MKT 450 MEMORY, KNOWLEDGE, COMPREHENSION, AND CATEGORIZATION Lars Perner, Instructor 1 MEMORY, KNOWLEDGE, COMPREHENSION, AND CATEGORIZATION

MKT 450 MEMORY, KNOWLEDGE, COMPREHENSION, AND CATEGORIZATION Lars Perner, Instructor 2

Consumer Information Processing

PERCEPTIONCONSCIOUS

PRE-CONSCIOUS

LINKS TO OTHER ITEMS IN MEMORY ASSOCIATION

COMPREHENSIONCORRECT OR INCORRECTELABORATE OR SHALLOW

ATTENTIONLIMITED—SUBJECT TO

PRIORITYDIVIDED

STORAGE(IN MEMORY)

RETRIEVAL(ACTIVATION)

TRIGGERS(“REMINDERS” TO

ACTIVATE MEMORY)

ELABORATION(THINKING BRINGS ABOUT NEW LINKS AND THOUGHTS)

BEHAVIOR

Note: This is a simplified conceptual model that should not be taken too literally. The boundaries between the steps are actually rather “blurry.”

No “guaranteed” arrow—triggers may or may not happen.


Triggers

• Stimuli which cause the individual to remember relevant tasks or information– E.g., seeing cereal in the supermarket may cause the

consumer to remember that he or she also needs bananas

• Lack of triggers may result in not taking situationally appropriate actions (e.g., there is no trigger in one’s kitchen to remind one to bring reusable bags to the supermarket)

• The “Friday” song


Memory

• The persistence of learning over time

• Retrieval: The process of remembering or accessing what was previously stored

• Sensory• Working (WM)—

encoded and kept for further use

• Long Term Memory (LTM)

• Episodic (autobiographical) memory

• Semantic memory


More Memory Issues

• Implicit vs. explicit• Memory enhancement

– Recognition– Recall– Elaboration

• Some communication strategies to enhance memory– Chunking– Rehearsal– Recirculation– Elaboration


Knowledge

• Information already learned and stored

• Knowledge structure: How knowledge is stored and organized

• Schema: Associations between entities (e.g., brands, product categories, experiences)

• Associative Network of Knowledge—knowledge elements—when accessed--trigger other elements

• Priming: Increased sensitivity to associations due to prior implicit memory

• Procedural memory (“how to”)


Procedural Knowledge: How to Do Something

• Knowledge—whether verbal or unconscious accessing—of “procedure” of accomplishing tasks

• Often involves a combination of conscious actions, unconscious actions, and “automatic” implementation of complex actions

• Often learned in large part through practice and repetition (e.g., driving certain tasks become automatic, touch typing)

• Lack of procedural knowledge may stand in the way of using affected products (e.g., no high school driver’s education “on the road” training of how to drive motorcycles, manual transmission cars, and trucks with trailers results in preferences for automatic transmission cars)


Some Activities Requiring Procedural Knowledge• Driving a(n)

– Car• Automatic vs. manual transmission

– Motorcycle– Recreational vehicle (RV)– Car or truck with trailer

• Flying an airplane

• Touch typing

• Texting

• Tying a tie

• Putting on makeup

• Shaving

• Eating with chopsticks

• Hand writing

• Reading

• Dictating to voice recognition software

• Hitting a baseball, golf ball

• Climbing a rope

• Tight rope walking

• Preparing certain elaborate foods

• Playing musical instruments


Procedural Knowledge Issues

• Overcoming habits (e.g., driving on left or right side of the road)

• Design of products to make learning of procedures easier– iPhone that can be used right out of the box without

instruction manual– Touch friendly smart phones for texting– Tutorial to learn to use Dragon Naturally Speaking– Graphical computer interface with menus


Specific Schemas

• Brand image: associations with the brand

• “Brand Personality:” The way the brand would have been described if it were a person (anthropomorphism)—e.g.,– Sincerity– Competence– Ruggedness


