Personality, Self-Image, and Life Style: Consumer Behaviour

Chapter 4
Personality, Self-Image, and

Life Style
Consumer Behaviour
Canadian Edition
Schiffman/Kanuk/Das
Copyright © 2006 1
Pearson Education Canada Inc
Opening Vignette
 Do you see yourself as beautiful?
 Only1% of all women see themselves as
beautiful
 Most ads portray an ideal image that is
unattainable
 Dove’s ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’
http://www.dove.ca
Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

4-2
What Is Personality?
The inner psychological characteristics

that both determine and reflect how a
person responds to his or her
environment.

4-3
4-4
What is Personality ?
– The specific qualities, attributes, traits, factors, and
mannerisms that distinguish one individual from
other individuals is known as personality.
– In other words, "those inner psychological

characteristics that both determine and reflect how a
person responds to his or her environment.
Nature of Personality
 Three distinct properties of central importance are as follows:-
– Personality reflects individual differences. No two
individuals are exactly alike
– For e.g.: high in venture, low in venture
(Personality allows marketers to divide people into
different groups based on their traits)
– Personality is consistent and enduring .

• For e.g.: newly available brands may cause change
(Marketers cannot change consumers personalities to
meet their products. But understanding which specific
characteristics bring in required responses, can help
marketers to appeal to these traits in their target
audience.)
– Personality can change.
• For e.g.: marriage, birth of a child, change in job

4-7
Theories of Personality
 There are mainly three types of
theories of Personality. They are as
under:-
– Freudian Theory
– Neo-Freudian Theory
– Trait Theory
4-9
 Freudian theory
– Sigmund Freud built this theory on the premise that
unconscious needs or drives, especially sexual and other
biological drives, are at the heart of human motivation
and personality.
– Three interacting systems
• Id: primitive and impulsive drives
• Superego: Individual’s internal expression of
society’s moral and ethical codes of conduct
• Ego: Individual’s conscious control

4-10
– The id was conceptualized as a ‘warehouse’ of
primitive and impulsive drives-basic physiological
needs such as thirst, hunger, and sex-for which the
individual seeks immediate satisfaction without
concern for the specific means of satisfaction.
– The superego is conceptualized as the individual’s

internal expression of society’s moral and ethical
codes of conduct. The superego’s role is to see that
the individual satisfies needs in a socially acceptable
fashion.
 The ego is the individual’s conscious control. It
functions as an internal monitor that attempts to
balance the impulsive demands of the id and the
socio-cultural constraints of the superego. Freud
emphasized that an individual’s personality is
formed as he or she passes through a number of
distinct stages of infant and childhood
development.
 These are the oral, anal, phallic, latent, and

genital stages. Freud labeled four of these stages
of development to conform to the area of the
body on which he believed the child’s sexual
instincts are focused at the time.
 Freudian Theory & “Product
Personality”
– Study of consumer personality believe that
human drives are largely unconscious and
that consumers are primarily unaware of their
true reasons for buying what they buy, e.g.
Taal movie…
SNACK FOODS PERSONALITY TRAITS
Potato chips Ambitious, successful, high achiever, impatient
with less than the best.
Tortilla chips Perfectionist, high expectation & punctual,
conservative & responsible.
Nuts Easygoing, empathetic, understanding, calm,
even-tempered.
Popcorn Takes charge, pitches in often, modest, self-
confident but not a show-off.
 Neo-Freudian personality theory
– Social relationships are fundamental to
the formation and development of
personality.
– People like to reduce feeling of inferiority
and people like to reduce stress by having
cordial relationships with others.
– e.g., CAD theory
4-14
Neo-Freudian Personality Theory
(contd..)
 Several neo-Freudians believed that social relationships are
fundamental to the formation and development of personality.
 Alfred Adler viewed human beings as seeking to attain
various rational goals which he called “style of life”.
 Harry Stack Sullivan stressed that people continuously
attempt to establish significant and rewarding relationships
with others.
 Karen Horney focused on the impact of child-parent
relationships and the individual’s desire to conquer feelings
of anxiety. Horney proposed that individuals be classified
into three personality groups complaint, aggressive and
detached.
Horney’s CAD Theory
 Using the context of child-parent

relationships, individuals can be
classified into:
– Compliant individuals
– Aggressive individuals
– Detached individuals

