Unit 4:

Perception & Learning

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What we will learn in this Unit

Know the meaning & definition of Perception

& Learning Processes

Explain the factors affecting perception &

learning
Understand how these processes are
important for understanding Consumer
Behaviour
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 Perception

Definition: Highly individual process &

• The process by which an individual two persons who are
selects, organizes & interprets exposed to identical stimuli
stimuli received from the can perceive them totally
environment into meaningful &
coherent picture
differently based on each
person’s needs, values &
expectations.

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 Perception

Steps in the Perception Process

Sensation Organisation Interprétation
• eyes, ears, nose, skin • categorise the • attaching meaning to
& mouth sensed stimulus by the stimulus forming
categorizing it with an impression as to
similar object whether it is an
categories in the object of liking, & of
person’s memory what value this
object could be of

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The Process
of Perception

Sensation

Organization

Interpretation

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 Factors affecting Perception

Stimulus Characteristics
nature of information Strong sensory
from the characteristics attract
environment more attention
• products, brands, shops, • bright colours, loud noise,
marketing people, strong smells, etc
friends, family, etc.

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 Stimulus Characteristics
• Sensory
– Stimulates any of the five
senses
• Information content
– Moves the perceptual
process beyond sensation or
stimulus selection towards
organization and
interpretation

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Factors affecting Perception

• setting in which the stimulus is received

• social, cultural & organisational
Context contexts
• favourite brand label

Consumer
• expectations bias the perception
Characteristic process of an individual
s

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Customer Characteristics

Perceptions are influenced by what

customers already know and feel about the
stimuli

Such prior knowledge and feelings become

expectations

Expectations influence perceptions in that we

often end up seeing what we expect to see
• Since customer expectations color the perception of
reality, users, payers, and buyers are also likely to see a
product or service differently

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Perceptual Process

Selection in Perceptual Process

Selective
Interpretation
• Perceptual
Selective Selective distortion Selective
Exposure Attention Blocking

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 Perceptual Selection

Concepts

• Selective • Consumers seek out

Exposure messages which:
• Selective – Are pleasant
– They can sympathize
Attention
– Reassure them of
• Perceptual good purchases
Defense
• Perceptual
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Blocking
 Perceptual Selection

Concepts

• Selective • Heightened
Exposure awareness when
• Selective stimuli meet their
Attention needs
• Perceptual • Consumers prefer
Defense different messages
and medium
• Perceptual
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Blocking
 Perceptual Selection

Concepts

• Selective • Screening out of

Exposure stimuli which are
• Selective threatening
Attention
• Perceptual
Defense
• Perceptual
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Blocking
 Perceptual Selection

Concepts

• Selective • Consumers avoid

Exposure being bombarded by:
• Selective – Tuning out
– TiVo
Attention
• Perceptual
Defense
• Perceptual
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Blocking
 Perceptual Process

Thresholds in the Perceptual

Process
Absolute Differential
Threshold Threshold
• ‘something’ & • “Just Noticeable
‘nothing’ for a Difference”
particular stimulus • the magnitude of
Subliminal
• ‘getting used to’ change needed for Perception
this change to be
noticed depends on
the base quantity

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 Threshold

•Means Sensitivity to
the stimulus
WHY DO MARKETEERS
CHANGE THE
ADVERTISMENT
OFTEN??
How do you perceive weight of products
Subliminal Perception
Perceptual Organisation

Grouping
associate some products with Youth &
helps the consumer in memorizing the
adventure, Love & Affection, Sensuous &
stimuli & also for recalling them
Sexy, Sports & Games etc.

