1.
PERSONALIT Y &
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
- B Y V I J A Y A L A X M I J E N A

2.
INTRODUCTION
Marketers have long tried to appeal to consumers in
terms of their personality characteristics. They have
intuitively felt that consumers purchase, and when and
how they consume, are likely to be influenced by
personality factors.
For this reason marketing and advertising people have
frequently depicted specific personality traits or
characteristics in their making and advertising
messages.

3.
CONTENTS
• Definition
• Nature
• Types
• Theories
• Personality and understanding consumer diversity
-consumer innovativeness and related personality traits
-cognitive factors
-from consumer materialism to compulsive
consumption
-consumer ethnocentrism
• Brand personality
-types

4.
DEFINITION
Personality can be defined as those
inner characteristics that
determines and reflects how an
individual responds to his or her
environment.
Those characteristics said are the
attributes, traits, qualities, factors
and mannerism that distinguish
one individual from the other.

5.
NATURE
1. Personality reflects
individual differences.
2. Personality is
consistent and
enduring.
3. Personality can
change.

6.
TYPES

7.
THEORIES
A) FREUDIAN THEORY &
PRODUCT PERSONALITY
Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic
theory of personality.
It comprises of Id, Ego, and
Superego.

8.
B) NEO-FREUDIAN PERSONALITY THEORY
This theory is also called as socio-analytic theory.
the researchers here believed that social relationships are fundamental
to the formation and development of personality.
“KAREN HORNEY” proposed 3 types of personality groups:-
a) Compliant individuals-who move towards others (desire to be loved
,wanted & appreciated)
b) Aggressive individuals-who move against others (desire to excel & win
admiration)
c) Detached individuals-who move away from others (desire
independence , self-sufficiency, and individualism or freedom)

9.
C) TRAIT THEORY
• Personality theory with a focus on psychological
characteristics.
• Trait- any distinguishing, relatively enduring way in which one
individual differs from another.
• Personality is to linked to how consumers make their choices
or to consumption of a broad product category-not a specific
brand

10.
PERSONALITY & UNDERSTANDING
CONSUMER DIVERSITY

11.
CONSUMER INNOVATIVENESS RELATED
PERSONALITY TRAITS
> Innovativeness > Optimum Stimulation Level
 Dogmatism > Sensation Seeking
> Social character > Variety-novelty seeking
> Need for uniqueness

12.
CONSUMER INNOVATIVENESS
The degree to which
consumers are receptive to
new products, new services or
new practices.

13.
DOGMATISM
A personality trait that reflect the degree of rigidity a person
displays towards the unfamiliar and toward information that
is contrary to his or her own established beliefs.
Consumers low in dogmatism (open-minded) are more
likely to prefer innovative products to established or
traditional alternatives

14.
SOCIAL CHARACTER
Inner –directed
• Consumers who tend to rely on their on
their own inner values.
• More likely to be innovators
• Tend to prefer ads that stress product
features and benefits
Other-directed
• Consumers who tend to look to others
for direction.
• Less likely ot be innovators
• Tend to prefer ads that feature social
acceptance.

15.
NEED FOR UNIQUENESS
Consumers who avoid appearing to conform (being conventional)
to expectations or standards of others.

16.
OPTIMUM STIMULATION LEVELS (OSL)
• A personality trait that measures the
level or amount of novelty or
complexity that individuals seek in their
personal experiences.
• High OSL consumers tend to accept
risky and novelty products more
readily than low OSL consumers.

17.
SENSATION SEEKING
• A personality trait characterized by the need for varied, novel, and
complex sensations, experiences and willingness to take physical and
social risks for the sake of such experience.

18.
VARIETY NOVELTY SEEKING
• A personality trait similar to
OSL which measures a
consumer’s degree to variety
seeking.
• There appear to many different
types of consumer variety
seeking:
-exploratory purchase behavior
(switching brands to new,
different, and possible better
alternatives)
-use innovativeness (using an

19.
COGNITIVE PERSONALITY FACTORS
• Need for recognition
A person’s craving for enjoyment of thinking to use a product.
• Visualizers versus verbalizers
a person’s preference for information presented visually(i.e. TV, Internet) or verbally(i.e. Radio)

20.
FROM CONSUMER MATERIALISM TO
COMPULSIVE CONSUMPTION
• Consumer materialism
the extent to which a person is considered
“materialistic”
• Fixed consumption behavior
consumers fixated on certain products or
categories of products.
• Compulsive consumption behavior
“addicted” or “out-of-control” consumers.

21.
CONSUMER ETHNOCENTRISM
• Ethnocentrism consumers feel it is
wrong to purchase foreign-made
products.
• They can be targeted by stressing
nationalistic themes.

22.
BRAND PERSONALITY
• Brand personality is as if “making the brand alive”
• The attribution of human personality traits (seriousness, warmth, imagination,
etc.) to a brand as a way to achieve differentiation.
• Usually done through long-term advertising and appropriate packaging and
graphics.
• These traits inform brand behavior through both prepared
communication/packaging , etc.
and through the people who represent the brand- its employees.
• The way in which it speaks of its products or services shows what kind of
person it would be if it were human.
• A brand without a personality has trouble gaining awareness and developing
a relationship with customer.

23.
Product personality and Gender
• Assigning of gender as part of personality description is fully consistent with the
marketplace reality that products and services, in general are viewed by consumers as
having a “gender-being.”
• Armed with such knowledge of the perceived gender of a product or a specific brand,
marketers are in a better position to select visual and copy-text for various marketing
messages.
• E.g.: Hero Honda Pleasure- “why should boys have all the fun”
: Gillette Venus .
Feminine products
*Cleaning, Home care products
Masculine products
*gadgets, bikes, cars, etc.

24.
Product personality and geography
• Certain products, in the minds of consumers, possess a strong geographical
association.
• Using the geographical association can create geographic equity
• E.g. : Banarasi sarees

25.
Personality
and color
Color
combinations in
packaging and
products
denotes
personality
Red Exciting, passionate
strong
• Makes food smell better
• Coffee in a red can perceived as
“rich”
• Women have a preference of
bluish red
• Men have for yellowish red
• Coca cola own red
Green Secure, natural,
relaxed, easy-going,
living things
• Good work environment
• Associated with vegetables
& chewing gum
Black Sophistication,
power, authority ,
mystery
• Powerful clothing
• High-tech electronics
White Goodness , purity,
cleanliness, delicacy,
refinement, formality
• Suggests reduced calories
• Pure & wholesome food
• Clean, bath products

26.
CONCLUSION
Personality are likely to
influence the individual’s
product choices. They affect the
way consumers respond to
marketers’ promotional efforts,
and when, where and how they
consume particular products or
services. Therefore, the
identification of specific
personality characteristics
associated with consumer
behavior has proven to be
highly useful in the
development of a firm’s market