Consumer Behavior Consumer Behavior Consumer Behavior Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and all the activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services, including the consumer’s emotional, mental and behavioural responses that precede or follow these activities. Consumer behaviour emerged in the 1940s and 50s as a distinct sub-discipline in the marketing area. Consumer behaviour is an inter-disciplinary social science that blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology, anthropology, ethnography, marketing and economics, especially behavioural economics. It examines how emotions, attitudes and preferences affect buying behaviour. Characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, personality lifestyles and behavioural variables such as usage rates, usage occasion, loyalty, brand advocacy, willingness to provide referrals, in an attempt to understand people’s wants and consumption are all investigated in formal studies of consumer behaviour. The study of consumer behaviour also investigates the influences, on the consumer, from groups such as family, friends, sports, reference groups, and society in general. Struggling to Meet Your Deadline? Get your assignment on Consumer Behavior done on time by medical experts. Don’t wait – ORDER NOW! Meet my deadline The study of consumer behaviour is concerned with all aspects of purchasing behaviour – from pre-purchase activities through to post-purchase consumption, evaluation and disposal activities. It is also concerned with all persons involved, either directly or indirectly, in purchasing decisions and consumption activities including brand-influencers and opinion leaders. Research has shown that consumer behaviour is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field. However, new research methods such as ethnography and consumer neuroscience are shedding new light on how consumers make decisions. Customer relationship management (CRM) databases have become an asset for the analysis of customer behaviour. The voluminous data produced by these databases enables detailed examination of behavioural factors that contribute to customer re-purchase intentions, consumer retention, loyalty and other behavioural intentions such as the willingness to provide positive referrals, become brand advocates or engage in customer citizenship activities. Databases also assist in market segmentation, especially behavioural segmentation such as developing loyalty segments, which can be used to develop tightly targeted, customized marketing strategies on a one-to-one basis. Consumer Behavior ORDER NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER!!! Consumer Behavior Consumer Behavior 1. Wal-Mart tracks the habits of the 100 million customers who visit its stores each week and responds with products and services directed toward those customers’ needs based on the information collected. This is an example of ________ marketing. a. undifferentiated b. relationship c. consumer-generated d. database 2. A consumer with a(n) ________ attachment to a product uses the product as part of his or her daily routine. a. nostalgic b. interdependent c. positivist d. psychographic 3. A digital native is someone who ________. a. is a heavy user of alternate reality games (ARGs) b. grew up in a “wired” and highly networked world c. belongs to a consumption community d. participates in database marketing 4. The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus is an example of a(n) ________. a. industry watchdog b. social marketer c. culture jammer d. federal agency 5. Researchers who argue that the field of consumer behavior should not be a “handmaiden to business” believe that consumer behavior research should ________. a. be judged in terms of its ability to improve marketing practices b. focus on understanding consumption for its own sake c. have a market-oriented focus d. aim to apply knowledge to increasing profits 6. Which of the following social science fields would most likely be associated with macro consumer behavior? a. cultural anthropology b. clinical psychology c. experimental psychology d. human ecology 7. A student of postmodernism is most likely to believe that the world in which we live is a(n) ________, or a mixture of images. a. consumerspace b. paradigm c. pastiche d. alternate reality 8. Jenny Rowlins is absolutely exhausted after her shopping trip to pick out a dress for her sorority’s formal event. The stores were crowded, and none of her favorite shops carried a dress that she liked in her size. After spending hours at the mall, Jenny gave up and decided to order her dress online and just return it if it wasn’t exactly right. This decision took place in the ________ stage of Jenny’s consumption process. a. prepurchase b. purchase c. influence d. postpurchase 9. Evan does business in South America. He has mastered Spanish and many cultural norms, but he still has problems with cultural differences in ethics. Many of the regulatory officials Evan must deal with expect bribes. Evan solves this problem by bringing with him a number of moderately priced watches. When an official admires his watch, Evan offers it to him or her as a gift. Later he puts a new watch on his wrist. Evan’s situation demonstrates that ________. a. a small lapse of ethics is acceptable b. universal values are the basis of business ethics c. laws regulating business have become uniform because of the demands of a global economy d. different cultures define ethical business behaviors differently 10. An advertisement for a national shampoo shows a plain woman using the product, then transforming to a gorgeous woman with a new hairstyle, dressed in elegant clothes, waiting for the “man of her dreams” to appear on her doorstep. This advertisement best illustrates which of the following criticisms of the marketing system? a. Marketers create needs. b. Marketing makes society overly materialistic. c. Marketers control popular culture. d. Marketers promise miracles. 