CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR, 10e
Michael R. Solomon
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Sensation and Perception
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Sensation is the immediate response of our sensory receptors
(eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and fingers) to basic stimuli (light, color, sound, odor, and texture).
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Perception is the process by which sensations are selected, organized, and interpreted.
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The Perceptual Process
We receive external stimuli through our five senses
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Sensory Systems
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Vision
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Scent
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Sound
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Touch
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Taste
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Vision
C o l o r
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Color provokes emotion
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Reactions to color are biological and cultural
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Color in the United States is becoming brighter and more complex
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Trade dress: colors associated with specific companies
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Psycho-physical Illusions
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Which line is longer: horizontal or vertical?
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If you’re given two 24 oz. glasses, will you pour more into the shorter, wider glass or the taller glass?
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Smell
Odors create mood and promote memories:
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Coffee = childhood, home
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Cinnamon buns = sex
Marketers use scents:
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Inside products
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In atmospherics
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In promotions (e.g., scratch ‘n sniff)
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Hearing
Sound affects people’s feelings and behaviors
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Phonemes : individual sounds that might be more or less preferred by consumers
• Example: “i” brands are “lighter” than “a” brands
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Muzak uses sound and music to create mood
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High tempo = more stimulation, “shop fast”
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Slower tempo = more relaxing, “slow down and stay awhile”
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Touch
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Haptic Senses — or “touch”— is the most basic of senses; we learn this before vision and smell
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Haptic senses affect product experience and judgment
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Kansei engineering : Japanese philosophy that translates customers’ feelings into design elements
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Marketers that use touch: perfume companies, car makers, furniture manufacturers
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The Importance of Product Design
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The design of a product is a key driver of its success or failure.
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Appealing to multiple senses
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Taste
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Flavor houses develop new concoctions for consumer palates
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Culture and cultural changes determine desirable tastes
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Examples: hot peppers, saltiness, spiciness
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Individual Differences in taste perception
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For Reflection
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Some studies suggest that as we age, our sensory detection abilities decline.
What are the implications of this phenomenon for marketers who target elderly consumers?
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Psychophysics & Sensory Thresholds
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Psychophysics : Science that focuses on how the physical environment is integrated into our personal, subjective world
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Sensory Threshold : the minimum amount of stimulation / stimulus intensity needed to cause a sensation
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Sensory Thresholds
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The absolute threshold refers to the minimum amount of stimulation a person can detect on any given sensory channel
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The differential threshold refers to the ability of a sensory system to detect changes in or differences between two stimuli
• Weber’s Law
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Sensory Thresholds
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Differential threshold: differences in sensation between two stimuli
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Minimum difference between two stimuli needed for detection is the JND (just noticeable difference)
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Example: packaging updates must be subtle enough over time to keep current customers from recognizing changes 2-15

Sensory Thresholds (cont.)
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Differential thresholds used in pricing strategies:
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$2 discount on a $10 vs. $100 item
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Reference price: price against which buyers compare the actual selling price
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Original price versus sale price
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Do price changes cause a j.n.d.?
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Sensory Thresholds
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The concept of sensory threshold is important for marketing communications
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Subliminal Stimuli & Perception
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Occurs when stimulus intensity is below the level of consumer’s awareness.
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Subliminal techniques
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Embeds : figures that are inserted into magazine advertising by using high-speed photography or airbrushing.
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Subliminal Auditory Perception : sounds, music, or voice text inserted into advertising.
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Rumors of subliminal advertising are rampant — wellknown brands, political messages, etc.
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Most research finds subliminal advertising / priming does NOT work.
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Closure, Gestalt and Mental Schema
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We interpret the stimuli we attend to according to learned patterns and expectations.
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Attention
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Attention is the extent to which processing activity is devoted to a particular stimulus
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People constantly engage in Selective
Attention
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Sensory Overload
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Products and commercial messages often appeal to our senses, but because of the profusion of these messages, most won’t influence us.
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Attention
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Competition for our attention
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Exposed to 3,500+ ads per day
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Other stimuli
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Younger consumers can better process information from more than one medium at a time
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The multitasking “myth”…
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How Do Marketers Get Attention?
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Personal Selection
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Experience
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Perceptual filters
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Perceptual vigilance
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Perceptual defense
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Adaptation
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Stimulus Selection
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Contrast
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Size
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Color
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Position
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Novelty
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Personal Selection (cont.)
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Perceptual vigilance : consumers are more likely to be aware of stimuli that relate to their current needs
• Example: you’re in the market for a car — so you tend to notice car ads and cars on the road more than before
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Perceptual defense : people see what they want to see — and don’t see what they don’t want to see
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Example: heavy smoker may block out images of cancer-scarred lungs
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Stimulus Selection Factors
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We are more likely to notice stimuli that differ from others around them
• So, marketers can create “contrast” through:
Size Color Position Novelty
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For Reflection
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How have you seen brands use size, color, and novelty to encourage you to pay attention to them?
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Were the techniques effective?
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Interpretation
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Interpretation refers to the meaning we assign to sensory stimuli
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Through priming , certain properties of a stimulus evoke a schema
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Factors Leading to Adaptation / Habituation
Intensity
Discrimination
Duration
Exposure
Relevance
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Stimulus Organization
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Gestalt : the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
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Closure : people perceive an incomplete picture as complete
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Similarity : consumers group together objects that share similar physical characteristics
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Figure-ground : one part of the stimulus will dominate (the figure) while the other parts recede into the background (ground)
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Application of the
Figure-Ground Principle
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Interpretational Biases
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We interpret ambiguous stimuli based on our experiences, expectations, and psychological needs
• “Confabulation”
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Confirmation Bias
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Post-Purchase Distortion
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Hindsight Bias – “knew it all along”
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