PKo- Lerntagebuch Sena Yesil

8/3/2019 PKo- Lerntagebuch Sena Yesil

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PKo

Privater Konsum

Prof. Herr Helmut Laberenz

Lerntagebuch

von Sena Yesil

20. 01.2011

Hochschule fr Angewandte Wissenschaften

Hamburg, Deutschland


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Table of Contents

1. PerceptionA. Part 1B.

Part 2

2. Learning and MemoryA. Part 1B. Part 2

3. Influence of a GroupA. Part 1B. Part 2

4. Cultural InfluencesA. Part 1B. Part 2

5. SubcultureA. Part 1B. Part 2

6. References


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1. PERCEPTIONA. Part 1

Today, in the first part of the class we made a review about last weeks topic. 4Ps of marketing

is the cornerstone that needed to be learned. They are product, price, place and promotion.Individual is influenced from her social environment, i.e, her culture, sub-culture, the group she

is belonging to and her family. Consumers mind may be depicted as black box in which

activation, learning, storage in memory, evaluation, and finally decision making take place. Input

is processed in this black box and goes further as an action of consumer. Consumer behavior

may be considered as a pyramid consisting of individual and social focuses. Following

disciplines should be taken into account while exploring consumer behavior: Science,

psychology, economics, sociology, anthropology, history, demographics and semantics.

Later, perception topic was discussed. According to the definition on Longman dictionary

perception is; the way you think about something and your idea of what it is like or the way thatyou notice things with your senses of sight, hearing etc, or the natural ability to understand or

notice things quickly. Our sensory organs work actively in perceiving process according to

stimuli.

There are sensory thresholds that are important in perceptual process: absolute, differential

threshold and Just Noticeable Difference (JND). As an example to absolute threshold, the

minimum decibel level a human ear can hear, may be given. Differential threshold is the ability

of sensory system to distinguish the difference between two stimuli. JND, however, is the

minimum change in stimulus that can be detected.

Received stimuli are organized according to gestalt psychology which can be further examine as

principle of closure, principle of similarity, and principle of figure-ground.

Symbols play crucial roles in perceptual process. The interpretation of them regards a branch

called semiotics in which signs and symbols and their role are correlated with their meanings.

B. Part 2Individuals are surrounded with numerous stimuli around themselves. When we decide to buy,

we are responding not only these influences but our interpretations of them. We comprehend

what we are exposed to, and then interpret it on our own ways. This concept, in my opinion,

builds the main idea of perception.


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Perception process consists of three steps: Exposure (or sensation), attention and interpretation.

Roughly, we are exposed to stimuli; we pay attention and organize them, and finally interpret

these stimuli according to our biases, needs and experiences.

Sensation may be understood as basically raw data; light, color, sound for instance. External

stimuli can be received by various kind of ways such as vision (and colors), smell, sound, touch

and taste. All of these channels are quite important for marketers. Yet, vision is the most

influential one as far as advertising, store design and packaging concerned. Though, vision and

colors should be tailored according to target consumer. For instance, while red, blue and white

colors increase the patriotic feelings for English and French people, they do not have such an

influence on other nations. (Solomon et al, 2006). Packaging of products, which may be counted

as one of the most important visual factors, carries extra importance for marketers, in general. As

in Danish cheese Castello example: Castello Cheese Company introduced their new product

under the name of Castello Bianco with a red package. The aim was to increase the visibility and

signal effect. Although taste tests were very positive, sales were disappointing. A semiotic

analysis of consumer interpretations showed that the red packaging and the name gave theconsumers the wrong association about the product type and its degree of sweetness (due to

associations with the vermouth Martini Bianco). It was relaunched in a white packaging and with

the name white Castello, and almost immediately sales figures more than doubled. (Solomon et

al, 2006)

Sound is another important stimulus. Even though no scientific prove could be found, it is

claimed that muzak, i.e, functional music played in stores, shopping centers and offices, affects

the mood and purchase decision of customer.

These stimuli do not necessarily arise one at a time. They are somehow interrelated. Forexample, a perfume that a man smells in a store may remind him of his girlfriends fragrance

when they danced for the first time, and may remind him of the song playing then and her hair

touching his cheeks.

Exposure involves the extent to which we encounter a stimulus. Once exposure is concerned,

there are certain thresholds that needed to be discussed. Absolute threshold is the smallest

detectable stimulus. For example, if one drop of perfume spills in a room of 5 room-house, one

who is far away from that room cannot smell the perfume since it is beyond his absolute odor

threshold. Differential threshold, however, refers to the ability of a sensory system to detect

changes or differences between two stimuli. (Solomon et al, 2006). Marketers most likely aim to

create contrast to take attention of consumers buy applying so. Finally, Just Noticeable

Difference (JNB) is the minimum change in stimulus which is detected. According to German

scientist Ernst Weber, JND between two stimuli was not an absolute amount, but an amount

relative to the intensity of the first stimulus. Webers law states that the stronger the initial

stimulus, the greater the additional intensity needed for the second stimulus to be perceived as


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different. Also, an additional level of stimulus, equivalent to the JND must be added for the

majority of people to perceive a difference between the resulting stimulus and the initial

stimulus. Webers law holds for all senses and almost all levels of intensity. Retailers use the

principle in reducing prices. Markdowns must amount to at least twenty percent to be noticed by

shoppers. (Loudon and DellaBitta, 1993). Another example for JND may be the package

changing of companies. Most companies do not tend to make major changes in their products

package but do minor ones, to not to change consumers perception of such product. (Solomon et

al, 2006)

There are four stages of perceptual process:

1. Primitive categorization2. Cue check3. Confirmation check4. Confirmation completion

Each person interpret what she has seen according to on her own way. Two people may be

exposed to the same product, may hear the same thing, but may interpret that completely

different. Consumers assign meanings to products according to their set of beliefs, which is

called schema. This concept is called priming. Symbolic consumption refers to the tendency for

consumers to focus on meanings beyond the tangible, physical characteristics of material objects

( Levy, 1959 ). Stimulus ambiguity occurs when stimulus is not taken by the consumer clearly.

