Page 178 - DMGT551_RETAIL_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT

Unit 9: Motivation and Perception

Selective Exposure Notes

Exposure occurs when consumers’ senses are activated by stimulus. Consumers are attentive to
stimuli which are relevant, pleasant, or towards which they may be sympathetic and ignore
unpleasant and painful ones.
Selective Attention

Attention is the momentary focusing of a consumer’s cognitive capacity on a particular stimulus.
Consumers have increased awareness of stimuli that are relevant to their felt needs or interests
and decreased awareness of irrelevant stimuli. They would readily notice ads of products that
they need or want. Some consumers are price sensitive, for some quality is more important and
accordingly they pay attention to such ad messages. Consumers use considerable selectivity in
terms of attention they pay to different stimuli.

Adaptation

Adaptation refers to gradual adjustment to stimuli to which consumers are exposed for prolonged
periods. Because of adaptation, consumers do not notice the stimuli to which they have become
adjusted. For instance, an air-conditioned picture theatre feels quite cool in the beginning but a
short time later we adapt to temperature and become less aware of it. Consumers become
adapted to advertising messages over time due to boredom or familiarity. They reduce their
attention level to frequently repeated advertisements and eventually fail to notice them. Because
of this reason marketers introduce attention-getting features in their ad campaigns and change
their advertising. The level of adaptation varies among consumers and some get adapted more
quickly than others.

Perceptual Vigilance and Defence

Even when consumers are exposed to stimuli they do not want to see or hear, they unconsciously
ignore such undesirable stimuli. Perceptual defence is more likely in anxiety-producing
situations. Because of this reason, unpleasant, damaging, or threatening stimuli have less of a
chance to be perceived compared to neutral stimuli at the same level of exposure. Consumers
are also likely to modify or distort any information that is not consistent with their needs,
wants, values, or beliefs.

Perceptual Blocking

Consumers are exposed to innumerable stimuli in a typical day. They protect themselves
from being overwhelmed and overburdened by blocking such numerous stimuli from their
conscious awareness. For instance, consumers screen out enormous amounts of TV advertising
by ‘tuning out’.

9.6 Interpretation of Stimuli

Perceptual interpretation refers to assigning of meaning to sensations. Individuals, in their own
unique manner, interpret the stimuli. As the old saying goes, “a person sees what he/she expects
to see,” Interpretation of stimuli by individuals is based on their earlier experiences, plausible
explanations they can assign, their motives, beliefs and interests at the time of perception.
A number of factors influence individuals that may distort their perceptions, such as physical
appearances, stereotyping stimuli, irrelevant stimuli, first impressions, jumping to conclusions
and halo effect, etc.

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