11. George says that he sees everything as “black or white no in between.” George would most accurately be characterized as a(n) ________. a. interpretivist b. collectivist c. consumerist d. positivist 12. Which of the following refers to the process by which the way a word sounds influences the listener’s assumptions about what the word describes? a. semiotics b. audio watermarking c. the principle of similarity d. sound symbolism 13. The minimum difference that can be detected between two stimuli is known as the ________. a. “bare” minimum b. j.n.d. (just noticeable difference) c. gradual differentiation d. graded difference 14. According to Weber’s Law, the ________ the initial stimulus, the greater a change must be for people to notice the change. a. stronger b. weaker c. more unusual d. more common 15. Which of the following refers to the meanings we assign to sensory stimuli? a. schema b. interpretation c. semiotics d. perception 16. A new Green Giant ad campaign relied on the ________ when it used a redesigned package for Green Giant products that showed the Green Giant in a “sea of green.” It was felt that the Green Giant products were now unified under a common design banner. a. principle of similarity b. subliminal principle c. closure principle d. figure-ground principle 17. Lifestyle, attributes, competitors, and quality are all dimensions marketers can use to carve out a brand’s ________ in the marketplace. a. priming b. position c. trade dress d. sensory signature 18. Ben Perez is driving along a mountain road. In the distance, he sees a road crew working on a fallen tree that has blocked the highway. When Ben first sees the road crew, which of the following perceptual processes has been engaged? a. interpretation b. exposure c. attention d. adaptation 19. One of the principles of psychophysics is that changes in the physical environment are not always matched by equal changes perceptually. If Madison Wilson were creating a new drink, what would psychophysics tell her? a. She would need to research how the perception of “sweetness” changed by the amount of sugar added. b. She would need to look at the subliminal aspects of “sweetness.” c. She could make the drink twice as sweet by adding twice the amount of sugar. d. She would need to create promotions to tell customers how “sweet” the new drink is. 20. Another name for instrumental conditioning is ________ conditioning. a. reward b. stimulus c. operant d. neo-classical 21. In instrumental conditioning, what is the distinction between negative reinforcement and punishment? a. There is no difference. They are two words for the same thing. b. Negative reinforcement creates a preference for negative results, while punishment teaches people to avoid negative results. c. Negative reinforcement occurs when a negative outcome is avoided, while punishment occurs when an action causes a negative outcome. d. Negative reinforcement can occur when a stimulus is positive, and punishment occurs when a stimulus is painful. 22. Determining the most effective reinforcement schedule to use with consumers is important to marketers. What type of reinforcement schedule is most likely being used when after a period of time has passed, the first response a consumer makes brings the reward? a. fixed-interval reinforcement b. fixed-ratio reinforcement c. variable-interval reinforcement d. variable-ratio reinforcement 23. Within a knowledge structure, which of the following is the LEAST complex knowledge unit? a. proposition b. schema c. script d. meaning 24. Sam Bolton hums the Purina Cat Chow jingle as he drives down the expressway. A thought suddenly occurs to Sam: “Why am I humming this stupid jingle? I don’t buy this stuff. In fact, I don’t even have a cat.” Sam knows this jingle through ________. a. reinforcement modeling b. incidental learning c. operant conditioning d. stimulus generalization 25. “It’s time for the Christmas shopping list,” thought Martha’s mother, so she asked Martha for a quick list of her favorite perfumes. Martha gave her mother six names that were all her “favorite.” This group constitutes Martha’s ________ set for perfume. a. activation b. position c. rational d. evoked PART 2 1. Whether a consumer’s need is utilitarian or hedonic, the ________ it creates determines the urgency the consumer feels to reduce it. a. reinforcement b. magnitude of the tension c. expectancy d. direction of the tension 2. When a woman buys expensive jewelry, which of the following needs is most likely being expressed? a. biogenic b. rational c. utilitarian d. hedonic 3. What type of conflict exists when we desire a goal but wish to avoid it at the same time? a. avoidance-avoidance conflict b. approach-approach conflict c. direction-valence conflict d. approach-avoidance conflict 4. Which of the following needs from Maslow’s Hierarchy is addressed by the U.S. Army’s advertising slogan “Be all you can be”? a. safety needs b. self-actualization needs c. belongingness needs d. ego needs 5. Which of the following is characterized by a sense of playfulness, a distorted sense of time, and mental enjoyment of the activity for its own sake? a. inertia b. flow state c. homeostasis d. cognitive dissonance 6. A(n) ________ approach assumes that very specific product attributes are linked at levels of increasing abstraction to terminal values. a. means-end chain model b. List of Values c. instrumental value d. abstract model 7. Franz Schmidt is a German teenager. His father was recently transferred to Tokyo, Japan. Franz realizes that he will have to make a big adjustment to be successful in this new environment. As Franz and his family make an adjustment to the Japanese culture, they will go through a learning process called ________. a. acculturation