MODULE 5 CONSUMER LEARNING AND MEMORY PROCESSES Psychologists define learning as a relatively permanent change in behaviour caused by or occurring

as a result of experience or as any change in the content or organization or long-term memory. These definitions are relevant to the marketers understanding of consumer information process behaviour along these dimensions. a. Observable/Unobservable Behaviour. b. Learning Result in a relatively permanent change in behaviour. c. Consumers learn from experience. d. Learning involves cognitive information processing and memory retention. There are different types of learning behaviour. These include: i. ii. iii. iv. Physical learning behaviour. Symbolic learning behaviour. Cognitive/Problem solving behaviour. Affective learning behaviour.

Marketers are interested in consumer learning in order to educate consumers, promote their brand, and formulate strategies and tactics. Landen and Bitta (1994) identify four major areas that are fundamental to the majority of learning situations. These are motives, cues, response and reinforcement. The nature and strength of these elements will influence the consumer learning process in terms of what will be learnt and at what speed. CONSUMER LEARNING THEORIES Consumer Learning has be defined as the process by which individuals acquire the purchase, consumption and disposal knowledge and experience they apply to future related behaviour (Schiffman and Kannic, 2007). Two approaches explain consumer learning process. These are; a. The Behavioural (Connectionist) Approach. b. The Cognitive Learning Approach. The Behavioral/Connectionist environment stimuli in causing behavior while minimizing the significance of internal psychological process. The theory originates from Stimulus Response

Theory and this theory is based on the assumption that learning occurs as a result of responses to external stimuli. Two principles underlying the connectionist/behavioral approach: i. ii. Classical Conditioning learning by association. Operant Conditioning learning as a consequence of behaviour. Classical Conditioning: This assumes that learning is a process of associating one stimulus with another to derive meaning for appropriate response. It explains that learning is an attempt to establish a meaningful relationship between a conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus. This theory was experimented by Ivan Parlor to verify and ascertain the truth. An unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that produces a response without prior learning. An unconditional response is an unlearned response that is automatically elicited by the unconditioned stimulus. A conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus that eventually elicits the conditioned response after being associated with the unconditioned stimulus. A conditioned response (CR) is the learnt response to the conditioned stimulus that occurs after conditioned stimulus unconditioned stimulus pairing. Two influencial factors are important through the connectionist process of classical conditioning. These are contiguity factors and Repetition. The marketing implications of classical conditioning are that consumers can be conditioned to form favorable impressions and images of various brands through the associative process. Advertisers strive to associate main brands with per caption, images and emotions known to evolve positive response from consumers. Operant Conditioning: Learning from consequences of Behavior. Operant conditioning can be defined as the form of learning in which the consequences of behavior lead to changes in the probability of its occurrence (Dragoi and Staldom , 1999). Three ways in which response would be influenced as a consequence of behavior under operant conditioning: First, Positive Reinforcement this occurs whenever a consequence of behavior leads to an increase in the probability of its occurrence. Two important factors of reinforcement are Timing and Consistency.

Second, Negative Reinforcement this takes the form of avoidance of negative occurrence, or removal of fear or discomfort. Last not the least is punishment. Punishment is a negative consequence that leads to a reduction in the frequency of the behavior that produces it. Now the distinction between Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning is that, Classical sees the individual as a passive participant in the learning process who simply receives stimuli while Operant views learning as a process by which voluntary responses are strengthened or weakened depending on whether that consequence is positive or negative. Whiles classical conditioning reinforces responses, operant conditioning operates during trial or usage of the product/service. The Cognitive Learning Theory. Following criticism raised against the connectionist theory for assuming a mechanistic view that puts emphasis on external stimulus factors by ignoring the internal psychological process such as motivation, reasoning and perception; thus learning based on mental activity is called Cognitive Learning. The theory holds that the kind of learning most characteristics of human beings is problem solving which enables individuals to gain control over their environment. Reasoning represents the core of cognitive learning. Cognitive Learning theory is particularly relevant for important and highly involved purchase decisions. Cognitive processes such as perceptions, formation of beliefs about brands, attitude formation and change and integration processes are important to the understanding of the decision making process. Conclusion. Connectionist theories of learning are appropriate to understanding a variety of the other aspects of consumer behavior. The classical condition is useful for explaining how consumers acquire taste and motives. Thus, advertisers employ the concept by showing their brands in pleasant, exciting or otherwise emotionally positive surroundings. Certain types of habitual behavior are also explained through classical conditioning. Operant is useful for understanding consumer learning where conscious choices resulting in positive or negative reinforcement are made. Cognitive theories of learning stress problem-solving behavior and the learners active understanding of situations confronting her. It is not a blind role behavior, as in the case of the connectionist theorist approach. All learning theories, however, recognize some basic learning principles which are particularly relevant to understanding consumer attitude formation and change.

