Chapter 6 Analyzing Consumer Markets 1) ________ is the study of how individuals, groups, and organizations select, buy, use, and dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs and wants. A) Target marketing B) Mind mapping C) Consumer activism D) Consumer behavior E) Product differentiation Answer: D 2) Which of the following would be the best illustration of a subculture? A) a religion B) a group of close friends C) your university D) a fraternity or sorority E) your occupation Answer: A 3) The relatively homogeneous and enduring divisions in a society, which are hierarchically ordered and whose members share similar values, interests, and behavior constitute ________. A) a culture B) a subculture C) a social class D) a family E) a group Answer: C 4) A person's ________ consist(s) of all the groups that have a direct (face-to-face) or indirect influence on his/her attitudes or behavior. A) subculture B) family C) social class D) reference groups E) social networks Answer: D 5) A(n) ________ group is one whose values or behavior an individual rejects. A) aspirational B) disassociative C) membership D) primary E) procreational Answer: B 6) Joe is a computer service technician. People in his neighborhood usually depend on his suggestions for purchasing any computer accessory or hardware, as they believe that he has access to far more information on computer technology than the average consumer. The neighbors are also aware that Joe has the required knowledge and background for understanding the technical properties of the products. Within this context, Joe can be called a(n) ________. A) transactional leader B) opinion leader C) role model D) gate-keeper E) international marketer Answer: B 7) For a high-school student, Tim is highly concerned about environmental issues. He is a strong supporter of the garbage recycling and afforestation campaigns taken up by the environmental activists in his neighborhood. He wants to become a full time volunteer for their upcoming wildlife protection program and has even saved money to contribute to the cause. This group of environmental activists can be categorized under which of the following reference groups? A) primary group B) secondary group C) aspirational group D) dissociative group E) cognitive group Answer: C 8) Jason writes a weekly column in his school's newspaper about movies he has seen, books he has read, and concerts he has attended. His column provides information and opinions. Feedback from his fellow students is positive, and they are appreciative of the advice that is given. Which of the following would be the most apt description of the role played by Jason? A) silent majority B) protestor C) protector D) adapter E) opinion leader Answer: E 9) Social classes differ in media preferences, with upper-class consumers often preferring ________ and lower-class consumers often preferring television. A) movies B) radio C) video or computer games D) magazines and books E) music downloads Answer: D 10) If a direct-mail marketer wished to direct promotional efforts toward the family of ________, efforts need to be directed toward parents and siblings of the family members. A) orientation B) procreation C) immediacy D) intimacy E) reference Answer: A 11) The family in a buyers life consisting of parents and siblings is the ________. A) family of procreation B) family of influence C) family of efficiency D) family of orientation E) purchasing family Answer: D 12) When Gary was a high school student, he enjoyed rock music and regularly purchased hip clothing sported by his favorite rock band. However, five years later, when Gary became an accountant, his preference shifted toward formal clothing. Which of the following personal characteristics is likely to have had the most influence on Gary's preferences during his high school days? A) education B) age C) income D) gender E) physiological needs Answer: B 13) Marriage, childbirth, and divorce constitute the ________ that shape the consumption pattern of individuals. A) psychological life cycle B) product life cycle C) social status D) postpuberty cycles E) critical life events Answer: E 14) Identify an economic circumstance that can greatly affect any product or brand choice. A) retirement B) values C) lifestyle D) borrowing power E) relocation Answer: D 15) ________ refers to a set of distinguishing human psychological traits that lead to relatively consistent and enduring responses to environmental stimuli. A) Image B) Personality C) Psychological transformation D) Lifestyle E) Acculturation Answer: B 16) Brand personality analysts identified the popular music channel MTV as daring, spirited, and highly imaginative. As per Jennifer Aaker's research, which of the following brand personality traits best suits MTV? A) excitement B) sincerity C) competence D) ruggedness E) sophistication Answer: A 17) Timberland shoe advertisements often depict people in rugged environments like mountains and deserts. This is done to establish what is called ________. A) trademarking B) a brand name C) a brand personality D) co-branding E) a brand reference Answer: C 18) Consumers often choose and use brands that have a brand personality consistent with how they see themselves, also known as the ________. A) actual self-concept B) ideal self-concept C) others' self-concept