CHAPTER

FIVE
Personality and
Consumer
Behavior

Outline
Theoretical foundations of Personality
Application in Marketing and its
implications
Innovativeness
Materialism
Compulsive
Ethnocentrism
2

Learning Objectives
1. To Understand How Personality
Reflects Consumers Inner
Differences.
2. To Understand How Freudian, NeoFreudian, and Trait Theories Each
Explain the Influence of Personality
on Consumers Attitudes and
Behavior.
3. To Understand How Personality
Reflects Consumers Responses to
3

Learning Objectives
(continued)
4. To Understand How Marketers Seek
to Create Brand Personalities-Like
Traits.
5. To Understand How the Products and
Services That Consumers Use
Enhance Their Self-Images.
6. To Understand How Consumers Can
Create Online Identities Reflecting a
Particular Set of Personality Traits.
4

What Is the Personality Trait

Characterizing the Consumers to
Whom This Ad Appeals?

Enthusiastic or Extremely
Involved Collectors

What is Personality?
The inner psychological
characteristics that both determine
and reflect how a person responds to
his or her environment

The Nature of Personality

Personality reflects individual
differences
Personality is consistent and
enduring
Personality can change

Theories of Personality
Freudian theory
Unconscious needs or drives are at the
heart of human motivation

Neo-Freudian personality theory

Social relationships are fundamental to
the formation and development of
personality

Trait theory
Quantitative approach to personality as
a set of psychological traits
9

Freudian Theory
Id

Warehouse of primitive or
instinctual needs for which
individual seeks immediate
satisfaction

Superego

Individuals internal
expression of societys
moral and ethical codes of
conduct

Ego

Individuals conscious
control that balances the
demands of the id and
superego

Freudian Theory and

Product Personality

Snack
Foods
Potato
chips
Tortilla
chips
Pretzels

Personality Traits

Ambitious, successful, high achiever,

impatient with less than the best.
Perfectionist, high expectations, punctual,
conservative, responsible.
Lively, easily bored with same old routine,
flirtatious, intuitive, may over commit to
projects.
Snack
Rational, logical, contemplative, shy, prefers
cracker time alone.
s
Cheese Conscientious, principled, proper, fair, may
curls
appear rigid but has great integrity,
plans
11

Neo-Freudian Personality
Theory
Believe that social relationships are
fundamental to the formation and
development of personality.
Karen Horneys three personality groups
(CAD)
Compliant: move toward others
Aggressive: move against others
Detached: move away from others

12

Why Is Appealing to an Aggressive

Consumer a Logical Position for
This Product?

13

Trait Theory
Focus on measurement of personality
in terms of traits
Trait - any distinguishing, relatively
enduring way in which one individual
differs from another
Personality is linked to broad product
categories and NOT specific brands

14

Soup and Soup Lovers

Traits
Chicken Noodle Soup
Lovers
Watch a lot of TV
Are family oriented
Have a great sense of
humor
Are outgoing and loyal
Like daytime talk shows
Most likely to go to church

Tomato Soup Lovers

Passionate about reading
Love pets
Like meeting people for
coffee
Arent usually the life of
the party

Vegetable/Minestrone
Soup Lovers
Enjoy the outdoors
Usually game for trying
new things
Spend more money than
any other group dining in
fancy restaurants
Likely to be physically fit
Gardening is often a
favorite hobby

15

Personality and Understanding

Consumer Behavior
Consumer
innovativen
ess

Dogmatism

Social
character

Need for
uniqueness

Optimum
stimulation
level

Sensation
seeking

Varietynovelty
seeking
16

How Does This Ad Target

the Inner-Directed
Outdoors Person?

17

A Sole Person is
Experiencing the Joys and
Adventure of the
Wilderness

18

Dimensions of Brand
Personality
Defined as set of human
characteristics associated with a
brand
Serves symbolic or self-expressive
function

19

Measurement Construct of
B.P

20

Generalized Dimensions of
B.P
Brand
Personality
Sincerity
(Hallmar
k cards)

Excitem
ent (MTV
Chanel)

Compete
nce (The
Wall
Street
Journal
newspap
er)

Sophistic
ation
(Guess
jeans)

Ruggedn
ess (Nike
tennis
shoes)

21

Applications in Marketing

22

Consumer Innovativeness
Willingness to innovate
Further broken down for hi-tech
products
Global innovativeness
Domain-specific innovativeness
Innovative behavior

