Consumer personality

consumer personality

1. Consumer Personality

2. While motivations are forces that stimulate and direct consumers toward performing purposeful goal oriented behavior, the personality of a consumer guides the behaviour chosen to achieve goals in different situations.

3. Definition of Personality Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to environment.

4. Personality characteristics help us describe and differentiate between individuals. Personality of an individual is made up of his/her inherited characteristics and the interaction with environment and moderated by situational conditions. It is a composite total result of a person’s psychological characteristics motives, beliefs, attitude, habits and overall outlook

5. Properties of personality in the context of marketing Personality is used to account for differences between individuals rather than the similarity. Many individuals tend to be similar in terms of single personality traits. This helps marketers to group people on the basis of a single or a few common traits. If each individual were to be different in every respect, then any kind of grouping of consumers based on similarity would be impossible.

6. Personality is generally believed to be consistent and enduring overtime and trends to carry to a variety of situations. Knowing this, marketers attempt to influence specific consumer responses by appealing to relevant personality traits. Though personality is consistent, yet consumption behavior of individual often varies due to specific motives, attitudes, group pressures and even new product introductions may influence an individual’s behavior.

7. Despite the fact that personality tends to be consistent and enduring, it may change due to major life events such as marriage, birth, death in the family, changes in economic circumstances and the process of ageing.

8. Four theories of personality Self- concept theory Psychoanalytic theory Social/cultural (Neo-Freudian ) theory Trait theory

9. Self-concept(self-image) theory Self-concept is viewed as most relevant and a popular approach for marketers as it focuses on how the self-image of individual consumers influences the purchase behaviour . Self-concept is defined as ‘the totality of the individual’s thoughts and feelings having reference to herself/himself as an object’. Every individual sees herself/himself as having certain attributes and qualities and values them.

10. According to a popular model proposed by M Joseph Sergy , there are four specific types of self-images. They are their Actual self(what they would like to be) Ideal self ( how they feel others see them) Social self( how they would like others to see them and Ideal social self

11. Research has identified one more kind of self image which is expected self. Expected self means how consumers expect to see themselves sometime in the future. From a marketers point of view, expected self is more valuable than other types of self-concepts as it offers them opportunity to design products and promotions appealing to consumers and providing genuine opportunity to change their self-image.

12. According to H R Markus and S Kitayama , it is useful to categorise self-concepts in two kinds (1) independent(separateness) and (2) interdependent (connectedness)

13. Independent self It is a self concept that predominantly reflects western cultural beliefs that individuals are basically separate. It is characterized by emphasizing personal goals, characteristics, achievements and desires. Such individuals are individualistic, autonomous, egocentric, self-reliant and self contained. They focus on what they have done, what they possess and their personal traits that make them different from others.

14. Interdependent self It is more common in Asian cultural belief. It is the connectedness of human beings. It is characterized by emphasizing family, culture, professional and social relationships. Such individuals tend to be obedient, social relationship focused, holistic, connected and relation oriented. They define themselves in term of social roles, family relationships and what is common with other members of their group.

15. Principles that govern self concept theory The desire to achieve self- consistency The desire to enhance one’s self-esteem For example – if an individual sees himself as being self controlled and practical, then he would wear conservative clothes and quite likely to stay at home in the evenings. If deep down his ideal self were to be reckless and carefree, then he act in accordance to his ideal self, he would wear fashion clothes, go to parties, drive a sports car.

16. Actual self There is in fact no actual self because consumers have different role identities. A Consumer can be a husband, father, employee, a member of some club. In some specific situations, one of these roles will be dominant and influence individual’s behaviour The actual self is the outcome of the combination of individual’s different roles.

17. Consumers actual self influences their purchase in accordance with images they have of themselves and there by attain self-consistency. Research studies confirm the consumer’s purchases are influenced by their self-concept. An owner’s self-image is reflected in her/his car Self-concept and brand image relationship is somewhat complicated as consumers change their self concept in different situation.

18. Ideal self The concept of ideal self is closely related to an individual’s self esteem Greater the difference between the two, lower the self-esteem. The desire for both self-consistency and self esteem could be conflicting.

19. Psychoanalytic Theory Freud’s psychoanalytic theory proposes that every individual’s personality is the result of childhood conflicts. These conflicts are derived from three fundamental components of personality: Id. Ego and Superego.

20. According to this theory the Id is the source of an individual’s strong basic drives and urges such as hunger, aggression and self-preservation. The Id operates on pleasure principle. To seek immediate pleasure and avoid pain. The Id is entirely unconscious and not fully capable of dealing with objective reality. A newborn baby’s behaviour is governed totally by Id

21. The ego The ego is the individual’s conscious control It comes into being because of the limitations of the id in dealing with the real world by developing individual’s capabilities of realistic thinking and ability to deal suitable with her/his environment. The ego operates on reality principle

22. It is capable of postponing the gratification until that time when it will be suitably and effectively directed at attaining the goals of the id in a socially acceptable manner. For example, rather then manifest the need for aggression in an anti social manner, a consumer can partially satisfy this need by purchasing a powerful motor cycle. The ego is the individual’s self-concept