D) prohibitive self-concept E) suggestive self-concept Answer: A 19) Consumers often choose and use brands that have a brand personality consistent with how they think others view them, also known as the ________. A) actual self-concept B) others' self-concept C) ideal self-concept D) dual self-concept E) perceptual self-concept Answer: B 20) Consumers who are highly sensitive to how others see them and who choose brands whose personalities fit the consumption situation are called ________. A) change agents B) self motivators C) self monitors D) self adapters E) opinion leaders Answer: C 21) Within the context of Jennifer Aaker's analysis, identify the brand personality that can be associated with a new product whose promotional messages consistently portray it as being reliable, intelligent, and successful. A) sincerity B) excitement C) competence D) sophistication E) ruggedness Answer: C 22) Standard Chartered bank’s “Here for good” ad campaign is meant to market the bank as having the brand personality of ____________. A) sincerity B) intelligence C) imagination D) sophistication E) ruggedness Answer: A 23) ________ portrays the "whole person" interacting with his or her environment. A) Attitude B) Personality C) Lifestyle D) Self-concept E) Subculture Answer: C 24) Luxury-goods distributors for Hermés and Kenzo find their markets growing dramatically because of the change in ________. A) Attitude B) Personality C) Lifestyle D) Self-concept E) Subculture Answer: C 25) IKEA has achieved global recognition by offering consumers leading-edge Scandinavian furniture at affordable prices. IKEA is delivering value to consumers who are ________. A) money constrained B) time constrained C) brand constrained D) value constrained E) self-concept constrained Answer: A 26) Marketers who target consumers on the basis of their ________ believe that they can influence purchase behavior by appealing to people's inner selves. A) time famine B) sophistication C) money constrain D) social class E) core values Answer: E 27) The starting point for understanding consumer behavior is the ________ model in which marketing and environmental stimuli enter the consumer's consciousness, and a set of psychological processes combine with certain consumer characteristics to result in decision processes and purchase decisions. A) self-reliance B) self-perception C) psychogenic D) stimulus-response E) projective Answer: D 28) ________ assumed that the psychological forces shaping people's behavior are largely unconscious, and that a person cannot fully understand his or her own motivations. A) Abraham Maslow B) Frederick Herzberg C) Sigmund Freud D) John Cacioppo E) Karl Marx Answer: C 29) Which of the following techniques was suggested by Freud to trace a person's motivations from the stated instrumental ones to the more terminal ones? A) laddering B) word association C) role playing D) casting E) selective attention Answer: A 30) Which of the following theories developed by Frederick Herzberg distinguishes dissatisfiers from satisfiers? A) trait-role theory B) psychological constraint theory C) probability theory D) leadership model E) two-factor theory Answer: E 31) At the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs (shown as a pyramid in the text) are ________ needs. A) esteem B) self-actualization C) social D) safety E) physiological Answer: B 32) ________ is the process by which we select, organize, and interpret information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. A) Consumption B) Perception C) Acculturation D) Assimilation E) Cognitive dissonance Answer: B 33) ________ can work to the advantage of marketers with strong brands when consumers make neutral or ambiguous brand information more positive. A) Selective attention B) Selective distortion C) Selective retention D) Selective choice E) Selective embellishment Answer: B 34) ________ is the tendency to interpret information in a way that will fit our preconceptions. A) Selective retention B) Cognitive dissonance C) Selective distortion D) Subliminal perception E) Selective embellishment Answer: C 35) Marketers embed covert messages in ads or packaging of which the consumers are not consciously aware, yet it affects their behavior. This technique employed by the marketers targets the ________ of a consumer. A) selective attention B) selective distortion C) subliminal perception D) voluntary attention E) selective retention Answer: C 36) ________ teaches marketers that they can build demand for a product by associating it with strong drives, using motivating cues, and providing positive reinforcement. A) Demand theory B) Learning theory C) Economic theory D) Psychological theory E) Demographic theory Answer: B 37) Anne is a frequent purchaser of Yoplait strawberry yogurt. For once, she decides to try a different flavored yogurt. Instead of trying out the flavors offered by competing brands, Anne selects a different flavor offered by Yoplait. Here, her past experience with the brand prompts her to make the choice. Anne's behavior can be best described as ________. A) fallacy of proposition B) associative networking C) generalization D) heuristic thinking E) self-actualization Answer: C 38) The ________ says people have a general tendency to attribute success to themselves and failure to external