Arnould

1
Perception
Chapter
8
2
Objectives

• Explain the relationship between perceptions and
  sensations experienced through the classic five
  sensory receptors
• Describe how sensory thresholds are used by
  marketers, including marketing applications of
  Webers law.
• Outline the process through which our sensory
  systems select, organize, and interpret stimuli,
  including preattentive processing, perceptual
  selection, organization and categorization,
  interpretation, and elaboration.
• Describe some basic tools consumers use in
  primitive categorization

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Perception

• Perception process of giving meaning to sensory
  stimuli
• Phenomenal absolutism
• All others perceive the situation as you do
• GET OVER IT!

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Perception is Subjective

• Study through
• Sensory thresholds
• Perceptual processes

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Influencing Perceptions

• Differential Threshold
• Just Noticeable Difference (JND)
• Webers Law
• As the intensity of a stimulus increases, the
  ability to detect a difference between levels
  decreases
• Implications for
• Pricing
• Product
• Promotion
• Place

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Discuss

• A retailer of computer goods is puzzled by
  consumers responses to her recent fall sale.
  There was only one purchase of the 3000 model
  (sale priced at 2750). The 1000 model (sale
  priced at 875), despite having only half the
  250 savings offered by the more expensive model,
  sold out. How can you explain these results?

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Information Processing is Selective
Exposure Preattentive Processing
Attention Selection Organization,
Interpretation, Elaboration
Memory
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Principles of Exposure (preattentive processing)

• Absolute (or lower) threshold
• Subliminal perception

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Sensation and Sensory Thresholds

• People detect stimuli through a variety of
  sensory receptors--the organs of perception.

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Consumer Chronicles 8.4Some Approximate
Detection Threshold Values

• Sense Detection
• Modality Threshold
• Light A candle flame seen at 30 miles or a
  dark clear night.
• Sound The tick of a watch under quiet
  conditions at 20 feet.
• Taste One teaspoon of sugar in two gallons of
  water.
• Smell One drop of perfume diffused into the
  entire volume of a three-room apartment.
• Touch The wing of a bee falling on your back
  from a distance of one centimeter.

Arnould et al. slide
CONSUMER CHRONICLES 8.4
Source Donald H. McBurney and Virginia B.
Collings, Introduction to Sensation/Perception
(Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice Hall, 1977), p. 7.
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Problems to Overcome to Gain Exposure

• Selective exposure
• Message placement and position
• Store and shelf placement
• Overexposure
• Habituation

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One Solution to Overcome Exposure Problems

• Man Sells Body Ad Tattoos on eBay, Industry Yawns
• In the so over category, Joe Tamargo has joined
  the legions of odd soles selling off their bodies
  on eBay as moving billboards. We're not even
  going to bother summing up recent stories on the
  trend. There everywhere and easy to find. Wait
  til you hear the one about the pregnant woman who
  is selling her tummy to advertisers on eBay.
• Friday, January 28, 2005  

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Measuring Exposure

• Examples
• SMRB data
• Neilsen Television Index
• Arbitron radio diaries
• Internet (How?)

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Attention (or selection)

• Depends on
• personal relevance (i.e., involvement)
• and
• the nature of the stimulus
• May be involuntary if surprising or a contrast to
  other elements
• Basic principles
• Intensity (how much?) and direction (thinking
  what?)
• Goal for marketers
• Get in evoked set

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Common Tactics Used to Get Attention

• Tactic Example
• Make a connection
• Color
• Location
• Position
• Surprise
• Distinctiveness
• Placement in less
• cluttered environments

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Comprehension

• Perceptual Organization
• How people see or hear patterns
• e.g., closure, figure ground, etc.)
• Categorization
• Grouping products into categories
• Based upon prior knowledge about categories
• Determines products that will be compared
• Managerial implications
• Positioning/repositioning
• Defining competitors
• Locating products

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Perceptual Inference in Comprehension

• Perceptual Inferences
• Interpretations that go beyond the information
  given.
• Inferences are influenced by
• Context, goals, prior knowledge, personal
  experiences
• Marketing Implications
• brand extensions
• priming

What flavor is this ice cream cone?
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Comprehension -- 2

• Interpretation and Elaboration
• Schemas
• Set of beliefs and feelings about a stimuli
• Scripts
• Knowledge of sequence of actions associated with
  a stimuli
• Our expectations influence our interpretations
• Color affects how food tastes MMs)

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Comprehension -- 3

• Interpretation and Elaboration
• Elaboration
• High leads to problem-solving, counterarguing,
  etc.
• Low leads to simple recognition
• The extent of elaboration depends on the viewers
  involvement with the product
• Boomerang effect -- attitude change is opposite
  that advocated in the persuasive message

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Perceptual Judgments and Marketing Strategies

• Perceived Quality
• the consumers evaluative judgment about an
  entitys overall excellence or superiority in
  providing desired benefits.
• SERVQUAL
• Predictive Value
• the degree to which consumers associate a given
  cue with product quality, the confidence value of
  a cue, and the degree to which consumers have
  confidence in their ability to use and judge the
  cue accurately
• extrinsic cues - price, brand name, packaging,
  store name, etc.
• intrinsic cues - taste, texture, aroma, etc.

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Product-Country Image Effects

• Product-Country image effects reflect consumers
  use of country of origin or country of
  manufacture as a cue to infer beliefs about
  product attributes.
• Product-Country image (PCI) is a schematic mental
  representation of a countrys people, products,
  culture, and national symbols.
• Consumer voting captures the normative dimension
  of product-country images. By deciding to
  purchase or avoid a countrys products, consumers
  vote for or against the policies of its
  government.

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