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Chapter 6 Personality, Lifestyles, and the Self-Concept What Do You Think Polling Question My personality can easily be seen in the products that I buy. _____ Strongly Disagree _____ Disagree _____ Somewhat Disagree _____ Neither Agree nor Disagree _____ Somewhat Agree _____ Agree _____ Strongly Agree Have students access Course Mate at www.cengagebrain.com to answer the polling questions for each chapter of CB. Ask them to take the online poll to see how their answers compare with other students taking a consumer behavior course across the country. Then turn to the last page of the chapter to find the “What Others Have Thought” box feature. This graph is a snapshot of how other consumer behavior students have answered this polling question so far. Learning Objectives After studying this chapter, the student should be able to: 6-1 Define personality and understand how various approaches to studying personality can be applied to consumer behavior. 6-2 Discuss major traits that have been examined in consumer research. 6-3 Understand why lifestyles, psychographics, and demographics are important to the study of consumer behavior. 6-4 Comprehend the role of the self-concept in consumer behavior. 6-5 Understand the concept of self-congruency and how it applies to consumer behavior issues. Lecture Example In a crowded market, it is difficult to sell without any real product differentiation. So, when Nestlé launched a new luxury chocolate in an already saturated market, it was but expected that the food giant’s latest offering would be a class apart. So it was. Nestlé launched Maison Cailler, which allowed customers to discover their “chocolate personality”; it emphasized building “stronger relationships”. Although tasting chocolate is an innovative idea, taste is a tricky thing to personify. However, since consumers have relationships with brands, personality traits are considered important in the context of these relationships. Source: “Maison Cailler, Nestle’s New Luxury Chocolate Brand, Markets ‘Stronger Relationships Through Chocolate’,” Huff Post, January 25, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/maison-cailler_n_1231093.html Lecture Outline with PowerPoint® Slides LO 6-1: Define personality and understand how various approaches to studying personality can be applied to consumer behavior. Understanding the ways in which consumers differ from each other is an important part of determining why consumer value different things. The current chapter focuses on consumer personality, lifestyles, and the self-concept. These concepts are often referred to as individual difference variables, which are descriptions of how individual consumers differ according to specific traits or patterns of behavior. These variables have several applications in consumer research and marketing practice. I. Personality and Consumer Behavior [Instructor PPT Slides 4] Personality is defined as the totality of thoughts, emotions, intentions, tendencies, and behaviors that a person exhibits consistently as he or she adapts to the environment. This definition highlights the cognitive (thoughts), affective (emotions), motivational (intentions), and behavioral (behaviors) aspects that are central to personality. Personality exhibits a number of distinct qualities, including: Personality is unique to an individual. Personality helps distinguish consumers based on the specific characteristics each exhibits. Consumers differ in their personalities, although some characteristics, or traits, may be shared across individuals. Personality can be conceptualized as a combination of specific traits or characteristics. Like all consumers, an individual’s overall personality is really a combination of many stable characteristics, or traits. Personality traits are relatively stable and interact with situations to influence behavior. Personality traits are expected to remain consistent across situations. However, consumer researchers realize the importance of situational influencers, and the combined influence of situations and traits greatly influence specific behaviors (this is referred to as an interaction between the person and the situation). Specific behaviors can vary across time. Simply knowing a consumer possesses a specific trait does not allow to predict a particular behavior. For this reason, personality researchers often advocate an aggregation approach in which behaviors and tendencies are measured over time. Q: Does an individual’s choice of music genre reflect his/her personality? Discuss how this effects the music industry. A: Yes. Every individual will have a unique personality and their choice of music genre will reflect his/her personality. Students’ answers to the second part of the question will vary. They could mention the various genres of music that have different target audiences, and how the music industry reaches the different audiences for different types of music. Marketing managers are particularly interested in how consumers differ according to their personalities. There are many ways to discuss the concept of personality. Here, the focus is on two popular approaches: the psychoanalytic approach and the trait approach. [Instructor PPT Slide 5] A. Psychoanalytic Approach to Personality According to the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud, human behavior is influenced by an inner struggle between various systems within the personality system. His approach, commonly referred to as the psychoanalytic approach to personality, is applicable to both motivation and personality inquiry. For Freud, the human personality consists of three important components: the id, the superego, and the ego. The id focuses on pleasure-seeking and immediate gratification. It operates on a pleasure principle that motivates a person to focus on maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. One’s