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Unit 6: Consumer Learning

process and gets modified or changed as a result of exposure to new information and personal Notes
experiences and often becomes the basis for future observable behaviour.

6.1 Elements of Learning

1. Motivation: Motivation is the driving force that impels individuals to action and is the
result of unfulfilled need (s). If an individual has strong motivation to learn something,
there is increased likelihood that learning will take place. For example, students who
want to pursue a course in computer application would be motivated to seek information
concerning the courses offered by different institutes and possibly the quality of faculty
and lab facilities. Conversely, students who are not interested are unlikely to pay any
attention or ignore all information about computer courses. The degree of involvement in
the goal object will influence an individual’s degree of motivation to acquire information
or knowledge about the product or service. Marketers use motivation research to unearth
consumer motives and use it in developing marketing programmes.
2. Cues: Cues are relatively weak stimuli, not strong enough to arouse consumers but have
the potential of providing direction to motivated activity. For example, an ad about a
computer course is a cue that suggests a way to satisfy the motive of learning computer
application. Consumers are exposed to various cues almost everyday such as advertising,
displays, packaging and prices etc. These cues serve to help consumers satisfy their needs
by purchasing certain brands.
3. Response: The way an individual reacts to a cue or stimulus is the response and could be
physical or mental in nature, leading to learning. For example, a computer marketer
keeps on providing cues to a student through promotional activities and may not be
successful in eliciting the final purchase behaviour for a variety of reasons, though the
student is motivated to buy. It is also possible that the student forms a favourable image
about a particular model, has enough resources and buys the computer. Consumers are
exposed to many cues providing direction at the same time and each cue competes for
attention. The responses to particular cues or stimuli may be significantly affected by
earlier learning as a result of response-reinforcement.

4. Reinforcement: Most scholars agree that reinforcement of a specific response increases the
likelihood for the response to reoccur. Reinforcement can be anything that both increases
the strength of response and tends to induce repetitions of the behaviour that preceded the
reinforcement. According to Edward L Thorndike:
“Of several responses made to the same situation, those which are accompanied or closely followed by
satisfaction (reinforcement)….. will be more likely to recur; those which are accompanied or closely
followed by discomfort (punishment) …. will be less likely to occur.”
Edward L Thorndike, Animal Intelligence, The Macmillan Company, 1911.
Since reinforced behaviour increases the likelihood of repetition, consumers often learn
to develop behaviours appropriate to respond to their needs. For example, if a consumer
learns that an advertised remedy for common cold helped to get relief from painful
symptoms, she/he is more likely to buy the advertised brand again, if needed in future,
because the remedy lived up to expectations (reinforcement of behaviour because the
remedy alleviated the painful symptoms). Had the advertised brand failed the first time
to provide relief, the individual would be less likely to buy that brand again, no matter
how often she/he gets exposed to advertising or other promotions for the same brand.

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