Chapter 6:

Personality &
Psychographics
Consumer Behavior: A
Framework
John C. Mowen
Michael S. Minor
Key Concepts
 Personality  Product images
 Psychographics and self-images
 Psychoanalytic  Symbolic
approach interactionism
 Trait theory  Consumer
 Self-concept lifestyle
 VALSII
 LOV scale
Personality. . .
. . . is defined as “the distinctive patterns of
behavior, including thoughts, and emotions,
that characterize each individual’s adaptation
to the situations of his or her life.”
 The goal is to identify personality variables

that distinguish large groups of people from

each other.
 Individual difference variables describe how

one person varies from another in his or her

distinctive patterns of behavior: include
personality, self-concept, psychographic, and
even demographic variables.
Self-concept . . .
. . . is defined as the “totality of the
individual’s thoughts and feelings
having reference to himself as an object.
 People have a strong need to act
consistently with who and what they think
they are.
 People purchase products and services to
build their self-image and to express
themselves to others.
Psychographic analysis is .
..

. . . the
attempt to
measure the
life-styles of
consumers.
 Personality has four essential
characteristics:
 Behavior must show consistency over time.
 Behavior should distinguish the person from
others.
 Personality characteristics are not rigidly
connected to specific types of behavior.
 Personality variables often moderate the
effects of other variables on behavior.
 Freud’s Psychoanalytic
Theory
Personality results
from the clash of 3
forces - the id, the
ego, and the superego
 The id represents
physiological drives
 The ego acts to curb
the appetites of the
id
 The superego is the
conscience or “voice
within”
Key Issues in
Psychoanalytic Approach
 Basis for motivational researchers of 1950s.
 Places high emphasis on symbols
 phallic, ovarian, and death symbols
 Libido--sexual energy that can be released by
phallic and ovarian symbols.
 Pleasure principle: basis for functioning of id.
 Reality principle: basis for functioning of ego.
 Death wish--elicited by death symbols.
 Large impact on research methods
 depth interviews
 focus groups
Trait Theory
 A trait is any characteristic in which one person differs
from another in a relatively permanent and consistent
way.
 A person’s personality is described in terms of a
particular combination of traits.
 To be useful trait measures must be shown to be valid
(I.e., they measure what they are said to measure)
and reliable (I.e., the measures show consistency over
time)
The 3M Model of Motivation and
Personality
 Developed by John Mowen as a means of providing an
organizational structure for understanding personality.
 Traits organized into four levels based upon their
abstraction
 Elemental traits: most basic arising from genetics and

early learning history.

 Compound traits: cross-situational predispositions

arising from combinations of elemental traits and the

cultural environment: e.g., need for activity.
 Situational traits: predispositions to act within general

situational contexts: e.g., health motivation.

 Surface traits: enduring dispositions to act within

specific contexts: e.g., health diet lifestyle.

 The Eight Proposed Elemental
Traits
 Openness to  Emotional
experience stability
 Conscientiousnes  Need for material

s resources
 Extroversion  Need for arousal

 Agreeableness  Need for body

resources
Note: the 3M Model proposes that humans have 4
Basic resource needs: social resources
(agreeableness),
Information resources (openness to experience),
material
 Example of 3M Model: Predicting
Bargaining Proneness
 Research Question: what are the elemental, compound
and situational traits predictive of the surface trait of
bargaining proneness?
 The motivational network diagram on next slide shows
the results for a study of over 200 adults which is
reported in the book, The 3M Model of Motivation and
Personality (Kluwer Academic Press, 2000).
 As shown in the diagram, the motivational network
consists of all elemental traits (except extroversion), the
compound traits of competitiveness and need for
information, and the situational trait of value
consciousness.
 Motivational Network of Bargaining
Proneness
Openness

