Personality
Personality is the relatively long-lasting personal quality that allow as to respond to the world around us. Personalities, therefore are meaningful to consumer and thus of importance to marketing manager. It is the personality of the consumer which guide and directs the behavior chosen to accomplish goals in different situation.
Personality signifies the inner psychological characteristics that reflect how a person reacts to his environment. Personality shows the individual choices for various products and brands. It helps the marketers in deciding when and how to promote the product. Personality can be categorized on the basis of individual traits, likes, dislikes etc.
Though personality is static, it can change due to major events such as death, birth or marriage and can also change gradually with time. By connecting with the personality characteristics of an individual, a marketer can conveniently formulate marketing strategies.
Definition of Personality
It can be defined as a consistent pattern of responses to the world across situation and overtime. it is an internalized system which include all the aspects of a person that are inherited as well as those that are learned. Personality is the composite sum of an individual traits, characteristics motive, attitude, belief and outlook.
- According to Carl Rogers, personality is self, an organized, permanent, subjectively perceived entity which is at the very heart of all our experiences.
- According to Freuds Ludans, personality means how a person affects others & how he understands & views himself as well as the pattern of inner & outer measurable traits & the person-situation interaction.
In simple terms, personality means “The inner psychological characteristics that both determine and reflects how a person responds to his or her environment”
There are two broads new on development of personality
- State Approach to personality - This approach advocates that an individual should be understood as a whole. Here the focus is on understanding the individual response tendencies under variety of condition. This approach takes into account external influence like family, group, peers, and cultural e.tc on an individual behavior.
- Trait Approach to personality – Personality traits are consistent tendencies to respond to a given situation in certain ways. The fundamental assumption of trait theory is that all individual share the same trait though they are exhibited at different levels for different groups resulting in different personalities.
Personality & Consumer Behavior
The association between consumer behavior and personality may be stronger for some consumer than for others. Certain type of personality traits may be more related to consumer behavior that others. We take the following influence: -
- Optimal Stimulation level (OSL) – Some activities have the potential to provide us with some sort of physiological arousal. Those with high stimulation needs are likely to be the innovators, seek information about new products and engage in variety seeking behavior.
- Dogmation – Consumer can also vary in terms of how open or closed minded they are. Dogmation refers to an individual tendency to be more resistant to change and new idea. Different group consider different level of arousal as optimal.
- Need for cognition – Individual may vary in terms in terms of how much pleasure they derive from effortful thinking, deliberating and contemplating. Consumer who enjoys thinking about things like products, attributes and benefits would be high in need of cognition. Those who are low need for cognition do not like to deliberate much and prefer shortcut.
- Susceptibility to Influence – Some consumer has a greater desire to enhance their image as observed by others and therefore is willing to be influenced or guided by them. Also, consumer with low social and information processing confidence tends to be more influenced by ads.
- Self-monitoring behavior – Individual differ in degree to which they look to others for cues on how to behave. High self-monitor is typically sensitive to the desire and influence of others to guide their own behavior and low self-monitor are guided more by their own preference and desire and are less influenced by normative expectation.
Trait Theories
The Psychoanalytic Theory of Freud: Sigmund Freud, the father of psychology, became famous with his psychoanalytic theory of personality. In fact, the theory is regarded as the cornerstone of modern psychology. Sigmund based his theory on certain assumptions which is as follows Unconscious needs or drives lie at the heart of human motivation and personality. The socialization process that takes place within people in a social set up has a huge impact on individual behavior. Freud explained much of how the psyche or the mind operates, and proposed that, human psyche is composed of parts within our awareness and beyond our awareness.
He said that all behavior within an individual cannot be explained, much lies in the subconscious.
- Id − According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, the id operates based on the pleasure principle, which stresses on immediate fulfilment of needs. The id is the personality component made up of unconscious psychic energy which satisfies basic urges, needs, and desires.
- Ego − Ego is that state of awareness which thinks of you as separate from the other. It always thinks of the glories of the past and hopes of the future and focuses on guiltiness. It always thinks of what was and what could be.
- Super Ego − The superego provides guidelines for making judgments. It is the aspect of personality that holds all our moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents.
Neo-Freudian Theory
There were a group of psychologists who believed that social interaction and resultant relationships formed the basis for the growth and development of personality. Here, they disagreed with their contemporary, Freud, who believed that personality was Biological and rooted in genetics, and Was groomed as a result of early childhood experiences. This group of researchers who laid emphasis on the process of socialization came to be known as the Neo. To form a personality, social relationships are very important.
Based on this, consumers are classified into three personality types
- Complaint Personalities − They prefer love and affection and so they move towards them and so they prefer known brands.
- Aggressive Personalities − They tend to move against others and they show off their need for power, success etc. which is quite manipulative.
- Detached Personalities − They are not much aware of brands and are more self-reliant and independent.
Marketers also tend to use Neo-Freudian theories while segmenting markets and positioning their products.