Many companies use that strategy to generate contrast, paradox and interest. Stimulus

organization refers that, we tend to correlate a stimulus to the older ones which are already

perceived and stored in memory.

Perception process is subjective, active and selective in recognition, bias and memory. As an

example to subjectivity, Benetton ad- which I find myself quite interesting- may be given. In

Benetton ad, there were one black and one white man handcuffed to each other. There have been

strong reactions and criticisms which blamed the company by racism. Even though, these two

men were identically dressed, people thought that black man is arrested by the white one.

Gestalt psychology is a theory of mind and brain positing that the operational principle of the

brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies. The Gestalt effect is the

form-generating capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of

figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines and curves. In consumer

behavior perspective, it roughly claims that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Gestalt

psychology may be divided into three principles:

Principle of closure implies that people tend to see the things in complete. J&B ad (the adslogan ingle ells, ingle ells ) may be counted as a successful example, in my

opinion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holism


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Principle of similarity tells us that consumers tend to group like products. Principle of figure-ground implies that one certain figure will dominate other parts of

stimulus. Thus, marketers try to put their products in a focal point of customers

attention.

Halo Effect

describes situations where the evaluation of a single object or person on a

multitude of dimensions is based on the evaluation of just one or a few dimensions. And,

another term chunking refers to consumers recoding what they have already encoded to include

larger amounts of information. (Loudon and DellaBitta, 1993).

As an important marketing field, semiotics examines the correspondence between signs and

symbols and their role in the assignment of meaning. In semiotics, it is claimed that, there are

three basic components: object, sign, and interpretant. Another important term in semiotics is

hyperreality which means to actualize things which are initially hype. Disneyland may be

considered as a good example to this concept. Every single thing in Disneyland are all fake butso realistic which creates and illusion for consumers and push them to buy this reality. The "fake

nature" of Disneyland satisfies consumers imagination and daydream fantasies in real life.

As a chemical engineering student, I was not really exposed to these terms before. This is my

first time taking a course related to marketing. Thus, this whole Perception topic was quite

interesting to me. I was aware of the strategies going on more or less as a consumer, however

seeing all these as theory was new for me. Especially Benetton ad, I have read on Solomons

Consumer Behaviour European Perspective source was extraordinary. To me, todays most

important subject was the gestalt psychology. The example about semiotics that given in the

class, about headscarf being symbolic, is the controversial topic that we discuss almost all thetime in Turkey. Hence, it was quite interesting for me. I believe todays subject was useful for

me to broaden my knowledge and point of view, in my future career plans. Although my major is

engineering, I consider building my career in a field that involves customers. Moreover, I started

to become more aware of everything as a consumer myself for example in a supermarket.


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2. LEARNING AND MEMORY

A. Part 1In the lecture, we first covered the previous weeks subject, perception and drew the second map.

To summarize, stimuli (by seeing, feeling, tasting, hearing and smelling) are taken by sensoryorgans; and chosen, interpreted and organized by individual. There are sensory thresholds below

that one cannot even realize these stimuli. If we consider old people as a target consumer group,

there are some aspects needed to be taken into account. Generally speaking, for this target group,

price does not play a crucial role. However, quality would be an important feature. Product

should have colorful package, writings with big font. Tradition may be sought to connect

consumer to the product. Product should be displayed in supermarket or any other regular place

that one always go, thus he does not need to change his habits.

In the second part, learning and memory is covered. Memory basically takes in the input,

processed and retrieves later when needed. There are three types of memory systems in humansaccording to their duties and storage times: Ultra short memory (SIS), short-term memory (STM)

and long-term memory (LTM).

Learning is the change of an individuals behavior or behavior potential over time. There are

several regarding to learning: Stimulus-reaction theory, cognitive theory and other theories.

In the class, we watched a video about human brain and memory. There were people who were

able to memorize extraordinary things. There has been a research conducted about those peoples

brains. One of those people in the video was able to repeat the number which consists of

hundreds of digits just after he was old Other man was able to say which day it was according to

given date. The researcher asks him which day it was on 16 th November 1989, for example, and

he answers back as Thursday.

B. Part 2In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and

experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields ofphilosophy, including

techniques ofartificially enhancing memory. The late nineteenth and early twentieth century put

memory within the paradigms ofcognitive psychology. In recent decades, it has become one of

the principal pillars of a branch of science called cognitive neuroscience, an interdisciplinary link

between cognitive psychology and neuroscience.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory)

Memory is an active perceiving system which, intakes, processes and retrieves. Humans have

central nervous system to accomplish this mission. Brain is the center of this system. Human

brain develops itself until the age of 20s and this process stops even goes backwards after that
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_psychologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_neurosciencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_psychologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurosciencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurosciencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_psychologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_neurosciencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_psychologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology


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time. Nervous system consists of cells called neurons which are the key elements responsible

from transmitting and processing information by electrical and chemical signaling.

Memory involves a process, in which input is recognized and taken (encoding), this knowledge

is integrated and warehoused (storage) and it is recalled when needed after certain time

(retrieval).

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior which comes with experience. There are

two types of learning processes according to Stimulus-Response-Theory:

1. Classical conditioning: In that type, unconditioned two independent stimuli are taken bythe person and over a time these two are somehow associated in ones mind. This theory

is claimed by Ivan Pavlov, Russian psychologist. Pavlov discovered that when dogs were

fed meat powder they salivated. Pavlov then discovered that if a bell were rung before the

dogs were fed, the dogs would begin salivating in anticipation of being fed (this was

efficient, since they could then begin digesting the meat powder immediately). Pavlovthen found that after the meat had been "paired" with the meat powder enough times,

Pavlov could ring the bell without feeding the dogs and they would still salivate.

