CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR – 6 : LEARNING

INDUVIDUAL DETERMINATS OF BEHAVIUOR

INTRODUCTION
To understand the buyer and to make a customer out of him is the main purpose of the
study of consumer behaviour. Though this problem has been analysed from different view
points under different premises, it still remains a complex one. On the other hand the buyer
is a riddle. He is a highly complex entity. His needs and desires are innumerable. Some are
latent, some manifest and some others are highly dominant. These have different priorities in
the his scheme of things. The buyer has his own ideas and plans about realising these needs
and desires. The first and foremost task of the marketer is to get close to the buyer and
understand his need-structure and priorities.
There are four major factors which influence the behaviour of the consumers. They are :
1. Psychological factors influencing Customer Behaviour
2. Social Psychological factors influencing Customer Behaviour
3. Sociological factors influencing Customer Behaviour
4. Economic factors influencing Customer Behaviour

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
These are the factors which are the personal attributes of an individual. We shall study Five
of them : Attitude, Motivation, Perception, Personality and Learning.

Learning

INTRODUCTION / DEFINITION
Different theorists have different views about Learning. But somehow the following are the
most generally accepted definitions in the context of Marketing Management.
Kotler’s Definition : Learning involves changes in an individual’s behaviour arising out of
experience. Most of the human behaviour is learned over time out of experience.
Schiffman and Kanuk’s Definition : Learning is a process by which individuals acquire the
purchase and consumption knowledge and experience that they apply to future related
behaviour.
Loudon and Della Bitta’s Definition : Learning can be viewed as a relatively permanent
change in behaviour occurring as a result of experience.
The following are the salient features of Learning :
1. Consumer learning is a process, and thus it continuously changes and evolves as a result
of newly acquired knowledge
2. This knowledge can be obtained from reading, discussing, observing, thinking, etc. Or
from actual experience.
3. Both the newly acquired knowledge and personal experience serve as a feedback.
4. This also serve as a future behaviour in similar situations.
5. Not all learning is deliberate. Learning can be :

1
 a. Intentional : acquired as a result of careful search for information with effort.
b. Incidental : acquired as a result of accident or by the way, without much effort.
6. The term “Learning” generally covers all ranges of learning from simple reflexive
responses to abstract concepts or complex problem solving capability.

ELEMENTS OF LEARNING
Consumers learn in various ways. In order for Learning to take place, certain elements must
be present. The exact nature and strength of these elements or components influence what
are learned, how and at what pace. The most important among them are presented below :

Motives :
Motives, motivation or drive is very important for learning. People learn by being driven by
some motives or motivating factor. Motives arouse individuals in increasing their readiness to
respond to a leaning activity. It also activates the energy needed to do so. The degree of
relevance or involvement determines the consumer’s level of motivation to search for
information about a product / service. Marketers must be aware of these kind of motive so
that they are ready to provide product info right at that moment. For example, showing ads
for winter goods just before winter and summer products just before summer.

Cues :
Motives stimulate learning, whereas “Cues” are the stimuli that give direction to these
motives. These are not so strong as motives, but they can influence in the manner consumers
respond to a motive. For example, in the market place, price, styling, packaging, store display
all serve as cues to help consumer to decide a particular product from a group. But if the
consumer doesn’t have a motive to buy a particular product group, he may not buy.
Marketers must be careful in providing cues so that they don’t upset the consumers’
expectations driven by motives.

Response :
Response is how the consumers react to the motives or a cue, and how they behave.
Response can be overt (open, physical or visible) or covert (hidden or mental), but in either
case learning can occur. Responses appropriate to a particular situation are learned over
time thro’ experience in facing that situation. Often marketers may not succeed in
stimulating a purchase. But over a period of time they may succeed in forming a favourable
image of a particular product in the consumer’s mind. So when the consumer is ready, he is
likely to buy that.

Reinforcement :
Reinforcement is an important element which increases the probability (tendency or
likelihood) of a particular response to occur in future as a result of a given set of motives and
cues. Because reinforced behaviour tends to be repeated, consumers can learn to develop
successful means of responding to their needs or changing conditions.

