#5999 - Consumer Behaviour Glossary - Consumer Behaviour

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR – GLOSSARY

• ABC model of attitudes – a multidimensional perspective stating that attitudes are jointly defined by affect, behaviour and cognition.

• Absolute threshold – the minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected on a sensory channel.

• Acculturation – the process of learning the beliefs and behaviours endorsed by another culture.

• Activation models of memory – approaches to memory stressing different levels of processing that occur and activate some aspects of memory rather than others depending on the nature of the processing task.

• Activity stores – a retailing concept that lets consumers participate in the production of the products or services being made in the store.

• Actual self – a person’s realistic appraisal of his or her qualities.

• Adaptation – the process that occurs when a sensation becomes so familiar that it is no longer the focus of attention.

• Affect – the way a consumer feels about an attitude object.

• Affluenza – a term used to describe what some critics see as the negative side effects for consumers mental and physical health of an excessive focus on consumption; and the underlying assumption of an inverse relationship between happiness and concern with material goods.

• Antibrand communities – groups of consumers who share a common disdain for a celebrity, store or brand.

• Appeal – the basis of the persuasive message in an advertisement which can be linked to a range of emotions and message types.

• Approach-approach conflict – a person must choose between two desirable alternatives.

• Approach-avoidance – a person desires a goal but wishes to avoid it at the same time.

• Atmospherics – the use of space and physical features in store design to evoke certain effects in buyers.

• Attention – the assignment of cognitive capacity to selected stimuli.

• Attitude – a lasting, general evaluation of people, objects or issues.

• Avoidance-avoidance conflict – when we desire a goal but wish to avoid it at the same time.

• Behaviour – a consumers actions with regard to an attitude object.

• Behavioural influence perspective – the view that consumer decisions are learned responses to environmental cues.

• Behavioural learning theories – the perspectives on learning that assume that the learning takes place as the result of responses to external events.

• Brand – the name associated by a manufacturer with their product in order to distinguish their product from similar products in the marketplace.

• Brand loyalty – a pattern of repeat product purchases accompanied by an underlying positive attitude towards the brand.

• Buzz – word of mouth that is viewed as authentic and generated by customers.

• Classical conditioning – the learning that occurs when a stimulus eliciting a response is paired with another stimulus which initially does not elicit a response on its own but will cause a similar response over time because of its association with the first stimulus.

• Cognition – the beliefs a consumer has about an attitude object.

• Cognitive development – the ability to comprehend concepts of increasing complexity as a person ages.

• Cognitive learning – the learning that occurs as a result of internal mental processes.

• Compulsive buying – a physiological and/or psychological dependency on products or services. The act of shopping can be an addictive experience for some consumers.

• Consideration set – the products a consumer actually deliberates choosing.

• Conspicuous consumption – the purchase and prominent display of luxury goods as evidence of the consumer’s ability to afford them.

• Consumer behaviour – the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use of dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs or desires.

• Consumer culture – the relationship between market forces, consumption processes and the key characteristics of what is normally understood to be a culture.

• Consumer hyper choice – a condition where the large number of available options forces us to make repeated choices that drain psychological energy and diminish our ability to make smart choices.

• Consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction – the overall attitude a person has about a product after it has been purchased.

• Consumer society – a society where the social life is organised less around our identities as producers or workers in the production system and more according to our roles as consumers in the consumption system.

• Desire – to wish or long for consumer goods which contribute to the formation of consumers self-image.

• Determinant attributes – the attributes actually used to differentiate among choices.

• Dissociative reference groups – reference groups with which a consumer does not want to be linked.

• Drive theory – focuses on the desire to satisfy a biological need in order to reduce physiological arousal.

• Early adopters – people receptive to new styles because they are involved in the product category and place a high value on being fashionable.

• Emic perspective – an approach to studying cultures that stresses the unique aspects of each culture.

• Encoding – the process in which information from short term memory is entered into the long term memory in recognisable form.

• Etic perspective – an approach to studying culture that stresses the commonalities across cultures.

• Evaluative criteria – the dimensions used by consumers to compare competing product alternatives.

• Evoked set – those products already in memory plus those prominent in the retail environment that are actively considered during a consumer’s choice process.

• Extended self – the definition of self created by the external objects with which one surrounds oneself.

• Extinction – the process whereby learned connections between a stimulus and response are eroded so that the response is no longer reinforced.

• Frequency Marketing – a marketing technique that reinforces regular purchasers by giving them prizes with values that increase along with the amount purchased.

• Gestalt psychology – a school of thought that maintains people derive meaning from the totality of a set of stimuli rather than from an individual stimulus.

• Guerrilla marketing – promotional strategies that use unconventional locations and intensive word of mouth campaigns.

• Hedonic consumption – the multisensory, fantasy and emotional aspects of consumers interactions with products.

• Heuristics – the mental rules of thumb that lead to a speedy decision.

• Hyperreality – a phenomenon associated with modern advertising in which what is initially stimulation

• Inertia – the process whereby purchase decisions are made out of habit because the consumer lacks the motivation to consider alternatives.

• Instrumental values – those goals that are endorsed because they are needed to achieve desired end states or terminal values.

• JND (Just noticeable difference) – the minimum change in a stimulus that can be detected by a perceiver.

• Knowledge structures – organised...