Summary Consumer
behaviour
Content
Week 1....................................................................................................................................................1
Week 2....................................................................................................................................................6
Week 3..................................................................................................................................................10
Week 4..................................................................................................................................................15
Week 5..................................................................................................................................................19
Week 6..................................................................................................................................................23
Week 1
Experimental method: a way of isolate and identify the cause of something by isolating the
hypothesized causes and comparing the controlled results.
Mediator: helps explain how or why the IV effects the DV (for example: number of practice
problems completed. More completed helps with a higher exam score). A mediator is affected by
the IV
Moderator: alters the effect that an IV has on a DV (for example IQ: the higher IQ the fewer hours
of study you must put in for your exam score to be high). A moderator is not affected by the IV
(hours spend on study won’t increase IQ)
Control variables: aren’t relevant to your research question > you are not interested in studying
their effects, but you want to make sure they don’t interfere with results (for example health > if
you’re ill, you have a higher chance of a bad grade)
Consumer behaviour: reflects the totality of consumers’ decisions with respect to the acquisition,
consumption, and disposition of goods, services, activities, experiences, people, and ideas by
(human) decision-making units [over time]
Perception
The difference between sensation and perception: A sensation occurs when we are exposed to a
stimulus; a perception occurs when we are aware of that stimulus (there is understanding)
Perception: the awareness or understanding of sensory information. Awareness and
interpretation of reality. E.g. Can the eye fool the stomach? > a bigger plate with the same
amount of food, will make the amount of food look less then whats in the smaller plate. Elements
of consumer perception: exposure, attention and comprehension (we sense, organize and react)
3 ways for organizing information:
1. Assimilation: shares the same characteristics > Fits into the category (e.g. simple hot black
coffee > its taste, smell, looks are recognized as coffee)
2. Accommodation: share some but not all characteristics. Need an adjustment for fit (e.g. the
coffee is an iced coffee, but you’ve never had it iced before, it still tastes/smels like coffee but
its cold > it’s a different type so you must adjust)
1
, 3. Contrast: does NOT share any characteristics. Not fit to the category (can create new
knowledge). (e.g. you are drinking wine, which you’ve never had before. It doesn’t
taste/smell/look like coffee, so it is not coffee > new knowledge about a new category)
Traditional dissociation paradigm: suggest that consumers are influenced by stimuli even when
they are not aware of them
Subliminal detection: between objective and subjective threshold the stimuli is detected by the
senses (we are influenced) but we do not detect it. (below objective threshold we don’t detect)
Supraliminal detection: above subjective threshold (attentation and motivation) > stimuli enter
conscious awareness
Mere exposure effect: liking increases when we are repeatedly exposed to something. 15
repetitions are the most effective. Awareness doesn’t matter, the effect doesn’t change when
people are aware or unaware of the exposures . The more you are exposed to something, the more
you like it > if you repeat something enough, you might change the attitudes (Unreinforced exposure is
sufficient to enhance attitude toward the stimulus)
Borstein paper
There was a main effect of exposure frequency on liking ratings > mere exposure effect
People who were not aware of seeing the stimuli (5ms) had a higher rating than people who were
aware of seeing it (500ms). BUT the effect for the 500ms condition wasn’t significant because of a
boredom effect caused by the repetitive exposure and poor recognition ability for the polygon
stimuli > they changes the homogeneous exposure to a heterogeneous to minimize boredom and
replaced the unrecognisable polygons with Welsh figures.
In study 2 (with the improvements) they did find a significant mere exposure effect and the 5ms
(subliminal) stimuli produced a stronger MEE than the 500ms (supraliminal) stimuli
Conclusion: the MEE exists and unconscious perception results in a more powerful enhancement
of affect than conscious perception. This is because repeated exposure enhances the ease of
processing which is misattributed to positive affect (liking) because they are unaware of the
source, while the aware subjects may engage in a “correction process”
Attention
Attention: devoting cognitive resources to the stimuli. Attention is limited, selective (once we
fixate we ignore other areas) and can be divided (we can switch our attention quickly)
Bottom-up/stimulus driven: salient objects draw our attention without our decision (involuntary)
Top-down/goal oriented: voluntary attention
What visual properties draw our attention
1. Color, size, motion, pictures
2. Gestalt rules of visual processing (proximity, similarity, continuity, figure/ground contrasts)
3. The unexpected (Violations of visual expectations, previous knowledge, or conventions)
4. Biological visual responses (sex, faces, eyes)
5. Location (preference for symmetry, centrality & central fixation bias)
Gestalt: a set of rules describing visual perception.
1. Proximity (close together is seen as one)
2. Similarity (similar things are seen as one)
3. Continuity (incomplete of partially hidden objects tend to be view as whole > we account for
what’s missing)
Symmetry: individuals have a propensity to look longer at the axis of symmetry when exposed to
a symmetric picture.
2
, Center stage effect: consumers hold the lay belief that in retail contexts the products placed in
central positions are more popular, reflecting the overall quality of the product, which leads
consumers to systematically prefer items in the center.