(http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_ Learning_and_Memory.html). Repeated

exposure of stimulus increases the strength of response. If stimulus are not exposed either

together with the associated one or long enough, conditioning fades away. Lacoste polo

shirts with a distinctive crocodile logo may be given as an example: When the once-

exclusive crocodile started to appear on baby clothes and many other items, it lost its

cachet and was soon replaced by other contenders, such as the Lauren polo player.

(Solomon et al, 2006)

2. Operant conditioning: Operant or instrumental conditioning occurs as the individuallearns to perform behaviors that produce positive outcomes and to avoid those that yield

negative outcomes. (Solomon et al, 2006) Operant conditioning is a result of deliberately

and complex responses, whereas classical conditioning is of involuntary and simple ones.

Response is performed because it is instrumental to gaining a reward or avoiding the

punishment. Operant conditioning occurs in one of three ways:

o Positive reinforcement; individual is rewarded. Thus, he or she is likely to carryout his/her behavior. For example, if someone is getting complements about how

good her perfume smells, she is likely to use that perfume at least for a while.

o Negative reinforcement strengthens the responses so that appropriate behavior islearned. A razor company for men, for example, may run an ad showing a man in

a bar without any girlfriend and unhappy whereas other friends of him using

such companys product- are with their girlfriends and happy.

o Punishment occurs when a response is followed by unpleasant events, i.e, positiveoutcome is no longer received. In my opinion, the commercial of Belgian condom

company Zazoo may be given as an example. In this commercial, a father and his
http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_%20Learning_and_Memory.htmlhttp://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_%20Learning_and_Memory.htmlhttp://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_%20Learning_and_Memory.htmlhttp://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_%20Learning_and_Memory.html


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son are at the supermarket. Son is trying to make him father to buy candy,

however the father does not allow. Then, kid starts to scream and messes up

everything in the supermarket. In the end, we see this ad slogan Use Condoms,

Zazoo. Even though this commercial became controversial and even banned in

the US, I find it very striking.

Cognitive Theories

Cognition or cognitive process refers to an information processing view of an individual's

psychological functions. Not all learning is the result of repeated trials. Learning also takes

place as the result of consumer thinking and problem solving. Cognitive learning is based on

mental activity. Cognitive learning theory holds that the kind of learning most characteristic of

human beings is problem solving, and it gives some control over their environment. (Loudon

and DellaBitta, 1993). Cognitive process is divided into three steps:

a. Information receptionb.

Perception including evaluation

c. Learning and memoryAccording to information-processing perspective, there are three separate memory systems:

Sensory memory (SIS) stores the information for an ultra short time like up to 1 second,noticing color of ad from some distance, for example is processed in this memory system.

It has a high capacity. By SIS stimuli, word, melody or image are intaken.

Short-term memory (STM) takes the data from SIS and stores and processes for someseconds. While memorizing the phone number of the real estate agent which hanged on

the empty apartment to be rented, we use our short time memory system. By STM,

encoding takes place. Stimulus is interpreted subjectively. Long-term memory (LTM) is permanent and requires rehearsal of input information. It

has inconceivably high capacity. Memorizing our own telephone number or ID number,

for example, we retrieve the information from our LTM. By LTM, conceptual features

are saved in memory and then retrieved.

The verbal learning theories in general aim to intake, process, and store and retrieve explanation

of words and texts that is of symbolic knowledge. Internal mental process is an important

phenomenon in learning theories. Activation models propose that an incoming piece of

information is stored in an associative network containing many bits of related information

organized according to some set of relationships. The consumer has organized systems of

concepts relating to brands, stores, and so on. (Solomon et al, 2006)

Visual learning is more preferred by marketers than any other media. Memory tends to store

visual input than verbal one. Stimuli is received by images and stored as associative images in

the memory. This association applies to nonverbal stimuli like musical, flavor, tactile, and so on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_processinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionalism_(philosophy_of_mind)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionalism_(philosophy_of_mind)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_processing


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In marketing, either images instead of text or image and text combination are used. Let us

consider Pizza Hut ad given in the class. A happy, modern and western-looked Asian family is

having lunch in Pizza Hut. By this image, it is aimed that consumer would associate Pizza Hut

with a modern, happy family.

Observational learning: We do not always go through the learning process by ourselves but

observe the consequences of others. This type of learning is called observational learning. In this

process, people store these observations in memory as they accumulate knowledge, perhaps

using this information at a later point to guide their own behaviors. In this learning process, the

person who is being followed is called model. For example, a woman shopping for a new kind

of perfume may remember the reactions a friend received when wearing a certain brand several

months earlier, and she will base her behavior on her friends actions. In order for observational

learning in the form of modeling to occur, four conditions must be met.

Attention

Retention Production process Motivation Observational learning


Measuring memory

Marketers want to know if they achieved successful marketing campaigns, i.e, if the consumer

delivered and store message in a way that marketers want. Thus, for marketing research

purposes, consumers asked some questions. There are several ways to do that:

Free recall: Consumers are asked to produce independently previously acquiredinformation and then perform a recognition test on it.

Aided recall: Participants are supplied some clues on the subject matter. Recognition: Subjects are shown ads one at a time and asked if they have seen them

before.

However, it is believed that there are some inaccuracies in measuring memory. For example,

people tend to answer as Yes and normalize the things in their ways.

