REVIEW QUESTIONS
1.Describe the id, ego, and superego and tell how they work together according
to Freudian theory.
The id is entirely oriented toward immediate gratification—it is the “party
animal” of the mind. The superego is the counterweight to the id. This system is essentially the person’s conscience. It internalizes society’s rules
(especially as parents teach them to us and works to prevent the id from
seeking selfish gratification. Finally, the ego is the system that mediates
between the id and the superego. It is in a way a referee in the fight between
temptation and virtue.
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking, Course Learning Outcome 8)
2.What is motivational research? Give an example of a marketing study that
used this approach.
In the 1950s, a perspective called motivational research attempted to use
Freudian ideas to understand the deeper meanings of products and
advertisements. This approach was largely based on psychoanalytic
(Freudian) interpretations, with a heavy emphasis on unconscious motives. A basic assumption is that socially unacceptable needs are channeled into
acceptable outlets.Motivational research for the American Red Cross did find that men (but not women) tend to drastically overestimate the amount of blood taken from them during a donation. The Red Cross counteracted the fear of
loss of virility by symbolically equating the act of giving blood with
fertilization: “Give the gift of life.”
(10 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking, Course Learning Outcome 2)
3.Describe three personality traits relevant to marketers.
Some specific traits that are relevant to consumer behavior include:
innovativeness (the degree to which a person likes to try new things);
materialism (amount of emphasis placed on acquiring and owning products);
self-consciousness (the degree to which a person deliberately monitors and
controls the image of the self that is projected to others), and need for
cognition (the degree to which a person likes to think about things and by
extension expands the necessary effort to process brand information). Another trait relevant to consumer behavior is frugality. Frugal people deny
short-term purchasing whims, choosing instead to resourcefully use what they already own.
(5 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking, Course Learning Outcome 8)
4.List three problems that arise when we apply trait theory to marketing
contexts.
The use of standard personality trait measurements to predict product choices has met with mixed success at best. In general, marketing researchers simply
have not been able to predict consumers’ behaviors on the basis of measured
personality traits. These are some explanations for these equivocal results:
∙Many of the scales are not sufficiently valid or reliable; they do not adequately measure what they are supposed to measure, and their
results may not be stable over time.
∙Personality tests are often developed for specific populations (e.g., mentally ill people); these tests are then “borrowed” and applied to the
general population where their relevance is questionable.
∙Often the tests are not administered under the appropriate conditions;
people who are not properly trained may give them in a classroom or at
a kitchen table.
∙The researchers often make changes in the instruments to adapt them to their own situations, in the process deleting or adding items and
renaming variables. These ad hoc changes dilute the validity of the
measures and also reduce researchers’ ability to compare results across
consumer samples.
∙Many trait scales are intended to measure gross, overall tendencies
(e.g., emotional stability or introversion); these results are then used to
make predictions about purchases of specific brands.
∙In many cases, a number of scales are given with no advance thought about how these measures should be related to consumer behavior. The
researchers then use a “shotgun approach,” following up on anything
that happens to look interesting.
(20 minutes, Chapter Objective 1, AACSB: Reflective Thinking, Course Learning Outcome 8)
5.Define a brand personality and give two examples.