Central fixation bias: when a scene appears, the natural initial response is to look at the centre of
it. This occurs for two reasons: 1) the centre is considered the optimal location for information, 2)
the orbital reserve: innate preference for eye movements that place the pupils in the central
position (looking straight ahead) rather than elsewhere > causes recentering bias
Gaze cascade effect: individuals display an “avalanche of fixations on the to-be-chosen object” in
the final seconds of the gaze duration
Atalay paper
Suggests that horizontal centrality (placement) increases choice likelihood, because we think the
best products are in the centre (inference) and we have a preference for looking at the centre
(increased visual attention)
Horizontal centrality effect: the tendency for consumers to choose the option located in the
center of a horizontal array
Initial central fixation bias: a tendency to look first at the center (higher fixation)
Gaze cascade effect: A progressively increasing bias in the likelihood of the observer's gaze being
directed toward the eventually chosen stimulus just prior to the choice
Central gaze cascade effect: (new) progressively increasing attention focused on the center, right
before making a decision (higher fixation on the center in the final seconds) > influences choice
the most
Fixation: the brief moments in which the eye is stable and information is extracted from the
scene (200 – 400 ms)
Saccades: movements of the eyes that last about 20-40 ms > redirection to new fixations
horizontal centre influences the number of fixations, the duration and the choice. They found
that only attention can explain this effect (not inference)
The effect is more pronounced in the initial 5 seconds and in the final 5 seconds > consistent with
the central fixation bias. They choose the product they devote the most attention to in the final
stage
Eye tracking
An eye tracker consists of cameras, illuminators and algorithms. Illuminators create a pattern on
the eyes, the cameras take images of the eyes and the patterns, the algorithms find details and
patterns in the eyes. Based on this information the eye position and gaze point are calculated.
Heat map: show how attention is distributed over the stimulus (reveal the focus of visual
attention). In contrast to the gaze plot, there is no information about the order of looking in a
static heat map.
Fixation: How many times a participant looked at the image (fixation duration: how long)
Scanpath: an ordered set of fixations points (depicted by circles) connected by saccades
(depicted by lines). It gives information about the order of inspection
Memory
Memory: a psychological process by which knowledge is stored and recorded (it’s the neural
network of associated nodes
Retrieval: the process of remembering or accessing what was previously stored in memory
Memory knowledge: consists of connection between the to-be-learned material and the concept
already known.
3 types of memory
3
behaviour
Content
Week 1....................................................................................................................................................1
Week 2....................................................................................................................................................6
Week 3..................................................................................................................................................10
Week 4..................................................................................................................................................15
Week 5..................................................................................................................................................19
Week 6..................................................................................................................................................23
Week 1
Experimental method: a way of isolate and identify the cause of something by isolating the
hypothesized causes and comparing the controlled results.
Mediator: helps explain how or why the IV effects the DV (for example: number of practice
problems completed. More completed helps with a higher exam score). A mediator is affected by
the IV
Moderator: alters the effect that an IV has on a DV (for example IQ: the higher IQ the fewer hours
of study you must put in for your exam score to be high). A moderator is not affected by the IV
(hours spend on study won’t increase IQ)
Control variables: aren’t relevant to your research question > you are not interested in studying
their effects, but you want to make sure they don’t interfere with results (for example health > if
you’re ill, you have a higher chance of a bad grade)
Consumer behaviour: reflects the totality of consumers’ decisions with respect to the acquisition,
consumption, and disposition of goods, services, activities, experiences, people, and ideas by
(human) decision-making units [over time]
Perception
The difference between sensation and perception: A sensation occurs when we are exposed to a
stimulus; a perception occurs when we are aware of that stimulus (there is understanding)
Perception: the awareness or understanding of sensory information. Awareness and
interpretation of reality. E.g. Can the eye fool the stomach? > a bigger plate with the same
amount of food, will make the amount of food look less then whats in the smaller plate. Elements
of consumer perception: exposure, attention and comprehension (we sense, organize and react)
3 ways for organizing information:
1. Assimilation: shares the same characteristics > Fits into the category (e.g. simple hot black
coffee > its taste, smell, looks are recognized as coffee)
2. Accommodation: share some but not all characteristics. Need an adjustment for fit (e.g. the
coffee is an iced coffee, but you’ve never had it iced before, it still tastes/smels like coffee but
its cold > it’s a different type so you must adjust)
1
, 3. Contrast: does NOT share any characteristics. Not fit to the category (can create new
knowledge). (e.g. you are drinking wine, which you’ve never had before. It doesn’t
taste/smell/look like coffee, so it is not coffee > new knowledge about a new category)
Traditional dissociation paradigm: suggest that consumers are influenced by stimuli even when
they are not aware of them
Subliminal detection: between objective and subjective threshold the stimuli is detected by the
senses (we are influenced) but we do not detect it. (below objective threshold we don’t detect)
Supraliminal detection: above subjective threshold (attentation and motivation) > stimuli enter
conscious awareness
Mere exposure effect: liking increases when we are repeatedly exposed to something. 15
repetitions are the most effective. Awareness doesn’t matter, the effect doesn’t change when
people are aware or unaware of the exposures . The more you are exposed to something, the more
you like it > if you repeat something enough, you might change the attitudes (Unreinforced exposure is
sufficient to enhance attitude toward the stimulus)
Borstein paper
There was a main effect of exposure frequency on liking ratings > mere exposure effect
People who were not aware of seeing the stimuli (5ms) had a higher rating than people who were
aware of seeing it (500ms). BUT the effect for the 500ms condition wasn’t significant because of a
boredom effect caused by the repetitive exposure and poor recognition ability for the polygon
stimuli > they changes the homogeneous exposure to a heterogeneous to minimize boredom and
replaced the unrecognisable polygons with Welsh figures.