causes. A) availability heuristic B) trait-role theory C) awareness set D) generalization theory E) hedonic bias Answer: E 39) As Rita scans the yellow pages section of her phone book looking for a florist, she sees several other products and services advertised. Though interesting on first glance, she quickly returns to her primary task of finding a florist. The items that distracted her from her initial search were most likely stored in which of the following types of memory? A) Short-term memory B) Long-term memory C) Middle memory D) Subconscious memory E) Subliminal memory Answer: A 40) Betsy, a teenager, uses most of her post school hours in either playing tennis or watching movies. She barely manages to concentrate in her lessons for a couple of hours before term exams. Being questioned about her substandard performance in the school, she points out the teacher's inability to complete the entire course during the school hours as the possible reason. Betsy's behavior is most likely to be associated with ________. A) generalization B) hedonic bias C) discrimination D) selective attention E) psychological repositioning Answer: B 41) The associative network memory model views long-term memory as ________. A) a subliminal perception B) the interplay of drives C) a strong internal stimulus impelling action D) a temporary and limited repository of information E) a set of nodes and links Answer: E 42) ________ refers to the process in which information gets out of memory. A) Memory encoding B) Memory decoding C) Memory classification D) Memory retrieval E) Memorization Answer: A 43) Amtex electronics, a consumer products brand, advertises its products inside supermarkets and retail stores frequently to promote the process of ________ and stimulate purchase. A) memory verification B) memory retrieval C) memory decoding D) memory formation E) memory augmentation Answer: B 44) Cognitive psychologists believe that memory is ________, so that once information becomes stored in memory, its strength of association decays very slowly. A) highly perceptual B) somewhat collective C) highly communicative D) often reflective E) extremely durable Answer: E 45) The milder information search state where a person simply becomes more receptive to information about a product is called ________. A) active information search B) information search C) heightened attention D) purchase decision E) dynamic information search Answer: C 46) The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a(n) ________. A) product B) advertisement for the product C) salesperson from a previous visit D) problem or need E) internal cue Answer: D 47) Which of the following is considered to be a more advanced form of information search wherein the person might phone friends or go online to secure information about a product or service? A) heightened attention B) short-term memory processing C) subliminal processing of information D) long-term memory processing E) active information search Answer: E 48) Of key interest to marketers are the major informational sources to which the consumer will turn and the relative importance of each. Which of the following can be considered an experiential information source? A) consumer-rating organizations B) mass media C) acquaintances D) Web sites E) personal handing and examination Answer: E 49) Brands that meet consumers' initial buying criteria are called the ________. A) total set B) awareness set C) consideration set D) choice set E) decision set Answer: C 50) Maria considers buying a car for herself, after she notices the advantages derived by her best friend from his new car. Which of the following forms of stimulus has activated Maria's problem recognition process? A) external stimuli B) internal stimuli C) peer stimuli D) secondary stimuli E) marketing induced stimuli Answer: A 51) A consumer who uses Google to find comparative reports on new cars, is most likely using which of the following information sources for assistance? A) personal B) public C) experiential D) commercial E) under-the-radar Answer: D 52) With respect to consumer decision making, the ________ is the set of strong contenders from which one will be chosen as a supplier of a good or service. A) total set B) awareness set C) consideration set D) choice set E) decision set Answer: D 53) A(n) ________ is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something. A) attitude B) belief C) desire D) feeling E) emotion Answer: B 54) A(n) ________ puts people into a frame of mind, such as, liking or disliking an object, moving toward or away from it. A) attitude B) belief C) feeling D) position E) stance Answer: A 55) Marketers need to identify the hierarchy of attributes that guide consumer decision making in order to understand different competitive forces and how these various sets get formed. This process of identifying the hierarchy is called ________. A) market partitioning B) brand association C) market valuation D) market estimation E) market identification Answer: A 56) ________ are a person's enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluations, emotional feelings, and action tendencies toward some object or idea. A) Discriminations B) Values C) Beliefs D) Feelings E) Attitudes Answer: E 57) The expectancy-value model of attitude formation posits that consumers evaluate products