Social Pressure And Perception

Solomon Asch Experiment 1958 - A Study Of Conformity

Imagine yourself in the following situation: You sign up for a psychology experiment, and on a specified date you and seven others whom you think are also subjects arrive and are seated at a table in a small room. You don't know it at the time, but the others are actually associates of the experimenter, and their behavior has been carefully scripted. You're the only real subject.

The experimenter arrives and tells you that the study in which you are about to participate concerns people's visual judgments. She places two cards before you. The card on the left contains one vertical line. The card on the right displays three lines of varying length.

The experimenter asks all of you, one at a time, to choose which of the three lines on the right card matches the length of the line on the left card. The task is repeated several times with different cards. On some occasions the other "subjects" unanimously choose the wrong line. It is clear to you that they are wrong, but they have all given the same answer.

What would you do? Would you go along with the majority opinion, or would you "stick to your guns" and trust your own eyes?

To Asch's surprise, 37 of the 50 subjects conformed to the majority at least once, and 14 of them conformed on more than 6 of the 12 trials. When faced with a unanimous wrong answer by the other group members, the mean subject conformed on 4 of the 12 trials. Asch was disturbed by these results: "The tendency to conformity in our society is so strong that reasonably intelligent and well-meaning young people are willing to call white black. This is a matter of concern. It raises questions about our ways of education and about the values that guide our conduct."

Why did the subjects conform so readily? When they were interviewed after the experiment, most of them said that they did not really believe their conforming answers, but had gone along with the group for fear of being ridiculed or thought "peculiar." A few of them said that they really did believe the group's answers were correct.

Apparently, people conform for two main reasons: because they want to be liked by the group and because they believe the group is better informed than they are. Suppose you go to a fancy dinner party and notice to your dismay that there are four forks beside your plate. When the first course arrives, you are not sure which fork to use. If you are like most people, you look around and use the fork everyone else is using. You do this because you want to be accepted by the group and because you assume the others know more about table etiquette than you do.

Reference:

http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/social/asch_conformity.html

consumer behaviour

Over the past three months we have been looking at consumer behaviour patterns and have carried out research at Asda, Sainsbury’s and the co operative. One of our aims from this research was to find out how the global recession is affecting the way people shop.

This report outlines our research into how people behave differently in these stores and if the recession is changing the way these stores are advertising themselves to the consumer.
Our group has chosen five emotive brands (Pepsi, Pampers, Lloyd Grossman sauces, Warburton’s and Lynx) our aim was to discover how they connected with the mind of the consumer. This report will look at theories such as collectivism, individualism and globalisation. It will comment on our findings from the consumer research that was undertaken.
Consumer behaviour is the study of why people buy what they do, and can be explained by researching into the following-
*The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products)
*The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media);
*The behaviour of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions;
*How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer.

All of this research helps marketers to see how they can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and strategies to effectively reach the consumer.

Consumption is a common concept in economics. As human beings we continually consume different products throughout our lives, some of these are basic needs and some of these are desires. Most marketers focus on our desires when introducing a new product for example - you already have a perfectly good car but you want a new one. It may be aspirational or appeal to our emotional side, or insecurities often we feel we have to have it but cannot justify why. One way which advertisers manipulate consumers is through Consumer capitalism - an economic and cultural condition where by the consumer demands are manipulated by the seller to their advantage, this will involve mass marketing techniques and will be on a large scale. People like to feel as though they have free choice over any decision they make, the reality is that they are subconsciously herded towards certain products, Edward Bernays became the “father of public relations” and used psychology and sociology principles together with motivational research techniques to manipulate public opinion and persuaded people to buy products such as cigarettes, which are damaging to ones health. Influences such a PR, past experiences with a brand and peer pressure can change people’s behaviour and views about certain subjects.

Other factors that effect what we buy are the theories of individualism and collectivism these are conflicting views of the nature of humans, society and the relationship between them. Individualists hold the view that the individual is the most important and although they do not deny that societies exist people who hold this view believe that society is made up of individuals.
Collectivist’s hold the view that the group - the nation, the community, the race, etc.
Are the primary unit of reality and the ultimate standard of value. People who hold this view do not deny the reality of the individual. But ultimately, collectivism states that the groups we interact with determine our identity, that our identity is composed of relationships with others.
Different brands can be marketed in both ways e.g. Lynx may make you feel the brand is talking directly to you as a 16 year old male but it is also talking to teenage males as a large group.
Identity is very important “it is not just a set of computerised data that distinguishes one person from another, identity is something much deeper and personal; ultimately it's about personal worth. Our identity is about how we perceive ourselves in relation to our families, our society, our gender, and our beliefs. It's also about how we perceive and value each other.” The brand preferences that we form a young age can distinguish who we are and can feel as though they are part of us.

