession of both masculine and feminine traits• Androgynous people function

well in social situations… For them, their gender orientation is not clearly defined!

• Sex-typed people: stereotypically masculine or feminine• Females more sensitive to pieces

of information• Men consider overall themes


Female Sex Roles


Female sex roles have evolved in many cultures, but they certainly still exist. This ad cleverly gets to the heart of the female sex role.

Male Sex Roles• Masculinism: study of male image and the complex cultural

meanings of masculinity One study looked at how American men pursue masculine

identities through their everyday consumption. The study suggests that the men are trying to make sense out of three different models of masculinity: breadwinner, rebel, and man-of-action hero. The breadwinner model is based on the American view of success. The rebel model emphasizes rebellion, independence, adventure, and potency. The man-of-action hero draws from the better of the other two models.


Sex Role Assumptions


Male Sex Roles (continued)•Metrosexual: straight, urban male who exhibits strong interests and knowledge that run counter to traditional male sex role•Ubersexuals: the best of the metrosexuals


Some ads actively address the lack of desirability of being perceived as a metrosexual. While the stereotype received a lot of buzz early on, it seems that it is now a passé view of a male sex role. Who can be classified as an ubersexual? Bono, George Clooney, and Pierce Brosnan are examples.

Ideals of Beauty

• Exemplar of appearance“What is beautiful is good” stereotype!• Favorable physical features:

• Attractive faces• Good health and youth• Balance/symmetry• Feminine curves/hourglass body shape• “Strong” male features

Virtually every culture has a beauty bias. Preferences for some genetic features are genetic rather than cultural – like large eyes, high cheekbones, and a narrow jaw.


Waist-Hip Ratio


Waist to hip ratio, or WHR, compares the size of your waist to your hips. Because it is so easy to measure it has been used in studies of health, beauty and even intelligence.To get the number divide the size of your waist by the size of your hips. For example, Jennifer Lopez is 86-58-87 cm, so her WHR is 58/87 or 0.67.

This is an hourglass shape that men rank highest of all shapes…

Ideals of Beauty Over Time

Specific “looks”/ideals of beauty• Early 1800s: “delicate/looking ill” appearance• 1890s: voluptuous, lusty • 1990s: “waif” look• Bad economy: mature features • Good economy: babyish features• Modern: high heels, body waxing, eyelifts,

liposuction



Ideals of Beauty Over Time

Is the Western Ideal Getting Real?

• Unilever learned that consumers didn’t believe beauty products really work because the women in the ads were so unrealistic

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty: Dove sensed an opportunity when it learned that women were discounting the claims in ads for beauty products because the women in the ads were perceived as unrealistic ideals of beauty. Dove created its “Campaign for Real Beauty” to reach out to women with the message that real is beautiful. Interestingly, Dove’s campaign flopped in China where women do believe they can achieve flawless perfection.


Working on the Body ImageSociety is obsessed with weight. Though it began as America’s

obsession, the cultural priority on thinness is spreading to other countries. Still, even with the ideal of thin, the U.S. consumer today is larger than 60 years ago. The typical woman’s body is not as petite as it used to be.


Consumers increasingly choose to

have cosmetic surgery to change a

poor body image or to enhance

appearance. These may include

breast augmentation, liposuction,

nose jobs, face lifts, and other

enhancements.

Decorating the self can serve

Decorating the self can serve several purposes. Some of these are to:

1. Distinguish group members from nonmembers2. Place the individual in the social organization3. Place the person in a gender category4. Enhance sex-role identification5. Indicate desired social conduct6. Indicate high status or rank7. Provide a sense of security


Chapter Summary

• Self-concept as an influence on behavior• The role of products in defining self-concept• The influence of sex-role identity on purchases• Self-esteem and our body image • Cultural expectations of appearanceWe’ve covered several key concepts in this chapter. You should now understand

that self-concept strongly influences our behavior as consumers and that products can play a crucial role in defining our self-concept. Society’s expectations of masculinity and femininity help to determine the products we buy in that we seek to be consistent with expectations. The way we think about our bodies is a key component of our self-esteem. Every culture has norms for beauty which will influence how we view our bodies and decorate ourselves.


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Thanks for Attention

Bahman Moghimi (DBA)University of Georgia

[email protected]@ug.edu.ge

Consumer behavior SELF ch05 solomon-book By: Bahman Moghimi

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