id, therefore, focuses on hedonic value. Indeed, a key concept in the id is the libido. The libido represents a drive for sexual pleasure, although some researchers view it in slightly different ways. The superego works against the id by motivating behavior that matches societal norms and expectations, much like the consumer’s conscience. The ego focuses on resolving the conflicts between the id and superego. The ego works largely in accordance with the reality principle. Under this principle, the ego seeks to satisfy the id within the constraints of society. As such, the ego attempts to balance the desires of the id with the constraints of, and expectations found in, the superego. Psychoanalytic Approach and Motivation Research In the early days of consumer research, researchers applied psychoanalytic tools to try to identify explanations for behavior. This was known as the motivational research era. Consumer researchers in this era utilized tools such as depth interviews and focus groups to improve their understanding of inner motives and needs. In general, the motivational research era proved disappointing because it did not spawn any compelling, practical consumer behavior theories or guidelines for marketing actions. Nevertheless, Freud clearly influenced the study of personality and consumer behavior, and researchers remain interested in deep-seated motivations. [Instructor PPT Slide 6] B. Trait Approach to Personality While the psychoanalytic approach helped set the groundwork for much of consumer personality research, the trait approach to personality has received significant attention over the past few decades, and many consumer researchers focus on this approach today. A trait is defined as a distinguishable characteristic that describes one’s tendency to act in a relatively consistent manner. Not surprisingly, there are multiple approaches available for consumer researchers. Nomothetic Versus Idiographic Approaches The nomothetic perspective is a “variable-centered” approach that focuses on particular variables, or traits, that exist across a number of consumers. The goal of this perspective is to find common personality traits that can be studied across people. The idiographic perspective focuses on the total person and the uniqueness of his psychological makeup. Attention is not placed on individual traits or how they can be studied across multiple consumers. Rather, the focus is on understanding the complexity of each individual consumer. Some researchers today focus on what is referred to as consumer introspections and how they explain behavior. Consumer Introspection Theory views the consumer herself as the research instrument and examines how her introspections can explain things like product involvement and choice. The trait approach takes a nomothetic approach to personality. That is, the trait approach assumes that the human personality can be described as a combination of traits that can be studied across consumers. [Instructor PPT Slide 7] Single-Trait and Multiple-Trait Approaches With the single-trait approach, the focus of the researcher is placed on one particular trait. Here, researchers can learn more about the trait and how it affects behavior. With the multiple-trait approach, combinations of traits are examined and the total effect of the collection of traits is considered. Here, the researcher is interested in trait scores on numerous traits as potential predictors of consumer behavior. The prediction of individual behavior tends to be stronger with the multiple-trait approach. LO 6-2: Discuss major traits that have been examined in consumer research. [Instructor PPT Slides 8, 9] II. Major Traits Examined in Consumer Research One of the main challenges facing consumer researchers who want to study traits is that there are so many traits that apply to consumer behavior. The traits that are used in consumer research are usually very specific and tend to be studied for relatively long periods of time. A. Many Traits Examined in CB When there are thousands of ways to describe people, it obviously becomes difficult to know exactly what trait should be examined. Value Consciousness Value consciousness represents the tendency for consumers to focus on maximizing what is received from a transaction as compared to what is given. Research reveals that value consciousness is an important concept in consumer behavior. Value-conscious consumers can be expected to pay close attention to the resources that they devote to transactions and to the benefits that they receive. Materialism Materialism refers to the extent to which material goods are important in a consumer’s life. Materialism is seen as consisting of three separate dimensions: Possessiveness—a tendency to retain control and ownership over possessions Nongenerosity—an unwillingness to share with others Envy—resentment that arises as a result of another’s belongings and a desire to acquire similar possessions Highly materialistic consumers tend to be possessive, nongenerous, and envious of other’s possessions. Materialism tends to differ among generations, with lower materialism scores typically found among older consumers. Although the U.S. culture is widely viewed as materialistic, research suggests that consumers are beginning to “downshift.” Downshifting refers to a conscious decision to reduce one’s own material consumption. Innovativeness Consumer innovativeness refers to the degree to which a consumer is open to new ideas and quick to adopt, buying new products, services, or experiences soon after they are introduced. Innovative consumers are also generally dynamic and curious, and they are often young, educated, and relatively affluent. Although researchers do not necessarily agree on the extent to which innovativeness is exhibited across product categories, a consumer with a strong degree of innovativeness may be expected to be innovative in a number of situations. Need for Cognition