This document discusses various theories of consumer learning. It begins by defining consumer learning as how individuals acquire knowledge and experience about purchase and consumption that they apply to future behaviors. It then outlines the key elements of consumer learning: motivation, cues, response, and reinforcement. It also discusses different behavioral learning theories, including classical and instrumental conditioning. Classical conditioning involves pairing a stimulus with a response, while instrumental conditioning involves learning through rewards and punishments. The document also covers observational learning, cognitive learning theory involving problem solving, and involvement theory related to the relevance of purchases and central vs. peripheral routes to persuasion for high vs low involvement decisions.

1. Consumer Learning
Module 4

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3. Learning
 The process by which individuals acquire the
purchase and consumption knowledge and
experience that they apply to future related
behavior

4. The Elements Of Consumer Learning
 Motivation: Motivation is important to learning theory.
Motivation is based on needs and goals. Motivation
acts as a spur to learning
 Cues: If motives serve to stimulate learning, cues
are the stimuli that give direction to these
motives. An advertisement for an exotic trip that
includes bike riding may serve as a cue for bike
riders, who may suddenly “recognize” that they “need”
a vacation. The ad is the cue, or stimulus, that
suggests a specific way to satisfy a salient motive. In
the marketplace price, styling, packaging,
advertising, and store displays all serve as cues
to help consumers fulfill their needs in productspecific ways.

5.  Response: How individuals react to a drive or
cue- how they behave- constitute their
response. Learning can occur even when
responses are not overt.
 Reinforcement: Reinforcement increases the
likelihood that a specific response will occur
in the future as the result of particular cues or
stimuli.

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8. Behavioral Learning Theories
 Classical Conditioning
 Instrumental Conditioning

9. Classical
Conditioning
A behavioral learning
theory according to
which a stimulus is
paired with another
stimulus that elicits a
known response that
serves to produce the
same response when
used alone.

10. Models of Classical Conditioning

11. Analogous Model of Classical
Conditioning

12.  In a consumer behaviour context, an
unconditioned stimulus might consists of a wellknown brand symbol (such as the Neutrogena
name) that implies dermatologists’ endorsement
and pure (chemically free) products. This
previously acquired consumer perception of
Neutrogena is the unconditioned response.
Conditioned stimuli might consist of new products
bearing the well-known symbol (of Neutrogena),
and the conditioned response would be trying
these products because of the belief that they
embody the same attributes with which the
Neutrogena name is associated.

13.  Neo-Pavlovian Model: Under neo-Pavlovian
theory, the consumer can be viewed as an
information seeker who uses logical and
perceptual relations among events, along with
his or her own pre-conceptions, to form a
sophisticated representation of the world.
Conditioning is the learning that results from
exposure to relationships among events in the
environment; such exposure creates expectations
as to the structure of the environment.

14. Strategic Applications of Classical
Conditioning
Basic Concepts
 Repetition
 Increases the
 Stimulus
association between the
conditioned and
unconditioned stimulus
 Slows the pace of
forgetting
generalization
 Stimulus
discrimination
 Although some overlearning
aids retention, at some point an
individual can become satiated
with numerous exposures, and
both attention and retention will

15. Strategic Applications of Classical
Conditioning
Basic Concepts
 Repetition
 Having the same
 Stimulus
response to slightly
different stimuli
 Useful in product
extensions
generalization
 Stimulus
discrimination

19. Strategic Applications of Classical
Conditioning
Basic Concepts
 Repetition
 Selection of a specific
 Stimulus
stimulus from among
similar stimuli
 This discrimination is
the basis of positioning
which looks for unique
ways to fill needs
generalization
 Stimulus
discrimination

20.  Honda Amaze
USP- India’s most fuel efficient compact sedan
Waiting Period: 4-5 months
Price Range : (Rs Lakh)- 4.99-7.66

21. Honda Amaze

22.  Maruti DZire
USP: Largest sold compact sedan with Maruti
reliability
Waiting Period: 1-2 months
Price range: (Rs lakh): 4.92-7.50

23. Maruti DZire

24. 24

25. Harley Davidson motorcycles
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26. Hidesign leather bag
26

27. Instrumental
(Operant)
Conditioning
Instrumental learning theorists
believe that learning occurs
through a trial-and-error
process, with habits formed as
a result of rewards received
for certain responses or
behaviour. This model of
learning applies to many
situations in which consumers
learn about products, services,
and retail stores.

28. Types of Reinforcement
 Positive: Consists of events that stengthen the
likelihood of a specific response. Using a
shampoo that leaves your hair feeling silky and
clean is likely to result in a repeat purchase of the
shampoo.
 Negative: It is an unpleasant or negative outcome
that also serves to encourage a specific behavior.
Fear appeals in ad messages are examples of
negative reinforcement. Many life insurance
advertisements rely on negative reinforcement to
encourage the purchase of life insurance.

29.  Extinction: When a learned response is no longer
reinforced, it diminishes to the point of extinction. If a
consumer is no longer satisfied with the service a
retail store provides, the link between the stimulus
(the store) and the response (expected satisfaction) is
no longer reinforced, and there is little likelihood that
the consumer will return.
 Forgetting: Here the behaviour is unlearned because
of lack of use rather than lack of reinforcement.
Forgetting is often related to the passage of time; this
is known as the process of decay.
 Marketers can overcome forgetting through repetition,
and can combat extinction through the deliberate
enhancement of consumer satisfaction.

