Social Psychology of Dress
sociofact
"facts of social organization" government, religion, education
metafact
"facts of the mind", behavior, values, attitudes, goals, etc
Structured Observation
"planned" researchers determine what they are watching before observing
Social Psychology's two big ideas
- The Power of situation (or social context) -Our behavior is shaped by our Subjective Constructional or of Situations (Behavior, Perception)
Stimulus Variable Ex
-Clothing Style (masculine v. Feminine) -Fashionability -clothing color -Attractiveness -Grooming
Why Study Dress?
-Dress is one of the many artifacts of culture -Dress is a reflection of mentifacts -Dress is a reflection of sociofacts
QUANlitative Research Techniques
-analyze and understand consumer preferences -use data from large collection -survey/experiment
disadvantages of interviews
-costly -time consuming -interviewer may bias responses by universal responses
Modesty Immodesty
-covering certain parts due to shame -dressing the body parts to draw attention
Adornment/Ornamentation
-dressing the body to make it aesthetically pleasing -express our creativity by decorating, shaping, altering
Ethnography in Action Adidas
-ethnographic researchers spent 24 hrs with customer -Findings: customers wanted products to help them live healthy lifestyles -New Strategies: from "impossible is nothing" to "All in"
QUALitative Research Techniques
-explore subjective perceptions/opinions -involve a small # of consumers -
Research allows companies to: (3)
-identify & understand consumers -realize problems/opportunities -to make better decisions
Dress as a form of protections refers to-
-maintains physical comfort in hostile environments -provides psychological comfort
advantages of interviews
-may obtain info not normally obtained -gain a deeper, richer understanding -can clarify, probe, evolve
perceiver variable ex
-self monitoring (pays attention to interpersonal cues) -self consciousness (persons attention to focus on themselves) -demographic characteristics -visual acuity
Focus Group Interviews
-small # of consumers -used to understand general behaviors and responses -moderator plays a key role -8-12 participants
impression formation
-store image -brand image
Research in action: Timbaland's revenue went flat
-two year study -18,000 people across 8 countries -sales improved in every global climate ***zero'd in on its IDEAL CUSTOMER
body supplements relate to the body in several ways (5)
-wrapped around -suspended from -shaped to the body -attached to body/garment -held by body
4 Basics Types of Schemas
1. Person 2.Self 3.Role 4. Event (script)
Person Perception Livesley & Bromleys 4 stage process model CIEA
1.Cue Selection 2.Interpretative Inference 3.Extended Inference 4.Anticipatory Set
80/20 rule
20% of users account for 80% of sales
Advantages and Disadvantages of Unstructured Observation
A- deep insights and rich description D- intrusive,can result in researcher bias
Marketers have to understand the wants and needs of
Different consumer segments
Why we study dress?
Dress is one of the most interesting aspects of social behavior Everyone has to "dress" their body
What is Dress
Dress is the total arrangement of all outwardly detectable modifications of the body and material objects added to it. used as noun or verb
Subculture commonalities (5)
Geographic areas Lifestyle Interest Beliefs social structures language
Social Cognition
MENTAL PROCESS that focuses on how people make sense of themselves and others
what makes us pay attention to some cues and ignore others?
Novel Ques (unusual) Salience (depend of perceiver)
Lives are shaped by (5)
Our values and beliefs and world views language lifestyle traditions product of human workmanship
Conducting research is a
Process; 1.formulating questions 2.gathering data 3.analysis of data 4. formulation of conclusion
Types of Research
Qualitative Quantitative
structured interview
Same questions are asked to all participants (developed before interview)
Sociology
The study of human in groups that are smaller than entire cultures. Focus on: Social structures Organizations Interactions
Psychology
The study of individuals who live in a social groups within a larger culture. Focus on: Perceptions motivations understandings of individuals that contribute to behavior
Consumer Behavior
The study of the process involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires ON GOING PROCESS
When we use elevated language and make our judgements-
Time Specific Place Specific Related to particular reference groups
projective techniques
Use Prompts: -incomplete sentences -word association tests -images designed to help participants to express easier
Paradigms
World views about what research is and how it should be conducted
Dress means to =
a.) communicate information about self to others b.) to express yourself creatively c.) protect self from physical/psychological harm
Research is a PROCESS that results in
a.) discovery b.) an interpretation of facts, events, behaviors, or theories c.) practical application
body supplements
additions added to the body jewelry, clothing, accessories
Evoked Set
alternatives individual KNOWS about
Consideration Set
alternatives person SERIOUSLY CONSIDERS
psychographics
aspects of consumers lifestyle and personality
perceiver variables
aspects of the perceiver that affects what is perceived ****also called individual difference variables
Stimulus Variable
aspects of the stimulus person that affects the social perception
Categorization of textiles
based on tactile sensations
