3.3 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
3.3.2.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES
Psychological influences determine people’s general behaviour and strongly influence how they behave as consumers as well (Figure 3.6) (Hult et al., 2013). According to McDaniel et al. (2013), psychological influences are the tools that consumers utilise in order to recognise their feelings, gather and analyse information, formulate opinions and thoughts as well as take action.
Perception
Perception is the process by which people select, organise and interpret information inputs (sensations received through sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing) into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world (Hult et al., 2013; Kotler & Armstrong, 2010; McDaniel et al., 2013). Due to consumers constantly being bombarded by marketing stimuli, they often use selective exposure to decide which stimuli to pay attention to and which to ignore (Perreault et al., 2011). The selective nature of perception may result in two other conditions, namely, selective distortion and selective retention. Selective distortion is the changing or twisting of information that conflicts with their personal feelings and beliefs (Hult et al., 2013;
McDaniel et al., 2013). Selective retention involves remembering only the information inputs that support personal feelings or beliefs and consumers may forget information that may be inconsistent with these beliefs or feelings (Dibb et al., 2012; Perreault et al., 2011).
Motives
Dibb et al. (2012) define a motive as the internal, energising force that directs an individual’s behaviour towards achieving a goal or satisfying a need and motivation is defined as the set of mechanisms that control the movement towards achieving the goal.
According to Abraham Maslow, a clinical psychologist, human beings seek to satisfy five
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levels of needs, ascending from most important to least important for survival (Figure 3.7) (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010).
Figure 3.7
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of Marketing: Global and Southern African Perspectives. 1st edition. Cape Town: Pearson Education South Africa. p. 159.
Physiological needs (for food, water, shelter and clothing) are the basic needs that are essential for survival and therefore must be satisfied (Hult et al., 2013). The next level of needs in Maslow’s hierarchy (Figure 3.7) is safety needs which include security and freedom from physical and emotional pain, fear, discomfort and anxiety (Kotler &
Armstrong, 2010). This is followed by social needs which relate to the human requirement for love, affection, need for affiliation and a sense of belonging (McDaniel et al., 2013).
The next higher level of needs in the hierarchy is esteem needs which include the need for self-respect, status, prestige, fame and recognition for one’s accomplishments (McDaniel et al., 2013). The last level and the highest human need is self-actualisation which is the need to grow and develop and find self-fulfillment and self-expression (Hult et al., 2013).
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Learning
According to McDaniel et al. (2013) learning describes the changes to people’s behaviour arising from experience and usually occurs through the interaction of drives, cues, responses and reinforcements. According to McDaniel et al. (2013), learning is enhanced through repetition and reinforcement. A consumer, whose needs are satisfied from the purchase decision, experiences positive reinforcement and learns that a repetition of the same behaviour in the future (when the need again arises), will be positively reinforced (McDaniel et al., 2013). McDaniel et al. (2013) state that stimulus generalisation is a form of learning that assists marketers in introducing new products to well-known family brands because consumers are already familiar with and have knowledge of these brands (McDaniel et al., 2013). Stimulus discrimination is the learned ability of consumers to differentiate between similar products or brands, thereby cultivating a brand preference which in turn forms the basis for repeat purchases (McDaniel et al., 2013).
Attitudes
Hult et al. (2013) define an attitude as a person’s enduring and consistent evaluation of feelings about, or behavioural tendencies toward, an idea or object. An attitude consists of a cognitive component (the individual’s knowledge and information about the idea or object), an affective component (the individual’s feeling and emotions toward the idea or object) and a behavioural component (the individual’s actions regarding the idea or object). A belief is a person’s opinion or descriptive thought about something and is based on knowledge, faith, and opinion (Perreault et al., 2011). According to McDaniel et al. (2013) consumers have an affinity to develop a set of beliefs about the attributes of a product and through these beliefs they form a brand image (an array of beliefs about a particular brand) which in turn shapes consumers’ attitudes toward the product and whether or not to purchase it.
Personality and self-concept
According to Hult et al. (2013), personality is the set of internal traits, unique psychological characteristics and distinct behavioural tendencies that lead to fairly consistent patterns of behaviour in certain situations. McDaniel et al. (2013) state that personality is a wide concept that can be interpreted as a way of organising and grouping people’s reactions to situations and can have a crucial influence on the types of products or brands that consumers purchase. Self-concept (or self-image) can be defined as the perception or the view that a
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person has of himself/herself in terms of attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and self-evaluations (Hult et al., 2013; McDaniel et al., 2013). McDaniel et al. (2013) found that human behaviour is largely shaped by self-concept and that the products that consumers purchase, the brands that they select and the stores that they patronise are reflective of their self-image.
It is imperative for marketers to influence the degree to which consumers perceive a product to be self-relevant so that they are motivated to learn about, shop around for and purchase a certain brand (McDaniel et al., 2013).
Lifestyles
A lifestyle can be defined as a person’s pattern or mode of living that is expressed through his/her activities, interests and opinions (Fahy & Jobber, 2012; McDaniel et al., 2013). Hult et al. (2013) add that lifestyle patterns encompass the ways in which people spend their time, their interaction with others and their overall outlook on life itself. Hult et al. (2013) further add that these patterns of living are influenced by personality and demographic factors (age, income, education and social class). O’Brien and Ford (1988 cited in Fahy &
Jobber, 2012) found that there is a strong correlation between lifestyles and buying behaviour and companies that target a particular lifestyle group with a certain product offering are quite successful when using advertising that is in line with the beliefs and values of this target market segment.