4-16
CAD theory
 Compliant Personality
– One who desires to be loved, wanted, and
appreciated by others.
 Aggressive Personality
– One who moves against others (e.g.,
competes with others, desires to excel and
win admiration).
 Detached Personality
– One who moves away from others (e.g., who desires
independence, self-sufficiency, and freedom from
obligations).
4-17
Theories of Personality –
Cont’d
 Trait theory
– Quantitative approach to personality as a
set of psychological traits
– Single-trait or multiple-trait theories

4-18
4-19
Trait Theory
 The orientation of trait theory is primarily or empirical;
it focuses on the measurement of personality in terms of
specific psychological characteristics, called traits.
 Trait is defined as “any distinguishing, relatively
enduring way in which one individual differs from
another.”
 Constitutes a major departure from the qualitative
measures that typify the Freudian and neo-Freudian
movements.
 Single-trait personality tests measures such traits as
consumer innovativeness, consumer materialism &
consumer ethnocentrism.
 Personality & Understanding Consumer
Diversity
– Marketers are interested in understanding how

personality influences consumption behavior because
such knowledge enables them to better understand
consumers and to segment and target those consumers
who are likely to respond positively to their product or
service communications.
Consumer Innovativeness &
Related Personality Traits
– Consumer innovativeness
– Dogmatism – low & high, referring open-
mindedness
– Social Character – inner to other directedness
– Need for uniqueness – unconventional choice
– Optimum stimulation level – high - linked with
greater willingness to take risks, to try new
products, to be innovative etc.
– Sensation seeking – take risk for sake of
experience
– Variety-novelty seeking – close to OSL
Consumer Innovativeness
 The degree to which consumers are
receptive to new products, new services or
new practices.
 Consumer innovators are likely to:
– Score lower on dogmatism
– Score higher on need for uniqueness
– Have higher optimum stimulation levels
– Have higher need for sensation seeking and
variety seeking behaviours
4-23
Personality Traits
 1. Consumer Innovativeness:
 Nature and boundaries of a consumers willingness to innovate
 2. Dogmatism:
 Trait that measures the degree of rigidity (vs. openness) that
they show toward an information that is contrary to their own
established beliefs.
 3. Social Character:
 Ranges from inner-directedness to other directedness. Inner
directed consumers tend to rely on their own inner values while
evaluating new products. While outer-directed tend to look for
other’s opinion.
Personality Traits (contd.)
 4. Need for uniqueness: for such people, conformity to others
expectations or standards either in appearance or in their
possessions is something to be avoided.
 5. Optimum Stimulation Level: Some people prefer a simple,

uncluttered and calm existence (whereas others prefer
complex and unusual experiences). High OSL is linked to
greater willingness to risks, try new products ….
 6. Sensation Seeking: characterized by the need for varied,

novel and complex experiences and willingness to take
physical and social risks.
Theories of Personality –
Cont’d
 Cognitive Theories of Personality
– Personality as differences in cognitive
processes (how consumers process and
react to information)

4-26
Cognitive Personality Factors
– Need for cognition
• High – more likely to be responsive to the part of an
ad that is rich in product-related info or description.
• low – more likely to be attracted to the background
or peripheral aspects of an ad, such as an attractive
model or well-known celebrity.
– Visualizers V/s Verbalizers
• Visualizers – who prefer visual info & products that
stress the visual. For e.g. membership in a videotape
club
• Verbalizers – who prefer written or verbal info &
products. For e.g. membership in book clubs or
audiotape clubs.
Need for Cognition (NC)
 A person’s craving for enjoyment of
thinking
 High NC consumers are likely to:
– Relate better to written messages
– Want product-related information
– Spend more time processing print ads
– Enjoy using the internet to get
information

4-28
Visualizers Vs Verbalizers
 A person’s preference for information

presented visually or verbally
 Visualizers require strong visual
elements in ads
 Verbalizers prefer written information,
print ads, question-answer format