30. Fear appeal (Negative
reinforcement)
United India Assurance:
Today…. A picture of Safety
Tomorrow…. An invitation to Disaster
Your Protection Is Our Concern
Take Cover Under United India
Tonight
Sleep Better Than Your Neighbour
It Costs So Little To Insure Your
Household Belongings

31. Instrumental Conditioning and
Marketing
 Customer Satisfaction (Reinforcement)
 Relationship marketing
 Shaping ( Reinforcement performed before the
desired consumer behaviour actually takes place is
called shaping).
 Massed versus Distributed Learning (Should a
learning schedule be spread out over a period of time
(distributed learning) or should it be “bunched up” all
at once (massed learning)? When advertisers want an
immediate impact (e.g., to introduce a new product or
to counter a competitor’s blitz campaign), they
generally use a massed schedule to hasten consumer
learning. However, when the goal is long-term repeat
buying on a regular basis, a distribution schedule is
preferable. A distributed schedule, with ads repeated
on a regular basis, usually results in more long-term
learning and is relatively immune to extinction.

32. Observational
Learning
A process by which
individuals observe how
others behave in response to
certain stimuli and
reinforcements. Also
known as modeling or
vicarious learning. Their
role models are usually
people they admire because
of such traits as appearance,
accomplishment, skill, and
even social class.

33. The consumer
observes a
positive
response by
two teens.

34. Cognitive
Learning
Theory
Learning based on
mental activity is called
cognitive learning.
Holds that the kind of
learning most
characteristic of human
beings is problem
solving, which enables
individuals to gain
some control over their
environment.

35. Information Processing and
Memory Stores

36. Information Processing
 Information processing is related to both the
consumer’s cognitive ability and the complexity of
the information to be processed.
 Consumers process product information by
attributes, brands, comparisons between brands,
or a combination of these factors.
 Consumers with higher cognitive ability
apparently acquire more product information and
are more capable of integrating information on
several product attributes than consumers with
lesser ability.

37.  Movement from short-term to long-term storage
depends on
 Rehearsal : The purpose of rehearsal is to hold
information in short-term storage long enough for
encoding to take place.
 Encoding: It is the process by which we select a
word or visual image to represent a perceived
object. Marketers, for example, help consumers
encode brands by using brand symbols. Kellog’s
uses Tony the Tiger on its Frosted Flakes, Dell
Computer turns the e in its logo on its side for quick
name recognition.

40. Retention:
 Information is stored in longterm memory
 Episodically: by the order in
which it is acquired
 Semantically: according to
significant concepts

41.  Retrieval: Retrieval is the process by which we
recover information from long-term storage. For
example, when we are unable to remember
something with which we are very familiar, we are
experiencing a failure of the retrieval system.

42. Involvement theory
 Involvement theory developed from a stream of
research called hemispheral lateralization, or
split-brain theory. The basic premise of splitbrain theory is that the right and left
hemispheres of the brain “specialize” in the kinds
of information they process. The left hemisphere
is primarily responsible for cognitive activities
such as reading, speaking, etc. The right
hemisphere of the brain is concerned with
nonverbal, pictorial , and holistic information.
 The left side of the brain is rational, active, and
realistic; the right side is emotional, impulsive,
and intuitive.

43. Issues in Involvement Theory
 Consumer Relevance
 Central and Peripheral Routes to Persuasion
 Measure of Involvement

44. Consumer Relevance
 Involvement depends on degree of personal
relevance.
 High involvement purchases are:
 Very important to the consumer (e.g., in terms of
perceived risk)
 Provoke extensive problem solving (information
processing)
Highly involved consumers find fewer brands
acceptable (they are called narrow categorizers);
uninvolved consumers are likely to be receptive to a
greater number of advertising messages regarding
the purchase and will consider more brands (they

45. Central and Peripheral Routes
to Persuasion
 Central route to persuasion
 For high involvement purchases
 Requires cognitive processing
 Peripheral route to persuasion
 Low involvement purchases
 Consumer less motivated to think
 Learning through repetition, visual cues, and holistic
perception

46. The Elaboration Likelihood Model
 ELM suggests that a person’s level of
involvement during message processing is a
critical factor in determining which route to
persuasion is likely to be effective.
 Thus when involvement is high, consumers follow
the central route and when involvement is low
they follow the peripheral route.

47. Measures of Consumer Learning
 Recognition and Recall Measures
 Recognition tests are based in aided recall, whereas
recall tests use unaided recall. In recognition tests,
the consumer is shown an ad and asked whether he
or she remembers seeing it and can remember any of
its salient points. In recall tests, the consumer is
asked whether he or she has read a specific
magazine or watched a specific television show, and
if so, can recall any ads or commercials seen, the
product advertised, the brand, and any salient points
about the product.
 Cognitive Responses to Advertising
 Comprehension
 Pretesting and Posttesting

48.  Attitudinal and Behavioral Measures of Brand
Loyalty
 Brand loyalty is the ultimate desired outcome of
consumer learning.
 Attitudinal measures are concerned with
consumers’ overall feelings about the product and
the brand (i.e., evaluation), and their purchase
intentions.
 Behavioral measures are based on observable
responses to promotion stimuli-repeat purchase
behavior rather than attitude towards the product or
brand.

49.  Four types of loyalty
 No loyalty – no purchase at all and no cognitive
attachment to the brand
 Covetous loyalty- no purchase but strong
attachment and predisposition towards the brand
that was developed from the person’s social
environment
 Inertia loyalty- purchasing the brand because of
habit and convenience but without any emotional
attachment to the brand
 Premium loyalty- high attachment to the brand and
high repeat purchase

50. Harley-Davidson Has Strong Brand
Loyalty
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