CHAPTER

FIVE

Personality and
Consumer Behavior
A Simple Model of Consumer Decision Making

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter One Slide 2

 Overview

1. Personality reflects consumers’ inner differences.

2. Freudian, Neo-Freudian, and Trait Theories are used to
explain the influence of personality on consumers’
attitudes and behavior.
3. Marketers seek to create Brand Personality-Like traits
to match the consumer’s personality traits.
4. Products and services that consumers use enhance
their Self-Images.
5. Online, consumers can play Virtual Personalities.

Chapter Five Slide 3

Personality
Definition and
Nature

Chapter Five Slide 4

 Personality and
The Nature of Personality
Personality is the inner psychological characteristics
that determine and reflect how a person responds to
his or her environment.
• The Nature of Personality:
– Personality reflects individual differences (marketers can look for certain similar
personality traits in different consumers and work on them as a segment)
– Personality is consistent and enduring (This helps marketers predict consumer
behavior in terms of personality)
– Personality can change (your personality now is somewhat different from when
you were 7 years old)

Chapter Five Slide 5

Theories of
Personality

Chapter Five Slide 6

 Theories of Personality

• Freudian theory
– Unconscious instinctual and sexual needs or drives
are primarily at the heart of human motivation and
personality in nature.
• Neo-Freudian personality theory
– Social relationships are fundamental to the
formation and development of personality
• Trait theory
– Quantitative approach to personality as a set of
psychological traits
Chapter Five Slide 7
 Freudian Theory

According to
Freud, human
personality
consists of
these three
systems, the
id, super ego
and the ego.

Chapter Five Slide 8

 Freudian Theory

• Id
– The warehouse of primitive or instinctual (physiological) needs
or drives such as hunger, thirst, and sex which are driven by
pleasure principle and immediate gratification (individual
seeks immediate satisfaction).
• Superego
– Individual’s internal expression of society’s moral and ethical
codes of conduct. it drives the individual to fulfill their needs in
a socially acceptable function.
• Ego
– Individual’s conscious control that balances the demands of
the id and superego (reality principle)

Chapter Five Slide 9

 Freudian Theory

the Id is the devil and the SUPEREGO is the "angel." The EGO is
basically the "brain" in between, trying to sort out what each is advocating
and more objectively and logically arrive at a decision.

Chapter Five Slide 10

 How Does This Marketing Message Apply the
Notion of the Id?

It Captures Some of the

Mystery and The Excitement
Associated With the “Forces”
of Primitive Drives.

Chapter Five Slide 11

 Neo-Freudian Personality Theory
• Social relationships are fundamental to formation and
development of personality.
Karen Horney’s three personality groups
people can be classified as to how they interact with others as:
– Compliant: move toward others. A compliant individual desires to be loved,
wanted and appreciated.
– Aggressive: move against others. aggressive individual desires to excel and
win admirations.
– Detached: move away from others. detached person desires independence,
self reliance and freedom from obligation.

Study: highly compliant students prefer name-brand products like Bayer.

Aggressive students prefer masculine appeal brands like Old Spice.. Whereas
detached proved to be heavy tea drinkers as a sign of difference.
Chapter Five Slide 12
 Trait Theory

• A trait is any distinguishing, relatively enduring way

in which one individual differs from another.

• Tests can be done to measure single traits in

consumers such as how receptive they are to new
experiences (innovativeness), their attachment to
possessions (materialism), and their likelihood to
accept or reject foreign-made products
(ethnocentrism).
Chapter Five Slide 13
 A study: Soup and Soup Lover’s Traits

• Chicken Noodle Soup Lovers • Vegetable/Minestrone Soup Lovers

– Watch a lot of TV – Enjoy the outdoors
– Are family oriented – Usually game for trying new things
– Have a great sense of humor – Spend more money than any other
– Are outgoing and loyal group dining in fancy restaurants
– Like daytime talk shows – Likely to be physically fit
– Most likely to go to church – Gardening is often a favorite hobby
• Chili-beef Soup Lovers
• Tomato Soup Lovers
– Generally preferred by males
– Passionate about reading
– are the most social of all soup lovers
– Love pets
– love telling jokes
– Like meeting people for coffee
– watch sporting events

Research result: Personality traits are linked to broad product

categories and NOT specific brands
Chapter Five Slide 14
 Trait Theory

Personality traits
and consumer
behavior

Marketers are very interested in the link

between personality traits and consumer
behavior.