Pepsi taps into these young people’s minds and connects with them at an early age, Pepsi’s markets itself towards young people with slogans such as “generation next” and “be young have fun drink Pepsi”. Pepsi originally found success by marketing itself as better value than Coca Cola when it introduced a 12 ounce bottle for 5 cents. Coca Cola was twice the price of Pepsi it was a strategy that worked in a time of depression, it boosted Pepsi’s status and by 1936 their profits doubled. This worked for Pepsi when it was first launched, and today Pepsi is using promotion again to try to outsell coca cola, supermarkets are consistently selling Pepsi at a lower promotional price. They seem to be using the strategy of price promotion again. Carbonated drinks tend to struggle with older consumers during recessionary times as they are considered discretionary purchases.
Pepsi still have their own base of loyal customers, who will always choose Pepsi over Coca Cola or any store alternative. It is made up of primarily a younger demographic.
Pepsi’s advertising campaigns frequently use celebrities to endorse their products they spend huge amounts of money to get the product into the minds of the consumers these celebrities can often be in the back of the mind of the consumer when making a purchasing decision.
Pepsi has become a global brand through the process of globalisation. This explained simply it is the process, by which the capitalist world-system spreads across the globe. It has brought about the choice of thousands of products to the masses. Globalisation has brought about free trade broken down barriers of social and cultural differences and meant that it has become easier for brands to have one global identity This has meant that some brands for example Jif have changed to Cif for the European market, and more recently Norwich union which is a very British brand has changed to Aviva, this is so it appeals to the European market.

In 2008 Britain entered the global recession, which has meant that people have had to re evaluate their shopping habits people have cut back on luxury items as their disposable income has shrunk.
They have had to rationalise their purchases the housing market has collapsed and the car industry is struggling everyone is being effected down to supermarket brands which have suffered because people are switching to the store’s own brand.
We carried out an experiment into items that were on promotion versus full price items and watched consumers to see whether price would effect their decision
We carried this experiment out in the crisps and snack aisle.
We found that Walkers were still the most popular product and most people decided to buy the large multipack which were on promotion, however larger families were choosing to buy the store brand multi-pack, which was considerably cheaper, these results are not isolated and show a trend towards people choosing cheaper store brands.

The recession has meant that advertisers have had to think of new strategies to get people spending.
“In advertising, different creative strategies are used in order to obtain consumer attention and provoke shoppers to purchase or use a specific product. Advertisers use different ways of thinking to create catchy slogans that capture consumer attention. Creative strategies promote publicity, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion.”
I have looked at how supermarkets have changed their advertising strategies during the recession. Asda have always been well known for their low prices, in 2008 they introduced a new slogan “why pay more?” Asda knew that its customers would be thinking about how they could save money and they knew most of Britain would be thinking the same. They wanted to attract consumers who currently shopped elsewhere by making price comparisons between all the major supermarkets. They used an independent price checker - my supermarket.com to show people that it wasn’t just false claims.

Sainsbury’s didn’t want to lose their customers to cheaper stores like Asda they knew that they were a higher priced supermarket, so they introduced “feed your family for a fiver”- which involved buying Sainsbury’s own brand products to make recipes.
They also introduced “switch and save” where they encouraged their consumers to switch to Sainsbury’s own brand and save 20% they started to advertise their basics range which they had not done previously.

People can be influenced by their peers into buying or using products or services. It is often more effective than advertising as people know that companies want to sell their products and wouldn’t ever highlight the negative aspects of their product. So consumers often trust family member and friends over any advertising they may have seen.
Peoples buying behaviour is also affected by their economic means, when people have less money they alter their behaviour accordingly they will cut back on discretionary purchases and even though their individuality is important to them they may hold back on large purchases that they want to make because they simply cannot afford them.

Buying behaviour we observed:
We counted people as they went into each store, Asda had the most customers compared to Sainsbury’s, showing that people are aware of Asda’s pricing position and I saw a lot of families and students who may be on a limited budget.
In Asda I was aware that people were much more aware of price, also there wasn’t the same stigmas around choosing economy brands that there were in Sainsbury’s- some people would have trolleys full of smart price food.
Couples- the man would push the trolley and the woman would fill it
I observed an argument over branded Chinese sauce the woman wanted the Sharwoods brand and the man wanted the Asda brand, as it was cheaper. They chose the Asda brand in the end.
I saw people put items back that they had in their trolleys when they saw similar branded items on promotion one example of this was Coca Cola and Pepsi. This was probably to do with the price difference rather than a particular brand preference as they were placed next to each other on the shelves.
People were still buying branded products but they were more aware of price and
promotion played a part in their purchase decision.
Some of the people shopping in Sainsbury’s were young professionals just picking up something for lunch so it was difficult to predict which brands they would buy in a weekly shop.
The majority of people that I observed in Sainsbury’s were older (probably due to the time of day and it was mid-week) but they weren’t as concerned about price, I saw a lot of people continue to buy Andrex toilet roll and McCain’s chips these items were not on promotion. Had it been a family doing a weekly shop I suspect that they may have been more price conscious, as Sainsbury’s money saving campaigns seem to suggest families are concerned about the rising cost of living.
To conclude consumer behaviour changes dramatically in times of economic trouble, people become a lot more aware of the purchases they are making (even if usually the decisions are processed at low attention, with little thought) when money is tight people start to cut back on non essential items and look at cheaper alternatives, brands such as Pepsi have been able to form emotional attachments with their younger more loyal audience, but may have to work hard to attract new ones who may choose lower priced store brands.