In study 2 (with the improvements) they did find a significant mere exposure effect and the 5ms
(subliminal) stimuli produced a stronger MEE than the 500ms (supraliminal) stimuli
Conclusion: the MEE exists and unconscious perception results in a more powerful enhancement
of affect than conscious perception. This is because repeated exposure enhances the ease of
processing which is misattributed to positive affect (liking) because they are unaware of the
source, while the aware subjects may engage in a “correction process”
Attention
Attention: devoting cognitive resources to the stimuli. Attention is limited, selective (once we
fixate we ignore other areas) and can be divided (we can switch our attention quickly)
Bottom-up/stimulus driven: salient objects draw our attention without our decision (involuntary)
Top-down/goal oriented: voluntary attention
What visual properties draw our attention
1. Color, size, motion, pictures
2. Gestalt rules of visual processing (proximity, similarity, continuity, figure/ground contrasts)
3. The unexpected (Violations of visual expectations, previous knowledge, or conventions)
4. Biological visual responses (sex, faces, eyes)
5. Location (preference for symmetry, centrality & central fixation bias)
Gestalt: a set of rules describing visual perception.
1. Proximity (close together is seen as one)
2. Similarity (similar things are seen as one)
3. Continuity (incomplete of partially hidden objects tend to be view as whole > we account for
what’s missing)
Symmetry: individuals have a propensity to look longer at the axis of symmetry when exposed to
a symmetric picture.
2
, Center stage effect: consumers hold the lay belief that in retail contexts the products placed in
central positions are more popular, reflecting the overall quality of the product, which leads
consumers to systematically prefer items in the center.
Central fixation bias: when a scene appears, the natural initial response is to look at the centre of
it. This occurs for two reasons: 1) the centre is considered the optimal location for information, 2)
the orbital reserve: innate preference for eye movements that place the pupils in the central
position (looking straight ahead) rather than elsewhere > causes recentering bias
Gaze cascade effect: individuals display an “avalanche of fixations on the to-be-chosen object” in
the final seconds of the gaze duration
Atalay paper
Suggests that horizontal centrality (placement) increases choice likelihood, because we think the
best products are in the centre (inference) and we have a preference for looking at the centre
(increased visual attention)
Horizontal centrality effect: the tendency for consumers to choose the option located in the
center of a horizontal array
Initial central fixation bias: a tendency to look first at the center (higher fixation)
Gaze cascade effect: A progressively increasing bias in the likelihood of the observer's gaze being
directed toward the eventually chosen stimulus just prior to the choice
Central gaze cascade effect: (new) progressively increasing attention focused on the center, right
before making a decision (higher fixation on the center in the final seconds) > influences choice
the most
Fixation: the brief moments in which the eye is stable and information is extracted from the
scene (200 – 400 ms)
Saccades: movements of the eyes that last about 20-40 ms > redirection to new fixations
horizontal centre influences the number of fixations, the duration and the choice. They found
that only attention can explain this effect (not inference)
The effect is more pronounced in the initial 5 seconds and in the final 5 seconds > consistent with
the central fixation bias. They choose the product they devote the most attention to in the final
stage
Eye tracking
An eye tracker consists of cameras, illuminators and algorithms. Illuminators create a pattern on
the eyes, the cameras take images of the eyes and the patterns, the algorithms find details and
patterns in the eyes. Based on this information the eye position and gaze point are calculated.
Heat map: show how attention is distributed over the stimulus (reveal the focus of visual
attention). In contrast to the gaze plot, there is no information about the order of looking in a
static heat map.
Fixation: How many times a participant looked at the image (fixation duration: how long)
Scanpath: an ordered set of fixations points (depicted by circles) connected by saccades
(depicted by lines). It gives information about the order of inspection
Memory
Memory: a psychological process by which knowledge is stored and recorded (it’s the neural
network of associated nodes
Retrieval: the process of remembering or accessing what was previously stored in memory
Memory knowledge: consists of connection between the to-be-learned material and the concept
already known.
3 types of memory
3