Chapter Five Slide 15

 Trait Theory

1- Consumer innovativeness and related

Personality traits

Chapter Five Slide 16

Consumer innovativeness and related
personality Traits

Chapter Five Slide 17

 Consumer Innovativeness
• Consumer innovativeness is the tendency to try new products
• Companies consider consumer innovativeness very important when
introducing new products or brand extensions.
• For hi-tech products, innovativeness can be at two types:
– Global (General) innovativeness (overall consumer innovative
level of willingness to buy new and different products or brands
at any category).
– Domain-specific innovativeness (when consumer deals with
particular product category such as computers, cameras,
fashion, or watches).
• A person’s innovativeness level depends on what is called:
Optimum Stimulation Level (OSL)

Chapter Five Slide 18

 Consumer adoption categories
based on adoption time
Mass Market/
Followers

‫عدد‬
‫المشترين‬
Number % 34 % 34
of End of Life
customers
% 2.5
% 13.5 % 16

‫المتبنو‬ ‫األكثر‬
‫المبدعو‬ ‫األكثر‬ ‫المتلكأ‬ ‫الزمن‬
‫ن‬ ‫ية‬
‫ن‬ ‫ية‬ ‫ون‬ Time
Innovators ‫األوائل‬ ‫المبك‬ Laggards
Early ‫المتأخ‬
Adopters/ ‫رة‬ ‫رة‬
Pioneers Early
Late
Majority
introduction growth Majority
maturity decline
 Optimum Stimulation Level

• A personality trait that measures to which extent the

consumer tends to like or dislike new (novel) and
unusual experiences and products
• High OSL consumers tend to accept risky and new
products more readily than low OSL consumers.
• High OSL consumers are important to marketers of
new products.
• Two concepts are closely related to OSL:
- Sensation seeking
- Variety seeking
Chapter Five Slide 20
 Sensation Seeking

• The need for varied, novel, and

complex sensations and experience.
And the willingness to take social and
physical risks for the sensations.
• Much research has been tied to the
study of teenage males who often
engage in this behavior.

Chapter Five Slide 21

 Variety Seeking

• Measures a consumer’s degree of variety seeking

• Types of variety seekers include:

– Exploratory Purchase Behavior (consumers often switch
brands to experience new products).
– Use Innovativeness (consumers display variety by use
innovative products).
– Vicarious Exploration (which often does not involve actual
purchase about the product, but as a result of watching,
listening to, or reading about it of other people).
Chapter Five Slide 22
 Dogmatism

• A personality trait that reflects the degree of

rigidity a person displays toward the unfamiliar
things and information that is contrary to his or
her own established beliefs.
Dogmatism describes to which extent a person is rigid or
open to new and unfamiliar ideas and products. A person
who is highly dogmatic will rarely consider the unfamiliar
and tend to be very close minded. Marketers have realized
this type of customer appreciates advertising appeals with
celebrities and other experts.

Chapter Five Slide 23

 Social Character
• Ranges on a continuum for inner-directedness to other-
directedness
• Inner-directedness
– rely on own values when evaluating products
– Innovators
• Other-directedness
– look to others’ guidance
– less likely to be innovators
Social character is of great interest to marketers because it differentiates the
type of advertising that influences these customers. Inner-directed people
prefer ads that stress product features. Other-directed individuals gravitate
to ads that show approving social environment rather than product
information – they want to look to others to understand how to act or be
accepted, and the ads give an example of this.

