CHAPTER 4 Comprehension, Memory, and Cognitive Learning End of Chapter Material Discussion Questions (*) Indicates material on prep cards. 1. What is comprehension? What are the three categories of factors that affect consumer comprehension? Provide an example of each. Answer: Comprehension refers to the interpretation or understanding that a consumer develops about some attended stimulus in order to assign meaning. The three categories include the following (see Exhibit 4.2): Characteristics of the message—a message presented with theme-consistent music is more easily comprehended than a message with inconsistent music (advertisement for traveling to China accompanied by Chinese music). Characteristics of the message receiver—this involves the consumer’s habituation/adaptation level. Consumers who are accustomed to receiving bad service at a health clinic may not be negatively affected by another instance of bad service. Characteristics of the environment—this involves consumer priming. Information presented in a negative context may make consumers less afraid of risk than information presented in a positive context. A consumer thinking about being $20 ahead in the casino may be less afraid of risk than a consumer thinking about losing $20 and needing to win it back. 2. *Are traditional product warning labels effective? What are some reasons why they are not effective? Do you believe adding pictures to cigarette warning labels will make them more effective? Answer: Consumers often pay little attention to warning labels. There are a host of reasons for this. Warning labels often are present only for some legal reason and state the obvious. Consumers may also lack motivation to be moved by the warning label. With cigarette warnings, consumers already know that cigarettes are not good for health. Thus, the learning may already have taken place. But, the signal the warning sends can also backfire by appealing to the rebellion motivation. The photographs may have shock effect by making more real the risks of smoking, but the stronger warning may also create an even stronger rebellion appeal. Graphic warnings have been used in other countries for some years and smoking incidences remain high in many of those places. 3. List physical characteristics that can influence the comprehension of a message. Answer: The physical characteristics that can influence the comprehension of a message are—intensity, color, font, numbers, spacing, and shape. 4. *Consider the atmosphere created by a specialty fashion merchandiser like Lucky stores (or similar, like Anthropologie, Ralf Lauren, Polo, etc.). Define figure and ground and describe its effects in the context of a shopping environment. Answer: Figure refers to the central component of a message—the thing the consumer attends. The ground is the background of a message. In a shopping environment, the retailer would hope that the merchandise would be the figure and everything else the ground. 5. What are the characteristics of a spokesperson that influence comprehension? Do these apply equally to human and animated characters? Answer: Any spokesperson’s effectiveness depends on the following qualities: likeability, expertise, trustworthiness, congruence, and attractiveness. These same characteristics apply to a computer-animated avatar as well as to a human being. Therefore, consumers are more likely to comprehend a message in a desired fashion when a spokesperson possesses these characteristics—whether human or animated. 6. What message receiver characteristics affect comprehension of a message? Answer: The characteristics are—intelligence/ability, prior knowledge, involvement, familiarity / habituation, expectations, physical limits, and brain dominance. 7. What is habituation and what does the concept of adaptation level have to do with it? How does it tie to framing? Answer: Habituation is the process by which continuous exposure to a stimulus affects the comprehension of and response to the stimulus. Consumers from small, isolated towns may not have a great deal of experience with more upscale shopping environments and are thus habituated to shopping experiences that are relatively low in quality, service, and hedonic shopping value. All consumers previous experiences come together to create an adaptation level within an environment—the level of a stimulus that a consumer comes to expect. Framing is the way things in an environment shape or alter meaning and can thus change behavior. For instance, a consumer habituated to dining in a small town with no chain dinner houses may have an adaptation level built around the small town café. However, in a city, the wide range of restaurant experiences may frame the small town café’ experience (if it is available in the city) so that it offers less value. 8. Would it be better for a company that sells packaged cookies and crackers to use the term “100 percent fat free!” or “0 percent fat!” on their product label? What concept is illustrated by this choice? Answer: This concept illustrates prospect theory. Students should determine whether the phrase causes consumers to avoid losing something or look forward to gaining something. The term “0 percent fat” is probably more consistent with loss avoidance. 9. What is the multiple stores approach to memory? In which store is memory attached? Answer: Theory stating that memory functions in three separate but related storage areas. The three storage areas are sensory, short-term (workbench), and long-term memories. Sensory memory is of extremely short duration (.25 seconds to 1-2 seconds at most) and unlimited capacity. Short-term memory is of short duration (a few seconds to perhaps 30 seconds) and limited capacity (3-7 chunks). Long-term memory is of unlimited duration and capacity. 10. What does the term haptic perception mean? Answer: Haptic perception refers to the meaning that people take from the sense of touch. This perception originates in sensory memory and can be used in short-term memory to help develop a concept’s meaning. 