Other concept worth to mention is nostalgia. Marketers try to invoke the memory of consumers

in some way. It is tried to achieve by using aesthetics or nostalgia and so on. Nostalgia for

example, references to the good old days are increasingly common, as advertisers call up

memories of distant youth feelings they hope will translate to what theyre selling today. A

stimulus is at times able to evoke a weakened response much later, an effect known as

spontaneous recovery, and this re-established connection may explain consumers powerful

nostalgic reactions to songs or pictures they have not been exposed to for many years. (Solomon

et el, 2006) The comeback of Beetle car of Volkswagen was a successful example of nostalgia.


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3. INFLUENCE OF A GROUP

A. Part 1Today, in the class, first we have revised the topic Purchase Decision which was covered in the

past two weeks. Purchase decision may be analyzed in following ways:

a. Extended problem-solving: This process consists of five main steps. This applies mostlyrelatively expensive products, like TV. First we face with a problem in our product. Let

us say, our TV does not work properly, then we search for a new one. At that step, we

need to decide whether a new TV is a must or not. In the end, buying process is

completed and finally product is controlled and evaluated.

b. Limited problem-solvingc. Aim searchingd. Habitual purchase: A smoker buying always the same brand of cigarette may be given as

a typical example.e. Impulse purchase: Consumer decides to buy spontaneously. For example, purchasedecision of someone who was walking by a Hot Dog place, and buys one just because it

smelled delicious.

In purchasing process, there is always a risk or the belief that the product has potentially negative

consequences. This risk may be social, physical, financial or time-based.

In the second part, group influence is covered. There is a pyramid narrowing down from culture

to the individual via subculture and group and/or family, respectively. According to our

definition, group is more than 2 people who are similar, have a similar past life (education for

example), and share with each other. Group is based on exchange and interactivity, it is lasting

and members are considered as one.

Willingly or reluctantly, we are all part of some groups. There are two types of groups: Primary

and secondary. Primary groups consist of a low number of people and refer to personal share.

Circle of friends, family, sport team fan group, partisans, the ones who have the same taste of

music, colleagues and student council may be examples of primary groups. Secondary group,

however, consists of higher number of people and compared to primary ones they are less long

lasting and less personal.

Reference groups are the groups that influence our behavior. These may influence us in terms ofinformational, utilitarian or value-expressive ways. Reference groups can be categorized as

primary and secondary according to their sizes. Furthermore, they do not necessarily affect our

behavior in a positive way, but they may in a negative way. Reference groups have referent

power, information power, legitimate power, expert power, reward power and finally coercive

power. Power meant here is the capacity to alter the actions of others.


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Norms were the other concept discussed in the class. Certain norms should be adapted by group

members. They may be must-norms (e.g. registration fee for students), should-norms (e.g.

students free choice of taking exam or doing homework) or can-norms.

Conformity is a behavior that obeys the accepted rules of society or a group, and is the same as

that of most other people. Along with the adaption of conformity, there may be resistance to it aswell.

Word-of-mouth (WOM) communication is an important phenomenon which affects ones

decision. By WOM, needed information is taken from a friend or a family member rather than

newspapers. Finally, opinion leadership is discussed in the class. Opinion leaders are the people

whose idea we value and regard the most about a product.

B. Part 2As humans, we are social creatures and belong to some groups. For instance, I find myself as a

member of following groups: Student/ exchange students, Turks (I feel this belonging sense only

when I am abroad, especially in Germany due to huge Turkish population) and Bora Uzer (a

Turkish funk singer) fans.

Reference groups are groups that serve as a frame of reference for individuals in their purchase

decisions. This basic concept provides a valuable perspective for understanding the impact of

other people on an individual's consumption beliefs, attitudes, and behavior. (Loudon and

DellaBitta, 1993) Reference groups are basically one person or a group of people who affect our

preferences, point of views and ideas. We tend to take these people as a reference while

performing an action. There are three kinds of reference groups according to their influences:informational reference groups are the people on whom we rely since they have further

information on a specific subject then us. I would observe a tech person working in Saturn, for

example, when I want to buy a new cell phone, since he knows the features of Iphone 4 or HTC

cell phones more than me. Utilitarian influence of reference group may be exampled by the

effect of our family or our colleagues on our purchase decision, especially in brand choice. In

other words, it is the effect that we would like to please others expectations rather than ours.

Value-expressive influence shows itself when image matters. The individual would like to be

admired, or to have the characteristics that a particular brand has, or to show people what she or

he would like to be. A persons way of clothing or the type of music he listens would likel y

differ when he is a part of a football fan group or Greenpeace.

Reference groups have the strongest influence of individuals choices when a purchase of public

luxury product is concerned (e.g. snow skis). They have lesser influence on a purchase of public

necessities (e.g. cell phones) or private luxuries (e.g. Nespresso coffee machine) and private

necessities (e.g. couch), respectively.


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Conformity refers to a change in beliefs or actions as a reaction to real or imagined group

pressure. In order for a society to function, its members develop norms, or informal rules that

govern behavior. (Solomon et al, 2006) These norms and rules should be adapted by the each

member of the group. We conform to others either we think that the way of people act is the

correct way (informational social influence) or to get acceptance to a particular group (normative

social influence). There are several reasons of conformity:

a. Cultural pressuresb. Fear of deviancec. Commitmentd. Group unanimity, size and expertisee. Susceptibility to interpersonal influence

An example of conformity can be a character from famous American TV series Gossip Girl.

This series built upon upper class teenagers living in New York City, in Upper East Side which

is the one of the most prosperous parts of the city. Jenny Humphrey, however, is a teenager whois upper-middle class and lives not in Upper East Side but in Brooklyn (less prosperous district).

All characters attend to the same high school. Over time, Jenny adapts herself to the Manhattan

lifestyle by changing her clothes (achieving so even by stealing), her favorite restaurant or by

hiding where she lives in order not to be excluded from the group. Even though characters are

fiction in the series, in my opinion they resemble the actual situation how the youth behave as far

as conformity concerned.