23. The super ego The super ego constitutes the moral part of an individual personality. It represents the ideal rather than the real. It defines what is right and good and it influences the individual to strive for perfection. It operates in the unconscious and often represses certain behaviour that would otherwise occur based on the id, which could disrupt the social system

24. The ego manages the conflicting demands of the id and the super ego. There are several themes based on psychoanalytic theory which are sometimes used by marketers in attempting to influence consumers such as fantasy, wish fulfulment , aggression and escape from life’s pressures(perfume, hair dye, skincare products, dresses, motor cycles which come under this category)

25. Social/cultural (Neo-Freudian) Theory Freud’s understanding of personality focused mainly on observations of emotionally disturbed people. A number of Freud’s disciples, particularly Carl Jung and Alfred Adler, disagreed from this view of personality. They believed that social and cultural variables rather than biological drives are more important in the development of an individual’s personality,

26. Carl Jung believed that an individual’s culture created an accumulation of shared memories from the past such as caring and nurturing female, heroes and wise men. He called these shared memories as ‘archetypes’. Jung identified a number of personality types.

27. Sensing-thinking personality: they are rational, objective. They are logical and empirical in their approach. They have extensive problem solving orientation. Weigh economic considerations, are price sensitive and avoid risks. Sensing-feeling personality: they are moved by personal values rather than logic. They follow a subjective orientation in making decisions. They are inclined to consider others when making decisions. They are status conscious.

28. Intuiting- thinking personality: such individuals take a broad view of their own situation and the world. They rely heavily on imagination and consider a wide range of options, yet use logic in making decisions.They are not averse to take risks and their perspective is long term.

29. Intuiting-feeling personality: their view of personal situations or world is broad. They use imagination in making decisions. They are likely to consider other’s views and show least sensitivity towards prices. They seek novelty, take risks and time horizon is indefinite in making decisions.

30. Alfred Adler took a separate direction. He focused on social orientation in development of personality. He said that individual’s strive to obtain superiority in a social context. He viewed human beings as striving to attain various rational goals, which he referred as style of life.

31. Another neo-Freudian psychologists, Harry Sullivan, emphasized that human beings perpetually strive to establish significant and rewarding relationships which serves as the fundamental factor in shaping up an individual’s personality.

32. Joel B Cohen, Karen Horney identified ten major needs, which individuals acquire as a result of striving to find solution to their problems in developing personality and dealing with other in the society. Based on these ten needs they classified three major approaches individuals adopt for coping with anxiety: Complaint, aggressive and detached(CAD)

33. Complaint individuals are those that move toward people and stress the need for love, affection, approval and modesty. Such individuals exhibit empathy, humility and are unselfish Aggressive individuals are those who move against people and emphasize the need for power, admiration, strength and the ability to manipulate others.

34. 3) Detached individuals are those who move away from others and desire independence, freedom from obligations and self- reliance. They so not develop strong emotional bond with others.

35. Marketing implications Joel B Cohen measured CAD using 35 item inventory and dound some tentative relationships between CAD types/brand usage. ‘complaint’ individuals seemed to prefer known brands and use more mouthwash and toilet soaps, ‘aggressive’ types used more cologne and after shave lotion and preferred to use Van Heusen shirts and old spice deodorant ( because of its masculine appeal)

36. ‘detached’ types seemed to have least awareness of brands, drank more tea. Mark Salama . Terrel Williams and Armen Tashchian have reported that the ‘detached personality type seems to have low- involvment in purchasing than ‘compliant’ or ‘aggressive’ types

37. Trait Theory States that human personality is composed of a set of traits that describe general response pattern. These theories are of recent origin. Trait is any distinguishing and relatively enduring way in which one individual differs from another. Traits are general and stable characteristics of personality that influence behavior.

38. Assumptions of this concept Behavioral tendencies in individuals are relatively stable. A limited number of traits are common to most individuals. They differ only in the degree to which they have these tendencies. These traits and their relative degree when identified and measured, are useful in characterizing individual personalities.

39. Cattell’s list of personality traits Reserved Less intelligent Affected by feelings Submissive Serious Expedient Timid Tough-minded Outgoing More intelligent Emotionally stable Dominant Happy-go-lucky Conscientious Venturesome Sensitive

40. Trait theorists construct personality inventories(personality tests) and ask respondents to record their responses to many items. Respondents are asked to agree or disagree with certain statements as they please or express their likes or dislikes for certain situations or kinds of people. The responses are then statistically analyzed and reduced to a few personality dimensions.

41. R B Cattell isolated 171 traits. He then reduced these to 16 personality factors, which he called as source of primary traits. Personality test that measure only one trait( such as self-confidence or innovativeness) are called single trait personality tests. Such tests are developed for use in the study of consumer behavior.

42. Do personality traits affect Consumer Behavior? Harold H Kassar and Mary Jane reviewed more than 300 studies on personality and have concluded that the results are’equivocal ’. Few studies seem to show a definite relationship between consumer’s personality and behavior. Other studies indicate no relationship between consumer personality and behavior.

43. Majority of studies indicate that if at all there is any relationship between personality and behavior, it is too weak to have any practical value to marketers. Despite this, experts still argue that consumer personality is an important factor influencing their buying behavior.