b. laddering c. enculturation d. globalization 8. Lindsay believed that customers would come to view her new resort hotel with high personal involvement because it was a quality property with an excellent view. Instead, she found that many of her customers came to the hotel only when she offered special price discounts. What aspect of consumer involvement had Lindsay ignored? a. Lindsay forgot that consumer involvement is primarily a function of price; other factors such as quality are relatively unimportant. b. Lindsay forgot that consumer involvement develops only over long periods of time, and most tourists simply don’t have the time to become involved consumers. c. Lindsay forgot that most consumers are apathetic about travel, irrespective of the quality of facilities at their travel destinations. d. Lindsay forgot that consumer involvement includes personal factors and situational factors as well as object factors. 9. Why are approach-approach conflicts likely to create more cognitive dissonance than approach-avoidance conflicts? a. Approach-approach conflicts are very confusing to resolve intellectually, but approach-avoidance conflicts are typically simply resolved through behavioral aspects of reinforcement learning. b. Approach-avoidance conflicts create inertia, thus past habits are employed without the need to resolve the cognitive inconsistencies. c. Approach-avoidance conflicts result when the positive alternative simply overwhelms the negative, thus no cognitive dissonance exists under this condition. d. Approach-approach conflicts result when both alternatives are positive. The selection of one requires the rejection of another, which creates a need for a cognitive explanation of why one positive choice was not selected. 10. “Casual Fridays” in American workplaces encourage the expression of a person’s ________. a. virtual self b. cultural self c. dual self d. unique self 11. ________ refers to the positivity of a person’s self-concept. a. Social comparison b. Self-image c. Self-esteem d. Self-concept 12. Matthew assumes the virtual identity of Vlad the Conqueror and is able to see himself in an online game as an armored attack robot. This visual identity is called a(n) ________. a. distorted self-image b. avatar c. ideal self d. extended self 13. ________ refers to the possession of both masculine and feminine traits. a. Dysmorphia b. Heterosexuality c. Homosexuality d. Androgyny 14. Shanshea worked hard to finish her engineering degree at M.I.T., and she proudly displays a bumper sticker declaring “M.I.T. Engineer” on her car. This bumper sticker is an example of a(n) ________. a. avatar b. platform c. badge d. cathexis 15. Jake is a high school wrestler who often struggles to “make weight” to qualify for his desired weight category for a wrestling meet. Jake often weighs himself ten times a day and tightly controls how much he eats, feeling miserable about any appearance of fat on his body and disguising his body in baggy pants and roomy sweatshirts. If he doesn’t reach his desired weight, Jake feels like a failure. This is an example of ________. a. androgyny b. body dysmorphic disorders c. fattism d. dimorphic markers 16. In a Freudian interpretation, which of the following is most closely associated with the pleasure principle? a. the superego b. the id c. the anti-ego d. the ego 17. Esso (now Exxon in the United States) used the work of Ernest Dichter to influence its “Put a Tiger in Your Tank” ad campaign. Which of the following conclusions formed the rationale for the famous campaign? a. The size of the tiger enhances a male’s ego. b. The tiger supplies powerful animal symbolism and it contains vaguely sexual undertones. c. Orange and black are two of the most powerful colors in the color spectrum. d. The playful nature of the tiger is appealing to female consumers. 18. Jim sees himself as being confident, powerful, and heroic. According to the BrandAsset Archetypes model developed by ad agency Young & Rubicam, Jim would be classified as a ________. a. Sage b. Warrior c. Patriarch d. Troubadour 19. Lee-Ann Wang is young and enjoys risky experiences such as skydiving, bungee jumping, and snowboarding. To which of the following VALS2 groups would Lee-Ann most likely belong? a. Experiencers b. Thinkers c. Achievers d. Strivers 20. Jeffrey Quills is seen by his friends as a somewhat strange person. At times he is lovable, warm, and friendly. At other times he can be mean-spirited, uncaring, and hostile to all who know him. Which of the following general statements about personality most closely matches what friends observe about Jeffrey? a. Psychologists agree that a standard personality component exists in all people. b. Most psychologists have completely abandoned the concept of personality. c. Many studies have found that people do not seem to exhibit stable personalities. d. People have a standard personality that can be identified as belonging to one of five categories. 21. The theory of cognitive dissonance is based on the ________. a. principle of cognitive-affect conflict b. knowledge function c. principle of cognitive consistency d. self-identification function 22. What does the sleeper effect suggest about source credibility? a. The effectiveness of a message will increase over time. b. Many people can learn the important parts of a message even when asleep. c. The effectiveness of positive sources over negative sources can be erased over time. d. If a receiver is not paying attention, a message cannot be effective. 