1. Personality, Lifestyles, and the Self-Concept
BABIN / HARRIS CB
PART 2
CHAPTER 6
Personality, Lifestyles, and the Self-Concept
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

2. Learning Outcomes
Define personality and know how various approaches to studying personality can be applied to consumer behavior.
Discuss major traits that have been examined in consumer research.
Understand why lifestyles and psychographics are important to the study of consumer behavior.
Comprehend the role of the self-concept in consumer behavior.
Understand the concept of self-congruency and how it applies to consumer behavior issues.
6-2
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

3. Personality
The totality of thoughts, emotions, intentions, and behaviors that a person exhibits consistently as he or she adapts to his or her environment.
Distinct qualities:
Unique to an individual.
Can be conceptualized as a combination of specific traits or characteristics.
Traits are relatively stable and interact with situations to influence behavior.
Specific behaviors can vary across time.
LO1
6-3
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

4. Psychoanalytic Approach to Personality
Sigmund Freud—human behavior is influenced by an inner struggle between various systems within the personality system.
Components:
id—focuses on pleasure-seeking and immediate gratification.
superego—works against the id by motivating behavior that matches societal norms and expectations.
ego—focuses on resolving conflicts between the id and the superego.
LO1
6-4
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

5. Motivational Research Era
Applied psychoanalytic tools to try and identify explanations for behavior.
Tools used:
Depth interviews
Focus groups
Proved disappointing in developing compelling, practical CB theories or guidelines for marketing actions.
LO1
6-5
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

6. Trait Approach to Personality
Trait—a distinguishable characteristic that describes one’s tendency to act in a relatively consistent manner.
Approaches to studying:
Nomothetic perspective—a “variable-centered” approach focusing on particular variables, or traits, that exist across consumers.
Idiographic perspective—focuses on the total person and the uniqueness of his or her psychological makeup.
Single-trait and multiple-trait approaches
LO1
6-6
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

7. Traits Examined in Consumer Research
Value consciousness—represents the tendency for consumers to focus on maximizing what is received from a transaction as compared to what is given.
Materialism—the extent to which material goods are important in a consumer’s life.
Possessiveness
Nongenerosity
Envy
LO2
6-7
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

8. Traits Examined in Consumer Research
Innovativeness—the degree to which a consumer tends to be open to new ideas and buys new products, services, or experiences early in their introduction.
Need for Cognition—the degree to which consumers enjoy engaging in effortful cognitive information processing.
Competitiveness—an enduring tendency to strive to be better than others.
Exhibit 6.1 gives examples of other traits.
LO2
6-8
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

9. The Five Factor Model (FFM) Approach
Proposes that five dominant traits are found in human personality:
Extroversion
Agreeableness
Openness to experience (“creativity”)
Stability (“neuroticism”)
Conscientiousness
LO2
6-9
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

10. Hierarchical Approaches
Begin with the assumption that personality traits exist at varying levels of abstraction.
Specific traits—tendencies to behave in very well-defined situations (e.g., bargaining proneness).
Broad traits—behaviors that are performed across many different situations (e.g., extroversion).
LO2
6-10
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

11. Personology Approach
Combines information on traits, goals, and consumer lifestories to gain a better understanding of personality.
LO2
6-11
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

12. Brand Personality
Refers to human characteristics that can be associated with a brand.
Dimensions:
Competence
Excitement
Ruggedness
Sincerity
Sophistication
LO2
6-12
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

13. Personality and Brand Relationships
Love and Passion
Self-connection
Commitment
Interdependence
Intimacy
Brand Partner Quality
LO2
6-13
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

14. Consumer Lifestyles
Refers to the ways consumers live and spend their time and money.
Very useful in identifying viable market segments.
LO3
6-14
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

15. Psychographics Refers to the way consumer lifestyles are measured.
Surveys use AIO statements:
Activities
Interests
Opinions
Lifestyle segmentation:
VALS—classifies consumers into eight segments based on resources available and primary motivations.
PRIZM—geodemographic technique based on the premise that people with similar backgrounds and means tend to live close to one another and emulate each other’s behaviors and lifestyles.
LO3
6-15
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

16. Self-Concept
Refers to the totality of thoughts and feelings that an individual has about him or her self.
A type of self-schemata.
Symbolic interactionism perspective—consumers agree on shared meaning of products and symbols.
Semiotics—the study of symbols and their meaning.
LO4
6-16
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

17. Self-Concept A consumer has a number of self “concepts.”
Actual self
Ideal self
Social self
Ideal social self
Possible self
Extended self
Self-esteem—refers to how positive is an individual’s self-concept.
LO4
6-17
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

18. Self-Congruency Theory
Proposes that much of consumer behavior can be explained by the congruence (match) between a consumer’s self-concept and the image of typical users of a focal product.
LO5
6-18
©2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.