Closure
run the audio of their frequently advertised TV commercial on radio without any
change

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Perceptual Interpretation
rational match
Physical between the
advertised product &
Appearance the model used to
promote it

Stereo pictures in his/her mind

regarding the meaning of
types different kinds of stimuli

First
Impressions
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Physical Appearance
Stereo
types
 First
Impressions
Perceptual Interpretation

Jumping to Conclusions

Give all powerful arguments in the

beginning of the ad

Impression that elongated package

contains more volume than the round
package although both contained the same
quantity

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Perceptual Interpretation

• An exceptional
Halo halo vehicle in
order to
Effect promote sales of
an entire range

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Perceptual process & Marketing Strategy

Price Perception

price/quality ‘reference
‘odd pricing’
relationship price’

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 Perceived Risk
• The degree of uncertainty perceived by the
consumer as to the consequences (outcome) of a
specific purchase decision
• Types
• Functional Risk
• Physical Risk
• Financial Risk
• Psychological Risk
• Time Risk

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 How Consumers Handle Risk
• Seek Information
• Stay Brand Loyal
• Select by Brand Image
• Rely on Store Image
• Buy the Most Expensive Model
• Seek Reassurance

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Country of
Origin Effects

• the bias in customer

perceptions of
Country products and services
due to the country in
-of- which these products
origin and services are made
effects • Can vary across
cultures and across
processing conditions

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Perceived
Corporate Image

Corporate image refers to the public

perception of a corporation as a whole

Customer perceptions of corporate

image affect everything a firm does

Companies are known to be:

• Producers of high or low-quality products or
healthy products
• Users of high-pressure tactics or soft-selling
approaches
• Socially conscious or utterly selfish merchant

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 Learning

Definition Acquisition and

• a change in the content of long development of memories
term memory and behaviors, including
skills, knowledge,
understanding, values, and
wisdom

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Elements of Learning
• motivated will automatically look for
Motivation education & information search

Cues • stimuli which give direction to motives

• how a consumer reacts to a stimulus

Response or cue

Reinforcement

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Theories of Learning
Cognitive
Learning
Rote learning
• learning by repetition

Informal learning
• experience of day-to-day situations

Formal learning
• teacher-student relationships

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 Theories of Learning

Classical Operant
Conditioning(Pavlovian or Conditioning(Instrumental
Respondent Conditioning) conditioning)
• salivary conditioning of • Reinforcement and
Pavlov's dogs punishment

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Classical Conditioning

The process in which a person learns

an association between two stimuli
due to their constant appearance as a
pair…(i.e., Pavlov’s dog)

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

• A stimulus toward which a customer already has
a pre-existing specific response, so the response
to it does not have to be conditioned

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

• A stimulus to which the customer either does not
have a response, or has a pre-existing response
that needs modification, so a new response
needs to be conditioned

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 Strategic Applications of Classical
Conditioning

Basic Concepts

• Repetition • Increases the

• Stimulus association between
generalization the conditioned and
• Stimulus unconditioned
discrimination stimulus
• Slows the pace of
forgetting
• Advertising wearout
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 Strategic Applications of Classical
Conditioning

Basic Concepts

• Repetition • Having the same

• Stimulus response to slightly
generalization different stimuli
• Stimulus • Helps “me-too”
discrimination products to succeed
• Useful in product
extensions
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 Strategic Applications of Classical
Conditioning

Basic Concepts
• Repetition • Selection of a specific
• Stimulus stimulus from similar
generalization stimuli
• Stimulus • This discrimination is
discrimination the basis of
positioning which
looks for unique
ways to fill needs 60
Instrumental Conditioning
We learn to respond in certain
ways because a response is
instrumental to obtaining a
reward
• Behaviorism theory (B.F. Skinner)

Marketers use this learning

mechanism most effectively by
making the product its own
intrinsic reward
• Coupons
• Sweepstakes
• Rebates
• Frequent flier programs

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 Types of Reinforcement
• Positive
• Negative
• Forgetting
• Extinction

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Instrumental Conditioning and Marketing

• Customer Satisfaction (Reinforcement)

– Free add-ons(Hotels rooms)/Loyalty Programmes
• Reinforcement Schedules
– Upgrading/One hour sale
• Shaping
– Loss Leaders/Test drive gifts
• Massed versus Distributed Learning
– Ad scheduling