11. What does it mean to say “I remember” something? How does that differ from rumination? Answer: Remembering means we are able to use associations to make the concept active in our mind intentionally. Rumination also involves activation of a concept in the mind but this activation occurs without intention. 12. *Of the four types of mental processes to help remember things discussed in the chapter, which is most effective? Does this have implications for the way you study? Answer: The four types of mental processes are repetition, dual coding, meaningful encoding, and chunking. Relying on repetition is probably not wise; however, repetition is probably the most common method of studying. Instead, personal elaboration is probably the best way to learn whether it be studying or learning about products. 13. What is an associative network? Why do you believe it is sometimes called a semantic network? Where are associative networks located? Answer: An associative network is a network of mental pathways linking knowledge within memory. As an analogy, these networks are similar to family trees because they represent known linkages between objects. They are sometimes called semantic networks because semantics (meaning “taken from words”) develop here. Associative networks are stored in long-term memory. 14. Define the concept of schema. How can it become declarative knowledge? Answer: A schema is the cognitive representation of a phenomenon that provides meaning to the entity. Common brand schemas become declarative knowledge as consumers learn associations. Southwest Airlines is reasonable, represents declarative knowledge as it is a proposition stating a fact that will be tested and reinforced or refuted with experience. 15. Interview five consumers and ask them the first five words that come into their minds when they hear the following words listed below. Use the results to draw a schema that represents consumer knowledge of each brand. i. Grey Goose ii. Google iii. iTunes iv. Kodak v. Heinz Answer: Students should draw a schema resembling Exhibits 4.8 or 4.9 but with meanings specific to the listed brands. Common associations would include vodka, French, Apple, out of date and ketchup, respectively. 16. Identify any brands in question 15 that represent a category exemplar in your opinion. Answer: Other than Grey Goose, any could be good examples of examplars; Google for search engines, iTunes as a music store, Kodak as the photo company (back in the film days), and Heinz as the ketchup company. 17. How do the concepts of social schema and script apply to a consumer’s visit to the dentist? Explain your choice. Answer: The student should define or clearly demonstrate knowledge of each concept. A dentist visit involves the social schema (stereotype) of the receptionist, the dental hygienist and the dentist. Also, consumers have visited the dentist before so they have episodic memory including a script. If all goes according to the “routine visit” script—the consumer is probably happy. Deviations from the routine visit script will probably cause anxiety and diminish the value of the experience. Group Activity *This activity is aimed at researching the schema for a brand. Choose one of these brands: Facebook, Motorola, or Red Bull. Have each member of your team go and interview a different consumer using free association techniques. Ask the consumer: “Name the first five things that come into your mind when you hear the name ________.” After all the interviews are complete, discuss the results using terminology from the chapter. Based on the results, show the schema by drawing it on a poster board. Give the class a brief presentation that analyzes the meaning of the brand and the implications of this meaning for its growth. Answer: Again, there is no answer for this activity. Rather, examine how well the students are able to actually show a schema and discuss using terminology such as spreading activation, category exemplars, strength of association and so forth. Let's choose Facebook for this activity. Interview Results: Consumer 1: 1. Social networking 2. Friends 3. Newsfeed 4. Messaging 5. Photos Consumer 2: 1. Connection 2. Updates 3. Networking 4. Notifications 5. Sharing Consumer 3: 1. Profile 2. Likes 3. Comments 4. Groups 5. Events Discussion: From the interviews, it's clear that the brand schema for Facebook revolves around concepts of social connection, communication, and sharing. Terms like "social networking," "friends," "messaging," and "sharing" were common across all interviews. These associations highlight Facebook's core functionalities and the role it plays in facilitating social interactions and information exchange. Drawing the Schema: On the poster board, we can draw a central circle representing Facebook, with branches extending outwards representing the key associations mentioned in the interviews. These could include circles or bubbles for concepts like "social networking," "communication," "sharing," and "updates," with lines connecting them back to the central Facebook circle. Brief Presentation: In our analysis, Facebook's brand schema is deeply rooted in facilitating social connections and communication. It's not just a platform but a virtual space where people come together to share experiences, updates, and thoughts with friends and communities. Understanding this schema is crucial for Facebook's growth strategy as it helps the company focus on enhancing user experiences related to social interaction, content sharing, and community building. By prioritizing features and updates that align with these core associations, Facebook can continue to strengthen its position as a leading social networking platform. This activity not only helps in understanding the consumer perception of the brand but also provides valuable insights for brand positioning