and services by combining their ________. A) needs B) wants C) desires D) brand beliefs E) consuming attitudes Answer: D 58) Gordon is considering purchasing a computer from Best Denki. He has created a scale for rating eight different computers on three different characteristics. He plans to short-list only those computers, that score at least a seven on his scale on all three characteristics. Which of the following choice heuristics has he chosen? A) elimination-by-aspects heuristic B) lexicographic heuristic C) conjunctive heuristic D) anchoring and adjustment heuristic E) representativeness heuristic Answer: C 59) With the ________ heuristic, the consumer sets a minimum acceptable cutoff level for each attribute and chooses the first alternative that meets the minimum standard for all attributes. A) conjunctive B) lexicographic C) elimination-by-aspects D) primary E) secondary Answer: A 60) ________ are rules of thumb or mental shortcuts in the decision process. A) Attitudes B) Beliefs C) Heuristics D) Discriminations E) Biases Answer: C 61) Even if consumers form brand evaluations, two general factors can intervene between the purchase intention and the purchase decision. One of these is unanticipated situational factors. What is the other factor? A) Amount of purchasing power B) Attitudes of others C) Short-term memory capabilities D) Ability to return merchandise E) The self-concept Answer: B 62) A mobile phone manufacturing company observes that the main reason for an abrupt fall in their sales volume is the unconventional design of their phones that consumers found inconvenient and unattractive. The findings prompt the company to adopt a new strategy. They redesigned the product models keeping the requirements of the end-user in mind. According to the expectancy value-model, the company's strategy can be termed as ________. A) psychological repositioning B) real repositioning C) competitive depositioning D) physiological depositioning E) prescriptive method Answer: B 63) Ford believes its cars to be of higher quality than General Motor's but thinks that consumers wrongly believe the opposite. Ford might employ a(n) ________ strategy to change buyers' perceptions of its competition. A) real repositioning B) competitive depositioning C) psychological repositioning D) biased repositioning E) attribute repositioning Answer: B 64) When a marketer tries to alter a consumer's beliefs about a company's brand to get the consumer to rethink a purchase decision, the marketer is using ________. A) psychological repositioning B) competitive depositioning C) positioning D) repositioning E) biased positioning Answer: A 65) With the ________, the consumer chooses the best brand on the basis of its perceived most important attribute. A) lexicographic heuristic B) conjunctive heuristic C) elimination-by-aspects heuristic D) availability heuristic E) representativeness heuristic Answer: A 66) ________ risk occurs if the product fails to perform up to expectations. A) Physical B) Financial C) Social D) Psychological E) Functional Answer: E 67) Steve has only 20 minutes to have lunch. Although he really likes McDonald's, the line is very long and he is concerned that he will not have a chance to get through the line and eat his lunch before he is due back at work. Steve perceives ________ in going to McDonald's today. A) time risk B) functional risk C) physical risk D) psychological risk E) social risk Answer: A 68) A key driver of sales frequency is the product ________ rate. A) consumption B) disposal C) refusal D) utility E) option Answer: A 69) The level of engagement and active processing undertaken by the consumer in responding to a marketing stimulus is called ________. A) elaboration likelihood B) consumer disengagement C) consumer involvement D) variety seeking E) low involvement Answer: C 70) A consumer is persuaded to buy a product by a message that requires little thought and is based on an association with a brand's positive consumption experiences from the past. In this situation, the consumer used a ________ to arrive at this purchase decision. A) central route B) peripheral route C) behavioral route D) subjective route E) objective route Answer: B 71) Richard Petty and John Cacioppo's ________, an influential model of attitude formation and change, describes how consumers make evaluations in both low- and high-involvement circumstances. A) introspective model B) elaboration likelihood model C) stimulus-response model D) associative network memory model E) expectancy-value model Answer: B 72) Which of the following products is most likely to be characterized by low involvement but significant brand difference? A) toothpastes B) digital cameras C) packet of salt D) a milk carton E) furniture Answer: A 73) With the ________, predictions of usage are based on quickness and ease of use. A) availability heuristic B) representative heuristic C) anchoring heuristic D) adjustment heuristic E) semantic heuristic Answer: A 74) A consumer tells another consumer, “Every time I eat at Jack's Steakhouse, I get poor service.” Whether this is true or not, it is the consumer's perception. This is an example of consumers basing future predictions on the quickness and ease with which a particular example of an outcome comes to mind. This scenario would be an illustration