Personality and consumer behavior

PERSONALITY AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Prof. Abhipsa Mishra, CB

Learning Objectives

1. To Understand How Personality Reflects Consumers’ Inner Differences.

2. To Understand How Freudian, Neo-Freudian, and Trait Theories Each Explain the Influence of Personality on Consumers’ Attitudes and Behavior.

3. To Understand How Personality Reflects Consumers’ Responses to Product and Marketing Messages.

Personality and Consumer Behavior I Prof. Abhipsa Mishra

Learning Objectives (contd..)4. To Understand How

Marketers Seek to Create Brand Personalities-Like Traits.

5. To Understand How the Products and Services That Consumers Use Enhance Their Self-Images.

6. To Understand How Consumers Can Create Online Identities Reflecting a Particular Set of Personality Traits.


Personality and it’s nature

• Personality refers to the relatively enduring characteristics that differentiate one person from another and that lead people to act in a consistent and predictable manner, both in different situations and over extended periods of time.

• The Nature of Personality: Personality reflects individual differences Personality is consistent and enduring Personality can change


http://similarminds.com/personality_tests.html

http://similarminds.com/personality_tests.html

Discussion Questions

• How would you describe your personality?

• How does it influence products that you purchase?


Theories of Personality

• Freudian theory– Unconscious needs or drives are at the heart of

human motivation

• Neo-Freudian personality theory– Social relationships are fundamental to the

formation and development of personality

• Trait theory– Quantitative approach to personality as a set of

psychological traits


Freudian Theory

• Id: Warehouse of primitive or instinctual needs for which individual seeks immediate satisfaction

• Superego: Individual’s internal expression of society’s moral and ethical codes of conduct

• Ego: Individual’s conscious control that balances the demands of the id and superego


http://www.freudfile.org/

http://www.freudfile.org/

Freud’s Theory: “The ID”

The id uses the most primitive of thinking process.

Basic biological urges (e.g., hunger, self-protection).

Operates on the Pleasure Principle.

Seeks pleasure and avoids pain:“I want what I want NOW!”

The id operates completely at an unconscious level.

No direct contact with reality.


Freud’s Theory: “The Superego”

• Superego: the moral part of personality.

Internalized rules of parents and society.

• Superego consists of two parts:

Conscience: “notions of right/wrong.”

Ego Ideal: “how we ideally like to be.”

• Superego: constrains us from gratifying every

impulse (e.g., murder) because they are immoral,

and not because we might get caught.

• It is partly conscious, partly unconscious.


Freud’s Theory: “The Ego”

• The ego consists of a conscious faculty for

perceiving and dealing intelligently with reality.

• The ego acts as a mediator between the id and

the superego.

– The ego is partly conscious.

– Deals with the demands of reality.

– Makes rational decisions.


Freud’s Theory:Defense Mechanisms

• Repression: Pushing unacceptable and

anxiety-producing thoughts into the

unconscious; involves intentional forgetting but

not consciously done; repressed material can

be memories or unacceptable impulses.

• Regression: acting in ways characteristic of

earlier life stages/earlier stage of personality.


• Reaction formation: replacing an anxiety-

producing feeling with its exact opposite, typically

going overboard; repressed thoughts appear as

mirror opposites.

• Rationalization: creating false but believable

excuses to justify inappropriate behavior; real

motive for behavior is not accepted by ego.



• Denial: claiming and believing that something

which is actually true is false.

• Displacement: redirecting emotional feelings

(e.g., anger) to a substitute target; involves

directing unacceptable impulses onto a less

threatening object/person.



• Projection: attributing one’s own unacceptable

feelings or beliefs to others; perceiving the external

world in terms of one’s own personal conflicts.

• Sublimation: substitute socially acceptable

behavior for unacceptable impulses.



Neo-Freudian Personality Theories

• Style of life

• Feelings of inferiorityAlfred Adler

• People are shaped by cumulative experiences of the past generations

• Archetypes – ‘Mother nature’, ‘Chanda mama’, myths, stories, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings

Carl Jung

• We establish relationships with others to reduce tensionsHarry Stack Sullivan

• Compliant: move toward others

• Aggressive: move against others

• Detached: move away from others

Karen Horney’s three personality groups

Social relationships are fundamental to personality


Trait Theory

• Focus on measurement of personality in terms of traits – identifiable characteristics that define a person

• Trait - any distinguishing, relatively enduring way in which one individual differs from another. Eg. Extrovert, introvert


Traits relevant to consumer behavior

• Degree to which a person likes to try new thingsInnovativeness

• Amount of emphasis placed on acquiring and owning productsMaterialism

• The degree to which a person deliberately monitors and controls the self-image that is projected to others

Self-consciousness

• The degree to which a person likes to think about a thing and tries to seek the brand information.

