The predominant view of consumer behaviour is focused upon cognitive psychology. Specifically, before people buy, they engage in a cognitive process involving information held and informa- tion gained from the environment. This is either a complex or simple process depending upon the task. The outcome of this cognitive processing of
information (choice/preference), then, directs purchase behaviour. This view reflects the idea that the ‘core’ of decision-making is the individual’s conscious deliberations. The consumer negotiates purchasing behaviour by carefully evaluating the pros and cons of every purchase.
An alternative view is that consumers are subconsciously reactive and are influenced by their perception of both the physical environment and the behaviour of others within it. Donovan
et al. (1994) make the point that consumer’s emo-
tional responses to environments are directly related to their willingness to engage with it by spending time, money and effort. The design of an environment to enhance positive emotions increases the likelihood that consumers will be receptive.
Mehrabian and Russell (1974) were the first to focus upon an individual’s emotional response to a physical environment, something referred to as environmental psychology. They categorized the range of emotional responses to a physical place as pleasure, arousal and dominance. Pleasure responses can be verbally described as feelings of happiness/unhappiness, satisfaction/dissatis- faction and content/discontent. Arousal responses are verbally described as feelings stimulated/ unstimulated, excited/relaxed and wide-awake/ sleepy. Dominance responses are verbally described as controlling/controlled, influential/influenced and overwhelmed/in control. The emotional responses mediate overt behaviour such as staying in the environment or space, how the individual relates to other and search behaviours. For a more complete discussion, see Foxall and Greenley (1999) and Dawson et al. (1990).
A competing view and one gaining credibility is that consumers often react mindlessly to cer- tain environmental stimuli. This fact had caused a degree of difficulty for the information process- ing adherents since it challenged the whole basis of rational consumption. While a partial solution was to point to ‘instantaneous’ evaluation and impulse behaviours, it did not accommodate the increasing evidence of an emotional and highly malleable set of experience-based effects. Cialdini (2001) provided powerful evidence through a range of experiments for a ‘click-zoom’ response. In other words, certain environmental cues elicited almost instant behaviour change in certain settings. This was supported by the work of Wheeler and Petty (2001), who suggest that perception of the social environment will automatically cause the consumer to behave consistently. The range of
response varies from simple mimicry such as facial expression, or physical disposition (see Chartrand and Bargh, 1999; Johnston, 2002) through to goal contagion (see Aarts et al., 2004) where consumers subconsciously adopt observed behaviours and their associated outcomes. The implications of this work are far reaching as it sug- gests that consumers are highly susceptible to their perception and understanding of their immediate environment. This places environ- mental design, atmospherics and emotional responses at the very forefront of influencing a range of behaviours, that is not the purchase of specific bundles of product benefits, but the con- sumption of a purchase experience. North, Hargreaves and McKendrick (1997) found that playing French music in a supermarket increased the sales of French wine, while playing German music increased the sales of German wine. The theoretical basis of this work provides support for the wide range of research experiments on the effects of music, smell and temperature on buyer behaviour.
At this juncture we move to the final consid- eration in this chapter which falls somewhere between the society and the environment. The idea of a post-modern perspective on consumer behaviour is gaining adherents. The voluminous and insightful commentaries from Brown (1998) as well as the research by Belk (1988), McCracken (1990), Richins (1994) and Cova (1997) drew together a modern sociological stance on con- sumption. The Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, and particularly the work of Marcuse (1964) and Fromm (1976), was instrumental in developing a humanistic perspective on consumption behav- iour. In simple terms a consumer is characterized by what they consume. The individual ‘self’ con- structs a reality through the acquisition of goods, services and experiences. For the purposes of this chapter, observed consumer behaviour is depend- ent upon the model of ‘self’ which has, or is being, constructed by the individual.
According to Shove and Warde (2003), three clear developments led to the current explosion of interest in the philosophy of consumption. The first was the role of consumption behaviour in the process of social differentiation with Bourdieu’s (1984) analysis generating a wealth of activity around the relationship between social position and aspects of lifestyle and consumption. The second development was the concept of collective consumption, particularly institutional theory and the nature of social capital (Castells, 1977 [1972]).
The third development was the emergence of cul- tural studies and multi-disciplinary approaches to analysing the use and meanings of goods and artefacts in everyday life.
The observation that we now inhabit a social world where consumption has replaced work as people’s central life interest (Moorhouse, 1983; Offe, 1985) is already being subjected to critical analysis with western consumer culture being criticized on a number of fronts. These include the exclusion of large sections of the population of the world from the benefits associated with consump- tion. Material prosperity seemingly fails to bring happiness or improved satisfaction, materialism compromises social and spiritual values and leads to isolationism and a scarcity mentality; mass cul- ture is vulgar, degrading and panders to the low- est denominator, etc. But perhaps the most current concern is the impact of our expanding levels of consumption upon our natural environment (e.g. Gabriel and Lang, 1995). This criticism is largely associated with globalization and the increasing prevalence of consumer culture. This reflective stance from consumer behaviourists may yet cause the study of consumption to change its focus from improving or enhancing consumption to reducing and minimizing the impact of consumption.
Conclusion
As stated at the beginning of this chapter, con- sumer behaviour is a particularly challenging field of study. Not only does it require considera- tion of a wide range of theoretical material and perspectives, but, like any aspect of human behaviour, it is very difficult to deal in absolutes. That having been said it is also one of the most interesting, dynamic, challenging and frustrating areas of study.
The contribution that marketing has made to our understanding is often overlooked. Without marketing and its need to understand how con- sumers behave, there is no reason to believe that the economic, psychological or sociological discip- lines would have turned their attention to the study of mere customers. Marketing researchers are approaching a time when their efforts will be increasingly recognized due to the general applica- bility of their work on consumption. The applic- ation of marketing principles in non-traditional spheres of health, public policy, not for profit, inter- national aid, environmental protection and secur- ity, provides increasing demand for more applied
understanding of consumers and their consump- tion behaviour.
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