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Chapter 4:
LEARNING AND
MEMORY
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
When students finish this chapter, they should understand why:
1. It is important to understand how consumers learn about products and services.
2. Conditioning results in learning.
3. Learned associations with brands generalize to other products.
4. There is a difference between classical and instrumental conditioning, and both
processes help consumers learn about products.
5. We learn about products by observing others’ behavior.
6. Our brains process information about brands to retain them in memory.
7. The other products we associate with an individual product influence how we
will remember it.
8. Products help us to retrieve memories from our past.
9. Marketers measure our memories about products and ads.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
It is important to understand how consumers learn about products and services.
Learning is a change in behavior that experience causes. Learning can occur through simple
associations between a stimulus and a response or via a complex series of cognitive
activities.
Conditioning results in learning.
Behavioral learning theories assume that learning occurs because of responses to external
events. Classical conditioning occurs when a stimulus that naturally elicits a response (an
unconditioned stimulus) is paired with another stimulus that does not initially elicit this
response. Over time, the second stimulus (the conditioned stimulus) elicits the response even
in the absence of the first.
Learned associations with brands generalize to other products.
This response can also extend to other, similar stimuli in a process we call stimulus
generalization. This process is the basis for such marketing strategies as licensing and family
branding, where a consumer’s positive associations with a product transfer to other contexts.
There is a difference between classical and instrumental conditioning, and both processes
help consumers learn about products.
Operant, or instrumental, conditioning occurs as the person learns to perform behaviors that
produce positive outcomes and avoid those that result in negative outcomes. Whereas
classical conditioning involves the pairing of two stimuli, instrumental learning occurs when
reinforcement occurs following a response to a stimulus. Reinforcement is positive if a
reward
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
4-1follows a response. It is negave if the person avoids a
negave outcome by not
performing a response.
Punishment occurs when an
unpleasant event follows a
response. Exncon of the
behavior will occur if
reinforcement no longer
occurs.
We learn by observing others’ behavior.
Cognitive learning occurs as the result of mental processes. For example, observational
learning occurs when the consumer performs a behavior because of seeing someone else
performing it and being rewarded for it.
Our brains process information about brands to retain them in memory.
Memory is the storage of learned information. The way we encode information when we
perceive it determines how we will store it in memory. The memory systems we call sensory
memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory each play a role in retaining and
processing information from the outside world.
The other products we associate with an individual product influence how we will remember
it. We do not store information in isolation; we incorporate it into knowledge structure where
our brains associate it with other related data. The location of product information in
associative networks, and the level of abstraction at which it is coded, help to determine when
and how we will activate this information later. Some factors that influence the likelihood of
retrieval include the level of familiarity with an item, its salience (or prominence) in memory,
and whether the information was presented in pictorial or written form.
Products help us to retrieve memories from our past.
Products also play a role as memory markers. Consumers use them to retrieve memories
about past experiences (autobiographical memories). We often value them because they are
able to do this. This function also encourages the use of nostalgia in marketing strategies.
Marketers measure our memories about products and ads.
We can use either recognition or recall techniques to measure memory for product information.
Consumers are more likely to recognize an advertisement if it is presented to them than they
are to recall one without being given any cues. However, neither recognition nor recall
automatically or reliably translates into product preferences or purchases.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior that is caused by
experience. A consumer can learn from direct experience or vicariously by
observing events that affect others.
A. We can learn without even trying—just observing brand names on shelves. This
casual, unintentional acquisition of knowledge is called incidental learning.
B. Theories of learning include those that focus on simple stimulus response
connections (behavioral theories) to those that regard consumers as
complex-problem solvers who learn abstract rules and concepts when they
observe what others say and do (cognitive theories)
II. Behavioral learning theories assume that learning takes place as the result of
responses to external events. Two major approaches to learning represent this view:
classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning.
A. Classical conditioning occurs when a stimulus that elicits a response is paired with
another stimulus that initially does not elicit a response on its own. Over time, this
second stimulus causes a similar response because it is associated with the first
stimulus.
