Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Personality &
Psychographics
Consumer Behavior: A
Framework
John C. Mowen
Michael S. Minor
Key Concepts
Personality Product images
Psychographics and self-images
Psychoanalytic Symbolic
approach interactionism
Trait theory Consumer
Self-concept lifestyle
VALSII
LOV scale
Personality. . .
. . . is defined as “the distinctive patterns of
behavior, including thoughts, and emotions,
that characterize each individual’s adaptation
to the situations of his or her life.”
The goal is to identify personality variables
. . . the
attempt to
measure the
life-styles of
consumers.
Personality has four essential
characteristics:
Behavior must show consistency over time.
Behavior should distinguish the person from
others.
Personality characteristics are not rigidly
connected to specific types of behavior.
Personality variables often moderate the
effects of other variables on behavior.
Freud’s Psychoanalytic
Theory
Personality results
from the clash of 3
forces - the id, the
ego, and the superego
The id represents
physiological drives
The ego acts to curb
the appetites of the
id
The superego is the
conscience or “voice
within”
Key Issues in
Psychoanalytic Approach
Basis for motivational researchers of 1950s.
Places high emphasis on symbols
phallic, ovarian, and death symbols
Libido--sexual energy that can be released by
phallic and ovarian symbols.
Pleasure principle: basis for functioning of id.
Reality principle: basis for functioning of ego.
Death wish--elicited by death symbols.
Large impact on research methods
depth interviews
focus groups
Trait Theory
A trait is any characteristic in which one person differs
from another in a relatively permanent and consistent
way.
A person’s personality is described in terms of a
particular combination of traits.
To be useful trait measures must be shown to be valid
(I.e., they measure what they are said to measure)
and reliable (I.e., the measures show consistency over
time)
The 3M Model of Motivation and
Personality
Developed by John Mowen as a means of providing an
organizational structure for understanding personality.
Traits organized into four levels based upon their
abstraction
Elemental traits: most basic arising from genetics and
s resources
Extroversion Need for arousal
resources
Note: the 3M Model proposes that humans have 4
Basic resource needs: social resources
(agreeableness),
Information resources (openness to experience),
material
Example of 3M Model: Predicting
Bargaining Proneness
Research Question: what are the elemental, compound
and situational traits predictive of the surface trait of
bargaining proneness?
The motivational network diagram on next slide shows
the results for a study of over 200 adults which is
reported in the book, The 3M Model of Motivation and
Personality (Kluwer Academic Press, 2000).
As shown in the diagram, the motivational network
consists of all elemental traits (except extroversion), the
compound traits of competitiveness and need for
information, and the situational trait of value
consciousness.
Motivational Network of Bargaining
Proneness
Openness
Conscient
Value
Agree Conscious, .30 Bargaining,
- .34
Instabilit - Compete, .40
-
Material Note: numbers indicate the
Needs amount of variance accounted
for in need for information,
Arousal competitiveness, value
consciousness,
Body and bargaining proneness.
Additional consumer traits
coupon proneness—surface trait.
value consciousness—situational trait.
attention to social comparison information--extent that
people conform to social pressures—compound trait
tolerance for ambiguity. How comfortable someone is
with new situations and products—compound trait.
Need for cognition. Desire for information—possibly an
elemental trait.
Separateness-connectedness. extent that people see their
self-concept as separated from others or as connected to
others—compound trait
need for arousal—elemental trait.
materialism—elemental trait—the importance a person
places on material possessions.
Compulsive Buying as a
Trait
Defined as a chronic, repetitive
purchasing that becomes a primary
response to negative feelings.
In 3M Model is a surface trait, predicted
by:
Impulsiveness emotional instability
Material needs low conscientiousness
And introversion
The Self-Concept in
Consumer Research
Materialism is the
importance a
consumer
attaches to
worldly
possessions
Four (4) types of
possessions help to
make up our personal
sense of self:
Body and body Places and time
parts periods
Objects Persons and pets
Life-Style and
Psychographic Analysis
Life-style refers to how people live,
how they spend their money, and
how they allocate their time