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Consumer Behaviour

Notes 6.2 Behavioural Learning Theories

Behavioural learning theories are sometimes also referred to as connectionist or stimulus –
response theories. Behaviourist psychologists believe in observing changes in an individual’s
responses that result due to exposure to specific external, environmental stimuli. Behavioural
theories are based on stimulus-response orientation (S-R) and the belief is that learning occurs
through the connection between the stimulus and a response. When an individual responds in a
predictable manner to a known stimulus, the person is said to have “learned.” Two important
behavioural theories, classical conditioning (sometimes called respondent conditioning) and
instrumental conditioning (also called operant conditioning) are of great relevance to marketing.

6.2.1 Classical Conditioning

In everyday life, we think of conditioning as a kind of automatic response to something as a
result of repeated exposure to it.

Example: If a child gets excited every time she/he thinks of going to MacDonald’s, the
reaction may be conditioned from many pleasant visits to the restaurant. Classical conditioning
pairs one stimulus with another that already elicits a given response and over a period of
repeated trials, the new stimulus will also start causing the same or quite similar response.
The Russian psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, was the first who pioneered the study of classical
conditioning. He noticed that since his hungry dogs salivated (unconditioned response) at the
sight of food (unconditioned stimulus), the connection between food and salivation is not taught
and is just a reflex reaction. Pavlov reasoned that a neutral stimulus such as the sound of a
ringing bell could also cause the dogs to salivate if it was closely associated with the unconditioned
stimulus (food). To test this reasoning, Pavlov rang a bell while giving food to the dogs. After a
sufficient number of repetitions, the dogs learned the connection between bell and food. When
they heard the bell (conditioned stimulus) even in the absence of food, they salivated (conditioned
response).

Figure 6.1: Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned response
(food) (salivation)
(outdoor activities) (fun and refreshment)

Conditioned stimulus Conditioned response
(bell) (salivation)
(Coca Cola) (fun and refreshment)

According to N J Mackintosh, classical conditioning was formerly viewed as being a reflexive
action, however, according to new thinking now it is viewed as cognitive associative learning,
leading to the acquisition of new knowledge about the world. The association of conditioned
stimulus (bell) and unconditioned stimulus (bell and food) influenced the “expectations” of
dogs and this in turn influenced their behaviour (salivation). According to Chris Janiszewski
and Luk Warlop, conditioning encourages attention to the advertised brand in the promotions
that follow.

Two factors are important for learning to occur through the associative process. The first is
contiguity (conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus must be close in time and space).
The second factor is the repetition (the frequency of association). The more the frequency of

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