Consumer Behaviour
Personality
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Introduction
The inner psychological characteristics (qualities/ attributes/ traits/mannerisms
etc.) that both determine and reflect how a person responds to his or her
environment.
Personality reflects individual differences.
Personality is consistent and enduring.
Personality can change.
Personality traits influence a person’s buying pattern and consumption behaviour.
Consumers generally buy those products/brands whose personality matches their
own, or they buy such products/brands which help them fight their inferiority.
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Personality Theories
Theories of Personality
Freudian theory (Psychoanalytic Theory)
Unconscious needs or drives are at the heart of human motivation and
personality
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
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SUPEREGO ID Instant
Freudian theory Gratification
Freud was an Austrian physician.
EGO
Personality develops as a result
of the tension or conflict that
exists between the inner
physiological needs and desires
of an individual and the
socialization process that
attempts to control such needs
and desires in a social structure.
Two techniques that have been
derived from the psychoanalytic
theory and have been widely
used in market research are in-
depth interviews and projective
techniques.
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3 Components Of The Psyche According To Freud – Id, Ego, Superego
The id was conceptualized as a “warehouse" of primitive and impulsive drives —basic physiological
needs—for which the individual seeks immediate satisfaction without concern for the specific
means of satisfaction.
• Id: It is a source of strong, basic and instinctive drives and urges which demand instant
gratification even at the cost of violating the norms of society. It demands instant gratification—
Pleasure Principle.
In contrast to the id, the superego is conceptualized as the individual's internal expression of
society's moral and ethical codes of conduct. Thus, the superego is a kind of "brake" that restrains or
inhibits the impulsive forces of the id.
• Super Ego: It is the individual’s moral code and helps in striving for perfection or ideals . Its
primary purpose is to restrain aggressive impulses of the id.
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Finally, the ego is the individual's conscious control. It functions as an internal monitor that
attempts to balance the impulsive demands of the id and the socio-cultural constraints of the
superego
• Ego: It operates on a reality principle, and seeks to achieve the pleasurable demands of the
id in as realistic a way as possible. It helps to develop cognition, and controls impulsive
behaviour.
According to this theory, these three systems are fully developed and are in a state of balance
in a normal healthy person. But when one or more of these systems are underdeveloped, then
the internal balance is disturbed, which leads to maladjustment and dissatisfaction.
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APPLICATIONS
• Consumers have competing desires and want to satisfy their wants.
• Hedonism (high living) is an appeal to pleasure principle and this
approach offers products for an affluent (rich) society.
• Marketers, therefore, create fantasies about the product which is used
as a basis for influencing consumers. Marketers use flights of fantasy to
propel people to buy their products.
• Psychoanalytical theory appeals to the buyer’s dreams, hopes and fears.
It can also provide products which are rational and socially acceptable.
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Neo-Freudian Theory
Social interaction and the resultant relationships form the basis for the
formation, growth, and development of personality.
They laid emphasis on the process of socialization and on social and cultural
directions; they came to be known as the Neo-Freudians.
Noteworthy amongst them are Alfred Adler, Harry Stack Sullivan, and Karen
Horney.
Alfred Adler
➢ Adler proposed that the major factor contributing to personality development
is the desire to overcome feelings of inadequacy derived from experiences of
early childhood.
▪ People buy and use products that are used by members of a higher social class.
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Herbert Sullivan
➢ According to Sullivan, a person’s personality is shaped almost entirely by the
relationships that he/she forms with other people.
➢ People tend to use products and/or brands used by others around them, because it
fulfils their need for association and companionship.