are brands in trouble?

branded suppliers were left reeling this week as Tesco and Sainsbury’s both launched concerted campaigns promoting their own-label ranges at the expense of brands.

Sainsbury’s announced a massive Switch & Save campaign, across all media, that will encourage shoppers to buy the retailer’s 15,000 own labels; while the Tesco website, Tesco.com, now flags up a cheaper alternative, usually own-label, when shoppers select a brand. Tesco’s initiative is backed by TV ads showing brands being replaced by cheaper alternatives.

Branded suppliers have reacted angrily to the initiatives, suggesting retailers were deliberately trying to damage brands. The CEO of one leading brand said the push showed the multiples were in trouble. “We are doing well. Evidently they aren’t,” he said. “It says more about them than it does about us.”

Another supplier said he was worried his business would suffer. “I see this as a deliberate attempt to damage my business by promoting competitors. I thought we had been singled out as some form of punishment for not toeing the line,” he said. “We were not told Tesco were doing this: we found out by accident because we check the retail price every day. I’m not happy. Of course it will damage sales.”

A Tesco spokeswoman said the new web feature was just part of its efforts to improve online shopping. “This feature just lets customers do what they can do in our stores – see what’s on offer,” she said. 
A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman said: “Our customers can make significant savings by switching from a brand to any of our own-label products.”

Sainsbury’s surveyed 1,000 people on their attitudes to brands and own labels. The survey showed 51% of consumers believed big brands were losing their importance and 35% thought they represented “pointless added expense”. Sainsbury’s said customers could save 20% by switching to own-label products.

Despite the lower retail price, supermarkets enjoy higher margins on own labels than brands. But The Grocer 33 database suggests own-label products are rising in price more rapidly than brand counterparts.

The Grocer Price Index indicates that while own labels remain significantly cheaper, the gap could be closing. The cost of an average The Grocer 33 basket is up 13.9% year-on-year. Own-label products increased by an average of 18.9% since last year, while brands rose just 8.6%.

The figures suggest Sainsbury’s has the smallest gap between own-label and branded price growth, at 6.9 points. Morrisons appeared highest at 13.9 points, with Waitrose, Asda and Tesco spread evenly in between on 8.7, 10.9 and 12 points respectively.

Individualism in Consumer Behaviour

Individual differences can affect what you buy.
For example, age. Teenagers tend to buy a variety of ‘fashion’ products. These products are usually the ones that are the latest in the market, or are featured in magazines. Older generation tend to use familiar products, maybe products that they’ve used for a long period of time. They show more brand loyalty with their products. They also go for higher end products and ‘stable’ companies that have been around for a long period of time. Maybe not try new things, as they are comfortable with using brands they are familiar with.
Gender can also affect what we buy, too. Women have more disposable products, toiletries, especially make up. They spend a lot of their money on looking good. Whether it be clothing or toiletries. The products they buy are in competition with the same sex. It’s all about ’the longest lashes’ or ’better skin’ when it comes to toiletries. They are a lot more fashion conscious, not necessarily to attract the opposite sex, but to keep up with other females. They go for products that are high fashion, and appear in magazines. Males use products, particularly toiletries, to attract the opposite sex. Although there may be competition between the same sex, this doesn’t seem as big an issue. They go for products that have the ‘cool’ factor. Products that look advanced and are more technological.
Individual tastes can also affect sales. Vegans and vegetarians may only use certain products from selected stores. They don’t go for products that have been tested on animals, so they only shop in stores that have a anti animal testing philosophy. Religion can also affect what consumers buy. For example, Muslims don’t eat pork.
Family life can also affect what people buy. Depending on the size of your family and work, you may not be able to afford the higher end products.

Repetition in learning - Repetition codes.