On the other hand, conformity does not always work one way. There may be resistance to

conformity as well. This may stem from the idea of independence, anti-conformity, reactance or

requirement of uniqueness. Anti-conformity and independence should be distinguished. Whereasanti-conformity refers to being anti whatever trend is, independence is a way of seeking own

way. Reactance will be faced with when there is a limitation in someones freedom. Uniqueness

is the search of unusually good or simply special. This shall not be understood as something

severe, it is simply the wish of not to wear the same cloth with some other guest in the same

party. I personally seek either uniqueness or independence. I would like to buy a smart phone,

for instance. Even though, I like the features of Iphone 4 and believe it is worth to pay that much

money, I do not buy it since too many people use Iphone 4 in Istanbul. I am aware that I cannot

be unique in this kind of mass produced goods, but I can at least not buy what everyone else has.

We are likely to speak of what we have just bought, how good or how bad quality it has, or how

it is complimented by others, or of the complaints about the new Chinese restaurant just opened

in the neighborhood with our friends, family, colleagues or neighbors in our everydays life. By

doing so, we are engaging in word-of-mouth (WOM) communication. WOM is an important

concept in marketing; since we rely on the experiences of the people we know and tend to follow

their advices. Word-of-mouth marketing, which encompasses a variety of subcategories,


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including buzz, blog, viral, grassroots, cause influencers and social media marketing, as well as

ambassador programs, work with consumer-generated media and more, can be highly valued by

product marketers. Because of the personal nature of the communications between individuals, it

is believed that product information communicated in this way has an added layer of credibility.

Research points to individuals being more inclined to believe WOMM than more formal forms

of promotion methods; the receiver of word-of-mouth referrals tends to believe that the

communicator is speaking honestly and is unlikely to have an ulterior motive (i.e. they are not

receiving an incentive for their referrals). Word-of-mouth depends on the extent of customer

satisfaction with the product or service, and on the degree of its perceived value.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_mouth).

Along with successful WOM, there might be also negative WOM or rumors for a product or a

company itself. Negative WOM may be quite costly for companies: According to one study, 90

per cent of unhappy customers will not do business with this company again. Each of these

people is likely to share their grievance with at least nine other people, and 13 per cent of thesedisgruntled customers will go on to tell more than 30 people of their negative experience.

(Solomon et al, 2006). I personally became a part of negative WOM against HP computers. I had

had a HP laptop three years ago with which I had numerous problems which even resulted into

being without a laptop for two weeks when I needed most. Moreover, my roommates had also

problems with their HP laptops. Then, I started telling people around me not to buy a HP laptop.

I believe that affected the decision of at least couple of people.

Similar to WOM, before we buy some product, we ask our friends who are knowledgeable about

that certain product and whose advice we rely on. These people are opinion leaders of ours.

Opinion leaders are persons who are knowledgeable about a product and whose opinions arehighly regarded tend to influence the choices of others. I have several opinion leaders: For

electronics I always ask my friend ada, who is really into electronics and knows every detail

about them. For clothing my sister is my opinion leader. She knows both about fashion and my

style, thus she is perfect at combining them. Everything about media, my good friend Ece is the

correct person. She has recently recommended me and some other friends an English TV series

called Misfits. I think, she is an impressive opinion leader since all of us started to watch this

series and became addicted.

To sum up, people around us play an important role in our decisions. These decisions may be

regarding purchasing a product or our relationship or our academic life. By the examples given

in the class and I have read, I have become more familiar to these concepts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_mouthhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_mouth


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4. CULTURE AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

A. Part 1Today, together with the presentations which are from the previous weeks work, we covered the

subject influence of culture on the purchase decision. 4 groups presented their studies from lastweek which was concerning the affect of nationality, region, religion and philosophy, social

status, age and gender on free time activities, clothing, music and eating habits. For free time

activities, it is concluded that region or where a person has grown or his status, i.e, whether this

person is a student or not, is an important feature. On the other hand, other factors do not

necessarily play a huge role. For clothing, age is a factor need to be considered along with

religion and gender, of course. Group 3 which worked on music topic concluded that, music

taste does not depend on age but on generation. When Beatles or Bee Gees are the popular, they

were meant to the generation not for a specific age group. Gender plays a role in music choice

more likely on peoples youth. Eating habits most likely are influenced from region where a

person lives. South Germany vs. North Germany example was given. Whereas fish is the maindish for Northern Germans- since the area lies by the North Sea and Baltic Sea- meat is the one

for Southern citizens. Once eating habits are adopted in early ages, it is likely to stay still. Even a

person moves out to another city, most probably she would not change her food preferences.

Religion is an important factor for nourishment. What one is allowed to eat or not is a question in

religions like Islam, Judaism or Hinduism and so on.

In the second part of the class, interaction between culture and consumption was covered.

Following items are given as an example: Ready-to-serve foods are interrelated with the

industrially advanced countries where both partners work and have not enough time to deal with

cooking. Cosmetic products, cheap fliers, and cell phones are the other examples that can beinterrelated with the culture and consumption.

Cultural influences are discussed in the class as well. Culture plays an important role in various

fields: Self-perception or sense of self was one of the subtopics. This phenomenon may be

divided into two different points of view. One may be the part of a collective culture or of an

individualistic one. This concept can be understood by he answers of such questions like: What

am I? How am I? Who I am allowed to be? Language is a part of ones culture and another

important factor affects ones preferences. The study conducted on French and German students

is presented. In this study, students are asked what they think about when they hear the words

fresh and quiet. The results were interesting for me. The rank of different object s differeddramatically. Clothing and appearance are affected by culture as well. Certain clothing may be

preferred because of its protection function or because of aesthetic concerns. Apparel may be one

tool of self expression or the symbol of personality, or attitude or sense of belonging to a certain

group. Our eating and nourishment habits, time awareness, relationships with family and

friends, and values and norms are also affected by the culture. Myths which are stories

containing symbolic elements that express the shared emotions are also impacted by the culture.