Need for cognition refers to the degree to which consumers tend to engage in effortful cognitive information processing. Consumers who have a high degree of this trait tend to think carefully about products, problems, and even marketing messages. Research also indicates that the effect of humorous advertising is impacted by the need for cognition. Studies also indicate that the need for cognition trait influences consumers’ reactions to ads with sexual content. Competitiveness The competitiveness trait may be defined as an enduring tendency to strive to be better than others. A competitive person is generally easy to identify; research reveals that the trait often emerges in the following ways: When a consumer is directly competing with others. When a consumer enjoys winning vicariously through the efforts of others. When a consumer attempts to display superiority over others by openly flaunting exclusive products, especially publicly visible products. Productivity Orientation Productivity Orientation represents the tendency for consumers to focus on being productive, making progress, and accomplishing more in less time. Consumers with a high degree of productivity orientation are able to be productive even when pursuing leisure activities. Other Traits Found in Consumer Research Exhibit 6.1 highlights other traits that are often studied. Q: What is the relevance of consumer innovativeness to marketers? Students could be asked to rate their own levels of consumer innovativeness. A: Consumer innovativeness is very important to marketers when introducing new products. A marketer will benefit if the consumer is open to new ideas and trying new products. Students’ answers to the second part of the question will vary. Q: Eric reads at least three online reviews before making an online purchase decision about a particular product. In this scenario, Eric’s behavior is an example of a person who has a: (a) high need for cognition; (b) low need for cognition. Students can be asked to choose the right answer and explain their answer choice. A: In this scenario, Eric’s behavior demonstrates a high need for cognition. Consumers with a high need for cognition pay a lot of attention to products, problems, or marketing messages. [Instructor PPT Slide 10] The Five-Factor Model Approach One of the most popular multiple-trait approaches found in both personality psychology and consumer research is the five-factor model (FFM) approach. The FFM proposes that five dominant traits are found in the human personality, including: Extroversion Agreeableness Openness to Experience (also referred to as creativity) Stability (or Instability; sometimes referred to clinically as neuroticism) Conscientiousness Extroverted consumers are outgoing and talkative with others. Agreeable consumers are kindhearted to others and sympathetic. Creative consumers are imaginative and enjoy new ideas. Stable consumers tend to be able to control their emotions and avoid mood swings. Conscientious consumers are careful, orderly, and precise. These traits are presented in Exhibit 6.2. The FFM approach is a multiple-trait approach, meaning that a consumer’s personality is conceptualized as a combination of these traits and that each consumer will vary on the respective traits. Hierarchical Approaches to Personality Traits Organizing all CB traits is one of the goals of what are known as hierarchical approaches to personality. Hierarchical approaches begin with the assumption that personality traits exist at varying levels of abstraction. That is, some traits are specific (bargaining proneness), and others are more broad (extroversion). Specific traits refer to tendencies to behave in very well-defined situations. Broad traits refer to tendencies to behave across many different situations. As a general statement, specific traits tend to be better predictors of individual behaviors than broad traits. Final Thoughts on the Trait Approach The trait approach in consumer research is very popular today in large part due to its ability to objectively assign a personality trait score, from a survey for example, to a consumer. In this way, the approach has an advantage of over the psychoanalytic approach, in which personality dimensions are assigned based on the psychologist’s subjective interpretation. Exhibit 6.3 reveals a number of critics that have been leveled against trait research. Personology A relatively new approach to researching consumers, which combines personality theory and motivation, is the “personology” approach. This approach allows consumer researchers to better understand the uniqueness of the individual consumer by combining information on traits, goals, and even consumer life stories. Many ways to view the human personality exist, and several different approaches to exploring the influence of personality on consumer behavior have been used. B. Brand Personality Brand personality refers to human characteristics that can be associated with a brand. Brand personalities can be described across five dimensions, including: Competence Excitement Ruggedness Sincerity Sophistication These dimensions are described in Exhibit 6.4. Brand personalities represent opportunities for companies to differentiate their products. Accordingly, a brand’s personality may be viewed as a part of its overall image. Brand personalities also provide marketers with opportunities to build strong brand relationships with consumers, especially when they have an understanding of their customer’s personality. Formation of Brand Personality Many factors contribute to the development of a brand’s personality. In order for the perceived personality to match the intended personality that is promoted, managers should be sure to present a strong concept, differentiate the product well, create credible messages about the brand, involve the consumer to a high degree, and generate a positive attitude toward the brand. Brand Personality