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Trait Theory
Trait Theory
Personality theory with a focus on specific psychological characteristics called
traits
Trait - any distinguishing, relatively enduring way in which one individual differs
from another
Consumer Innovators and Non-innovators differ on the traits like:
Consumer innovativeness – open to new experiences
Dogmatism –degree of rigidity towards new ideas
Social character – inner-directed vs. other-directed for making evaluations , decisions
appraisals
Need for uniqueness – degree of conformity, conventional choices
Optimum stimulation level –risk taking
Sensation seeking – need for varied, novel and complex sensations and experiences
Variety-novelty seeking
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Cognitive Personality Traits
Need for Cognition – desiring deep thought, enjoyment of thinking
Visualizers vs. verbalizers
Consumption and Possession Related Traits
Materialism – degree of centrality of possessions to individual identity
Fixated Consumption behaviour – deep interest in product category, collectors
Consumer Compulsive behaviour - excessive, out of control, addictive [disorder]
Ethnocentrism - responses to foreign made products, domestic-country bias
may vary by product category.
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Norman’s Big-five
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Measurement of personality
There are four major approaches to the measurement of personality, namely rating
methods, situational tests, projective techniques, and inventory schemes.
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Rating methods
Through the use of standardized rating scales, such as the three-point, five-point, six-point, or
seven-point scale, the predetermined personality characteristic(s) of a person is measured for
a single trait or for multiple traits.
Situational tests
Situational tests are a measurement technique which involves creation of a situation that is
close to a real-life situation.
Projective techniques
Projective techniques are indirect measures of personality that help gain insights into people’s
minds and personalities through their responses to vague, ambiguous, and unstructured
stimuli.
Inventory schemes
Inventory schemes are the most popularly used personality measurement techniques. The
personality inventory comprises a large number of explicit and standardized questions with
various answer options.
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Brand Personality
Brand Personality
Attributing various descriptive, personality-like traits with brands
▪ Brand Personification – giving non humans, human-like traits
For instance, in focus group research, well-known brands of dishwashing liquid have been
likened to “demanding task masters” or “high energy people”.
▪ Brand Anthropomorphism - giving non humans both human form and human-like traits.
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Changing Brand Personality
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PRODUCT PERSONALITY (GENDER)
A product personality frequently endows the product or brand with
a gender.
For instance, some products are perceived as masculine while others
as feminine
→ Helps marketers to better select visuals or text copy
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Product personality (colour)
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Combination of black, white: sophisticated, carefully engineered, high-tech.
Black, white and a touch of red: advanced performance. Ex: Nike Zoom pegasus
advanced running shoes
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PRODUCT PERSONALITY (GEOGRAPHY)
Certain products in the minds of consumers possess a strong geographical
association.
Consequently, by employing geography in the product’s name, the product’s
manufacturer creates a geographic personality for the product.
Actual locations like Banaras saree and Darjeeling tea.
Fictitious names also used such as Hidden Valley and Bear Creek.
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Product personality (geography)
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Self-Concept
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Self-Image and Self-Concept
➢ Self-image is a pattern of beliefs one has with respect to their own self.
➢ Consumers possess a unique images of themselves, it is an outgrowth of their
background and experience.
➢ Further, consumers also exhibit ‘multiple selves’, and the same consumer could
act differently at different times and in different social situations. These self-
images are associated with consumption patterns.
➢ People often buy and consume such goods and services and/or brands which help
them move towards their ideal selves.
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Self-Concept
Self Concept is the totality of thoughts and feelings that an individual has about self.Self-
concept is the sum
Actual self image: how consumers in fact see themselves
Ideal self image: how consumer would like to see themselves
Social self image: how consumers feel others see them
Ideal social self image: how consumers would like others to see them
Extended self: It is an interrelationship between consumers self image and their possession(i.e.
objects they call their own).
• Virtual Personality or Virtual-Self: Ex: Avatars
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Extended self: It is an interrelationship between consumers self image and their
possession (i.e. objects they call their own). A consumer’s possession may
extend their self image in number of ways:
Actually – by allowing the person to do things that otherwise would be very
difficult to accomplish
Symbolically - by making the person feel better or bigger
Conferring status or rank – by identifying for his efforts or work
Bestowing feelings of immortality – by leaving valued possession to young
family members
Endowing with magical powers – Ex – a pair of cuff links inherited from one’s
grandfather might be perceived as magic amulets bestowing good luck when
they are worn. 30
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