1. This phenomenon was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov’s “dog experiments”
when doing research on digestion in animals.
a. Pavlov induced classical conditioning learning by pairing a neutral
stimulus (a bell) with a stimulus known to cause a salivation response in
dogs (he squirted dried meat powder into their mouths).
b. The powder was an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) because it was
naturally capable of causing the response.
c. Over time, the bell became a conditioned stimulus (CS); it did not initially
cause salivation, but the dogs learned to associate the bell with the meat
powder and began to salivate at the sound of the bell only.
d. The drooling of these canine consumers over a sound, now linked to feeding
time, was a conditioned response (CR).
e. This basic form of classical conditioning demonstrated by Pavlov
primarily applies to responses controlled by the autonomic and
Discussion Opportunity—Present the class with illustrations of learning vicariously and
incidental learning in a consumer context. In reference to each of your illustrations, ask
students what strategies marketers have used or might use to foster such learning.
nervous systems.
2. Classical conditioning can have similar effects for more complex reactions (such
as in automatically using a credit card for purchases).
3. Conditioning effects are more likely to occur after the conditioned stimuli (CS)
and unconditioned stimuli (UCS) have been paired a number of times
(repetition).
4. Repetition increases the strength of stimulus-response associations and prevents
their decay.
5. Conditioning will not occur or will take longer if the CS is only occasionally
paired with the UCS, which results in extinction (when the effects of
conditioning diminish/disappear)
6. Stimulus generalization refers to the tendency of stimuli similar to a CS to
evoke similar, conditioned responses.
a. Pavlov’s dogs might respond to sounds similar to a bell (such as keys jangling).
b. People also react to other, similar stimuli in much the same way they
responded to the original stimulus, a generalization known as the halo effect
(e.g. private label brands).
7. Stimulus discrimination occurs when a stimulus similar to a CS is not
followed by an UCS. When this stimulus happen, reactions are weakened
and disappear. Manufacturers of well-established brands urge consumers not
to buy “cheap imitations.”
8. Marketing Applications of Behavioral Learning Principles
a. Many marketing strategies focus on the establishment of associations
between stimuli and responses. Examples include distinctive brand
image, and linkage between a product and an underlying need.
b. Brand equity is a brand that has a strong positive association in a
consumer’s memory and commands a lot of loyalty as a result.
c. Repetition can be valuable (product associations can become extinct if not
reinforced). Too much repetition, however, results in advertising wear-out
(when consumers become so used to hearing or seeing a marketing
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to think of some examples where a private label
brand “piggy-backed” on a national manufacturer’s brand. How did they try to make the
product appear similar so the associations with the national brand would transfer to the
“me-too” brand? Ask the students whether they feel this is ethical and to support their
opinions.
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students the following: Can you think of some products that have
similar packaging? Similar shapes? Similar names? To what extent do these examples represent
stimulus generalization? In each case, which brand is the primary brand and which brand is
the “me too” brand? Assuming the strategy was intentional, did it work? How can a marketer
achieve stimulus discrimination?
***** Use End of Chapter Review #4-1 Here *****
stimulus that they no longer pay attention to it).
d. Advertisements often pair a product with a positive stimulus to create a
desirable association. The order in which the conditioned stimulus and the
unconditioned stimulus are presented can affect the likelihood that learning
will occur: presenting unconditioned stimulus before the conditioned
stimulus (backward conditioning) is not effective.
e. The process of stimulus generalization is often central to branding and
packaging decisions that attempt to capitalize on consumers’ positive
associations with an existing brand or company name. Strategies include:
i. Family branding (using a company name/positive corporate image
to sell product lines like Campbell’s, Heinz, GE)
ii. Product line extensions (adding related products to an established
brand like Dole, Mr. Clean, Tide)
iii. Licensing (renting a well-known brand to a company that makes a
different type of products like Jamba Juice, Zippo)
iv. Look-alike packaging (when a generic/private-label brand uses
packaging that is similar to the national manufacturer’s brand). The
Lanham Act protects against consumer confusion (protecting
consumers from logos, product designs or packages that are so similar
a typical shopper might mistake one for another).
B. Instrumental conditioning (or operant conditioning) occurs as the individual
learns to perform behaviors that produce positive outcomes and to avoid those that
yield negative outcomes. This approach is closely associated with B.F. Skinner.
1. Although responses in classical conditioning are involuntary and simple,
those in instrumental conditioning are made deliberately to obtain a goal and
may be more complex.
2. Desired behavior is learned in a process called shaping, which
rewards our intermediate actions.
3. Instrumental learning occurs because of a reward received following the
desired behavior.
***** Use Consumer Behavior Challenge #20 Here *****
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to give examples of brands that they perceive have
equity over other brands. As with equity of other assets (such as real estate), can an exact
monetary value be placed on brand equity?