MODULE 6 THE ROLE OF MEMORY IN CONSUMER ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING BEHAVIOUR Consumer Memory is a human biological organ for processing and storage of information pertaining to aspects of the consumers world. From the marketing point of view, it is a vast storehouse of learned information about products, services, brands, consumption and disposal experiences. Memory plays a major role in consumer choice decisions. Specific inferences drawn by consumers from product features, advertising, word of mouth communication and other sources of productrelated information depend upon what data is stored in the memory and how they are organized. THEORIES OF MEMORY The conventional theories of memory conceptualize the manner in which an event can cause changes in the physical structures of the brain. The Physiological Elements of The Human Brain. The human brain consists of two lobes made up of an infinite number of cells called neurons, simply referred to as the left hand brain (LHB) and the right hand brain (RHB). It is connected by a large fibre tract known as the Corpus Callosum The LHB is viewed as the center for logical, abstract and conceptual thinking; the seat of consciousness, but volatile with short memory. It is responsible for processing of verbal or semantic information. The RHB on the other hand has a long term memory and considered the seat of creativity, intuitive and imaginable thinking. All the knowledge an individual holds of the world is stored in the RHB. The RHB is involved with the processing of pictorial or visual information. Memory serves two basic functions: To provide short term memory (STM). To provide long term memory (LTM). Two schools of thought provide conceptualized framework for understanding the structure and functioning of consumer memory. These are: a) The multiple storage models. b) The information processing model.

A. The Multiple Storage Model views memory as being composed of three distinct storage systems (sensory short-term, long term) each differs in terms of storage, capacity and functioning. The first stage of memory the sensory register; it is a very brief one, designed to hold an exact image of each sensory experience until it can be fully processed. We apparently retain a copy of each sensory experience in the sensory register long enough to locate and focus on relevant bit of information and transfer them into the next stage memory. Short-term memory the STM can be viewed as the workspace for information processing. It is a portion of memory activated to a temporary space unit for processing information in order to make a meaningful interpretation of such information. The capacity of short-term memory is quite limited. Information if not rehearsed could be lost. Two rehearsal processes known are maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal. Long-term memory this is relatively the permanent storehouse for information that has undergone sufficient processing. A predominant key criterion to coding material for storage in long-term memory is meaningfulness. Hurton (1991) suggest three characters in the context of multiple storage viewpoints. These are capacity, concepts and organization. Capacity, there is practically no limit on how much information can be stored in the longterm memory. Concepts, are often referred to as semantic concepts relate to what is stored and the relationship among those concepts. They include objects, attributes, higher level of attraction, rules, etc. The individual does not code semantic concepts by directly representing an object in memory; instead it is stored in a generalized form, and in a manner meaningful to the individual. The third characteristic of LTM concerns they way information is organized. It is suggested long-term memory coding can be organized into three categories as follows: Episodic Memory Here, theres memorization of episodes or events in terms of the time and space within which they occurred. Marketers use the concept in promotion, when for instance an advert urges a buyer to recall special moments in life. Procedural Memory This holds knowledge about skills and methods for dealing with facts, concepts and episodes. It is a memory for knowing how to perform certain functions or tasks and plays important role in problem solving.