Conscient

Extrav Info needs, .44

Value
Agree Conscious, .30 Bargaining,
- .34
Instabilit - Compete, .40

-
Material Note: numbers indicate the
Needs amount of variance accounted
for in need for information,
Arousal competitiveness, value
consciousness,
Body and bargaining proneness.
 Additional consumer traits
 coupon proneness—surface trait.
 value consciousness—situational trait.
 attention to social comparison information--extent that
people conform to social pressures—compound trait
 tolerance for ambiguity. How comfortable someone is
with new situations and products—compound trait.
 Need for cognition. Desire for information—possibly an
elemental trait.
 Separateness-connectedness. extent that people see their
self-concept as separated from others or as connected to
others—compound trait
 need for arousal—elemental trait.
 materialism—elemental trait—the importance a person
places on material possessions.
 Compulsive Buying as a
Trait
 Defined as a chronic, repetitive
purchasing that becomes a primary
response to negative feelings.
 In 3M Model is a surface trait, predicted
by:
 Impulsiveness emotional instability
 Material needs low conscientiousness
 And introversion
The Self-Concept in
Consumer Research

 The Self-concept represents the

“totality of the individual's
thoughts and feelings having
reference to himself as an object.”
People have more than
one self-concept:
 The actual self  The situational
 The ideal self self
 The social self  The extended self
 The ideal social  The possible
self selves
 The expected self  The connected vs.
separated selves
Symbolic Interactionism
and the Self

 Symbolic interactionism views

consumers as living in a symbolic
environment, and how people
interpret these symbols
determines the meanings derived.
 The Self-Concept and
Product Symbolism
 Products most likely to be used as
symbols have three characteristics:
 They must have visibility in use
 The product must show variability
 The product must have
personalizability
Materialism: You Are What You
Own

 Materialism is the
importance a
consumer
attaches to
worldly
possessions
 Four (4) types of
possessions help to
make up our personal
sense of self:
 Body and body  Places and time
parts periods
 Objects  Persons and pets
Life-Style and
Psychographic Analysis
 Life-style refers to how people live,
how they spend their money, and
how they allocate their time

 Life-style and personality are

different, yet are closely related
 The distinction between
personality and life-style:
 Personality refers to the internally based
dispositions of the person. In contrast, life-
style refers to the external manifestations of
how a person lives.
 Psychographics is the quantitative
investigation of consumers’ life-styles,
personality, and demographic
characteristics.
AIO statements identify
consumer activities, interests,
and opinions
 Activity questions ask consumers to indicate
what they do, what they buy, and how they
spend their time.
 Interest questions focus on what the
consumers’ preferences and priorities are.
 Opinion questions ask for consumers’ views
and feelings on such things as world, local,
moral, economic, and social affairs.
SRI developed two
psychographic inventories:
VALS and VALS 2
 VALS is based upon motivational
and developmental psychological
theories particularly Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs theory.
 VALS 2 was developed specifically
to measure consumer buying
patterns.
 The VALS 2 Inventory
 Goal of VALS 2 is to identify specific relationships between
consumer attitudes and purchase behavior.
 Three self-identify orientations: principle oriented people,
status oriented people, and action oriented people.
 Three resource orientations: financial, psychological, and
material. Based upon total number of resources, people
could be categorized based upon their level of resources.
 VALS 2 used by corporations to understand the basis for
consumer lifestyles, which is useful for developing
promotional strategy and even where to place retail stores
such as The Sharper Image.
The List of Values (LOV)
Scale
 The list of values (LOV) scale was
developed to correct some of the
problems of VALS.
 Goal is to assess the dominant
values of a person (i.e., it does not
use AIO statements).
 Nine values are assessed
by the LOV scale:
 Sense of belonging  Self-fulfillment
 Being well-respected
 Security
 Excitement
 Fun and enjoyment  Sense of
 Warm relationships with accomplishment
others  Self-respect
A Warning
 Psychographic inventories often
result in clever descriptions of a
target market that can result in
stereotypes.
 It can result in managers
disparaging the target group.
 It can cause managers to view the
target market as more
homogeneous than it really is.
 Managerial Implications
 Position and differentiate product based upon the dominant
personality or psychographic characteristic of the target
market.
 Scan the environment to identify the dominant cultural
values of the target market.
 Use market research to identify the personality, self-concept,
and psychographic characteristics that distinguish the target
market.
 Develop promotions to be consistent with the dominant
personality characteristics of target market. Create
products that fulfill the motivational needs of target—e.g.,
low risk products for the low need for arousal group.
 Use personality and psycholographics to identify segments
of consumers to target, such as one-price auto dealers for
low bargain prone.