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There are four functions and structures of myths: metaphysical, cosmological, sociological and

psychological. Ritual is a set of multiple, symbolic behaviors, which occur in a fixed sequence

and tend to be repeated periodically, which are related with many consumption activities.

Religious holidays, praying or going to church, or morning ritual of someone are given as

examples. A rite of passage is a special kind of ritual, which involves a transition from one role

to another.

B. Part 2As an example to influence of gender to music preference, Backstreet Boys example can be

given. Backstreet Boys was the band that had taken attention of teenage girls in late 1990s and

early 2000s. They were quite popular among my girlfriends. We adored them and were talking

about the band all the time. However, boyfriends of mine were really indifferent. Moreover, as

far as I talked to international people, I have realized that the situation was about the same in

their countries.

I think, religion is an important factor in nourishment. As a person coming from a country in

which dominant religion is Islam, whenever I am abroad, Do you eat pork? is the question I

always face with. Not only in Islam there are limitations on eating preferences but also in

Christianity (fest and carnivals) or in Hinduism (beef is forbidden).

I must say, whether we realize or not, our mother language constitutes a big part of ourselves and

resembles our cultural roots explicitly. I have realized this ever since I started to do my exchange

semester in Germany. In Turkish, there is a phrase kolay gelsin that we say to wish luck

warmly when we see a person working hard or studying or to a cab driver who just drove home

us safe or to a cashier just doing her regular job at the supermarket. Its word-to-word translationis May it be easy. Yet, this is never used in English language. I conclude this as Turkish

friendliness and sincerity. I do not speak German language very well; however, I believe I can

express many things in English language. Nonetheless, sometimes I really cannot express the

things in a way I would like to since this concept does not exist in a persons culture whom I am

talking to.

I would like to add an anecdote to clothing as a symbol or as a belonging to a certain group. In

Turkey, headscarf issue is highly controversial for years now. According to constitution,

headscarf is forbidden in official buildings, like courts, military hospitals, and so on. (Though,

ban in the universities is abolished for the students after September 2010) Thus, governmentofficials are not allowed to wear it within their workplace. People who defend the ban claim that

headscarf is not a political symbol when it is wound in a traditional way as it has been done for

ages in Anatolia. Yet, when turban is the question ( a kind of headscarf which is a wound around

head tightly), they claim, it is definitely a political symbol. They believe that it is not purely

related to religion but other Islamic organizations.


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According to Solomons book, culture is the accumulation of shared meanings, rituals, norms

and traditions among the members of an organization or society. It is also related to community,

individuals, social organizations as well as its economic and political systems. (Solomon et al,

2006) Consumption preferences cannot be thought without consumers culture. Culture is

something learned, regulates society in channels of norms, standards of behavior, rewards and

punishment, adaptive, is affected by the environment and multiple of it are nested hierarchically.

(Loudon and DellaBitta, 1993). Even though, culture is not taken as an on individuals economic

behavior, it has been understood that it plays an important role on ones decisions. In post -

modern theory, it is claimed that culture has an effect on societys economy, education,

institutions, government, family, production, consumption and so on.

The example given by Solomon about Dutch company Bang & Olufsen is quite interesting to

me: World-known economics magazine Forbes recommend the shareholders of Bang & Olufsen

stereo company to sell their shares. This was mainly because of presumption that their new

product would fail. However, in the end, the product was successful in the market and value of

their shares increased by 40-fold.

Culture is dynamic, evolving by time all the time. Norms, values, view points are changing-

sometimes maybe not dramatically- with time. Ecology, social structure, and ideology constitute

the culture as whole. As mentioned in the class, there are two types of cultures: Collectivist

where people subordinate their personal goals to those of a stable in-group and individualist

where consumers in individualist cultures attach more importance to personal goals, and people

are more likely to change memberships when the demands of the group (e.g. workplace, church,

etc.) become too costly. While Far Eastern countries like Japan or India are positioned as a part

of collectivist culture, western countries like USA or Canada are of individualist one. (Solomon

et al, 2006)

Cultures, thus societies differ from each other dramatically. I find following example regarding

to this worth to note. In Italy, while scooter represents new, modern, open-minded Italian

women, in England it does masculine, blue-collar workers.

While talking about to culture, following terms which are types are norms are worth to mention.

Custom is a norm handed down from the past that controls basic behaviors, such as division of

labor in a household or the practice of particular ceremonies. Mores are customs with a strong

moral overtone. Mores often involve a taboo, or forbidden behavior, such as incest or

cannibalism. Violation of mores often meets with strong censure from other members of asociety. Conventions are norms regarding the conduct of everyday life. These rules deal with the

subtleties of consumer behavior, including the correct way to furnish ones house, wear ones

clothes, host a dinner party, and so on. (Solomon et al, 2006).

Eating preferences or habits are also influenced by the culture as discussed in the class. It is

mostly okay to share food on the table in Turkey; though I was surprised when I first came to


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Germany when seeing people eat only their own food. Time awareness is a concept that I was

able to observe the difference among cultures as well, since I am leaving with three Spanish and

two French people in the dormitory. I was comparing meal times, punctuality and what we eat.

The Spanish have their dinner at around 9 to 10 pm, whereas the French around 7 and 8 pm and I

around 7.30 to 8.30 pm. I could not find a dramatic difference among the time we spend by

eating. The dishes depend mostly on how much time we spared. Roughly speaking, the Spanish

tend to eat meat or bacon, while the French do meat and rice and butter in each meal, and I do

vegetable-meat balanced foods. About punctuality, I find myself similar to the French. As an

average Turk about punctuality, I myself am not punctual all the time, but do not run that late.