BEHAVIOURAL LEARNING THEORIES

Various theories have been developed to explain different aspects of learning. The most
acceptable are those based on stimulus-response theory. These theories assume that
observable response to specific external stimuli indicate that learning has taken place. When
a person acts or responds in a predictable manner to a known stimulus, then he is said to

2
have “learned”. The “process” of leaning is not at all important here. The only important
factors are “inputs” or stimulus and the “outcomes” or response of learning. There are two
distinct types : Classical (or respondent) conditioning, and Instrumental (or operant)
conditioning. They are discussed below :

Classical Conditioning :
This theory says that all living beings learn from or taught by “repetition”. This is referred to
as “conditioning” which means a kind of spontaneous response to a particular situation
achieved by repeated exposure. Classical conditioning or respondent conditioning pairs or
connects one stimulus with another that has already established a given response. Over
repeated trials of exposure, the new stimulus will also begin to get the same or similar
response.
IVAN PAVLOV, a Russian physiologist was the first to postulate the above theory about
classical conditioning. (Hence. some authors call it Pavlovian Learning Theory). He made a
study of dogs. The dogs are hungry and eagerly waiting for the food. Pavlov rang a bell, and
immediately after it, gave some meat to the dogs. This caused the dogs to salivate. Here the
meat is the “unconditioned stimulus” and the dogs are already associated with it by showing
a response of salivating. After a sufficient number of repetitions of this procedure, learning
(conditioning) occurs and the dogs started associating the bell sound (conditioned stimulus)
with the meat and showed the same response of salivating. That means now if the bell rang,
the dogs would start salivating. Thus the pairing or associating of an “unconditioned
stimulus” and a “conditioned stimulus” is said to be successfully done.
In the context of Consumer Behaviour, unconditioned stimulus may be a well known brand
(say Amul milk and milk products) whose product quality is well known. This previously
acquired perception of Amul is the “unconditioned response”. The conditioned stimulus may
be a new product (Amul Ice-cream) having the same brand name. And the “conditioned
response” would be trying the Ice-Cream because of the belief that the product may have the
same quality attributes as the Amul name is associated with.

Instrumental Conditioning :
This theory suggests that living beings learn by a method of trial-and-error, and finding out
the particular stimulus having the best (or the most favourable / satisfactory) response. And
subsequently this is formed as a habit with the rewards received for certain response of
behaviour.
B F SKINNER, an American psychologist was the first to develop this model of learning. He
suggested that most of the individual learning take place in controlled environment in which
individuals are rewarded by choosing a right behaviour. This theory, named as instrumental
conditioning was shown by an experiment by working with animals. He made a box called the
Skinner Box and placed a few small animals. The box was fitted with several keys / levers.
When an animal pressed the right lever, it got some food as reward. Pressing other levers
didn’t get any rewards. In the beginning the animals pressed the levers at random. But slowly
the “discovered” the right one. This kind of learning and teaching has wonderful and
successful results.
In the context of consumer behaviour, this model is very important and applies to many
common situations. It suggests that consumers learn by means of trial-and-error method in
which some purchase behaviours result in more favourable outcomes (i.e., rewards) than
other purchase behaviours. Thus, a favourable experience becomes “instrumental” in
teaching the individual to repeat a specific behaviour.

3
For example, the consumer, who tries several brands and styles of jeans finally finds a
particular brand and style that fits her figure and personality best, has in fact undergone
instrumental learning. Presumably, this is the brand she is likely to continue buying.

COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY

There is another type of theory of learning, which doesn’t involve repeated trials or a
connection between a stimulus and response. This type of learning arises out of using the
mental faculty of the individual to discover things, perceive things, seeking knowledge, search
for information, sudden impulsive learning, solving problems, etc.
Learning based on the mental activity is known as “cognitive learning”. Human beings are the
most evolved animals who have the most prominent characteristics of thinking, deliberation
and problem solving. Unlike behavioural theories, the cognitive theories involve a complex
mental processing of information, and emphasise the role of motivation and mental processes
in producing the desired response.
WOLFGANG KOHLER’s experiment with a chimpanzee provides an interesting example to
understand this theory of learning. A chimp was placed inside a cage with a box in a corner
of the cage and bananas hung from the roof of the cage beyond reach. The chimp jumped
several times and tried to reach the bananas, but in vain. Suddenly by impulse, the chimp
placed the box just under the bananas and jumped from it to reach the bananas, and he got
them. This suggests that the ape’s learning was not a result of repetition or trial-and-error,
but because of some thinking and a sudden insight into the problem solving method. The
bananas in this experiment are not rewards, but a kind of motivation to apply thinking and
problem solving methods.
In the context of consumer behaviour, the individuals are considered to show problem solving
behaviour and have active understanding of situations confronting them. This view is
therefore most important in understanding how consumers learn which stores, method of
shopping, or products will best meet their needs.
For example, it can take the form of learning about the uses and benefits of new products in
the market, especially if they represent significant innovations. It can also explain how
consumers learn about existing products for which they have developed a recent interest or
need.

© Himansu S M / 18-Sep-2009