4-29
4-30
Trait Theories – Cont’d
 Consumer materialism
– The extent to which a person is considered
“materialistic”
 Fixed consumption behaviour
– Consumers fixated on certain products or
categories of products
 Compulsive consumption behaviour
– “Addicted” or “out-of-control” consumers

4-31
Consumer Materialism
 Possessions seen as for one’s identity

 Materialistic People
– Value acquiring and showing-off possessions
– Are particularly self-centered and selfish
– Seek lifestyles full of possessions
– Have many possessions that do not lead to
greater happiness

4-32
Consumer Materialism
– Materialism means the extent to which a person is considered
materialistic
• They especially value acquiring and showing

off possessions
• They are particularly self-centered and selfish
• They seek lifestyles full of possessions (e.g.,
they desire to have lots of “things”, rather than
a simple, uncluttered lifestyle)
• Their many possessions do not give them
greater personal satisfaction
Fixated Consumption Behaviour
– Fixated consumers do not keep their objects or
purchases of interest a secret.
• A deep interest in a particular objector

product category
• A willingness to go to considerable lengths
to secure additional examples of the object
or product category of interest
• The dedication of a considerable amount of
discretionary time and money to searching
out the object or product

4-35
Compulsive Consumption Behaviour
– Compulsive consumption is in the realm of abnormal
behaviour – dark side of consumption.
– Have an addiction; in some respects they are out of

control, and their actions may have damaging
consequences to them and to those around them.
• E.g.:- Uncontrollable shopping, gambling, drug

addiction, alcoholism, and various food and eating
disorders. Many women and a small number of
men who are chocoholics-they have an intense
craving for chocolate.
Research Insight: From Consumer
Materialism to Compulsive
Consumption
 Consumer materialism
– The extent to which a person is considered
“materialistic”
 Fixed consumption behaviour
– Consumers fixated on certain products or
categories of products
 Compulsive consumption behaviour
– “Addicted” or “out-of-control” consumers

4-37
 Consumers have
– a deep interest in a particular object or
product category
– a willingness to go to considerable lengths
to secure items in the category of interest
– the dedication of a considerable amount
of discretionary time and money to
searching out the product
 Examples: collectors, hobbyists
4-38
Sample Items to Measure Compulsive
Buying
1. When I have money, I cannot help but spend part
or the whole of it.
2. I am often impulsive in my buying behaviour.
3. As soon as I enter a shopping center, I have an
irresistible urge to go into a shop to buy
something.
4. I am one of those people who often responds to
direct mail offers.
5. I have often bought a product that I did not need,
while knowing I had very little money left.
4-39
Consumer Ethnocentrism
 Ethnocentric consumers feel it is
wrong to purchase foreign-made
products
 They can be targeted by stressing
nationalistic themes

4-40
Consumer Ethnocentrism:
Responses to foreign-made
products
MARKETING MIX COUNTRY IMAGE
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
Product Emphasize Emphasize

“Made in” Brand name
Price Premium Price Low price
Place (channel of Distribution) Exclusive Establish

Locations supply chain prtn
Promotion Country image Brand image

Brand Personality
 Personality-like traits associated with
brands
 Volvo - safety
 Perdue - freshness
 Nike - the athlete
 BMW - performance
 Levi’s 501 - dependable and rugged

4-42
– Unlike product-personality, consumers also subscribe to the
notion of brand personality; i.e. they attribute various
descriptive personality-like traits or characteristics to
different brands in a wide variety of product categories.
– For e.g. Nike as athlete in all of us

BMW as performance driven
Levi’s 501 jeans as dependable and rugged
4-44
– Brand personification
– Product personality and gender

• For e.g. Bajaj Pulsar – Definitely Male,
masculine gender
Dyna soap – Be a lady, feminine
gender
– Product personality and geography

• For e.g. Philadelphia cream cheese, but
manufactured in Illinois.
– Personality and color

• For e.g. Vodafone – red color, as red is color of
innovation, passion, hard-work.
(continued)

4-46
Personality and Marketing
Strategy
 Identify relevant personality traits
 Target consumers with the relevant
personality traits
 Develop promotional messages that
appeal to consumers with specific
personality traits
 Develop a personality for the brand
4-47
Self and Self-Image
 Self-image: A person’s perceptions of
his/her self
 People have multiple selves
– Different selves in different situations

