consumer behavior chapter 6 practice

If Chen Ho follows a Confucian perspective and dresses according to accepted rules of the group (where others' perceptions of the self and maintaining one's desired status in their eyes is important), then he is recognizing the importance of ________.

"face"

The U.S. government estimates that approximately ________ of American adults are overweight or obese.

66 percent

Describe how ideals of beauty within a culture motivate consumers to change themselves physically. Discuss specific categories where this occurs.

A person's satisfaction with the physical image he or she presents to others is affected by how closely that image corresponds to the image valued by his or her culture. Ideals of beauty, however, vary radically across cultures and even over time within the same society. These "ideals" include physical features, clothing styles, cosmetics, hairstyles, skin tone, and body type. Manifestations of the desire to alter one's physical self to conform to current ideals of beauty include: a. Fattism—Our society has an obsession with weight and thinness, reinforced by advertising and peers. b. Eating disorders—Anorexia and bulimia eating disorders, noted often in white upper-middle-class girls, are evidence of exaggerated concern about desirable body images. c. Cosmetic surgery—Increasingly, men as well as women undergo cosmetic surgery. Women use surgery to reduce weight or to increase sexual desirability. Men have used implants for chests and legs. d. Body decoration and mutilation—Performed in every culture, body adornment serves purposes other than contributing to ideal beauty. Tattoos are one popular form of adornment.

What is a self-fulfilling prophecy? Provide an example as illustration.

A self-fulfilling prophecy is acting in a way people expect us to act. maybe a placebo effect? and like the sugar pills in birth control?

Which of the following is a level of a people extended self?

A) Individual level B) Family level C) Community level D) All of the above Answer: D

Which of the following explains why people decorate or mutilate their bodies?

A) To separate group members from nonmembers B) To place a person in a gender category C) To enhance social role identification D) All of the above Answer: D

________ refers to the possession of both masculine and feminine traits.

Androgyny

Rudi Gonzalez sees himself as being handsome rather than intellectual. Which of the following self-concept dimensions best applies to Rudi's view of himself?

Content

________ is the promotional strategy that involves select consumers altering some aspects of their selves to advertise for a branded product.

Identity marketing

Discuss the extended self and provide a description of each level of the extended self.

Many of the props and settings we use to define our social roles in a sense become a part of us. a. The individual level—consumers included personal possessions as part of their self- definition, such as cars, jewelry, favorite clothing—"You are what you wear." b. That family level—this includes the place of residence and furnishings that comprise "our home." c. The community level—there is a sense of neighborhood or locale used in public self- description and a private sense of belonging. d. The group level—attachments to larger social groups characterize the fourth level; affiliation may be through identification with sports teams, landmarks, and monuments.

Define self-concept.

Self-concept summarizes the beliefs a person holds about his own attributes and how he evaluates the self on these qualities.

Explain how the concept of self-esteem is used in advertising.

Self-esteem refers to the positivity of a person's self-concept. People with low self- esteem expect products not perform well. Sara Lee developed portion controlled products for consumers who lack self-control. A person who feels better about themselves will spend more money because "they are worth it."

________ is the way we assume others expect us to act.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

________ is when the person tries to evaluate their appearance by comparing it to the people depicted in these artificial images.

Social comparison

Explain the concept of "social comparison."

Social comparison is when a person tries to evaluate his/her appearance by comparing it to the people depicted in artificial images.

Discuss the terms "symbolic interactionism" and "looking-glass self." Give an example of each term.

Symbolic interactionism stresses that relationships with other people play a large part in forming the self. The perspective maintains that people exist in a symbolic environment; we assign meaning to any situation or object by interpreting the symbols in the environment. Examples might be that "the golden arches" mean fast food and "blondes have more fun." The concept is important to consumer behavior because it implies that our possessions play a key role as we evaluate ourselves and decide "who we are." The looking-glass self refers to the process of imagining the reaction of others towards us. According to this view, our desire to define ourselves operates as a sort of psychological sonar: we take readings of our own identity by "bouncing" signals off others and trying to project the impression they have of us. The looking- glass image we receive will be different, depending on whose views we consider.

Explain the concepts of the ideal and actual self. How do we bridge the gaps between these two selves?

The ideal self is a person's conception of how he or she would like to be. The actual self refers to our more realistic appraisal of the qualities we have and don't have. Most people experience a discrepancy between their real and ideal selves, but for some consumers this gap is especially large. These people are especially good targets for marketing communications that employ fantasy appeals. People also engage in impression management, strategically choosing clothing and other products that they believe will lead others to see them as they'd like to be.

