An Analysis of the Fundamentals of Marketing (part 23)

Stimulus Control

by

Charles Lamson

The idea of stimulus control relates to the idea that the environment affects an organism after, as well as before, it responds. Stimuli, responses and consequences become linked together so that a situation that is present when a response is reinforced acquires some control over the response. A response reinforced on one occasion is very likely to occur on a very similar occasion. One can use both concepts to explain marketing behavior, e.g. copy-cat brands seek to benefit by mimicking one or more of the characteristics of successful brands. However, when behavior is reinforced only when a particular property is present, that property acquires exclusive control through a process called discrimination (Skinner, 1974). For example, a store logo can act as a discriminative stimulus for pleasant shopping experience and good service - this reinforcer being contingent on entering a shop and speaking to an assistant.

Shaping

Shaping is the gradual forming of behavior using operant conditioning. Behaviorists believe that complex new behaviors do not usually appear spontaneously. More often apparently radical changes in behavior are underscored by a number of small incremental steps. For example, a person may seem to engage in a radical change by switching from store A to store B for his weekly shop. On closer examination it is likely that the person had overheard a conversation about how good store B was, had read something positive about store B in the newspaper and when passing store B had been favorably impressed with its attractive window display. They had then visited the store and browsed without buying anything, although they were impressed by the bright, clean, well lit store, the variety of goods on display, the competitive prices, the reward scheme and the helpful staff. They had done a proportion of shopping there, gaining a high level of reinforcement on each occasion relative to their usual store until the switch was made. In order to get the customer to try the store, marketers had to experiment with different designs, etc., to find out which aspects of the store environment act to maximize feelings of satisfaction and also how to minimize those aspects that detract from this.

Chaining

Chaining explains how secondary reinforcers can be linked with primary reinforcers as part of an extended learning process. For example, a store visit may involve a chain of secondary activities that ultimately lead to the possession of food and other primary reinforcers. This can extend from writing a list to driving to the supermarket, entering the store,  searching for products and selecting items, taking them to the checkout and paying for them. Only the last is obviously is reinforced by receiving the food and other primary reinforcers purchased. Driving, searching and waiting in line are not likely to be reinforcing in that they are not pleasurable in their own right.

Operant model of the Consumer Buying Process

The radical behaviorist model of the consumer buying process developed by Foxall (1996) is shown in Figure 1. It can be seen that the model focuses on external observable factors.

Figure 1 Foxall's Behavioral Perspective Model

Source: Foxall (1996)

The behavioral setting is important for understanding the context in which the behavior takes place. Behavioral settings can range from being almost entirely closed, as in the controlled laboratory experiments, to the relatively open settings found in traditional markets. The setting may refer to the physical environment experienced by the consumer or it may refer to the situational aspect of the decision, e.g. whether the purchase is for oneself or a gift for another. Belk (1975) wrote a most informative paper on the subject of the settings. In his view settings are not simply bounded in time and space but also comprise an action pattern. Different settings require different forms of behavior regardless of who is present: a wedding, a football match; a funeral; a birthday party; a work context. In seeking to explore this notion of the setting further, Belk came up with the following taxonomy:

• Physical: surrounding, geographical and institutional location, decor sounds, aromas, lighting and weather.
• Temporal: time since last purchase, meals, payday, seasons and time vof the day.
• Task definition: Shopping for small item or large. Shopping for self or gift? Eating at home, going to a party.
• Antecedent states: e.g. moods.

Taking each in turn and thinking about it, you can see the setting plays a major role in the purchase process. Managers in modern consumption contexts often seek to close the setting as much as possible in order to encourage consumers to conform to the behavior program that they have devised. In modern supermarkets every aspect of the setting has been subjected to careful scrutiny in seeking to ensure that each shopping visit has the potential to yield as great a return as possible - from the exterior look of the building to the lighting, arrangement of produce, staff appearance and arrangement of checkouts. Have you ever been tempted to barter in a supermarket setting? If no, then why not? Has this got anything to do with the way the setting has been arranged? In relatively open settings the consumer is relatively free to follow her own rules. for example in browsing for luxury goods, one can choose which stores to visit, whether or not to invite staff to help.

As we grow older the world seems to expand around us as we learn about kinds of products, consumption rituals and the various settings in which these are to be found. Often there are interesting interactions between the setting and a person's consumption history. Foxall (1996) cites the rather extreme example about an elderly Dutch lady who visited a hypermarket on her first trip to Utrecht and spent three days in the store before being rescued by the police, because she could not find the exit. She later explained that she had been afraid to ask others how to get out. Foxall responds sympathetically. He does not find her situation funny; store designers often make way-finding difficult. Try to remember what it is like, for example, when a large store relocates its product lines to new locations. Behavior is the outcome of the coincidence of a specific learning history and of the consumption setting. Depending on the nature of the experience, the behavior may yield a mix of hedonic and informational reinforcement unless of course an aversive situation occurs such as that which happened in to the lady in Utrecht.

Foxall combines a variety of settings and of patterns of reinforcement to describe four different kinds of buying behavior.

• Maintenance. In a comparatively open setting this describes the routine food shopping which provides relatively low levels of reinforcement compared with other categories. Foxall 1996) also places hairdressing in this category, as it is a routine purchase of a necessity. It could be argued that this is much more important to people than that, particularly when it goes wrong. In a closed setting this includes restricted behaviors such as completing tax returns or obtaining a passport.
• Accumulation. This describes the state where a consumer obtains high levels of feedback from purchasing but the item itself does not yield a great amount of pleasure. It could be the situation where purchasers are rewarded with tokens or points of some kind. In an open setting this would include collecting behavior where a person is collecting tokens or coupons. In a closed setting this could include air miles.

• Pleasure. This describes activties such as watching television in an open setting, which often provides a high level of enjoyment and relaxation. In a closed setting, this might entail watching a video display while waiting in line or an inflight film.
• Accomplishment. in open settings this will include pre-purchase search and evaluation of goods that confer status and high informational reinforcement. Or again it might include reading literature.

*SOURCE: FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING, 2007, MARILYN A. STONE AND JOHN DRESMOND, PGS. 96-99*

                                  

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