Categorization of dress
based on visual characteristics of forms or garments, fashionably
Dress used as a NOUN
body modifications body supplements
Social categorization
categorization of people age, race, sex, body type
body modifications
changes made directly to the body itself shape, color, texture, surface embellishment
Heavy Users
companies can identify their loyal most core customers
What is Culture
complex whole including knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, laws, and customs, and other habits acquired by people as society members
category
conceptualized as two or more distinguishable "things"
Segmenting Consumers Consumers are segmented by
demographics and psychographics
Symbolic Perspective
derived from sociology and focuses on how people CONSTRUCT THEIR APPEARANCES as well as how other perceive an appearance symbols convey meaning
Dress as a form of communication-
exchange of information (modesty, immodesty) can be used to communicate ones STATUS within a culture: Rank, importance, achievement (ex: crown)
Cognitive perspective
focuses of what we know about appearances Appearance Perception****
Cultural/Historical Perspective
focuses on culture and history as determinants of human behaviors
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
group of people formed to approve, monitor and review medical and behavioral research involving people
Market Segmentation
identifies groups of consumers who are similar to each other in one or more ways & then makes strategies to appeal to the groups
social perception = personal perception
impression formation
Brand Schema
integrated structure in MEMORY composed of similarly perceived objects Evoked Set Consideration Set
unstructured interview
interviewer has an outline of suggested topics
in-Depth interview
involves one-on one
How do we divide segments up?
market segmentation identifying heavy users 80/20 rule
artifact
material aspect of culture
Stereotypes
mental images that arise from past experiences and are used to place people into social groups
schema
mental knowledge structure containing information about a stimulus or concept greatly reduce the amount of cognitive work
Contextual Perspective of Dress
method to study the social meanings of dress. Consists of three components: cognitive perspective symbolic perspective cultural/historical perspective
Unobtrusive Observation
no direct contact
appearance perception
observing and interpreting the appearance of oneself & others assign an identity
generalizations
obtained by inferring from specific research
social perception is affected by;
perceiver variables ---> stimulus variable ^ Context Variable
Social Perception =
perceptual process of information including dress and appearance
Context of Dress can consist of: (4)
physical setting relationship with 2 or more people social circumstance historical time period
Categorization
process used to mentally classify things into groups
Subcultures
refer to smaller groups of individuals who interact w each other & share commonalities
Dress used as VERB (5)
refers to all the behaviors undertaken to CREATE AN APPEARANCE or to MODIFY THE BODY in some way -bathing -perfume (altering natural scent) -changing color, -changing texture, -changing the size/shape of body
Empirical Research
research project that involves collection of ORIGINAL DATA
Ethnography
research strategy that focuses on relationships and situations in peoples EVERYDAY LIVES conducted in natural settings: schools, malls, sporting events actions, behaviors, relationships & situations of people in their everyday lives also known as fieldwork
Unstructured Observation
researchers recode everything they observe using DESCRIPTIVE words and AVOIDING EVALUATIVE words. -In depth
Theory
set of ideas that DESCRIBE, EXPLAIN, and PREDICT OUTCOMES of relationships
demographics
statistics that measure observable aspects of a population such as: Geographic location age gender income
sample
subset of the population being studied in research
Geodemography
techniques that combine data on consumer expenditures and SES with geographic information about where people live, in order to identify consumers who share common: Purchasing behavior Media Behavior
Social Cognition (judging) discription
the USE of mental or cognitive processes to think, perceive, judge often have to assess others/ make judgements about people usually based of little information have powerful consequences
Social Psychology
the scientific study of how individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behavior are shaped by the actual, implied or imagined presence of others
The Psychology OF DRESS
the study of dress and adornment in the larger context of human behavior and appearance in general Dressing the body is a behavior that is LEARNED Dress is a SYMBOL
Social Perception
the study of how and what we perceive about people
From textbook- we use elevated langue when we discussion or perceive dress in relation to cultural and social norms or just general guidelines for normal behavior
this helps us to derive meaning meaning from what we see terms like; Pretty, fashionable, cool, tight reflect judgements that we make
context variables
variables contained in the setting within which the stimulus is perceived
Visual Evaluation (EVALUATED LANGUGE)
we use elevated langue when discussion or perceiving dress
Context of Dress
we use it to understand WHY and item of dress is worn, or a beauty ritual is practiced
Categoriztion of objects
within group similarities vs. between group similarities