A Unilever-sponsored survey which asked American women how they felt about their appearance reported which of the following?

The majority of respondents believe women in ads are not realistic.

Describe the self-concept. Next, discuss and describe the dimensions that can be used to describe the attributes of the self-concept.

The self-concept refers to the belief a person holds about his or her own attributes and how he or she evaluates these qualities. Although one's overall self-concept may be positive, there are certainly parts of the self that are evaluated more positively than others. We can describe attributes of self-concept along such dimensions as their content (facial attractiveness versus mental ability), positivity (self-esteem),stability over time, and accuracy (the degree to which one's self-assessment corresponds to reality.

The modern use of high heels (which can cause knee and hip problems) may be compared to the traditional Asian practice of foot binding. According to the text, which of the following purposes best describes why high heels are worn?

To enhance sex-role identification

The body is adorned or altered in some way in every culture. Decorating the self serves a number of purposes. Which of the following is NOT one of those purposes?

To indicate negative feelings towards oneself

Consumers who have ________ are particularly good targets for marketing communications that use fantasy appeals.

a large gap between their real and ideal selves

The ________ refers to our more realistic appraisal of the qualities we have and don't have.

actual self

Anna Jones thinks she should lose some weight even though she is skinny. Anna is concerned about her ________.

body image

________ refers to a consumer's subjective evaluation of his or her physical self.

body image

If a person's identity is derived in large measure from his or her social group. This is called ________.

collective self

________ is where a person derives his or her identity in large measure from a social group.

collective self

Many ________ cultures stress the importance of a collective self, in which an individual's identity is derived in large measure from his or her social group.

eastern

Understanding our social roles are part of our ________.

extended self

The self-image congruence model helps to explain why it is a deal killer in the Japanese business culture to mishandle a business card for a prospective client. T/F

false

he looking-glass self is molded by elements of pop culture, such as comic book heroes. T/F

false

Fred Johnson lives, eats, and breathes pro football. His favorite team is the Dallas Cowboys. His home looks like a Dallas Cowboy's museum. Which level of the extended self would most likely apply to Fred's situation?

group level

Mary Jane is a very conservative businesswoman by day. However, when she decides to "go out on the town," she likes to party and "kick up her heels." This would be an example of a reaction due to the fact that many consumers ________.

have multiple selves

A(n) ________ is a particular model, or exemplar, or appearance.

ideal of beauty

The preference in a culture for a particular model of beauty (or exemplar) is called a(n) ________.

ideal of beauty

A person's conception of how he/she would like to be is called ________.

ideal self

College student Jeff Barnes sees himself as a rich banker who drives a top of the line BMW. This fantasy is an expression of the ________.

ideal self

Jim Smith thinks he should be more outgoing. He is looking at his ________.

ideal self

A consumer wearing a temporary tattoo of a company's brand logo is an example of ________.

identity marketing

Men are more likely to use a woman's body shape as a sexual cue. One explanation of this phenomenon is that feminine curves provide evidence of ________.

reproductive potential

If a female consumer sees an ad about a woman who can no longer fit into her old bathing suit, the consumer might think about her own situation and make a personal pledge to lose weight before summer arrives. This would be an example of marketing communications that attempt to influence a consumer's level of ________.

self esteem

A person's physical appearance is large part of his or her ________.

self-concept

If products take on masculine or feminine attributes, they are said to be ________.

sex-typed

Historically, tattoos have been associated with people who are considered ________.

social outcasts

According to the sociological tradition of ________, relationships with other people play a large part in forming the self.

symbolic interactionism

Pamela Ortiz rarely makes eye contact with others in social settings. Though by many standards she is physically attractive, she perceives that others find her plain and uninteresting. By not making eye contact, she is somewhat creating a self-fulfilling prophecy with respect to males in her social circle. This situation matches occurrences in which of the following "self" situations?

the looking-glass self

A person's feelings about his or her body can be described in terms of body image. T/F

true

Mary Ann reads fashion magazines weekly. Many times she is frustrated because she has been unable to achieve "a look" that she thinks features the "real her." When Mary Ann thinks this way, she is going through a social comparison process. T/F

true

One of the most important levels of the extended self is the family level. T/F

true

Explain and give a brief example of symbolic self-completion theory.