Appeal Brand personality appeal refers to a brand’s ability to appeal to consumers based on the human characteristics associated with it. A brand’s personality should be perceived as having strong degrees of favorability, originality, and clarity. Personality and Brand Relationships The brand personality concept is especially important when one considers that consumers, to a certain extent, have relationships with brands, and that personality traits are important in the formation and maintenance of these relationships. The concept of consumer–brand relationships has received considerable research attention. Consumer researcher Susan Fournier proposes that the overall quality of such relationships can be explained by: Love and Passion—a consumer may have such strong feelings about a brand that they actually describe it by with the term love. Self-Connection—brands may help express some central component of a consumer’s identity. Commitment—in a strong, consumer-brand relationship, consumers are very committed to their brands and feel very loyal to them. Interdependence—consumer-brand relationships may be marked by interdependence between the product and consumer. Intimacy—Strong relationships between consumers and brands can be described as intimate. Brand Partner Quality—in general, brands that are perceived to be of high quality contribute to the formation of consumer–brand relationships. LO 6-3: Understand why lifestyles, psychographics, and demographics are important to the study of consumer behavior. [Instructor PPT Slide 11] III. Consumer Lifestyles, Psychographics, and Demographics Consumer lifestyles, psychographics, and demographics are all important variables that highlight differences between consumers. A. Lifestyles Stated simply, lifestyles refer to the ways consumers live and spend their time and money. Personality and lifestyles are closely related topics. In fact, lifestyles may be referred to as context-specific personality traits. Importantly, lifestyles aren’t completely determined by personality. Instead, they emerge from the influence of culture, groups, and individual processes, including personality. Not surprisingly, consumer lifestyles vary considerably across cultures. Purchase patterns are often influenced by consumer lifestyles, and numerous lifestyle categories can be identified. It shouldn’t be surprising, therefore, that marketers often target consumers based on lifestyles. Because lifestyle can be directly tied to product purchase and consumption, consumer lifestyles are considered an important manifestation of social stratification. B. Psychographics The term psychographics refers to the way consumer lifestyles are measured. Psychographic techniques use quantitative methods that can be used in developing lifestyle profiles. Psychographic analysis involves surveys consumers using AIO statements to gain understanding of consumers’ activities, interests, and opinions. Consumer segments very often contain consumers with similar lifestyles. There are numerous ways in which to segment consumers based on lifestyles. Specificity of Lifestyle Segments The lifestyle approaches can be categorized in terms of their specificity—either narrowly defined or more broadly defined. Generally, lifestyles are very specific. VALS Developed and marketed by Strategic Business Insights, VALS is a very successful segmentation approach that has been adopted by several companies. VALS stands for “Values and Lifestyles”. VALS classifies consumers into eight distinct segments based on resources available to the consumer (including financial, educational, and intellectual resources), as well as three primary motivations (ideals motivation, achievement motivation, and self-expression motivation). The VALS segments are presented in Exhibit 6.5. PRIZM Geodemographic techniques combine data on consumer expenditures and socioeconomic variables with geographic information in order to identify commonalities in consumption patterns of households in various regions. PRIZM is a popular lifestyle analysis technique that is marketed by Nielsen Claritas. PRIZM, which stands for Potential Ratings Index by ZIP Market, is based on the premise that people with similar backgrounds and means tend to live close to one another and emulate each other’s behaviors and lifestyles. The technique uses 66 different segments as descriptors of individual households, which are ranked according to socioeconomic variables. C. Demographics Demographics refer to observable, statistical aspects of populations including such factors as age, gender, or income. The study of demographics is known as demography. Demographic variables include age, ethnicity, income, and so on. Age Age is important not only because of its descriptive nature, but also because consumers who experience significant life events at approximately the same age are influenced greatly by the events. This is the “cohort effect.” Groups such as “Generation Y” or “Millennials” (born between 1981 and 1995), “Generation X” (born between 1965 and 1980), “Baby Boomers” (born between 1946 and 1964), and “The Greatest Generation” (born prior to 1946) are identifiable segments. Ethnicity Diversity is growing in the United States. Minority groups (such as Hispanics, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans) are expected to grow considerably in the years to come. Income Income is another important variable. Although it is often discussed in terms of socioeconomic variables, it is included here because it is often present in several popular demographic publications such as the U.S. Census. Demographics can be used in conjunction with psychographic analysis. In fact, demographics can be used to help locate and understand lifestyle segments. Failing to consider psychographic measures leads to the trap of assuming that all consumers of a certain demographic have the exact same tastes. LO 6-4: Comprehend the role of the