Discussion Opportunity—Have students apply the concept of stimulus generalization to
real examples of family branding or product line extensions. Have them come up with
examples where the stimulus was successfully generalized and examples where it was not.
Discussion Opportunity—Have students brainstorm a list of examples of instrumental
conditioning in marketing. Ask: Which do you think has more application to marketing
— classical or instrumental conditioning?
Discussion Opportunity—Relate the concept of instrumental conditioning to the Internet and
eCommerce through a specific example. Have students point out why they think this example
is an application of instrumental conditioning.
4. Instrumental learning occurs in one of three ways:
a. Positive reinforcement a reward results in a response and appropriate
behavior is learned (a woman wearing perfume and receiving a compliment).
b. Negative reinforcement the absence of a reward results in a response and
appropriate behavior is learned (a woman sitting at home alone because she
is not wearing a certain perfume).
c. Punishment occurs when an unpleasant response follows a behavior. We
learn the hard way not to repeat these behaviors (a woman being ridiculed
for wearing the wrong perfume).
5. When a positive outcome is no longer received, extinction is likely to occur
and the learned stimulus-response connection will not be maintained.
6. An important factor in instrumental conditioning is the set of rules by which
appropriate reinforcements are given for a behavior. Several reinforcement
schedules are possible:
a. Fixed-interval reinforcement (a reward is issued in response to a behavior
after a specified period of time, e.g. seasonal sales)
b. Variable-interval reinforcement (when the reward is issued in
response to a behavior is varied, e.g. secret shoppers)
c. Fixed-ratio reinforcement (the reinforcement occurs after a fixed
number of responses, e.g. grocery store reward when you collect 50
register receipts)
d. Variable-ratio reinforcement (the reinforcement occurs after a varied
number of responses, e.g. slot machines)
7. Marketing Applications of Instrumental Conditioning Principles
a. Principles of instrumental conditioning are at work when a consumer is
rewarded or punished for a purchase decision. Most companies reinforce
consumption.
b. A popular technique called frequency marketing reinforces regular
purchases by giving them prizes with values that increase along with the
amount purchased (e.g. frequent flyer miles).
c. A fast growing strategy is called gamification, which turns routine actions
*****Use End of Chapter Review #4-5 Here *****
Discussion Opportunity—What are some products that promise “good things will happen” if
you buy their products? Can you think of products that tell you that you will be “punished” if
you do not buy them? Can you think of products where you are told that you will be “punished”
if you do buy them or use them? How would this be possible?
Discussion Opportunity—Provide an example of each of the previously mentioned reinforcement
schedules. Ask students: Which of these examples do you think is the most effective and why?
Under what conditions can each of these reinforcement schedules be effectively applied?
into experience as it adds gaming elements to tasks that might otherwise be
boring.
III. Gamification turns routine actions into experiences that closely resemble online video
environments.
A. Endowed progress effect indicated that consumers strive to achieve goals and are
more motivated when they keep working toward a goal.
1. Foursquare supports increasing store and brand loyalty by electing app users
as “mayor” of a location.
2. Social marketing is a concept that includes awarding “badges” when users
complete a goal.
3. 3. Technology allows for the tracking of performance including on the job and
can be used to rate and compare employee performance.
IV. Cognitive learning theory approaches stress the importance of internal mental
processes. This perspective views people as problem solvers who actively use
information from the world around them to master their environment.
Discussion Opportunity—Provide an example of cognitive learning theory. How does this theory
apply to learning on the Internet? Learning about a new brand extension? Learning how to use
a newly purchased complex product?
A. Is Learning Conscious or Not?
1. Proponents of cognitive learning argue that behavioral learning effects are a
function of mental activity that suggests a response will follow a stimulus.
2. There is also evidence for the existence of non-conscious procedural
knowledge— we move toward familiar patterns (automatic responses).
3. We have a tendency to respond to the stimulus in terms of existing
categories we have learned, often cued by a trigger feature (a stimulus that
cues us toward a particular pattern) that activates a reaction.
B. Observational learning occurs when people watch the actions of others and
note the reinforcements they receive for their behaviors—learning occurs
because of vicarious learning rather than direct experience. Memories are stored
for later use.
1. Imitating the behavior of others is called modeling.
2. Four conditions must be met for modeling to occur (see Figure 6.2):
1. The consumer’s attention must be directed to a model that is desirable to
emulate for reasons of attractiveness, competence, status, or similarity.