of the ________ heuristic. A) discrimination B) differentiation C) availability D) screening E) representativeness Answer: C 75) Ben always reaches for the bright blue and yellow box of Ritz crackers when he visits the snack food aisle in the grocery store. He rarely even reads the box or checks the price. Which of the following heuristics is most likely being used by Ben? A) Availability B) Representative C) Anchoring D) Adjustment E) Semantic Answer: B 76) ________ refers to the manner in which consumers code, categorize, and evaluate financial outcomes of choices. A) Cost accounting B) Financial accounting C) Behavioral accounting D) Mental accounting E) Factual accounting Answer: D 77) Social class is the fundamental determinant of a person's wants and behavior. Answer: False 78) An example of a subculture would be a person's geographic region. Answer: True 79) Groups that have an indirect influence on a person's attitude or behavior can be a part of his/her reference groups. Answer: True 80) Members within a social class tend to behave more alike compared to members from two different social classes. Answer: True 81) Secondary groups require continuous interaction to be effective and meaningful. Answer: False 82) When Mark went to college he had a burning desire to join a social fraternity; for Mark, the fraternity would be a dissociative group. Answer: False 83) A person's position in a group is defined in terms of role and status. Answer: True 84) Marketers need to be aware of the status-symbol potential of brands because people usually choose products which reflect their role and their actual or desired status in a society. Answer: True 85) The behavior people exhibit as they pass through certain life-cycle stages, such as becoming a parent, is largely fixed and does not change over time. Answer: False 86) For an employee at an organization, annual appraisal can be considered as a critical life event that impacts his/her consumption behavior. Answer: False 87) Whereas economic circumstances can have a profound effect on consumption, occupation does not impact how people spend their money and what they buy. Answer: False 88) According to the research conducted by Jennifer Aaker, one of the five traits of a product's brand personality is its physical structure. Answer: False 89) Brand personality is the specific mix of human traits that may be attributed to a particular brand. Answer: True 90) The five brand personality traits identified by Jennifer Aaker are consistently observed regardless of nationality or culture. Answer: False 91) A person's personality portrays the “whole person” interacting with his or her environment. Answer: False 92) Consumers who experience money constraints are prone to multitasking. Answer: False 93) Psychogenic needs arise from the physiological states of tension such as hunger or discomfort. Answer: False 94) Sigmund Freud assumed that the psychological forces shaping people's behavior are largely unconscious, and that people cannot fully understand their motivations. Answer: True 95) According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs model, recognition, self-esteem, and status would constitute a person's social needs. Answer: False 96) According to Herzberg's two-factor theory, satisfiers will make the major difference as to which brand the customer buys. Answer: True 97) Perception depends only on the physical stimuli experienced by the person. Answer: False 98) People are more likely to notice stimuli whose deviations are large in relation to the normal size of the stimuli. Answer: True 99) Selective attention is the tendency to interpret information in a way that will fit our preconceptions. Answer: False 100) Selective retention works to the advantage of strong brands. Answer: True 101) Because of selective retention, we are likely to forget about the good points of competing products. Answer: True 102) Consistent with the elaboration memory model, consumer brand knowledge in memory can be conceptualized as consisting of a brand node in memory with a variety of linked associations. Answer: False 103) Brand associations consist of all brand-related thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on that become linked to the brand node. Answer: True 104) Memory is a very constructive process. This means people do not remember information and events completely and accurately and often remember only bits and pieces that they fill in based on whatever else they know. Answer: True 105) Every consumer has to pass through all five stages of the buying process when in a buying situation. Answer: False 106) The buying process starts when the buyer decides to or actually enters a store or service provider's facility. Answer: False 107) A belief is a person's enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluation, emotional feeling, and action tendency toward some object or idea. Answer: False 108) The expectancy-value model of attitude formation posits that consumers evaluate products and services by combining their brand beliefs according to importance. Answer: True 109) Most buyers consider several attributes in their purchase decision. Answer: True 110) With non-compensatory models of consumer choice, positive and negative attribute considerations usually net out. Answer: False 111) Volvo