4-48
Different Self-Images
Actual Self-
Ideal Self-Image
Image
Ideal Social Social Self-Image

Self-Image
Expected
Self-Image

4-49
Different Self-Images
 Actual Self-Image
– How you see your self
 Ideal Self-Image
– How you would like to see yourself
 Social Self-Image
– How you think others see you
 Ideal Social Self-Image
– How you would like others to see you
» continued

4-50
Different Self-Images- Cont’d
 Expected Self-Image
– How you expect to be in the future
 “Ought-to” Self
– The qualities that you think you should
possess

4-51
Self & self-image
– One or multiple selves
• Make up of self image:-

– Actual self-image (how consumers in fact see them-
selves)
– Ideal self-image (how consumers would like to see
themselves)
– Social self-image (how consumers feel others see them)
– Ideal self-image (how consumers would like others to
see them)
– Expected self-image (how consumers expect to see
themselves at some specified future time)
– Ought-to self image (consists of traits or characteristics
that an individual believes it is his or her duty to
posses)
Actual Self
 There is no one actual self.

 Consumers have various role identities – mother,
wife, working woman, volunteer etc.
 One of these roles is dominant in specific
situations. This particular role affects the
behavior (dressing style, talking, way they
conduct etc)
 The amalgam of individuals roles makes up the
individual self.
 Studies have confirmed that consumers buy products related
to their self concept.
 Dolich – studied buying of beer, cigarettes, soaps and tooth

paste and found that respondents tend to prefer brands they
rate similar to themselves.
 The same is in the case of automobiles too.
 Marketing takeaways: the concept of ‘actual self’, says that

image consumers have of themselves influences their
purchases.
 They attain ‘self consistency’, by buying products they

perceive as similar to their self-concept
4-55
Ideal Self
 Concept of ideal self relates to ones self esteem.
 The greater the difference between the actual self
and the ideal self, the lower an individuals self
esteem.
 Dissatisfaction with actual self, will end up in
purchases of such products that they think will
enhance their ‘self-esteem’.
 A woman who would like to be more modern,
efficient and imaginative will use different
perfumes, deodorant or shop at different stores
than a woman who want to be warm/attractive.
 (Marsh L Richins) – advertising themes and
images often increase the discrepancy between
the real and ideal selves.
 Ads that features beautiful models and
luxurious life styles leaves a sense of
inadequacy based on a comparison of their real
self with idealized self.
 Average fashion model is 5’9’’ tall and weighs
55 kgs. But the average Indian Woman is 5’2’’
tall and weighs 65 kgs.
 The desire for both self consistency and self
esteem can be conflicting.
 Generally consumers buy products that conform
to their actual self image. But if they are lower in
their self esteem they are more likely to be
swayed by appeals to fantasy that portray an
idealized self …..…. the alluring woman, the
lone biker on Bajaj Discover or well groomed
male in Vimal suiting.
 Buying to achieve an unrealizable self image can
lead to compulsive purchasing behavior (frequent
buying to overcome the discrepancy between the
real and the ideal self).
Dimensions Of Self Concept
Actual Self Ideal Self

Concept Concept
Private Actual Self Ideal self

Self How I actually How I would like
see myself to see myself
Social Social Self Ideal Social Self

Self How others How I would like
actually see me others to see me.
 In different contexts, consumer’s behavior
might be guided by different self concepts.
 Daily use items including consumer durables
purchase will be more guided by actual self
concept.
 Socially noticeable products or status
products will be guided by social self image.
 Fantasy products cosmetics, fashion items or
accessories will be guided by ideal self image
or ideal social self image.
Extended Self
 Not only does our self image influence the
products we choose, but the products (of
symbolic value) we possess frequently
influence our self image.
 Extended self incorporates some of our more
important possessions into our self concept.
 We are what we wear, and what we use.
 “People seek, express, confirm and ascertain a
sense of being through what they have”.
 The symbolic role that products play in
shaping the consumer’s self concept.
 Marketers have understood the role of
product constellations in projecting an
image.
 Advertising for jewelry might show
fashionably dressed models or expensive
automobiles ….. And ads for clothing might
show jewelry.
 This brings in opportunity for co-branding
Possessions Act as Self-Extensions
 By allowing the person to do things that
otherwise would be very difficult
 By making a person feel better
 By conferring status or rank
 By bestowing feelings of immortality
 By endowing with magical powers

