Chapter 7

Consumer Learning

Consumer Behavior,
Ninth Edition

Schiffman & Kanuk

 Chapter Outline
• The Elements of Consumer Learning
• Behavioral Learning Theories
• Cognitive Learning Theory
• Measures of Consumer Learning

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 Learning
• The process by which individuals acquire the
purchase and consumption knowledge and
experience that they apply to future related
behavior

• Marketers must teach consumers:

– where to buy
– how to use
– how to maintain
– how to dispose of products

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FUGU

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Seki Saba

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Imagine introducing a fish that
consumers and chefs feel very
negatively about and turning it into a
delicacy

That was done with a fish called

mackerel [saba in Japan]

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Saba of a particular region was
more flavourful, and less prone to
spoilages because strong currents
reduced the fat content.

Certain cleaning techniques helped

improve quality

Brand name SEKI was developed

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Seki must be rod caught since net
damages the flesh.

Must be cleaned using a certain

method

Must not be weighed or measured

since that increases handling and
spoilage
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Teaching the consumers and
promoting through the opinion
leaders
Brand is really about creating
credibility
Seki is considered as a delicacy in
Japan and around the world.
Sells at $ 58 [$9] per fish, pretty good
for an ordinary fish that sophisticated
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Seki Saba

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Nature of Learning
Consumer behaviour is largely learned behaviour:
behaviour
1. People acquire most of their attitudes, values tastes
behaviours, preferences, symbolic meanings and
feelings through learning.

2. Culture, family, friends, mass media and advertising

provide learning experience that affects the type of
lifestyle people see and the products they consume

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Nature of Learning

Learning is any change in the content

organization of long-term memory or behaviour
and is the result of information process

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 Learning Theories

• Behavioral Theories • Cognitive Theories

– Based on observable – Learning based on
behaviors mental information
(responses) that occur processing
as the result of
exposure to stimuli – Often in response to
problem solving

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 Discussion Question
• For Coca-Cola:

– How have they used behavioral theory in their

marketing?

– Cognitive theory?

– How have they built brand loyalty?

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 Elements of
Learning Theories

• Motivation

• Cues

• Response

• Reinforcement

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 Elements of
Learning Theories
• Motivation – based on needs and goals and
acts as a spur to learning [people who want to take
up bicycle riding for fitness and recreation are motivated to
learn]

• Cues – stimuli that give direction to the

motives. Marketers should not upset these
expectations.
Consumers expect designer clothes to be expensive and to
be sold in upscale market

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 Elements of
Learning Theories

• Response – how individuals react to a

drive or cue. (to generate a favourable image in the
mind of the consumers)

• Reinforcement – increases the likelihood

that a specific response will occur in the
future as well (product providing relief from pain)

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 Behavioral Learning Theories
• Classical Conditioning

• Instrumental Conditioning

• Modeling or Observational Learning

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 A behavioral learning
theory according to
which a stimulus is
paired with another
Classical
stimulus that elicits a
Conditioning
known response that
serves to produce the
same response when
used alone.

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• Pavlov Experiment

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Models of Classical Conditioning

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 We now
associate this
product with
strength.

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 Strategic Applications of
Classical Conditioning
Basic Concepts

• Repetition • Increases the

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

• Repetition • Having the same

response to slightly
• Stimulus different stimuli
generalization • Helps “me-too”
products to succeed
• Stimulus • Useful in product
discrimination extensions
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 Discussion Question
Stimulus Generalization
• How does CVS Pharmacy use stimulus
generalization for their private brands?
• Do you think it is effective?
• Should this be allowable?

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 Strategic Applications of
Classical Conditioning
Basic Concepts

• Repetition • Selection of a specific

stimulus from similar
• Stimulus stimuli
generalization
• This discrimination is
the basis of
• Stimulus positioning which
discrimination looks for unique ways
to fill needs
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 A behavioral theory of
learning based on a
trial-and-error process,
with habits forced as
Instrumental
the result of positive
(Operant)
experiences
Conditioning
(reinforcement)
resulting from certain
responses or
behaviors.

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 Types of Reinforcement
• Positive – Using a shampoo that leaves
your hair feeling silky – repeat purchase

• Negative – An advt. showing a model with

wrinkled skin will encourage the
consumers to buy the cream

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 Types of Reinforcement

• Forgetting – a couple not visiting their

once a favourite restaurant may simply
forget how much they used to enjoy

• Extinction – When learned response is no

longer reinforced, it diminishes to the point
of extinction

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A Model of Instrumental Conditioning

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Learning Under High and Low Involvement

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning (or instrumental learning) involves

rewarding desirable behaviors such as brand purchases with
a positive outcome that serves to reinforce the behavior-
resulting in repurchase.

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Learning Under High and Low Involvement

Shaping Can Be Used in Operant Conditioning

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 Instrumental Conditioning
and Marketing
• Customer Satisfaction (Reinforcement)

• Reinforcement Schedules

• Shaping

• Massed versus Distributed Learning

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Learning, Memory, and Retrieval
Impact of Repetition on Brand Awareness for High- and Low-Awareness Brands

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Learning, Memory, and Retrieval
Repetition Timing and Advertising Recall

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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.

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The consumer
observes a
positive
response by
two teens.