The Associative Network of Knowledge

• Also known as “spreading activation”• Once concept “triggers” other concepts which, in

turn, trigger more relevant or related ideas• This is an efficient way for the brain to access

information when it is needed• The process is involuntary—cannot deliberately

suppress the associations• This type of association is related to attitudes


Associate Network of Knowledge

FAT

PEANUTS

MITTROMNEY

ZOOMEDICINE

7 BLIND MEN

ELEPHANT

PEANUTBUTTER

REPUBICANPARTY

TIGER

GIRAFFE

TRUNK

SANDWICH


APPLE FRUIT

DESKTOP

INNO-VATION

PORTABLE

iPAD

HEALTHYLAPTOP

CASKET

DEAD STEVE JOBS

E-MAIL

GOSSIPiPHONE

SOAPOPERAS

SPREAD-SHEET

TRAVEL

TV

PEAR

TEXTING

REPORT

JUICY

iTUNES

PRINTER

MONITOR

GRANDMA

FINANCE

FUNERAL


Uses of Associative Networks of Knowledge

• Identification of associations with a brand, product category, or brand within a category (e.g., Nike basketball shoes)

• Identification of desired associations and communications planning to achieve these

• Dealing with undesirable associations—e.g., KFC rather than Kentucky Fried Chicken


Scripts

• Knowledge of steps needed to carry out an activity– Make it easier to carry

out routine activities with limited conscious involvement

– For novel or infrequent experiences, lack of a script can make these difficult

• Practical implications– Inclusion of specific

brand names as defaults (e.g., for oil change, drive to Jiffy Lube which will use Pennzoil when changing your oil and filter)

– Advertisements to make an activity easier


Categorization

• Taxanomical structure where exemplars are organized into categories

• Levels– Superordinate– Basic– Subordinate– Category members

(exemplars)

• In general, the basic category level is recognized faster than superordinate and subordinate


Graded Structure

• Some exemplars are “better” examples of category than others– E.g., for the category of

dog, a Germen Shepherd is a better example than a Yorkshire Terrier

– Better examples are retrieved more easily


Prototypicality

• The “perfect” example• May not correspond

with reality• Often more abstracted

(simplified)


Blurring of product category and brand name distinctions

• Some commonly used category descriptors and verbs not intended to refer to the specific brand– Xerox (photo copy)– Kleenex (facial tissue)– To “FedEx” a package

(possibly with another carrier)

• Implications of brand name misuse– Possible loss of

trademark protection in extreme cases (“genericide”—extremely rare in practice)

– Default choice in the product category

– Positioning against the prototype


Knowledge flexibility

• Goal derived categories--e.g., – Things to eat and do

while on a diet– Baby care items

• Construal level: The generality or specificity with which a goal is described

• Influences on categorization– Culture (“Women, fire,

and dangerous things”)– Expertise


Memory and retrieval

• Sources of failure– Decay (knowledge has

been left unaccessed for a long period of time)

• Geographical directions• Lock combinations• Foreign languages• Activities and associated

needs (including brand information)

– Interference• Proactive: Existing

knowledge interferes with learning new info

• Retroactive: New knowledge dominates over earlier knowledge

• Timing– Primacy– Recency

• Retrieval errors


Stimuli Characteristics and Memory

• Some stimuli are better remembered– Salience– Prototypicallity– Redundancy– Medium of processing

(combination of sensory input)

• Retrieval cues– Stimuli that facilitate

activation of memory• Situations (goals)• Colors and shapes• Fit with product function

(e.g., Mr. Clean)


Consumer characteristics and memory

• Mood (congruence)• Expertise

Documents

MKT 450 MEMORY, KNOWLEDGE, COMPREHENSION, AND CATEGORIZATION Lars Perner, Instructor 1 MEMORY, KNOWLEDGE, COMPREHENSION, AND CATEGORIZATION