Prepared By : Deepak Kumar Sahu
Consumer Behavior - Learning
According to Kotler’s Definition, learning involves changes in an individual’s behavior
arising out of the experience. Most of the human behavior is learned over time, out of
the experience.
Following are the features of consumer learning
Consumer learning is a process. A process which continually changes and acquires new
knowledge.
This knowledge can be obtained from reading, discussing, observing, thinking, etc.
Newly acquired knowledge or personal experience, both serve as feedback.
Elements of Consumer Learning
Motivation is the driving force of all important things to be learnt. Motives allow
individuals to increase their readiness to respond to learning. It also helps in activating
the energy to do so. Thus the degree of involvement usually determines the motivation
to search information about a product.
For example, showing advertisements for summer products just before summer
season or for winter clothes before winters.
Motives encourage learning and cues stimulate the direction to these
motives. Cues are not strong as motives, but their influence in which the consumer
responds to these motives.
For example, in a market, the styling, packaging, the store display, prices all serve as
cues to help consumers to decide on a particular product, but this can happen only if
the consumer has the motive to buy. Thus, marketers need to be careful while
providing cues, especially to consumers who have expectations driven by motives.
Response signifies how a consumer reacts to the motives or even cues. The response
can be shown or hidden, but in either of the cases learning takes place. Often
marketers may not succeed in stimulating a purchase but the learning takes place over
a period of time and then they may succeed in forming a particular image of the brand
or product in the consumer’s mind.
Reinforcement is very important as it increases the probability of a particular response
in the future driven by motives and cues.
Consumer Behavioral Learning Theories
There are various theories which are developed to explain the learning theories. The
below are the major theories related to consumer behavior.
Classical Conditioning theory refers to learning through repetition. This is referred to
as a spontaneous response to particular situation achieved by repetitive exposure. It is
such a kind of a behavioral theory which says, when a stimulus is connected to or
Prepared By : Deepak Kumar Sahu
paired with another stimulus, it serves to produce the same response even when used
alone.
For example, if you usually listen news at 9 pm and have dinner too at 9 pm while
watching the news then eventually the sound of news at 9pm may make you hungry
even though you are not actually hungry or even if the dinner is not ready.
Instrumental Theory is developed by B F SKINNER, an American psychologist, he was
the first to develop this model of learning. Instrumental theory suggests that human
beings learn by trial and error method and then find out a particular stimulus that can
yield best results. Then, this is subsequently formed as a habit
This theory is very important and applies to many common situations in the context of
consumer behavior. It suggests that consumers learn by means of trial-and-error
method in which some purchase behaviors result in a more favorable outcome.