Semantic Structure Long-term memory contains general knowledge an individual holds about the world around him/her. Retrieval of materials from semantic memory can be direct without the need to replay a sequence of events as in episodic memory. The marketing implications of these characteristics of long-term memory are the concept and associations learned about brands and stored in memory and how these beliefs and association contributes to attitude formation. The Information Processing Memory This model concentrates how individuals use selective perception into and from memory. J. R. Bettman suggests five of such control processes: 1. Rehearsal - Information is kept activated in short-term memory and ultimately transferred into long-term memory. Information processing rehearsal tasks the form of role repetition. There is also a cognitive rehearsal which involves deeper level of information processing rather than repetition of the information as in maintenance rehearsal. 2. Coding It refers to the way individual structures information for rehearsal. Individuals may use memories, associations, images and other techniques to encode information in order to facilitate memorization. 3. Transfer This governs what is stored in memory and the form in which it is stored. Information which is important for attaining goals is likely to be given the highest storage; however, some may be difficult to process. 4. Placement This deals with where particular information is stored in memory. In this case placement deals with the psychological positioning of brands in consumer memory in terms of some attributes. 5. Retrieval It is the process of assessing information in a long-term memory and bringing it into consciousness. It may be viewed as the means of transferring information from long-term memory into the activated workspace of short-term memory so that it can be further processed. Several factors influence the process of retrieval which includes the impact of the original learning, the goals involved in the original learning situation and the context of the situation in which retrieval is being made.

MODULE 7 THE ROLE OF BELIEFS IN CONSUMER ATTITUDES FORMATION AND CHANGE Beliefs can be defined as organized patterns of cognitions, that is, the knowledge an individual holds to be true about an object or some aspect of his or her world. A measurement belief is the assessment of the extent to which the consumer that a brand possesses particular attributes. The Perception-Belief Link Beliefs are formed through normal perception i.e. through cognitive processing of information acquired from the real world (Ulric Neisser, 1975). Such information is compared with an existing schema. An individuals belief about an object if strengthened when a new information input contradicts the existing one in a meaningful manner more energy is emitted and directed towards further exploration to establish the truth. The perception-belief link can be viewed as consumers schema or beliefs held about the attribute of a brand or the association of these attributes. The Belief-Attitude Link Many social psychologists distinguish between beliefs and attitudes. Generally, cognitive (knowledge) aspects have been attributed to beliefs and affective (feeling) or emotional aspects have been attributed to attitudes. They emphasize that any change in the cognitive aspect of some attitudinal object e.g. brand attitude/association would be by definition, entail the change in the attitude toward the object. According to Fishbein model, an individuals attitude towards any object is a function of his beliefs about the object (i.e. the probability that the object is associated with other objects, concepts, values or goals) and the evaluative aspect of these beliefs i.e. he attitude towards the associated objects may be positive or negative given as Fishbein model emphasizes that assessing a persons overall attitude towards a brand, it is important to first determine those beliefs that are most important to the consumer and which would affect his/her attitude.

Since marketers are interested in determining the beliefs held by consumers of their market offerings, most consumer research activities tend to focus on the measurement of the beliefs held by consumers of their product, brands or services upon which attitudes are formed or changed. To effectively measure consumers attitudes the starting point is to measure the variable that constitute the attitude. These variables are referred from the Fishbein model; they are affective, cognitive and conative. The affective variable is a measurement of the valance of consumer feelings concerning like or dislike of the concept of an attitude. The cognitive variable is the measurement of the valance of the beliefs (or knowledge) held by consumers about the product or brand attributes as well as the association the schemata. The conative variable is ameasurement of the extent to which the consumer is predisposed, in readiness towards responding to his/her needs, as a result of acquiring knowledge (cognitive) and developing emotions (affect). It is possible however to measure beliefs on the basis of three dimensional variables, as follows: o o o Strength It refers to the extent to which a certain belief is held. Emotionally It refers to the affect or the object evaluation dimension of attitude, and it relates to degree of feeling attractive to the belief held. Need-driven response Refers to the emotional aspect of the belief, the extent to which the consumer os motivated to respond to his/her needs.

Marketers would always want to know what beliefs consumers about their brands and how strongly or weakly they are held whether such beliefs are positive (favourable to the brand) or negative (not vafourable to their brand) and how long have such beliefs been held. In reality, consumers beliefs about product or brand attribute vary through time and perceptually across individuals.