Symbolic self-completion theory suggests that people who have an incomplete self-definition tend to complete this identity by acquiring and displaying symbols they associate with a desired role. Adolescent boys, for example, may use "macho" products such as cars and cigarettes to bolster their developing masculinity; these items act as a "social crutch" during a period of uncertainty about their new identity as adult males.

Bart was a mortuary worker who noticed that there seemed to be a social class difference in what people placed on the graves of departed family members. What Bart observed was a class difference in how people manifest the relationship between external objects and the ________ self.

extended

Many of the props and settings consumers use to define their social roles become part of themselves. For example, one of Mary Bennett's last requests was that when she died, she wanted to be buried in her favorite dress. This situation illustrates ________.

extended self

A person's actual self is a person's conception of how he/she would like to be. T/F

false

Ideal beauty refers to a consumer's subjective evaluation of his/her physical appearance. T/F

false

In South Korean shopping malls, teenage girls line up at photo machines that provide high- tech makeovers, including glamor lighting, a hair-blowing breeze, and virtual plastic surgery. If one of these girls sends a photo from this machine to her boyfriend, she is expressing the actual self state. T/F

false

Luv's color changing diapers (blue for boys and pink for girls) are an example of a product that emphasizes its androgynous characteristics. T/F

false

Promotions featuring fantasy appeal have been found to be effective with customers whose real self and ideal self are close and consistent. T/F

false

Self-esteem refers to the intensity and stability over time of a person's self-concept. T/F

false

The ideal self is a reference to our more realistic appraisals of the qualities we have and don't have. T/F

false

Through the process of ________, people try to "manage" what others think of them by strategically choosing clothing and other products that will convey a positive image.

impression management

Personal objects, places, and things allow people to feel that they are rooted on their larger social environments. The home can be symbolic for the extended self. Which of the following categories or levels of the extended self would be the home most likely be associated with ________.

individual level

Both Eastern and Western cultures see the self as divided into a(n) ________.

inner, private self, and an outer, public self

________ summarizes the beliefs a person holds about his own attributes and how he/she evaluates their self on those qualities.

self-concept

________ refers to the positivity of a person's self-concept.

self-esteem

When we act the way we assume others expect us to act we are practicing a ________.

self-fulfilling prophecy

If Volkswagen owners see themselves as being more economical and conservative than do owners of the Buick Regal, ________ is probably at work.

self-image congruence model

A consumer is attached to an object to the extent that she relies upon it to maintain her self-concept. T/F

true

Dove's campaign for Real Beauty features women with imperfect bodies modeling in advertisements for skin and hair care products The nature of the social comparison that occurs when a consumer uses these marketing images as a benchmark is likely different than the social comparison that occurs when a consumer sees advertisements for similar products that use professional models. T/F

true

Eastern and Western cultures see the self divided into an inner, private, and an outer public self. T/F

true

Every time Tim goes to bat in his baseball game, he rubs the charm on the necklace that his professional baseball player uncle gave him. This charm has never failed to help him get a good hit. The charm has become part of Tim's extended self. T/F

true

Ideals of male beauty are based on facial features, musculature, and facial hair.

true

Lars has developed an online, multiplayer game that he thinks could be the next big hit in computer-mediated environments. Lars is in the process of looking for financial backers as he moves from the prototype of his game to the finished product. To encourage financial backers, Lars should explain that for most people interested in playing online games, the gap between their online and offline selves is narrowing. T/F

true

People tend to pattern their behavior on the perceived expectations of others, which is a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. T/F

true

Self-concept refers to the beliefs a person holds about his or her own attributes and how he or she evaluates these qualities. T/F

true

Self-esteem refers to the positivity of a person's self-concept. T/F

true

Social comparison is a basic human tendency. T/F

true

Studies suggest that men and women who are exposed to beautiful models in advertisements are likely to alter their perceptions of their own body shapes. T/F

true

The body is adorned or altered in some way in every culture. One of the chief purposes for doing this is to place the individual in the social organization. T/F

true

The growing number of Web sites and blogs devoted to excessive weight loss illustrates the problem of bulimia and group dieting. T/F

true

The symbolic self -completion theory suggests that people who have an incomplete self- definition will tend to complete this identity by buying products that are associated or symbolic of their self-definition. T/F

true

Western cultures tend to subscribe to an independent understanding of the self, which emphasizes the inherent separateness of each individual. T/F

true

"Casual Fridays" in American workplaces encourage the expression of a person's ________.

unique self

The ideal self is a person's conception of how she ________.

would like to be

People across all cultures appear to favor physical features that are associated with ________.

youth