The Spanish, however, tend to run late roughly more than half an hour. The other difference I

have realized in Turkey and in Spain is the time we go out at night. In Turkey, people normally

go to clubs at 12 am and leave around 3 to 4 am. Yet, Spanish people go to clubs around 2 to 3

am and stay there until 6 am. About same topic, I have found Mc Donalds example in France

quite interesting.

Another topic, which had taken my attention, was rituals. The dictionary definition of ritual as

stated in Longman dictionary is:

1. ceremony that is always performed in the same way, in order to mark an important religious or

social occasion

2. something that you do regularly and in the same way each time

Each culture or each person has its own rituals. While Americans look forward to Super Bowl

during whole year, English to FA Cup Final and Austrians to the traditional ski jump competition

on the first day of the new year.A rite of passage is a special kind of ritual which involves thetransition from one role to another. These passages typically entail the need to acquire products

and services, called ritual artifacts, to facilitate the transition. Baptism in Christianity, mass or

meditation may be given examples of religious rituals, whereas graduation, marriage and

circumcise of rite of passage, festivals and holidays of cultural rituals. Circumcision in Islam is

considered to be a step for a boy to manhood. In Turkey, after or before kid is circumcised, it is

celebrated mostly (if family can afford) with a fest like wedding. This celebration ritual depends

on the region. In my hometown which is in the southern coast of Turkey called Adana, one

specific person becomes responsible of that kid (called kirve) and supposed to protect and

support him throughout his life like a Godfather in Christianity. This person, kirve, is supposed

to give the biggest present to the kid, most probably a watch, play station or laptop. Golden coins(typical present for weddings or newborn children), toys or clothes are given as a present by

other guests.


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5. SUBCULTUREA. Part 1

Subculture is a particular group of people within a society and their behavior, beliefs, and

activities - often used to show disapproval. Religion may be given as an example. Even holidaydays differ according to religion. Whereas Sundays are holiday days for Christians, Fridays for

Muslims, and Saturdays for Jews. The subculture may be distinctive because of the age,

religion, ethnic identity, religious identity, social class, sexual identity and orientation.

Age factor influences people in two ways: we are influenced by the people with whom we were

born in the same era. Secondly as we get older, our needs and preferences change. Age cohorts,

consists of people of similar ages who have undergone similar experiences. According to

German State, people who are up to 19 are called as youngsters, 20-49 are as mid agers, 50-69

are as best agers, older than 70 years old as seniors. Numerous things in our lives change

according to the age. As an example given in the class, whereas watching a football game in ablack and white TV was a breakthrough in technology for a certain generation, now technology

has proceeded to the era of computers, internet, smart phones and so on. Nostalgia is a concept

that people confront with most likely after their mid 30s.

Teens are young people aged between 13 and 19. The age group referred as Generation X is the

generation born after the Western post-World War II baby boom ended. While there is no

universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born in the 1960s and

70s, ending in the late 1970s to early 80s, usually not later than 1982. The term had also been

used in different times and places for various different subcultures or countercultures since the

1950s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X). Baby boomers refer to people who wereborn in 1950s. This generation is important in many fundamental and economic changes, since

their population increased significantly compared to 1960s.

Apart from age, region is an important factor in ones culture. Fashion or nourishment differ

among the regions even in the same country. Ethnical identity is another factor which is

sometimes used as a tool in advertisements. Compared to Europe this is more important

phenomenon in the US considering their multicultural demographics consisting of whites, Far

Easterns, or African Americans. Religious identity plays roles in eating, or clothing or even in

accessories (having cross or fish figure as an accessory which are both meaningful in

Christianity). Sexual identity and sexual orientation should be distinguished. While sexualidentity refers whether one is feminine or masculine, sexual orientation does the choice of

gender. Social class isthe overall rank of people in society. People who are grouped within the

same social class are approximately equal in terms of their social standing, occupations and

lifestyles. There are seven types of social classes: Upper upper, lower upper, upper middle,

middle, working or lower middle, upper under and lower under class.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-World_War_II_baby_boomhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcultureshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Xhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Xhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcultureshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-World_War_II_baby_boom


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Lifestyle plays an important role in ones decisions and attitudes. Lolita or Otaku are the

examples from Far East.

B. Part 2

Subculture is the culture of a group within the larger society. In subgroups, group identification

is based on nationality of origin, race, region, age, religion, gender, etc. Subculture may be

divided into further categories like religion, race, region, gender, occupation, social class, region

and age. (Loudon and DellaBitta, 1993).

Age subculture is an important phenomenon regarding consumer identity. All people are

influenced by the era we live. By time, our choices and needs change. For a teenager for

example, cell phone might be a crucial necessity; for a person who is in his mid 20s however, car

could be that. An age cohort consists of people of similar ages who have undergone similar

experiences. They share many common memories about cultural heroes (e.g. Clint Eastwood vs.Brad Pitt, or Frank Sinatra vs. Kurt Cobain), important historical events (e.g. the 1968 student

demonstrations in Paris vs. the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989), and so on. Although there is no

universally accepted way to divide people into age cohorts, each of us seems to have a pretty

good idea of what we mean when we refer to my generation. (Solomon et al, 2006). For

instance, Barbra Streisand was very popular in the generation of my mother; Beyonce is now for

our generation. According to definition on Longman dictionary, nostalgia is a feeling that a time

in the past was good, or the activity of remembering a good time in the past and wishing that

things had not changed. The nostalgia scale consists of:

They dont make em like they used to. Things used to be better in the good old days. Products are getting shoddier and shoddier. Technological change will ensure a brighter future (reverse coded). History involves a steady improvement in human welfare (reverse coded). We are experiencing a decline in the quality of life. Steady growth in GNP has brought increased human happiness (reverse coded). Modern business constantly builds a better tomorrow (reverse coded).


