1. Personality and Consumer Behaviour Cont.
M C Matika Dept of Psychology
University of Zimbabwe
Neo-Freudian Personality Theory

2. Neo-Freudian Personality Theory
Many of Freud’s colleagues disagreed with his idea that personality is largely instinctual and sexual in nature.
Instead, neo-Freudians believe that social relationships are fundamental to the formation and development of personality.
Alfred Adler viewed human beings are seeking to attain various rational goals he called “Style of Life” .
He emphasised on an individual’s efforts to overcome feelings of inferiority.

3. nfpt
Harry Stack Sullivan stressed individuals actually strived to develop significant and rewarding relationships with others.
Karen Horney focused on anxiety particularly parent-child relationships and the individual’s desire to conquer feelings of anxiety.
She proposed classifying individuals into 3 personality groups namely, Compliant, Aggressive and Detached.

4. nfpt
A personality test developed on Horney’s theory has been developed called the CAD and tested within the context of consumer psychology.

5. .
Compliant individuals: Are those that move towards others (want to be loved, wanted and appreciated.)

6. .
Aggressive Individuals: These move against the others and desire to excel and win admiration

7. .
Detached individuals: Move away from others (desire independence, self reliance, self sufficiency and individualism.)

8. Implications.
Highly compliant students where found to prefer products like aspirin, aggressive students showed a preference for macho deodorants like Old Spice and detached students proved to be heavy drinkers of tea!!!
Recent research has shown that students with high self reliance were more likely to try different brands than sticking to just one brand.

9. Trait Theory
Is a major departure from the qualitative measures that are typical of Freudian and neo-Freudian perspectives (which use personal observation, self reported experiences, dream analysis, projective techniques.

10. TT cont.
Trait theory is largely quantitative and empirical focussing on measurement of personality in terms of specific psychological characteristics called traits. A trait is “any distinguishing, relatively enduring way in which one individual differs from another.”

11. TT cont.
Trait theorists are interested in the construction of personality tests (or inventories) that enable them to pinpoint individual differences and preferences in terms of specific traits.

12. Trait Theory Cont. Personality tests exist to measure such traits as:
Consumer innovativeness - measures how receptive a person is to new consumer related experiences.
Consumer materialism- the degree to which the consumer is attached to worldly possessions. eg. Compare Phil Chiyangwa and Warren Buffet.

13. TTc.
Consumer ethnocentrism- the consumer’s likelihood to accept or reject foreign made products.
Trait researchers have found that it is generally more realistic to expect personality to be linked to how consumers make their choices. Individual personalities are more related to purchases than really to brands.

14. Personality tests and consumerism
Single trait Personality tests that measure one trait (eg self confidence) are often developed specifically for consumer psychology studies

15. Personality and Consumer Psychology
Marketers are keen on how personality influences consumption patterns. Such knowledge enables them to better understand consumers and segment and target those consumers who are likely to respond to their product or service adverts.

16. Consumer Dogmatism
A highly dogmatic person approaches unfamiliar products defensively with considerable discomfort and uncertainty.
On the other end of the spectrum, a person who is low dogmatic will readily consider the unfamiliar or opposing beliefs.
Consumers low in dogmatism are open-minded whilst those highly dogmatic are more likely to choose the established rather than innovative or new products. (Openness to new experiences??!)

17. Cognitive Personality Factors
Researcher have been interested in two key cognitive personality factors viz, NEED FOR COGNITION AND VISUALIZERS VS VERBALIZERS.
NFC is a personality characteristic that measures a person’s craving for or enjoyment of “thinking.”
Persons with High NFC are likely to be responsive to the part of an ad that is rich in product related information or description. (bp patient looking at the salt content of a packet of chips for example).

18. CPF cont.
Consumers low in NFC are more likely to be attracted to the background or peripheral aspects of an ad such as an attractive model or well known personality.
NFC also plays a role in internet usage. NFC has been positively related to using the internet to seek product information, current events and news, and learning and education, which all incorporate cognitive elements.
People high in NFC are better able to filter out distractions in order to concentrate on their online activities and are more motivated to learn online.

19. Visualizers vs Verbalizers
Some prefer written words as a way of securing information whereas others are more likely to respond to and prefer visual images or messages for information.
Visualisers prefer products that stress the visual and verbalizers who prefer written or verbal information and products result in marketers stressing visual dimensions or ads with detailed description or point by point explanations that attract verbalisers.

20. Consumer Materialism
Materialism relates to the extent that a person is considered materialistic. It is what distinguishes individuals who regard possessions as essential to their identities and their lives and those for whom possessions are secondary.

21. Materialism cont. Researchers have found that:
i) materialistic people value acquiring and showing off possessions
Ii) are self-centred and selfish
Iii) They desire to have lots of things rather than a simple uncluttered lifestyle
Iv) Their many possessions do not give them greater personal satisfaction. They are not happier!

22. Brand Personality
Consumers also subscribe to brand personality. They attribute various descriptive personality-like traits to different brands.
Brand personality provides an emotional identity for a brand and encourages consumers to respond with feelings and emotions toward the brand. Nike represents the athlete in us, BMW represents performance and youth. Econet/NetOne/Telecel????
A brand’s personality can be either functional or symbolic. Research suggests that any brand personality as long as it is strong and favourable will strengthen the brand…compare with Chinese products!!

23. Brand personality cont.
A strong brand personality leads to more favourable attitudes towards the brand, brand preference and higher purchase intentions and brand loyalty. It is a way consumers use to differentiate among competing brands.
Brand loyalty plays a big role in consumables, eg. Toothpaste, Coke Zero for instance has nothing related to it being a diet beverage as for cola cola it might turn young people away stigmatized by the word diet.
Marketing communication has the greatest influence in creating brand personality.

24. Cont.
Like products brands, service brands also have personalities. Eg. Air Zimbabwe, ??

25. BODY IMAGE Body image is part of the individual’s self representation.
The demand to be picture perfect start at an early age. Eg. young black girls and barbie dolls.
Women and weight . The ideal height and weight?

26. BI cont.
Teenagers are often susceptible to imagery on the perfect physical appearance.
They then embark on changing their appearance.
They embark on habits that lead to poor physical and mental health.
Failure to find joy with their physical appearance leads them to buying products and services in a bid to feel better.
This applies to adults as well.

27. Tutorial question
Is it possible for individuals with a strong sense of their being to shop for an identity?