has the reputation for being one of the most “safe” cars on the road. For those that value safety, Volvo would be the logical choice. This is an example of the lexicographic heuristic of consumer choice. Answer: True 112) The degree of perceived risk varies with the amount of money at stake, the amount of attribute uncertainty, and the amount of consumer self-confidence. Answer: True 113) Psychological risk refers to the threat posed by a product to the physical well-being of a consumer. Answer: False 114) With respect to a consumer buying situation that involves variety-seeking behavior, the market leader generally encourages variety seeking by offering lower prices or deals. Answer: False 115) Anchoring heuristic comes in to play when consumers base their predictions on the quickness and ease with which a particular example of an outcome comes to mind. Answer: False 116) The prospect theory maintains that consumers frame decision alternatives in terms of gains and losses according to a value function. Answer: True 117) Explain the differences between culture, subculture, and social class. Answer: Culture is the fundamental determinant of a person's wants and behavior. Subcultures provide more specific identification and socialization of their members. Subcultures include nationalities, religions, racial groups, and geographic regions. Social class is a relatively homogeneous and enduring division in a society, that are hierarchically ordered and whose members share similar values, interests, and behaviors. 118) What is a reference group? Describe three different types of reference groups that can have an impact on a consumer's purchasing behavior. Answer: Reference groups consist of all the groups that have a direct (face-to-face) or indirect influence on attitudes or behavior. Types of reference groups that can impact a consumer's purchasing behavior include membership groups, primary groups, secondary groups, aspirational groups, and disassociative groups. Membership groups are the groups which have a direct influence on the person. Primary groups are the groups with whom the person interacts fairly continuously and informally, such as family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. Secondary groups tend to be more formal and require less continuous interaction. Aspirational groups are those a person hopes to join; and dissociative groups are those whose values or behavior an individual rejects. 119) The family is the most important consumer buying organization in society, and family members constitute the most influential primary reference group. We can distinguish between two family categorizations in the buyer's life. Name the two families and their impact on buying behavior. Answer: The family of orientation consists of parents and siblings. From parents a person acquires an orientation toward religion, politics, and economics and a sense of personal ambition, self-worth, and love. Even if the buyer no longer interacts very much with his or her parents, their influence on behavior can be significant. A more direct influence on everyday buying behavior is the family of procreation—namely, one's spouse and children. 120) Each person has personality characteristics that influence his or her buying behavior. What does personality mean in terms of buying traits? Answer: Personality is often described in terms of such buying traits as self-confidence, dominance, autonomy, deference, sociability, defensiveness, and adaptability. Personality can be a useful variable in analyzing consumer brand choices. The idea is that brands also have personalities, and consumers are likely to choose brands whose personalities match their own. 121) Give an example of how age affects a consumer’s taste in products. Answer: People’s taste in food, clothes, furniture, and recreation is often age-related. For instance, some Japanese teenagers dye their hair fire-engine red and wear the latest street fashion which includes tutus over pants. They quit school because the strict discipline in schools is not compatible with what they want at this stage of their life cycle. 122) Frederick Herzberg developed a two-factor theory that distinguishes dissatisfiers and satisfiers. How does Herzberg's theory affect sellers' marketing strategy? Answer: Herzberg's theory has two implications. First, sellers should do their best to avoid dissatisfiers (for example, a poor training manual or a poor service policy). Although these things will not sell a product, they might easily unsell it. Second, the seller should identify the major satisfiers or motivators of purchase in the market and then supply them. These satisfiers will make the major difference as to which brand the customer buys. 123) People can emerge with different perceptions of the same object because of three perceptual processes. List and briefly characterize these processes. Answer: The three processes are selective attention, selective distortion, and selective retention. Selective attention occurs because a person cannot possibly attend to all the stimuli that he or she is exposed to during an average day. Some will be screened out. Selective distortion is the tendency to interpret information in a way that will fit our perceptions. Selective retention occurs because people will fail to register much information to which they are exposed in memory, but will tend to retain information that supports their attitudes and beliefs. 