and strategic decision-making. Assignments 18. Define nostalgia. Find ads or products that evoke nostalgia. What makes certain brands effective in evoking nostalgia? Answer: Nostalgia is a mental yearning to relive the past associated with emotions related to longing. The ads should contain photos or other cues that signal a bygone era. The reason nostalgia is evoked is because these cues activate thoughts about the past. 19. In Chapter 3, the concept of assimilation–contrast was discussed. What is the relevance of this theory of categorization in comprehending how consumers accept or reject new brand extensions (new products sold under an existing brand name)? For instance, if Honda introduced a laptop computer, would consumers accept the product? Answer: When consumers encounter new products or brands, they react to them by comparing them with the existing schema. To illustrate, consider that Europeans are used to driving very small cars. Thus, when the smart car was introduced, they were more likely to accept it as an automobile than were American consumers. If Honda introduced a laptop computer, it might be accepted better than if another brand, such as Chrysler, introduced the computer. The Honda schema would include nodes of reliability, advanced engineering, perhaps Japanese, and other nodes that overlap with a computer schema better than many other brands that currently sell cars, particularly domestic brands. 20. *Prepare a short position statement that describes your agreement or disagreement with the following statement: “All product safety labels should be presented in multiple languages (at least the three most common languages in the area) and without the use of colors.” Answer: For this exercise, students should use material from the chapter when defending their positions, whatever they may be. It would be implausible to present safety labels in all languages. By placing the warning in three languages, more people will be able to comprehend it; however, if the warning involves more than a few words, a smaller number of consumers may try to work through the clutter to actually process the message. Colors can also be helpful in grabbing attention, so perhaps color should not be banned. 21. Ask a few consumers that you know if they know what a torrent is and what it is used for. If you are unfamiliar with this term, search a torrent site on the Internet to find out what it is. How do new product concepts come to be defined? Are there times when the script associated with using some product might include questionably ethical associations? What is your knowledge? Is the use of a torrent unethical? Answer: Consumers who have no experience with a product have no schema for that product. A torrent is a term referring to mechanisms for file sharing very large media files from computer to computer. Many types of file sharing violate intellectual property or copyright agreements and as such can be illegal. Ask the students, is it like stealing? Chapter Video Summary To view the video case Cold Stone Creamery, go to the CB companion website login.cengage.com to select this video. Cold Stone Creamery Cold Stone Creamery has a mission to create the ultimate ice cream experience. Success at Cold Stone begins with the official goal to “make people happy,” and employees deliver pure bliss to customers in the form of delectable ice cream treats and toppings. But careful planning and goal-setting are critical to achieving any corporate mission, and Cold Stone’s Pyramid of Success 2010 campaign communicates important messages that are memorable and comprehensible to workers and consumers alike. Ask your students: 1. During one’s experience at Cold Stone Creamery, what type of memory is drawn on? Answer: Cold Stone Creamery tries to create a lasting impression among its customers. They are not simply about quality ice cream, but the entire experience. Iconic memories are memories of things one sees. At Cold Stone Creamery, the ice cream is softened in a unique way, creating a visual memory. The memories created tend to focus on a person’s five senses. Mood can also affect a person’s ability to remember and retrieve information. Cold Stone Creamery has an interactive approach, a unique method of preparing ice cream, and quality products, leaving customers happy and satisfied. 2. How does Cold Stone Creamery cater to different ethnic groups? Answer: Cold Stone Creamery has used their experience in different regions, such as Japan and Korea, to bring innovative flavors back to the vastly diverse North America. Constantly introducing new flavors keeps consumers coming back to try them. CB Scenario Video A menu is displayed for customers at a restaurant. The menu provides a list of the available dishes and their prices. A group of consumers places an order. The chef prepares lobsters in the kitchen. Restaurant customers are served meals in an outdoor setting. Ask your students: 1. How can the restaurant shown in the video activate a customer’s script? Answer: A customer who is planning to dine in a restaurant like the one shown in the video, will usually have a script that contains a list of expectations. The list may contain valet parking, a greeting by the doorman in a fine suit, tables that are spick and span, and a soothing music track played in the background. Any service provider or marketer cannot guarantee the complete fulfillment of a customer’s script, but can come close to it with the help of customer feedback forms at the payment counter. 2. In the context of the lobster shown in the video, explain the concept of exemplars. Answer: If the video is used as an ad to promote the restaurant, the lobster will act as an exemplar. The lobster shown in the video can be the category exemplar for a high-end restaurant. Solution Manual for CB Consumer Behaviour Barry J. Babin, Eric G. Harris 9781305403222, 9781305577244
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