23

Consumer Innovativeness
Scale
A GENERAL CONSUMER INNOVATIVENESS
SCALE
1. I would rather stick to a brand I usually buy than
try something I am not very sure of.
2. When I go to a restaurant, I feel it is safer to
order dishes I am familiar with.
3. If I like a brand, I rarely switch from it just to try
something different.
4. I enjoy taking chances in buying unfamiliar
brands just to get some variety in my purchase.
5. When I see a new brand on the shelf, I am not
afraid of giving it a try.
24

Consumer Innovativeness
Scales
A DOMAIN-SPECIFIC CONSUMER
INNOVATIVENESS SCALE
1. Compared to my friends, I own few rock albums.
2. In general, I am the last in my circle of friends to
know the titles of the latest rock albums.
3. In general, I am among the first in my circle of
friends to buy a new rock album when it appears.
4. If I heard that a new rock album was available in
the store, I would be interested enough to buy it.
5. I will buy a new rock album, even if I havent
heard it yet.
6. I know the names of new rock acts before other
25
people do.

Cognitive Personality
Factors
Need for cognition (NFC)
A persons craving for enjoyment of
thinking
Individual with high NFC more likely to
respond to ads rich in product
information

26

Simplified NFC Scale

I dont like to do a lot of thinking
I try to avoid situations that require
thinking in depth about something
I prefer to do something that
challenges my thinking abilities
rather than something that requires
little thought.
I prefer complex to simple problem
Thinking hard and for a long time
27

Applications of NFC
People who are low in NFC mare
more likely to be attracted to the
peripheral aspects of an
advertisement (link to ELM)
Preference of Cartoon
message/written message
Fill out online distractions
28

Consumer Materialism
They especially value acquiring and
showing off possessions
They are particularly self-centered
and selfish
They seek lifestyles full of
possessions
Their many possessions do not give
them greater personal satisfaction
29

Sample Items from a

Materialism Scale
Success
I admire people who own expensive homes, cars, and clothes.
I like to own things that impress people.
I dont place much emphasis on the amount of material objects
people own as a sign of success.

Centrality
I usually buy only the things I need
I try to keep my life simple, as far as possessions are concerned.
I like a lot of luxury in my life.

Happiness
I have all the things I really need to enjoy life.
My life would be better if I owned certain things I dont have
It sometimes bothers me quite a bit that I cant afford to buy all
the things Id like.
30

Implications of Consumer
Materialism
Increasing emphasis on materialism
in the print media
Related to compulsive shopping
behavior

31

Compulsive Behavior
Compulsive consumption behavior
Addicted or out-of-control consumers

17 million U.S consumers suffer from

shopping addiction (shop till you
drop)
Majority are female
32

Consumer Ethnocentrism
CETSCALE
To identify consumers with a predisposition
to accept (or reject) foreign-made products,
and has been shown to be a reliable
measure in both the U.S and other nations.

33

Consumer Ethnocentrism
Vary by country and product
Products display different level of culture
uniqueness
Country effect

Managing possible negative effects

34

Brand Personality
Personality-like traits associated with
brands
Examples
Purdue and freshness
Nike and athlete
BMW is performance driven

Brand personality which is strong and

favorable will strengthen a brand but not
necessarily demand a price premium
35

A Brand Personality
Framework

36

Brand Personification
Recast consumers perception of the
attributes of a products or service
into a human-like character.
Consumes express their inner
feelings about products or brands in
terms of their association with known
personalities.
37

What image does VS express in this ad?

Hello
Ive been around the block a few
million times.
And Ive noticed something along
the way.
The people want to find true
love.
And they want their true love to
be totally hot.
The people want to lose a few
extra pounds.
And they want an extra scoop of
ice cream.
The people want to do something
about global warming.
And they also want to get a nice
tan.
38

Speaks English, is
interviewed
about VW products, and is
a friend

39

Colors in marketing
Marketers carefully select color in
corporate campaign, logo design and
etc. Colors serve as symbols and
carry different meanings in different
cultures.
Pick up your favorite color, and
explain what the color stand for.

40

41

Fragrance commercial: high

purchase intention

42

Fragrance commercial: with

low purchase intention

43

Discussion Questions
Pick three of your favorite food
brands.
Describe their personality. Do they
have a gender? What personality
traits do they have?

44