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 Holds that the kind
of learning most
characteristic of
Cognitive human beings is
Learning problem solving,
Theory which enables
individuals to gain
some control over
their environment.

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 Information Processing
• Relates to cognitive ability and the
complexity of the information

• Consumers process product information

by attributes, brands, comparison between
brands or a combination of these factors.
• Consumers with higher cognitive ability
need more product information and
consider more product attributes

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 Information Processing
• Individuals differ in imagery – their ability
to form mental images which influences
recall

• The more experience a consumer has with

a product category, the greater his or her
ability to make use of the product
information

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How store, retain and retrieve
information
• All data come to us through our senses.
Each sense receives a fragmented piece
of information and transmits it to the brain.

• The image of a sensory input lasts for just

a second or two in the mind’s sensory
store. If not processed it is lost
immediately.

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How store, retain and retrieve
information
• Marketers have to worry that it might be
relatively easy to get information into the
consumer’s sensory store it is difficult to
make a lasting impression.

• First impressions tend to last and

marketers have to be careful.

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Information Processing and
Memory Stores

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How store, retain and retrieve
information

Short-term store
• Anyone who has ever looked up a number
in a telephone book, only to forget it just
before dialing knows how briefly
information lasts in the short-term storage

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 Information Processing
• Movement from short-term to long-term
storage depends on

– Rehearsal [silent and mental repetition]

– Encoding – we select a word or visual image
to represent a perceived object.

– The transfer process takes 2-10 seconds [if

not rehearsed it is lost in 30 seconds]

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 Information Processing
• Long-term Store
– Retains information for relatively extended
periods of time. It is more common for data in
the long-term storage to last for days, weeks
or even years.
– Rehearsal [silent and mental repetition]
– Encoding – is the process by which we select
a word or visual image to represent a
perceived object.

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 ENCODING BRANDS

Marketers helps consumer encode brands by

using brand symbols

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 Information Processing
• Long-term Store
– A picture takes less time than learning verbal
information.

– When consumers are presented with too

much information [information overload] they
may encounter difficulty in encoding and
storing it all.

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 Information Processing
• Research shows that Text dominant ads
activate brand learning and pictorial
dominant ads activate ad appreciation

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 Discussion Question
• How do advertisers drive consumers to
rehearse information?
• When does this work against the
advertiser?
• Can you think of examples of
advertisements which drive you to
rehearse?

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 Retention
• Information is stored in long-
term memory
– Episodically: by the order in
which it is acquired
– Semantically: according to
significant concepts

• Total package of associations

brought to the mind when a cue
is activated is called a schema
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Memory’s Role in Learning
Long-Term Memory

 Schemas (a.k.a. schematic memory) – concepts

[relating words with objects] and episodes acquire
depth of meaning by becoming associated with other
concepts and meanings

 How one might associate various concepts with

Mountain Dew to form a network of meaning for that
brand.

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Memory’s Role in Learning
A Partial Schematic Memory for Mountain Dew

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What is cool? - weak connection with
Mountain Dew

What is a cool soft drink? - might lead to

Mountain Dew

Marketers spend enormous effort attempting

to develop strong, easily activated links
between their brands and desirable product
benefits

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Memory’s Role in Learning
Long-Term Memory

 Scripts - Memory of how an action sequence should

occur. Purchasing and drinking a soft drink to quench
thirst is a special type of schema known as script.

 Marketers and public policy officials want consumer to

know the sequence of product purchase, use and
disposal.

 They would want the consumer to know about

recycling

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Learning, Memory, and Retrieval
Strength of Learning

Strength of learning is enhanced by six factors:

1. Importance
2. Message Involvement
3. Mood – get happy learn more
4. Reinforcement
5. Repetition
6. Dual Coding – storing the same information in different ways [two
ads. of same product diff. themes dandruff shampoo – office and
social theme]
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Learning, Memory, and Retrieval

Memory interference occurs when consumers have difficulty retrieving a

specific piece of information because other related information in memory gets
in the way.

A common form of interference in marketing is

due to competitive advertising.

Competitive advertising makes it harder for

consumers to recall any given advertisement
and its contents.

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 Retrieval
• Retrieval is the process by which we
recover information from long-term
storage

– Consumers are likely to spend time

interpreting and elaborating on information
they find relevant to their needs and to
activate such relevant knowledge from long-
term memory

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 Models of Cognitive Learning

Decision- Innovation Innovation

Promotional Tricomponent Making Adoption Decision
Model Model Model Model Process
Attention Cognitive Awareness Awareness
Sequential
Knowledge Knowledge
Stages
of Interest Affective Interest
Processing Desire Evaluation Evaluation Persuasion
Action Conative Purchase Trial Decision
Postpurchase Adoption Confirmation
Evaluation

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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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Central route to
persuasion

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Peripheral
route to
persuasion

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Peripheral route
to persuasion

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Measures of Consumer Learning
• Recognition and Recall Measures
– Aided and Unaided Recall

• Cognitive Responses to Advertising

• Attitudinal and Behavioral Measures of

Brand Loyalty

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 Brand Loyalty
• Function of three groups of influences
– Consumer drivers
– Brand drivers
– Social drivers

• Four types of loyalty

– No loyalty
– Covetous loyalty
– Inertia loyalty
– Premium loyalty

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Harley-Davidson Has Strong
Brand Loyalty

weblink

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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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