Lecture Notes Series: Part Three (13/7/2014)

Perception

Consumers act and react on the basis of their perception and not objective reality. For each individual reality is a totally personal phenomenon.

Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world. (Schiffman, Kanuk, Kumar 2010).

WHAT IS REALITY? IT IS A FIGMENT OF OUR IMAGINATION. CONTEXT MATTERS

THERE IS NO BEHAVIOURAL VALUE IN INFORMATION AND THEREFORE IN ABSENCE OF A CONTEXT EVERY INFORMATION IS MEANINGLESS.

HOW DOES BRAIN MAKE SENSE OF MEANINGLESS INFORMATION?

WE GET FEEDBACK FROM OUR SENSES

WE SEE THAT FEEDBACK IN A PARTICULAR WAY AND WE ADAPT TO IT.

Sensory Dynamics of Perception:

Our responses to any external stimuli are based on our perception; and world view.

a) Sensation: it is the immediate and direct response of the sensory organs to stimuli. (Sight, sound; smell; touch; taste).

b) The absolute threshold: the lower level at which an individual can experience a sensation. It increases under conditions of constant stimulation. Too much stimulation leads to sensory adaptation; and at this stage further stimulation does not have any effect.

c) The differential threshold: the minimum difference that can be detected between two similar stimuli. Also named as the Just Noticeable Difference. Weber’s law ‘stronger the initial stimuli, the greater the additional intensity needed for the second stimulus to be perceived as different’. Compare a) adding 25 grams to a 75 gram soap bar with b) adding 50 grams to a 500grams pack of tea. Which of the two changes is more likely to be noticed? Reflect on Weber’s law to find the solution. Or Changing the duration of a) a 15 second advertisement on TV to 20 seconds or b) changing the duration of a 30 second advertisement to 35 seconds? Try comparing.

Think about what implications it can have for formulation of marketing strategy (examples; pack sizes; promotional campaigns; pricing decisions; retail merchandizing and display decisions).

Elements of Perception:

Inputs that shape perceptual process are twofold: first, the physical stimuli; and second, personal experience. How do people of respond to a cat? Color white for a wedding dress? Getting scolded?

In most cases our responses to a stimulus (cat, wedding dress, scolding) results not just from the object or action. Perception is what we add or subtract from the raw stimuli to create our own unique picture of the world.

Three broad elements of perception:

a) Perceptual selection (shaped by nature of stimuli –a cat; expectations-cat is bad omen; and motives- I will not achieve what I wanted to today because this cat is seen by me). What we have just done is added our interpretation to a creature of nature and gave it a unique identity. Think of what happens with all the products consumers view on a daily basis? Do they attach their interpretation of what a good product is while scanning the products on the shelf? People selectively get exposed to products; they pay attention to few things that pass in front of their eyes; and they block out what they don’t wish to remember.

b) Perceptual Organization: WE ARE PROGRAMMED TO SEE THINGS AS WE WISH TO. PATTERNS WE USE TO ORGANIZE CHAOS IN THE WORLD. GESTALT THEORY:

parts are universal, the whole constructed using the parts is unique. People construct their reality based on the experiences they have There is no universal reality Reality is based on interpretations Figure (important individual aspects) Ground (outside awareness)

People organize the numerous stimuli they receive into groups and perceive them as a whole. This helps people make sense of the world around them. This process starts very early. An infant groups and organizes all stimuli in a simple manner: good or bad; hot or cold. Three different approaches used by us to make sense of the raw stimuli as per Gestalt psychology (German term for patterns) are: a) figure and Ground: literally it means when people scan a visual they should see a figure on a ground (background). The figure should be clear and important; while the ground should be hazy and less significant. Think of it in terms of Movies; a song sequence. There is the main lead dancing and then there are extras. The role of extras is not to attract attention; but to make the main lead prominent. Therefore you would find contrast clothing being used. What is the marketing implication of this? b) Grouping: people often put the stimuli they receive at the same time; as one and the same. Why are beautiful models; good music; great scenery put together with the product being advertized? Because the product will be seen

as just as beautiful and refreshing. C) Closure: people seek closure i.e. logical completion of a story. If the story is deliberately left incomplete; they will add to it and reach a closure.

c) Perceptual Interpretation: this is unique to an individual and is based on: a) their past experience, b) their motives. Projective tests are used to Provide ambiguous stimuli and to record responses to it on the basis of stereotypes: each individual’s set of meanings of various stimuli. Stereotypes are based on: i) physical appearance: people attribute the quality they associate with certain type oif people to others who resemble them. Ii) Descriptive terms iii) first impression and iv) halo effect: when evaluation of an object or person is based on evaluation of just one or few characteristics. Marketers benefit from stereotypes; and at times are required to break the stereotypes. Husband cooking and wife fixing the car as an example.