Repetition codes are not special "codes" so much as they are tricks to try to reduce the error rate. In a repetition code, data is transmitted multiple times, verbatim. The receiver reads enough of these repeats until a clear consensus emerges as to the value of the message.
Perhaps the most popular repetition code is "triple modular redundancy", sending the same message 3 times.
To send n data bits with k repetitions, nk bits need to be transmitted.
Other, more complicated codes can detect and correct occasional single-bit errors with much less overhead, giving a higher goodput data rate through the same channel.


Let's say we have a repeated message of 3 bits that is sent 3 times. When it is received, each message is different:
101
001
100
Because we didn't receive exactly the same message all 3 times, we have detected that some errors occurred.
We can see that the middle bit is almost certainly a 0, because it is the same in all messages. We can also see that the first and the last digit are likely to be a 1 because 2 out of 3 of the messages say that these values are 1. The transmitted message then was most likely 101.

Repetition Theory - Different forms of repetition

alliterationRepetition of the same sound at the beginning of two or more stressed syllables.
assonanceRepetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words.
consonanceThe repetition of consonants in words stressed in the same place (but whose vowels differ). Also, a kind of inverted alliteration, in which final consonants, rather than initial or medial ones, repeat in nearby words.
homoioptotonThe repetition of similar case endings in adjacent words or in words in parallel position.
homoioteleutonSimilarity of endings of adjacent or parallel words.
paroemionAlliteration taken to an extreme — every word in a sentence begins with the same consonant.
paromoiosisParallelism of sound between the words of adjacent clauses whose lengths are equal or approximate to one another. The combination of isocolon and assonance.

Repetition of Words
adnominatio (When synonymous with polyptoton)Repeating a word, but in a different form. Using a cognate of a given word in close proximity.
anadiplosisThe repetition of the last word of one clause or sentence at the beginning of the next.
anaphoraRepetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines.
antanaclasisThe repetition of a word whose meaning changes in the second instance.
antistasisThe repetition of a word in a contrary sense. Often, simply synonymous with antanaclasis.
conduplicatioThe repetition of a word or words in adjacent phrases or clauses, either to amplify the thought or to express emotion.
diacopeRepetition of a word with one or more between, usually to express deep feeling.
diaphoraRepetition of a common name so as to perform two logical functions: to designate an individual and to signify the qualities connoted by that individual's name or title.
epanalepsisRepetition at the end of a line, phrase, or clause of the word or words that occurred at the beginning of the same line, phrase, or clause.
epistropheEnding a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words. The opposite of anaphora.
epizeuxisRepetition of words with no others between.
mesarchiaThe repetition of the same word or words at the beginning and middleof successive sentences.
mesodiplosisRepetition of the same word or words in the middle of successive sentences.
palilogiaRepetition of the same word, with none between, for vehemence. Synonym for epizeuxis.
paregmenonA general term for the repetition of a word or its cognates in a short sentence.
ploceA general term for the repetition of a word for rhetorical emphasis.
polyptotonRepeating a word, but in a different form. Using a cognate of a given word in close proximity.
polysyndetonEmploying many conjunctions between clauses.
symploceThe combination of anaphora and epistrophe: beginning a series of lines, clauses, or sentences with the same word or phrase while simultaneously repeating a different word or phrase at the end of each element in this series.
Repetition of clauses and phrases
anaphoraRepetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or lines.
coenotesRepetition of two different phrases: one at the beginning and the other at the end of successive paragraphs. A specific kind of symploce.
epistropheRepetition at the end of a line, phrase, or clause of the word or words that occurred at the beginning of the same line, phrase, or clause.
isocolonA series of similarly structured elements having the same length. The length of each member is repeated in parallel fashion.
mesarchiaThe repetition of the same word or words at the beginning and middleof successive sentences.
mesodiplosisRepetition of the same word or words in the middle of successive sentences.
repotiaThe repetition of a phrase with slight differences in style, diction, tone, etc.

Repetition of ideas
commoratioDwelling on or returning to one's strongest argument.
disjunctioA similar idea is expressed with different verbs in successive clauses.
epanodosRepeating the main terms of an argument in the course of presenting it.
epimonePersistent repetition of the same plea in much the same words.
exergasiaAugmentation by repeating the same thought in many figures.
expolitioRepetition of the same idea, changing either its words, its delivery, or the general treatment it is given.
homiologiaTedious and inane repetition. Unvaried style.
hypozeuxis
palilogiaRepetition in order to increase general fullness or to communicate passion.
pleonasmusUse of more words than is necessary semantically. Rhetorical repetition that is grammatically superfluous.
scesis onomatonA series of successive, synonymous expressions.
synonymiaThe use of several synonyms together to amplify or explain a given subject or term. A kind of repetition that adds force.
tautologiaThe repetition of the same idea in different words, but (often) in a way that is wearisome or unnecessary.
traductioRepeating the same word variously throughout a sentence or thought.