self-concept in consumer behavior. [Instructor PPT Slide 13] IV. The Role of Self-Concept in Consumer Behavior The term self-concept refers to the totality of thoughts and feelings that an individual has about him- or herself. Self-concept can also be thought of as the way a person defines or gives meaning to his or her own identity, as in a type of self-schema. Consumers are motivated to act in accordance with their self-concepts. According to a symbolic interactionism perspective, consumers agree on the shared meaning of products and symbols. An important field of study that relates to the symbolic interactionism approach is semiotics. Semiotics refers to the study of symbols and their meaning. Consumers use products as symbols to convey their self-concepts to others. Consumers have a number of “concepts” about himself that may emerge over time and surface in different social situations. The actual self refers to how consumers currently perceive themselves (that is, who I am). The ideal self refers to how consumers would like to perceive themselves (that is, who I would like to be in the future). The social self refers to the beliefs that consumers have about how they are seen by others. The ideal social self represents the image that a consumer would like others to have about her. The possible self, much like the ideal self, presents an image of what the consumer could become. The extended self represents the various possessions that a consumer owns that help him form perceptions about himself. The relationship between consumer self-concept and product consumption is a two-way street. That is, consumers express their self-concepts by purchasing and displaying various products, while products help to define how they see themselves. A. Self-Concept and Body Presentation The issue of self-concept in consumer behavior has several implications. The term self-esteem refers to the positivity of an individual’s self-concept. Body esteem refers to the positivity with which people hold their body image. Low body esteem can result in a number of negative behaviors and attitudes. Q: Does your family play a role in shaping your self-esteem? Do you feel fashion plays an important role in shaping your body esteem? A: Since the role of family on self-esteem vary from person to person, students’ answers to the first part of the question will vary. Typically, fashion does play an important role in shaping an individual’s body esteem. Cosmetic Surgery and Body Modification Because of the many ways consumers compare themselves to others, it is easy to understand why many medical procedures that promise to improve consumers’ perceptions of their bodies are now available. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, there were over 10 billion cosmetic and nonsurgical procedures performed in the United States in 2013, and there was an upward trend in the percentage of procedures performed. Body Piercings and Tattoos Body piercings and other forms of body decorations, such as tattoos, represent other methods of promoting one’s self-concept. Estimates vary widely, with one recent study revealing that as many as 51% of teenagers and young adults have some form of body piercing. While body piercings are popular forms of self-expression and are frequently used as innocent methods of self-expression, research also indicates that the use of piercings can sometimes be associated with increased levels of drug and alcohol use, unprotected sexual activity, trait anxiety, and depression. Q: What is your opinion on plastic surgery? Do you personally think it can increase an individual’s self-esteem? A: A lot of consumers feel that plastic surgery can improve their perception of their bodies and thus increase their self-esteem. Students’ answers to the second part of the question will vary. LO 6-5: Understand the concept of self-congruency and how it applies to consumer behavior issues. [Instructor PPT Slide 14] V. Self-Congruency Theory and Consumer Behavior Reference group members share symbolic meanings. This is an assumption of self-congruency theory, which proposes that behavior can be explained by the congruence (match) between a consumer’s self-concept and the image of typical users of a focal product. A. Segmentation and Self-Congruency Marketers can use congruency theory by segmenting markets into groups of consumers who perceive high self-concept congruence with product-user image. There are several types of self-concepts, and different products may relate to each concept. That is, one product may relate quite well to the actual self-concept, but not as strongly to the ideal self-concept. Consumer Identity and Product Ownership Given the many ways in which consumers use and display brands, some researchers suggest that brands are used to express and validate consumer identity. For these consumers, the task of self-expression through product ownership is one of identity maintenance and communication. This occurs when the consumer believes that the brand expresses his or her identity. Organizational Identification When consumers feel very close to organizations, organizational identification is said to be present. Identifying with an organization also helps consumers to forge stronger social identities. Consumer and organizational identification illustrate the important role that products and organizations can play in the expression of the self. Final Thought on Personality, Lifestyles, and the Self-Concept Consumers differ across each of these concepts, and these differences help signal the need for targeted marketing communications. As technological advancements continue to develop, it can be expected that consumer researchers and marketing managers alike will continue to be interested in these topics. Video material for this chapter can be found on page 24 of the IM Instructor Manual for CB Consumer Behaviour Barry J. Babin, Eric G. Harris 9781305403222, 9781305577244