23. Source ________ refers to the message source’s perceived social value. a. attractiveness b. hierarchy c. valence d. class 24. The ________ route to persuasion is taken when the receiver is not really motivated to think about the arguments made in a communication message. a. peripheral b. central c. dual d. subconscious 25. The Berry and Dale advertising agency has proposed a new campaign for Bayer Aspirin to overcome the public’s tendency to “tune out” Bayer commercials. The proposed technique will be to create ten different 15-second spots that all demonstrate reasons for using Bayer Aspirin. Which of the following theories of message communication is the agency trying to account for in its proposal for Bayer Aspirin? a. the theory of reasoned action b. the two-factor theory c. the balanced communication theory d. the trait-factor theory PART 3 1. When is a consumer most likely to engage in extended problem solving? a. This decision mode is most common when acceptable products are already contained within the consumer’s evoked set. b. This decision mode is most common when the decision is related to the person’s self- concept and the outcome has a high degree of risk. c. This decision mode is most common when the decision is related to products that are considered to have low self-concept involvement. d. This decision mode is most common when the decision is related to the person’s past behavior and product reinforcements. 2. A consumer who moves his or her ideal state upward is experiencing ________. a. need recognition b. search recognition c. habitual recognition d. opportunity recognition 3. As a customer’s product knowledge increases, what typically happens to the amount of search conducted by the consumer? a. It will continually increase. b. It will continually decrease. c. It will decrease, and then increase as the customer becomes more knowledgeable. d. It will increase, and then decrease as the customer becomes more knowledgeable. 4. The alternatives actively considered during a consumer’s choice process are his or her ________ set. a. evaluative b. evoked c. inert d. consideration 5. According to the theory called ________, a company can make money if it sells small amounts of items that only a few people want if the company sells enough different items. a. feature creep b. Zipf’s Law c. neuromarketing d. the long tail 6. A ________ rule means that a product with a low standing on one attribute cannot make up for this position by being better on another attribute. a. conjunctive b. compensatory decision c. lexicographic d. noncompensatory decision 7. Kent, a college student, is a loyal Coca-Cola drinker. He averages about six Cokes a day. He even prefers Coke to water. However, today when he passed a vending machine in his dorm, he bought a new flavor of soft drink called Big Red. Which of the following most accurately explains his behavior, given the facts about Kent’s previous behavior? a. Kent is involved in extended problem solving. b. Kent is brand switching. c. Kent is influenced by peer pressure. d. Kent is variety seeking. 8. Of the following products, which one would typically carry high psychological risk for the average consumer? a. a lawn mower b. a family vacation to a theme park c. a kitchen blender d. an expensive mink coat 9. Coca-Cola is an example of a(n) ________ product because it has come to characterize an entire category of soft drinks. a. evoked b. exemplar c. heuristic d. criteria 10. Latrell finds that every time he goes to select athletic shoes, he always buys the same brand. In fact, he doesn’t even remember trying on any of the other competitive brands even though some of these brands have attractive styles and prices. Latrell’s purchase decision process has become one of less and less effort. Latrell’s decision process is an example of ________. a. ineptness b. cognitive dissonance c. inertia d. information discrimination 11. A small company, Craig Inventions, produced a pill that had the nutrient value of a healthy breakfast. The company put the product on the market as a substitute for breakfast for busy people. The product failed. Craig Inventions then marketed the pill as a diet product and it became very successful. What does the example best demonstrate? a. The company confused a subordinate level with a basic level of categorization, which led to the company’s failure to identify the product’s most important competitors. b. The company did not position the product well. It was difficult to convince consumers that a pill was a breakfast on the superordinate level; however, it did appear to fit appropriately within the superordinate category of diet pills. c. The company confused a superordinate level with a subordinate level of categorization. d. The determinant attributes between diet pills and breakfast were not sufficiently strong. 12. Most Americans will state that they are always rushed for time even though many people have opportunities for leisure. This perception is referred to as ________. a. circular time b. psychological time c. the leisure paradox d. time poverty 13. A ________ orientation dimension distinguishes between people who prefer to do one thing at a time and those who have multitasking timestyles. a. social b. planning c. temporal d. polychronic 14. Which of the following cultures is likely to see time as cyclic? a. Hispanic b. German c. Swiss d. American 15. Which of the following is considered a limitation of e-commerce? a. lack of reasonable delivery times b. higher prices than in-store prices c. expensive to order and then return d. lack of real-time pricing 16. In-store shopping has become extremely important in today’s highly competitive retail environment. It has been estimated that about ________ of supermarket purchases are decided in the aisles as consumers shop. a. one-half b. two-thirds c. four-fifths d. one-quarter 17. Which of the following best identifies what consumers primarily look for in products? a. quality and value b. price and warranty c. quality and warranty d. color and style 18. The Japanese believe that successful total quality management can be achieved by going to the one true source of information called the ________. a. ISO b. gestalt c. gemba d. sigma 19. Julie Mor