124) Explain the concept of selective retention and its association with marketing. Answer: Selective retention says that consumers are likely to remember good points about a product we like and forget good points about competing products. Selective retention works to the advantage of strong brands. It also means that marketers need to use repetition in sending messages to their target markets to make sure their message is not overlooked. 125) Identify three types of risk consumers might perceive in the context of purchasing a car. Answer: Consumers might perceive physical risk (an unsafe car poses a safety risk to the physical well-being of the driver and passengers), a financial risk (the car might be overpriced or may decline in value so rapidly that it will have minimal resale value when the consumer tries to resell it), and a functional risk (the car may not perform to the expectations of the consumer). Students may identify other risks, including social, psychological, and time risks. 126) What is mental accounting? What, according to Thaler, are the core principles on which mental accounting is based? Explain with examples. Answer: Mental accounting refers to the way consumers code, categorize, and evaluate financial outcomes of choices. Formally, it is “the tendency to categorize funds or items of value even though there is no logical basis for the categorization, e.g., individuals often segregate their savings into separate accounts to meet different goals even though funds from any of the accounts can be applied to any of the goals.” According to Chicago's Thaler, mental accounting is based on a set of core principles: 1. Consumers tend to segregate gains. When a seller has a product with more than one positive dimension, it's desirable to have the consumer evaluate each dimension separately. Listing multiple benefits of a large industrial product, for example, can make the sum of the parts seem greater than the whole. 2. Consumers tend to integrate losses. Marketers have a distinct advantage in selling something if its cost can be added to another large purchase. House buyers are more inclined to view additional expenditures favorably given the high price of buying a house. 3. Consumers tend to integrate smaller losses with larger gains. The “cancellation” principle might explain why withholding taxes from monthly paychecks is less aversive than large, lump-sum tax payments—the smaller withholdings are more likely to be absorbed by the larger pay amount. 4. Consumers tend to segregate small gains from large losses. The “silver lining” principle might explain the popularity of rebates on big-ticket purchases such as cars. 127) Culture is the fundamental determinant of a person's wants and behavior. The growing child acquires a set of values, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors through his or her family and other key institutions. What values are typical Asian young children exposed to? Answer: A child growing up in many parts of Asia is exposed to such values as filial piety, hard work, obedience to authority, and collectivism. For instance, the value of krengjai, or deference to or consideration of others, is pervasive in Thai culture. 128) An opinion leader is the person in informal, product-related communications who offers advice or information about a specific product or product category, such as which of several brands is best or how a particular product may be used. According to the text, how do marketers try to reach opinion leaders? Answer: Marketers try to reach opinion leaders by identifying demographic and psychographic characteristics associated with opinion leadership, identifying the media read by opinion leaders, and directing messages at opinion leaders. 129) Explain the differences between a role and status. Answer: A role consists of the activities a person is expected to perform. Each role carries a status. For example, a senior vice-president has more status than a sales manager. 130) Mention the personal factors that can influence the decision of a buyer. Answer: Personal characteristics that influence a buyer's decision include age and stage in the life cycle, occupation and economic circumstances, personality and self-concept, and lifestyle and values. Because many of these have a direct impact on consumer behavior, it is important for marketers to follow them closely. 131) What is brand personality and what are the five traits that has been linked to it? Answer: Brand personality is the specific mix of human traits that may be attributed to a particular brand. Traits that have been associated with brand personality are sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. 132) Briefly explain Freud's theory on human motivation and explain how this might be related to marketing. Answer: Sigmund Freud assumed that the psychological forces shaping people's behavior are largely unconscious, and that a person cannot fully understand his or her own stated capabilities. When a person examines specific brands, he or she will react not only to their stated capabilities, but also to other, less conscious cues. 133) Within the context of the Freudian theory, explain how the laddering technique can be used. Answer: Shape, size, weight, material, color, and brand name can all trigger certain associations and emotions. A technique called laddering can be used to trace a person's motivations from the stated instrumental ones to the more terminal ones. Then the marketer can decide at what level to develop the message and appeal. 