MODULE 8 CONSUMER ATTITUDE FORMATION AND CHANGE Marketers have tended to take a more limited view of attitude as a readily observable construct that they can use to understand their market and perhaps to evaluate the effect of a persuasive marketing communication. Attitude structure is the way in which the consumer perceives his environment and guide the ways in which he responds to it. Attitudes are learned through social interaction or through information acquisition and processing within our social and cultural environment. Attitude can also be seen as a mediating construct that has two links with observable reality. One link is the antecedent conditions that lead into it and the second link is with the consequence that follows from the attitude. The tri-component model of attitude suggests that attitude is organized into separate components i.e. cognitions, affect and conative. Through experience, consumers attitudes are formed through: i. ii. iii. Interpreting a number of similar experiences. Differentiating from general to specific situation. Identification. Source identification is the outcome of source credibility, source attractiveness and source of power

ATTITUDES MEASUREMENT THEORIES AND MODELS Some of the models include the following: o o o The tri-component attitude model. The unidimensional attitude model. The multi-attribute model.

The tripartite school of thought views attitudes as a component of three variables cognition, affective and conation. The first component model is an individuals cognition i.e. a combination of the knowledge and per options an individual had acquired through direct experience with the attitudes object and related information from various sources. The affective component deals with the persons emotions or overall feeling about the attitude objects. The conative component is concerned with the likelihood or tendency that an individual will undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way with regard to the attitude objects. The three components are expected to exhibit basic behavioral consistency (in terms of favourability or unfavourability) toward the attitude object. The unidimensional or single component attitude model can perhaps be regarded as a juxtaposition of the tri-component model. Under the unidimensional approach, the cognitive and

conative components are pulled out of attitudes cognition is relabeled beliefs and conation is relabeled intentions and behaviours. The single components position is that attitude that consists of affective only (unidimensional). The other two components, cognition and conation are regarded as antecedent or consequences of attitudes. Multi-Attribute Attitude Model This model portrays consumers attitudes with regard to an attitude object as functions of consumer perception and assessment of the key attributes or beliefs held (schema) with regard to the attitude object. Under this model we have the following models: The Attitude-Toward-The-Object (AO) model. It is suitable for measuring consumer attitude towards a product/service category or specific brand within a category. To this model, consumers attitudes towards a product or specific brands of a product is a function of the presence of (or absence) of certain attributes and evaluation of specific beliefs associated with it. The Attitude-Towards-Behaviour (AB) model. It is designed to capture the individual attitude towards behaving or acting with the respect to an object rather than the attitudes towards the object. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA) model. According to TORA, AB measures and predicts a persons intention to behave better than AO. The TORA suggests that a persons behaviour is determined by his/her intentions to perform the behaviour and that his intention in turn is a function of his attitude towards the behaviour. According to TORA, the best predictor of behaviour is intention. Intention is the cognitive presentation of a persons readiness to perform a given behaviour and is considered the immediate antecedent of behaviour. The marketing implication of TORA is that it helps marketers to determine appropriate marketing strategies that can be used to change unfavourable attitudes. MODELS OF ATTITUDE FORMATION The Consistency Theory Model: This model is an integration of a number of attitude theories and this includes o o o The Balance Theory. Cognitive Dissonance Theory. The Affective-Cognitive Consistency Theory.

The Attitude Learning Theory: There are important links between the learning theories and attitude formation and change processes. In the context of learning theories, some attitudes are formed or changed through any one of the three learning related processes; compliance, identification and internationalization. Functional Theory: This theory is derived from the idea that an individual develops and holds attitudes that are designed to function in a certain manner for that individual. The functional theory is often referred to as a motivational approach to attitude formation and change. The four types of functional attitudes

1. The Utilitarian, Instrumental or Adjustive Function it says that people behave in a such a way as to maximize reward and minimize punishment from the external environment. 2. The Value Expression Function it is seen as a means of enhancing ones image in the eyes of the world and hence of great relevance of marketers. 3. Ego-Defective Function it refers to attitudes that serve to protect the individual from internal insecurities or external threat. 4. The Knowledge Function - it is based on an individuals general desire to understand his/her environment. An attitude serving the knowledge functions thius supplies a frame of reference for interpreting an otherwise chaotic and complex environmental stimulus.