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 A process by which
individuals observe
how others behave
in response to
Observational
certain stimuli and
Learning
reinforcements.
Also known as
modeling or
vicarious learning.
 Theories of Learning
Modeling/Observational
Learning

Persons
Persons Persons
superior in Superior
superior in superior in
intelligence technicians
age/grade social
ranking in any field
hierarchy status
system

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 Characteristics of learning

Strength of Learning

Message
Importance Mood Reinforcement Punishment Repetition Imagery
Involvement

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Characteristics of learning

Extinction
forgetting what has been learnt

Stimulus Generalisation
most brand extensions are based on this premise

Stimulus Discrimination
the product itself is altered in shape, size or colour for increasing the product differentiation

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Characteristics of learning

Response Environment
proper retrieval
matching the retrieval
depends on the
environment similar
strength of the
to learning
original learning & the
environment
original environment

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 Information Processing
• Relates to cognitive ability and the complexity
of the information
• Individuals differ in imagery – their ability to
form mental images which influences recall

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Information Processing and
Memory Stores

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 Information Processing
• Movement from short-term to long-term
storage depends on
– Rehearsal
– Encoding
• Logos
• Tunes
• Taglines

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 Retention
• Information is stored in long-
term memory
– Episodically: by the order in
which it is acquired(Saw movie
last Saturday)
– Semantically: according to
significant concepts( Movie
plot, songs, stars)
• Total package of associations
is called a schema
– Aishwarya Rai=Nakshatra
Diamonds

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 Issues in Involvement Theory
• Consumer Relevance
• Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion
• Measure of Involvement

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 Consumer Relevance
• Involvement depends on degree of personal
relevance.
• High involvement is:
– Very important to the consumer
– Provokes extensive problem solving

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 Central and Peripheral Routes
to Persuasion
• Central route to persuasion
– For high involvement purchases
– Requires cognitive processing
• Peripheral route to persuasion
– Low involvement
– Consumer less motivated to think
– Learning through repetition, visual cues, and
holistic perception

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 Measures of Consumer Learning
• Recognition and Recall Measures
– Aided and Unaided Recall
• Cognitive Responses to Advertising
– Comprehension
– Copy testing-Pre & Post
• Measures of Brand Loyalty
– Attitudinal-Overall feelings/Purchase intention
– Behavioral-Repeat purchase

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 Brand Loyalty
• Function of three groups of influences
– Consumer drivers(Risk aversion vs. Variety seeking)
– Brand drivers(Reputation vs. substitute brands)
– Social drivers(Social groups vs. peers)
• Four types of loyalty
– No loyalty(No attachment- No purchase)
– Covetous loyalty(Strong attachment-No purchase)
– Inertia loyalty(Habit purchase- no attachment)
– Premium loyalty(High attachment- high repeat puchase)

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 Brand Equity
• Refers to the value inherent in a well-known
brand name
• Value stems from consumer’s perception of
brand superiority
• Brand equity reflects learned brand loyalty
• Brand loyalty and brand equity lead to
increased market share and greater profits

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Psychology of Simplification & Complication

• Consumers tend to
Simplificatio reduce their choices;
n not increase them
• ‘habitual purchasing’

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Psychology of Simplification & Complication

Complication
Boredom Maturation

change in the self rising

concept due to expectations
Life status change
change in from the same
reference groups product

need for
modification of
products
the previous
previously not
solution
needed

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 Psychology of Simplification & Complication

Forced Irrelevance of Current solutions

external environment making the previous solutions
obsolete & irrelevant
Marketers may phase
out certain products or Business organisations
not have adequate stock may change their Governments may bring in new regulations like
at the retail counter or policies
go out of business

banning smoking in banning certain imports,

banning gutka,
public places, etc.

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What we have learnt in this unit
Process of Perception & Learning

Steps in the Perception Process

Factors affecting Perception

Thresholds in the Perceptual Process

Perceptual Organisation & Perceptual Interpretation

Process of learning

Theories of Learning like Cognitive Learning, Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning & Modeling

Characteristics of learning

Psychology of Simplification & Complication

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