134) Abraham Maslow sought to explain why people are driven by particular needs at particular times. Describe Maslow's hierarchy of needs. How does Maslow's theory help marketers? Answer: Maslow's hierarchy of needs in order of importance are, physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. Maslow's theory helps marketers understand how various products fit into the plans, goals, and lives of consumers. 135) List and briefly characterize Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Answer: Beginning with the most basic needs to the most advanced, the need structure is as follows: (1) physiological needs—food, water, shelter; (2) safety needs—security, protection; (3) social needs—sense of belonging, love; (4) esteem needs—self-esteem, recognition, status; and (5) self-actualization needs—self-development and realization. 136) Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. For a marketer, what is the key point of perception? Answer: The key point is that perceptions can vary widely among individuals exposed to the same reality. In marketing, perceptions are more important than the reality, as it is perceptions that will affect consumers' actual behavior. For a marketer, the key point of perception is understanding how consumers perceive their brand or product. This involves influencing how consumers select, organize, and interpret information to create favorable perceptions. By shaping these perceptions through marketing strategies, such as branding, advertising, and customer experiences, marketers can influence consumer behavior and decision-making effectively. 137) What does the learning theory teach marketers about demand for products? Answer: The learning theory teaches marketers that they can build demand for a product by associating it with strong drives, using motivating cues, and providing positive reinforcement. 138) What are the five stages of the consumer buying process? Answer: The five stages are problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post purchase behavior. 139) Describe how the problem recognition process works in the five-stage model of the consumer buying process. Answer: The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem or need. With an internal stimulus, one of the person's normal needs—hunger, thirst, sex—rises to a threshold level and becomes a drive; or a need can be aroused by an external stimuli such as an advertisement. 140) Through market research a consumer gathers information about the competing brands of a product and their features. The consumer then advances through four sets with respect to brands before a decision is reached. What are those four sets? Answer: The four sets are: (1) the total set, (2) the awareness set, (3) the consideration set, and (4) the choice set. 141) Explain the differences between a belief and an attitude. Answer: A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something. An attitude is a person's enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluation, emotional feeling, and action tendencies toward some object or idea. 142) What do you understand by the term market partitioning? Answer: Marketers need to identify the hierarchy of attributes that guide consumer decision making in order to understand different competitive forces and how these various sets get formed. This process of identifying the hierarchy is called market partitioning. 143) How is the expectancy-value model used in the evaluation of alternatives as a consumer engages in a buying process? Answer: The expectancy-value model of attitude formation posits that consumers evaluate products and services by combining their brand beliefs—the positives and negatives—according to importance. The model assists consumers in making choices. 144) Describe the lexicographic heuristic used to make consumer choices. Answer: The lexicographic heuristic is in use when the consumer chooses the best brand on the basis of its perceived most important attribute. 145) What four strategies can marketers of low-involvement products employ in an effort to convert their products into ones of higher involvement? Answer: The four strategies are: (1) linking the product to some involving issue; (2) linking the product to some involving personal situation; (3) designing advertising to trigger strong emotions related to personal values or ego defense; and (4) adding important features to the product. 146) Heuristics can come into play when consumers forecast the likelihood of future outcomes or events. When would a consumer use an anchoring and adjustment heuristic? Answer: Consumers will use this heuristic when the consumer arrives at an initial judgment and then makes adjustments of that first impression based on additional information. Test Bank for Marketing Management: A South Asian Perspective Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller, Abraham Koshy, Mithileshwar Jha 9789810687977, 9780132102926
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