PerceptionPerception

8Chapter

8-2

Objectives

Explain the relationship between perceptions and sensations experienced through the classic five sensory receptors

Describe how sensory thresholds are used by marketers, including marketing applications of Weber’s law.

Outline the process through which our sensory systems select, organize, and interpret stimuli, including preattentive processing, perceptual selection, organization and categorization, interpretation, and elaboration.

Describe some basic tools consumers use in primitive categorization

8-3

Perception

Perception – process of giving meaning to sensory stimuli

Phenomenal absolutism All others perceive the situation as you do

GET OVER IT!

8-4

Perception is Subjective

Study throughSensory thresholdsPerceptual processes

8-5

Influencing Perceptions

Differential Threshold Just Noticeable Difference (JND) Weber’s Law

As the intensity of a stimulus increases, the ability to detect a difference between levels decreases

Implications for Pricing Product Promotion Place

8-6

Discuss

A retailer of computer goods is puzzled by consumers’ responses to her recent fall sale. There was only one purchase of the $3000 model (sale priced at $2750). The $1000 model (sale priced at $875), despite having only half the $250 savings offered by the more expensive model, sold out. How can you explain these results?

8-7

Information Processing is Selective

Exposure – Preattentive Processing

Attention – Selection

Organization, Interpretation, &

Elaboration

Memory

8-8

Principles of Exposure (preattentive processing)

Absolute (or lower) threshold

Subliminal perception

8-9

Sensation and Sensory Thresholds

People detect stimuli through a variety of sensory receptors--the organs of perception.

NOSE

EYES

MOUTH

EARS

SKIN

Arnould et al. slide

8-10

Consumer Chronicles 8.4Some Approximate Detection Threshold Values

Sense DetectionModality Threshold

Light A candle flame seen at 30 miles or a dark clear night.

Sound The tick of a watch under quiet conditions at 20 feet.

Taste One teaspoon of sugar in two gallons of water.

Smell One drop of perfume diffused into the entire volume of a three-room apartment.

Touch The wing of a bee falling on your back from a distance of one centimeter.

Source: Donald H. McBurney and Virginia B. Collings, Introduction to Sensation/Perception (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1977), p. 7.

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Arnould et al. slide

8-11

Problems to Overcome to Gain Exposure

Selective exposure Message placement and position Store and shelf placement

Overexposure Habituation

8-12

One Solution to Overcome Exposure Problems

Man Sells Body Ad Tattoos on eBay, Industry Yawns

In the so over category, Joe Tamargo has joined the legions of odd soles selling off their bodies on eBay as moving billboards. We're not even going to bother summing up recent stories on the trend. There everywhere and easy to find. Wait til you hear the one about the pregnant woman who is selling her tummy to advertisers on eBay.

Friday, January 28, 2005  

8-13

Measuring Exposure

ExamplesSMRB dataNeilsen Television IndexArbitron radio diaries Internet (How?)

8-14

Attention (or selection)

Depends on personal relevance (i.e., involvement) and the nature of the stimulus

May be involuntary if surprising or a contrast to other elements

Basic principles Intensity (how much?) and direction (thinking

what?) Goal for marketers

Get in evoked set

8-15

Common Tactics Used to Get Attention

Tactic Example Make a connection Color Location Position Surprise Distinctiveness Placement in less

cluttered environments

8-16

Comprehension Perceptual Organization

How people see or hear patterns e.g., closure, figure ground, etc.)

Categorization Grouping products into categories Based upon prior knowledge about

categories Determines products that will be compared Managerial implications

Positioning/repositioning Defining competitors Locating products

8-17

8-18

Perceptual Inference in Comprehension

Perceptual Inferences Interpretations that go beyond the

information given. Inferences are influenced by:

Context, goals, prior knowledge, personal experiences

Marketing Implications brand extensions priming

What flavor is this ice cream cone?

8-19

Comprehension -- 2

Interpretation and Elaboration Schemas

Set of beliefs and feelings about a stimuli Scripts

Knowledge of sequence of actions associated with a stimuli

Our expectations influence our interpretations Color affects how food tastes – M&M’s)

8-20

Comprehension -- 3

Interpretation and Elaboration Elaboration

High – leads to problem-solving, counterarguing, etc.

Low – leads to simple recognition The extent of elaboration depends on the viewer’s involvement with the product

Boomerang effect -- attitude change is opposite that advocated in the persuasive message

8-21

Perceptual Judgments and Marketing Strategies

Perceived Quality the consumer’s evaluative judgment about an entity’s overall

excellence or superiority in providing desired benefits. SERVQUAL

Predictive Value the degree to which consumers associate a given cue with

product quality, the confidence value of a cue, and the degree to which consumers have confidence in their ability to use and judge the cue accurately extrinsic cues - price, brand name, packaging, store name, etc. intrinsic cues - taste, texture, aroma, etc.

Arnould et al. slide

8-22

Product-Country Image Effects

Product-Country image effects reflect consumers’ use of country of origin or country of manufacture as a cue to infer beliefs about product attributes.

Product-Country image (PCI) is a schematic mental representation of a country’s people, products, culture, and national symbols.

Consumer voting captures the normative dimension of product-country images. By deciding to purchase or avoid a country’s products, consumers “vote” for or against the policies of its government.

Arnould et al. slide