2. The consumer must remember what is said or done by the model.
3. The consumer must convert this information into actions.
4. The consumer must be motivated to perform these actions.
*****Use Figure 4.2 Here *****
Discussion Opportunity—How have marketers applied the concept of observational learning
to facilitate consumer learning on the Internet? To facilitate consumer learning of software
programs through animated tutorials?
C. Marketing Applications of Cognitive Learning Principles
1.Consumers’ ability to learn vicariously has helped
marketers.
2. Consumers seem to enjoy using “models” as role models and for
guidance in purchasing.
3. The degree to which a person emulates someone else depends on the model’s
social attractiveness (based on physical appearance, expertise, similarity to
evaluator).
V. We learn to be consumers through consumer socialization, the process where we acquire
skills, knowledge, and attitudes relevant to our relationship with the marketplace.
A. Parents instill their own values about consumption in their children and attempt to
control the contact children have with information sources such as television and the
internet.
B. About 90 percent of children under the age of 5 in the United States use the Internet at
least once a week. This allows marketers to push products at children at a very young
age.
C. Marketers segment children based on stages of cognitive development, their ability to
learn concepts of increasing complexity.
1. Children under the age of 6 are said to have limited storage-and retrieval skills.
2. Children between the ages of 6 and 12 use storage-and-retrieval skills primarily
when cued to do so by others.
3. Children 12 years of age and older regularly use strategic employ
storage-and-retrieval processes.
D. Children differ in the message comprehension skills, resulting in regulation by the
Federal Trade Commission that helps protect children from marketplace influences.
VI. Memory is a process of acquiring information and storing it over time so that it
will be available when needed.
A. The contemporary, information-processing approach to memory assumes the mind
is like a computer – data is input, processed, and output for later use in revised
form.
1. In the encoding stage, information is entered in a way the system will recognize.
2. In the storage stage, this knowledge is integrated with what is already in
memory and “warehoused” until needed.
3. During retrieval, the person accesses the desired information.
4. During the consumer decision-making process, we combine internal memory
(what we retrieve) with external memory (e.g. product details on packages).
B. The way we encode (mentally program) information helps to determine how
Discussion Opportunity—Ask students to come up with examples of celebrity endorsers.
Then, have them analyze each endorser according to the principle of observational learning.
Have them think of some “models” that companies probably will not hire again. Why is it, in
some cases, that a company can use a somewhat negative model (like basketball player
Allen Iverson) and still have success?
we will represent it in memory.
1. Types of Meaning
a. A consumer may process a stimulus simply in terms of its sensory meaning
(such as its color or shape).
b. Semantic meaning refers to symbolic associations, such as the idea
that rich people drink champagne or that fashionable men wear
earrings.
2. Episodic memories are events that are personally relevant.
a. Flashbulb memories are those that are especially vivid (such as
memories of where you were when you heard Osama bin Laden had
been killed).
b. One method of conveying product information is through a narrative or
story. Much of what an individual acquires about social information is
received through the narrative or story; therefore, it is a useful marketing
technique for transmitting information.
C. Memory Systems: There are three distinct memory systems: sensory memory,
short- term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM). Figure 6.5
summarizes the interrelationships among these memory systems.
1. Sensory memory stores information we receive from our senses. This
storage is temporary (it only lasts a couple of seconds).
2. If information is retained for further processing, it passes through an attentional
gate
and transfers to short-term memory (STM).
3. STM (working memory) also stores information for a limited period, and its
capacity is limited as it only holds information we are currently processing.
a. The information can be stored either acoustically (in terms of how it sounds).
b. The information can be stored semantically (in terms of what it means).
c. Memory generally stores information by combining small pieces in a
process known as chunking.
1. A chunk is a configuration that is familiar to the person and
can be manipulated as a unit.
2. An example would be a brand name, which summarizes a great
deal of detailed information.
4. Long-term memory is the system that allows us to retain information for a
long period.
a. A cognitive process called elaborative rehearsal allows information to
move from short-term memory to long-term memory.
b. Marketers may help the elaborative rehearsal process when they devise
Discussion Opportunity—Can you give an illustration of each of the forms of meaning or
memory just discussed (sensory meaning, semantic meaning, episodic memory, and
flashbulb memories)? How could these forms of memory be used to motivate purchases?
*****Use Figure 4.5 Here *****
catchy slogans or jingles that consumer repeat on their own.