Chapter Five Slide 24

 Need for Uniqueness

• Consumers who avoid conforming to

expectations or standards of others, either
in appearance or possessions.

• You may be able to identify friends with

greater need for uniqueness. You can see
it in their clothes and hairstyles.

Chapter Five Slide 25

 Trait Theory

2- Consumer’s cognitive
Personality factors

Chapter Five Slide 26

 Consumer’s cognitive Personality Factors

• Need for cognition (NFC)

– A person’s craving for enjoyment of thinking
– Individual with high NFC are more likely to
respond to ads rich in product information
The level of a consumer’s need for cognition
affects how they are likely to respond to certain
types of advertisements. Those who are high
in need for cognition tend to respond to ads that
supply product information as opposed to those
who are low in need for cognition who tend to be
attracted to the background of the ad, attractive
models, and cartoon characters.

Chapter Five Slide 27

Consumer’s cognitive Personality Factors

• Visualizers (consumers who prefer

visual information).
• Verbalizers (consumers who prefer
verbal or written information).
• This difference in cognitive personality
factors would affect how they respond
to a print ad.
Chapter Five Slide 28
 Why Is This Ad Particularly Appealing to
Visualizers?

The Ad
Stresses
Strong
Visual
Dimensions

Chapter Five Slide 29

 Why Is This Ad Particularly
Appealing to Verbalizers?

It Features a
Detailed
Description
(information)

Chapter Five Slide 30

 Trait Theory

3- Materialistic, fixated, and

compulsive consumers

Chapter Five Slide 31

Materialistic people traits

Chapter Five Slide 32

 Fixated and Compulsive Consumers

• Fixated consumption behavior

– Consumers fixated on certain products or categories of
products (examples: Collectors and hobbyists)
– Characteristics
• Passionate interest in a product category
• Willingness to secure the product category of interest
• Dedication of time and money to find the product
• Compulsive consumption behavior
– “Addicted” or “out-of-control” consumers with their
purchase (suffer form shopping addiction called Oniomania).

Chapter Five Slide 33

 Trait Theory

4- Consumer Ethnocentrism
and Cosmopolitanism

Chapter Five Slide 34

Consumer Ethnocentrism and Cosmopolitanism

• Ethnocentric consumers feel it is wrong to

purchase foreign-made products because of
the impact on the economy. They can be
targeted by stressing nationalistic themes (buy
their nation made products).
• Cosmopolitan consumers would consider the
world to be their marketplace and would be
attracted to products from other cultures and
countries.

Chapter Five Slide 35

 Brand
personality

Chapter Five Slide 36

 Brand Personification
• Personality-like traits associated with brands
• Examples
– Perdue chickens (freshness)
– Nike (athlete)
– BMW is performance driven
– Mr. Coffee is seen as dependable, friendly, efficient,
intelligent and smart.
• Brand personality which is strong and favorable will strengthen
a brand and lead to a more favorable attitude, brand
preference, higher purchase intention, and brand loyalty

Chapter Five Slide 37

Self and self
image

Chapter Five Slide 38

 Self and Self-Image
• Consumers have a variety of
enduring images of themselves.
• Individuals tend to buy products
and services and patronize
retailers whose images or
personalities relate to their own
self images (traditional,
sophisticated, sexy, elegant).
• Note that everyone has multiple
self images in different situations.

Example: think about yourself at a formal university function vs. a party

with good friends. Next, think of the clothing you would purchase for
these events. It would likely be very different as you are presenting a
different “self” at each event.

Chapter Five Slide 39

 Different Self-Images

Many consumers will purchase products to meet the

gap between their actual and ideal selves.
Chapter Five Slide 40
 Virtual Personality (virtual self)

• Online, you can be anyone…

– Gender swapping
– Age differences
– Different marital status
– Mild-mannered to aggressive
– Introvert to extrovert
• It is likely that the new virtual personality may
result in selected forms of purchase behavior. This
may in turn offer marketers targeting various
“online selves”
Chapter Five Slide 41