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Consumers

Eric Arnould, University of Nebraska
George Zinkhan, University of Georgia
Linda Price, University of Nebraska

Perception: Worlds of Sensation

Chapter Objectives

After completing this chapter, you should be able to:

I.

Know the meaning of and relationship between perceptions and sensations, and know some basic facts about the classic five sensory receptors: vision, smell, hearing, touch and taste.

II.

Have a clear idea of how sensory thresholds are used by marketers, including marketing applications of Weber's Law.

III.

Know the process through which our sensory systems select, organize and interpret stimuli, including: preattentive processing; perceptual selection; organization and categorization; and interpretation and elaboration.

IV.

Be able to analyze marketing stimuli in terms of how they might affect sensory selection using factors such as consumers' motives and goals and specific characteristics of the stimuli.

V.

Understand some basic tools consumers use in primitive categorization including grouping, figure and ground and closure and be able to recognize and even develop these in marketing applications.

VI.

Be able to apply the semiotic process of interpretation to marketing stimuli.

VII.

Be able to describe perceptual inferences and how they are influenced by culture, context, consumers' goals and the structure and accessibility of knowledge in memory.

VIII.

Be familiar with several issues in marketing that rely on perceptual judgments including: brand extensions, perceived quality, perceived risk and country-of-origin effects.

IX.

Understand how elaboration of marketing stimuli influences consumer perceptions and preferences.

X.

Understand some basic features of perceptual preferences and consumer tastes.

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