Need for cognition

• Frugal people deny short term purchasing whims, choosing resourcefully to use what they already ownFrugality


Soup and Soup Lover’s Traits

• Chicken Noodle Soup Lovers– Watch a lot of TV

– Are family oriented

– Have a great sense of humor

– Are outgoing and loyal

– Like daytime talk shows

– Most likely to go to church

• Tomato Soup Lovers– Passionate about reading

– Love pets

– Like meeting people for coffee

– Aren’t usually the life of the party

• Vegetable/Minestrone Soup Lovers– Enjoy the outdoors

– Usually game for trying new things

– Spend more money than any other group dining in fancy restaurants

– Likely to be physically fit

– Gardening is often a favorite hobby

Personality is linked to broad product categories and NOT

specific brands


Personality and Understanding Consumer Behavior

Consumer innovativeness

DogmatismSocial

character

Need for uniqueness

Optimum stimulation

level

Sensation seeking

Variety-novelty seeking


Personality and Understanding Consumer Behavior

Consumer Innovativeness

• Willingness to innovate

• Further broken down for hi-tech products– Global innovativeness

– Domain-specific innovativeness

– Innovative behavior

Dogmatism

• Reflects the degree of rigidity a person displays towards the unfamiliar and towards information that is contrary to his or her own established beliefs


Contd..

• Ranges on a continuum for inner-directedness to other-directedness

– Inner-directedness (Idiocentrics)

• rely on own values when evaluating products

• Innovators

– Other-directedness (Allocentrics)

• Look to others

• less likely to be innovators


Need for Uniqueness

• Consumers who avoid conforming to expectations or standards of others

Sensation Seeking

• The need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and experience. And the willingness to take social and physical risks for the sensations.

Contd..


Optimum Stimulation Level

• A personality trait that measures the level or amount of novelty or complexity that individuals seek in their personal experiences

• High OSL consumers tend to accept risky and novel products more readily than low OSL consumers.

Variety-Novelty Seeking

• Measures a consumer’s degree of variety seeking

• Examples include:– Exploratory Purchase

Behavior

– Use Innovativeness

– Vicarious Exploration


Contd..

From Consumer Materialism to Compulsive Consumption

Fixated consumption behavior

• Consumers fixated on certain products or categories of products

• Characteristics:

• Passionate interest in a product category

• Willingness to go to great lengths to secure objects

• Dedication of time and money to collecting

Compulsive consumption behavior

• “Addicted” or “out-of-control” consumers


Consumer Ethnocentrism and Cosmopolitanism

Ethnocentrism

• Ethnocentric consumers feel it is wrong to purchase foreign-made products because of the impact on the economy. They can be targeted by stressing nationalistic themes

Cosmopolitanism

• A cosmopolitan orientation would consider the world to be their marketplace and would be attracted to products from other cultures and countries.


Brand Personality

• Personality-like traits associated with brands

• Examples– Tetrapack and freshness

– Nike and athlete

– BMW is performance driven

• Brand personality which is strong and favorable will strengthen a brand but not necessarily demand a price premium


Discussion Questions

• Pick three of your favorite food brands.

• Describe their personality. Do they have a gender? What personality traits do they have?

Product Anthropomorphism andBrand Personification

Product Anthropomorphism

• Attributing human characteristics to objects

• Tony the Tiger and Mr. Peanut

Brand Personification

• Consumer’s perception of brand’s attributes for a human-like character

• Mr. Coffee is seen as dependable, friendly, efficient, intelligent and smart.

A Brand Personality Framework

Product Personality Issues

Gender

• Some products perceived as masculine (coffee and toothpaste) while others as feminine (bath soap and shampoo)

Geography

• Actual locations, like Philadelphia cream cheese and Arizona iced tea

• Fictitious names also used, such as Hidden Valley and Bear Creek

Color

• Color combinations in packaging and products denotes personality

http://www.colormatters.com/

http://www.colormatters.com/

Personality and consumer behavior

Education

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