4-63
 The extended self
– Possessions are considered extensions of the self. It has

been proposed that possessions can extend the self in a no.
of ways:
• Actually, e.g. problem solving by computers

• Symbolically, e.g. receiving employee award for
excellence
• Conferring status or rank, e.g. ownership of mastership
• Bestowing feelings of immortality, e.g. leaving valued
possession to young family members
• Endowing with magical powers, e.g. luck by chance.
4-65
Altering Self Images
 If actual and ideal self-images are

different, consumers may use products
to alter their selves
 Personality vanity: self interest or
admiration for one’s own
appearance/achievements

4-66
Internet Insight: Virtual Self
 Online individuals have an opportunity to try
on different personalities
 Virtual personalities may result in different
purchase behavior
 The notion of a virtual personality or virtual
self provides an individual with the
opportunity to try on different personalities or
different identities, much like going to the mall
and trying on different outfits in a department
or speciality store.
4-67
4-68
Self Concept and Marketing
Strategy
 Use self-concept for segmentation and
positioning
 Market to consumers’ actual or ideal
self-images
– Depends on the nature of the product
 Promote products as ways of altering
or extending self-image
4-69
4-70
Life Style and Psychographics
 Psychographic Segmentation
– Segmenting consumers on the basis of
their activities, interests and opinions
 Psychographic-demographicprofiles
 Geodemographic segmentation

4-71
Life Styles and Marketing
Strategy
 Use life styles for segmentation and
positioning
 Develop media campaigns based on
consumer life styles

4-72
Lifestyles &
Psychographics
Life style, in many ways, is an outward expression of
ones self-concept.
Life style it can be viewed as a unique pattern of
living which influences and reflected by one’s buying
habits.
Psychographics may be viewed as the method of

defining lifestyle in measurable terms.
The Nature Of Lifestyles
 Lifestyle variables are defined by how people spend
their time (activities), what they consider important in
their environment (interests), and what they think of
themselves and the world around them (opinions).
 Activities:- Work, Hobbies, Social Events, Vacation,

Entertainment, Club Membership
 Interests:- Family, Home, Job, Community, recreation,
Fashion
 Opinions:- Personal Relations, Social issues, politics,
Business, Economics, Education
Thank You

Personality, Self-Image, and Life Style: Consumer Behaviour

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Chapter 4

Personality, Self-Image, and

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

The inner psychological characteristics

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

– In other words, "those inner psychological

– Personality is consistent and enduring .

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

– The superego is conceptualized as the individual’s

 These are the oral, anal, phallic, latent, and

 Using the context of child-parent

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

– Marketers are interested in understanding how

 5. Optimum Stimulation Level: Some people prefer a simple,

 6. Sensation Seeking: characterized by the need for varied,

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

 A person’s preference for information

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

 Possessions seen as for one’s identity

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

• They especially value acquiring and showing

• A deep interest in a particular objector

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

– Have an addiction; in some respects they are out of

• E.g.:- Uncontrollable shopping, gambling, drug

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Product Emphasize Emphasize

Price Premium Price Low price

Place (channel of Distribution) Exclusive Establish

Promotion Country image Brand image

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

– For e.g. Nike as athlete in all of us

– Product personality and gender

– Product personality and geography

– Personality and color

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Ideal Social Social Self-Image

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

• Make up of self image:-

 There is no one actual self.

 Dolich – studied buying of beer, cigarettes, soaps and tooth

 The same is in the case of automobiles too.

 Marketing takeaways: the concept of ‘actual self’, says that

 They attain ‘self consistency’, by buying products they

Actual Self Ideal Self

Private Actual Self Ideal self

Social Social Self Ideal Social Self

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

– Possessions are considered extensions of the self. It has

• Actually, e.g. problem solving by computers

 If actual and ideal self-images are

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Psychographics may be viewed as the method of