It is quite interesting that even I am only 21 years old; I miss the old bayrams. Bayrams are themain fests in Islam like Christmas in Christianity. In Turkey, we are supposed to celebrate

Bayrams with our family, dress well, and visit the elder members of our big family. Even though,

I am not Muslim, I find this tradition amazing since we get to see the people that we have not

seen for a while. For the last couple of years, however, I was not with my family. Thus, nostalgia

became dominant feeling.


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As an example of nostalgia implementation to marketing studies, campaign of American Express

may be given. In this campaign, Eric Clapton and Lou Reed were the celebrity endorsements. In

Japan, Ringo Starr (the Beatles drummer) is used to help promote demand for apples. The target

market is middle-aged consumers, and it doesnt hurt that, phonetically, Ringo means apple in

Japanese. To assess just how pervasive nostalgia is, pay attention to television commercials, and

notice how often they are produced against a background of classic songs. Memories magazine,

which was founded to exploit the nostalgia boom, even offers advertisers a discount if they run

old ads next to their current ones. (Solomon et al, 2006)

Teens are important target groups for marketers. There are four major conflicts that teenagers go

through:

1. Autonomy vs. belonging2. Rebellion vs. conformity3. Idealism vs. pragmatism4.

Narcissism vs. intimacy

Teenagers often undergo peer pressure, identity and family issues and insecurity problems.

Tweens are another age group between 8 and 14 who are under scope of marketers. They behave

like as cool teenagers in the public, as kids when they are alone. There are some campaigns

which intended only to this group. In Europe, girl tweens have a potential of $4.5 billion in

clothing industry per year which cannot be undermined. (Solomon et al, 2006)

A Generation X or baby buster consists of smart and cynical consumers who can easily see

through obvious marketing attempts. This age cohort consists of people ages from 18 to 29.

There are over 30 million busters all over Europe. Their main consumption goods include beer,

cosmetics and fast food. This age cohort is hard to generalize: They can be baseball capped cool-hippie guys or high income-regular job holders.

Baby boomer is a term that portrays the people born during the middle part of the 20th century.

They grew up in a very dynamic and fast-changing world, and this has affected their values for

individualism and freedom. The 50 and older segment can be divided into two groups-the young

again and the gray market. Neither group likes to be thought of as old. The affect of gender

differences on consumer behavior is examined next. Sex roles are changing. Women are

becoming more professional and independent, and men are becoming more sensitive and caring.

Also, men and women can differ in terms of traits, information processing, decision styles, and

consumption patterns. As the population ages, the needs of elderly consumers will also become

increasingly influential. Many marketers traditionally ignored the elderly because of the

stereotype that they are inactive and spend too little. This stereotype is no longer accurate. Most

of the elderly are healthy, vigorous and interested in new products and experiences and they

have the income to purchase them. Marketing appeals to this age subculture should focus on

consumers self-concepts and perceived ages, which tend to be more youthful than their


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chronological ages. (Loudon Della Bitta, 1993) Marketers should emphasize the concrete

benefits of products, since this group tends to be sceptical of vague, image-related promotions.

Personalized service is of particular importance to this segment. In my opinion, people belonged

to grey population have a great power of buying. Consider a couple in their mid-60s whose

children are working and economically independent. When they want to go to vacation, they do

not need to control what they are spending. Likewise, when they do shopping, maybe they would

not buy a lot of pieces, but would buy good-quality clothes since they are comfort and quality

seekers.

When needs of consumers is the question, Maslows hierarchy of needs can be explored within

this context. Maslow was an American psychologist according to whom each individuals needs

must be satisfied at the lower levels before they progress to the higher, more complex levels.

When low-level needs are satisfied, individuals are no longer motivated by them. At the base

level, there are physiological needs like water, food, health, warmth, sex and exercise and so on.

They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, the physiologicalones would come first in the person's search for satisfaction. When all physiological needs are

satisfied and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviors, the needs for security can become

active. Thus on the second level, there are safety needs like physical safety, economic security,

freedom, comfort and peace. Adults have little awareness of their security needs except in times

of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as widespread rioting).

Children often display the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe. As these first two classes

are satisfied, the next step is social needs, e.g. acceptance, group membership, association with

successful group, love and affection. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of

loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of

belonging. On the further level, there are needs for esteem. These involve needs for both self-

esteem and for the esteem a person gets from others. Humans have a need for a stable, firmly

based, high level of self-respect, prestige, status accomplishment and respect from others. When

these needs are satisfied, the person feels self-confident and valuable as a person in the world.

When these needs are frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless and worthless. While a

person is motivated to fulfill these basal desires, they continue to move toward growth, and

eventually self-actualization. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person's need to be and do

that which the person was "born to do." "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and

a poet must write." These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness. The person feels

on edge, tense, lacking something, in short, restless. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or

accepted, or lacking self-esteem, it is very easy to know what the person is restless about. It is

not always clear what a person wants when there is a need for self-actualization.

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm

In my opinion, Maslows hierarchy was the most interesting part of this topic. As I

acknowledged that employers follow this pyramid to satisfy their employees, it sounded more
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htmhttp://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm


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important. Understanding this theory, I believe, will be useful in my future career whatever job I

do.


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6. REFERENCES1. Levy, Susan G., Consumer Behavior in the Housing Market, 1st edition, 19792. Loudon, David and Della Bitta Albert J., Consumer Behavior, 4th edition, McGraw Hill,

1993.

3. Solomon, M., Bamossy, G., Askegaard, S., Hogg, M. K., Consumer Behavior: AEuropean Perspective, 3

rdedition, Prentice Hall, 2006.

Online References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory

http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_ Learning_and_Memory.html).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_mouth).

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperreality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoryhttp://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_%20Learning_and_Memory.htmlhttp://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_%20Learning_and_Memory.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_mouthhttp://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperrealityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperrealityhttp://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_mouthhttp://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_%20Learning_and_Memory.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory

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