Perception and Consumption
Perception and consumption
Perception reflects the process an individual employs in using information towards creating a meaningful worldview (Gibson, 2002). A consumer achieves this by selecting, organizing and interpreting phenomena. Perception has assumed great importance in consumption since individuals selectively perceive the products they consume (Zukin and Maguire, 2004). Briefly, perception affects choices by highlighting how people view advantages and risks associated with products.
Selective perception involves a process where information is filtered. Filtering entails exposure to stimuli, comprehension and retention. This implies that the brain of a consumer tries to arrange and interpret available information. Selective exposure reflects acts of consumers paying attention to messages which are consistent with individual beliefs and attitudes. On the other hand, consumers are likely to ignore messages that are contrary or inconsistent with their beliefs and attitudes. Regarding comprehension, consumers may distort information in order to attain consistency with personal ideals. In the same way, selective retention occurs since consumers are unable to recall all the messages that they read, hear or see. This allows for an examination into subliminal perception. Subliminal perception underscores the idea that often consumers hear or see messages unaware. However, scientific research proves that such messages do not have considerable influence on behavior (Hurley, 2002).
Perception is thus an approximation of reality (Smith & Mackie, 2000). Consumer brains always try to make sense based on the stimuli being experienced. As an illustration, circular shapes of ice-cream may appear bigger than rectangular ones although in reality they are of the same size.
As pointed earlier, certain factors play an important role in influencing perception. Exposure captures the extent to which a person encounters a stimulus. By way of illustration, one gets a higher
Perception reflects the process an individual employs in using information towards creating a meaningful worldview (Gibson, 2002). A consumer achieves this by selecting, organizing and interpreting phenomena. Perception has assumed great importance in consumption since individuals selectively perceive the products they consume (Zukin and Maguire, 2004). Briefly, perception affects choices by highlighting how people view advantages and risks associated with products.
Selective perception involves a process where information is filtered. Filtering entails exposure to stimuli, comprehension and retention. This implies that the brain of a consumer tries to arrange and interpret available information. Selective exposure reflects acts of consumers paying attention to messages which are consistent with individual beliefs and attitudes. On the other hand, consumers are likely to ignore messages that are contrary or inconsistent with their beliefs and attitudes. Regarding comprehension, consumers may distort information in order to attain consistency with personal ideals. In the same way, selective retention occurs since consumers are unable to recall all the messages that they read, hear or see. This allows for an examination into subliminal perception. Subliminal perception underscores the idea that often consumers hear or see messages unaware. However, scientific research proves that such messages do not have considerable influence on behavior (Hurley, 2002).
Perception is thus an approximation of reality (Smith & Mackie, 2000). Consumer brains always try to make sense based on the stimuli being experienced. As an illustration, circular shapes of ice-cream may appear bigger than rectangular ones although in reality they are of the same size.
As pointed earlier, certain factors play an important role in influencing perception. Exposure captures the extent to which a person encounters a stimulus. By way of illustration, one gets a higher
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