Learning and Memory

Michael Kalsher MGMT 4460/6962

Summer 2014

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The Learning Process

• Products are reminders of life experiences

• Good experiences/associations with products leads to brand equity/loyalty

• Learning: a relatively permanent change in behavior or behavior potential caused by experience– Basic models of the learning process

• Behavioral learning theories (operant, classical conditioning)• Cognitive models of learning (incidental, observational)

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Behavioral Learning TheoriesClassical Learning theories focus on

relationships established among external events (stimuli)

-- Stimulus-stimulus; Stimulus-response

Cognitive Learning Theories– “Black box” vs. Observable behavior

ConsumerStimulus Response

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Classical Conditioning• Ivan Pavlov

• CS + UCS = response– Repeated Contiguous

parings vs. One-Trial Learning

• Brand names as CS– Credit card as CS

• Music, humor, imagery

• CS first, then UCS

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Classical ConditioningRepetition of exposure

–Type of medium used•Combination usually best•Spaced exposures and

alternating media formats

–Extinction•Izod Lacoste crocodile extended

to other types of clothes (e.g., baby

clothes, other items)

–Beware of…•Advertising wear-out•Frequent product encounters &

extinction

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Classical ConditioningStimulus Generalization

– Tendency of stimuli similar to a CS to evoke similar CRs (sometimes termed a “Halo effect”)

• “Piggybacking” strategy• Masked branding (hiding a product’s true origin)

– Family branding, product line extensions, licensing, look-alike packaging

Does this look like Miller Beer?

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Your turn …

Identify some important characteristics of a product with a well-known brand name.

– Based on these attributes, generate a list of possible brand extension or licensing opportunities

– Name some others that would most likely not be accepted by consumers.

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Classical Conditioning

Stimulus Discrimination

– Brand positioning• Unique attributes of

brand

– Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition combats “knockoffs”

Stresses that certain competitor products are “not as good as the original brands”

Which one?

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Instrumental and Operant Conditioning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvaSEJtOV8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy_mIEnnlF4

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Instrumental and Operant Conditioning

• ABC Learning Antecedents Behavior ConsequencesEmitted vs. Elicited behavior

• Reinforcement vs. Punishment– Response increase vs. decrease

• Negative reinforcement is NOT punishment!

• Positive vs. Negative (apply vs. remove)• Extinction

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Instrumental and Operant Conditioning

• Stimulus Control

• Stimulus – Discrimination– Generalization

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Operant ConditioningReinforcement schedules include…

– Fixed-interval (seasonal sales)– Variable-interval (secret shoppers)– Fixed-ratio (grocery-shopping

receipt programs)– Variable-ratio (slot machines)

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Cognitive Learning Theory

• People = problem solvers

• Tolman’s Demonstration

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Observational LearningWe watch others and note the consequences they receive for behaviors– Vicarious learning– Socially desirable

models/celebrities who use or do not use their products

CBS memo: "Please be sure that buttocks and female breasts are adequately covered. Thong type costumes are problematic. Please avoid exposing bare fleshy under curves of the buttocks and buttock crack.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHMncI5mTJk

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Observational Learning

Modeling: imitating others’ behavior– Bobo doll experiment

RETENTIONATTENTIONPRODUCTIONPROCESSES

MOTIVATION

OBSERVATIONALLEARNING

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Role of Memory in Learning

• Memory: acquiring information and storing it over time so that it will be available when needed

• Information-processing approach– Mind = computer & data = input/output

STORAGEENCODING RETRIEVALEXTERNALINPUTS

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EncodingThe way we encode information can help us retain it later– Sensory meaning (how it looks)– Semantic meaning (what it means)– Personal relevance

• Episodic/flashbulb memories• Product information conveyed as a narrative

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Memory Systems

SHORT-TERMMEMORY

SENSORY MEMORY

LONG-TERMMEMORY

ELABORATIVEREHEARSAL

ATTENTION

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Chunking

Informational unit in short-term memory (STM)– Brand name– Area code of telephone number– Optimal size for retrieval = 7 (+ or - 2)

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Associative Networks

Activation models of memory– Associative network of related information

• Knowledge structures of interconnected nodes• Hierarchical processing model

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Associative Networks

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Semantic Associations

• Intel = “intelligent” + “electronics”

• Viagra ~ Niagara (Falls)• Qualcomm = “quality” +

“communications”• p, b, t, d = slow• f, v, s, z = fast• Blackberry PDA

– b = reliability & “berry” = smallness

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Levels of Knowledge

• Individual nodes = meaning concepts

• Two (or more) connected nodes = proposition (complex meaning)

• Two or more propositions = schema– We more readily encode information that is

consistent with an existing schema– Service scripts

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Retrieval for Purchase Decisions

Retrieving information often requires appropriate factors/cues:– Physiological factors– Situational factors

• Consumer attention; pioneering brand; descriptive brand names

– Viewing environment• continuous activity; commercial order in sequence

– Post-experience advertising effects

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Retrieval for Purchase Decisions (Cont’d)

Appropriate factors/cues for retrieval (cont’d):– State-dependent retrieval/mood congruence

effect– Familiarity– Salience/von Restorff Effect (mystery ads)– Visual memory vs. verbal memory

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Factors Influencing Forgetting

• Decay

• Interference– Retroactive vs.

proactive

• Part-list cueing effect

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Products as Memory Markers

• Furniture, visual art, and photos call forth memories of the past

• Autobiographical memories– The marketing power of nostalgia– Retro brand– Nostalgia index

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Measuring Memory for Marketing Stimuli

• Recognition vs. recall

• The Starch Test

• Problems with memory measures– Response biases– Memory lapses– Memory for facts vs.

feelings

The Starch Test

• A classic series of tests pioneered during the 1920s by Daniel Starch (1883-1979), a psychologist who specialized in advertising research. The tests measure audience recall of advertisements in newspapers and magazines.

• The tests were the first examples of what Starch named "recognition research," a method that is now widely accepted and used.

• He founded Daniel Starch and Associates, which conducted the tests for decades. The firm is now part of United Business Media plc.

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Starch Test: How You Do It

• The researcher interviews readers of print publications and asks each interviewee if s/he has recently read certain publications. If an interviewee has recently read a publication, the researcher asks the interviewee which issue he read, and which ads he noticed in that issue. This is "unaided recall”.

• Then the researcher produces the issue and asks the interviewee to look inside it.

• After the interviewee has looked, the researcher asks him about a certain advertisement in that issue (this is "aided recall").

• The researcher keeps track of the percentage of subjects who:– Remembered seeing a specific ad ("noted").

– Saw or read part of the ad ("seen/associated").

– Read at least half of the ad ("read most").

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