1. Chapter 4 Comprehension, Memory, and Cognitive Learning

2. Learning Outcomes
Identify the factors that influence consumer comprehension
Explain how knowledge, meaning, and value are inseparable using the multiple stores memory theory
Understand how the mental associations that consumers develop are a key to learning

3. Learning Objectives
Use the concept of associative networks to map relevant consumer knowledge
Apply the cognitive schema concept in understanding how consumers react to products, brands, and marketing agents

4. Comprehension
Refers to the interpretation or understanding that a consumer develops about some attended stimulus in order to assign meaning
Internal factors within the consumer powerfully influence the comprehension process
Comprehension includes both cognitive and affective elements
Every message sends signals

5. Factors Affecting Consumer Comprehension
Characteristics of the message
Characteristics of the message receiver
Characteristics of the environment (information processing situation)

6. Characteristics of the Message
Physical characteristics
Simplicity–complexity
Message congruity
Figure and ground
Message source

7. Message Receiver Characteristics
Intelligence/ability
Prior knowledge
Involvement
Familiarity/habituation
Expectations
Physical limits
Brain dominance

8. Environmental Characteristics
Information intensity
Framing
Prospect theory
Priming
Timing

9. Memory
It is the psychological process by which knowledge is recorded

10. Multiple Store Theory of Memory
Views the memory process as utilizing three different storage areas within the human brain

12. Mental Processes Assisting Learning
Repetition
Dual coding
Meaningful encoding
Chunking

13. Long-Term Memory
Long-term memory is a repository for all information that a person has encountered
Represents permanent information storage
Semantic coding - Means the stimuli are converted to meaning that can be expressed verbally
A memory trace is the mental path by which some thought becomes active

14. Long-Term Memory Mental tagging helps consumers to retrieve knowledge
Rumination refers to unintentional but recurrent memory of long-ago events that are not triggered by anything in the environment
These thoughts frequently include consumption related activities

15. Elaboration
Refers to the extent to which one continues processing a message even after he/she develops an initial understanding in the comprehension stage
Personal elaboration - A person imagines himself or herself associating with a stimulus being processed
Provides the deepest comprehension and greatest chance of accurate recall

16. Associative Network
It is a network of mental pathways linking knowledge within memory

17. Declarative Knowledge
Refers to cognitive components that represent facts
Represented in an associative network when two nodes are linked by a path
Nodes - Represent concepts in the network
Paths - Show the association between nodes in the network

18. Cognitive Schemas
Schema - A type of associative network that works as a cognitive representation of a phenomenon that provides meaning to that entity
Exemplar - A concept within a schema that is the single best representative of some category
Prototype - Characteristics more associated with a concept

19. Script, Episodic Memory, and Social Schemata
Script - A schema representing an event
Episodic memory - Refers to the memory for past events, or episodes, in one’s life
Social schema - Cognitive representation that gives a specific type of person meaning
Social stereotype

20. Comprehension, Memory, and Cognitive Learning

21. Learning Outcomes
Identify the factors that influence consumer comprehension. Explain how knowledge, meaning, and value are inseparable using the multiple stores memory theory. Understand how the mental associations that consumers develop are a key to learning. Use the concept of associative networks to map relevant consumer knowledge. Apply the cognitive schema concept in understanding how consumers react to products, brands, and marketing agents.

23. Comprehension
The interpretation or understanding that a consumer develops about some attended stimulus in order to assign meaning

24. Comprehension
Internal factors within the consumer powerfully influence the comprehension process
Comprehension includes both cognitive and affective elements
Every message sends signals

25. Factors Affecting Consumer Comprehension
Characteristics of the message
Characteristics of the message receiver
Characteristics of the environment (information processing situation)

27. Characteristics of the Message
Physical characteristics - The elements of a message that one senses directly
Intensity
Color
Font
Numbers
Spacing
Shape

28. Characteristics of the Message
Simplicity–complexity - The simpler the message, the more likely a consumer develops meaningful comprehension
Relies on a consumer’s ability to process information

29. Characteristics of the Message
Message congruity - Represents the extent to which a message is internally consistent and fits surrounding information
Not always true that congruent content leads to improved comprehension

31. Characteristics of the Message
Figure - The focal image, or the object intended to capture a person’s attention
Ground - In a message, everything besides the figure should be less important and simply represent the ground

33. Characteristics of the Message
Message source - Can influence comprehension
Source influences comprehension to varying degrees based upon:
Likeability
Attractiveness
Expertise
Trustworthiness

34. Message Receiver Characteristics
Intelligence/Ability
Prior knowledge
Involvement
Familiarity/habituation - The process by which continuous exposure to a stimulus affects the comprehension of and response to some stimulus

35. Message Receiver Characteristics
Expectations - Beliefs of what will happen in a future situation
Physical limits
Brain dominance - The phenomena of hemispheric lateralization

36. Message Receiver Characteristics - Example
A famous television personality has been brought in to endorse a carbonated soft drink
A consumer’s prior knowledge of the product company and involvement with the message will help him comprehend the message in the endorsement accurately

37. Environmental Characteristics
Information intensity - The amount of information available for a consumer to process within a given environment
Framing - A phenomenon in which the meaning of something is influenced (perceived differently) by the information environment

38. Environmental Characteristics
Prospect theory
Priming
Timing - Both the amount of time a consumer has to process a message and the point in time at which the consumer receives the message

40. Explain how knowledge, meaning, and value are inseparable using the multiple stores memory theory.

41. Memory
Psychological process by which knowledge is recorded

42. Multiple Store Theory of Memory
Views the memory process as utilizing three different storage areas within the human brain

44. The Storage Types
Sensory memory - Area in memory where we store what we encounter with our five human senses
Workbench memory - Storage area in the memory system where information is stored and encoded for placement in long-term memory and, eventually, retrieved for future use

45. Understand how the mental associations that consumers develop are a key to learning.

46. Mental Processes Assisting Learning
Repetition - A process in which a thought is held in short-term memory by mentally repeating the thought
Dual coding - A process in which two different sensory “traces” are available to remember something

47. Mental Processes Assisting Learning
Meaningful encoding - A process that occurs when preexisting knowledge is used to assist in storing new information
Chunking - A process of grouping stimuli by meaning so that multiple stimuli can become a single memory unit

49. What mental processes assist learning? - Example
Joan remembers her shopping lists by categorizing the products into food, household items, and toiletries
She uses the process of chunking
Michaela remembers important numbers by repeating the digits over and over again
She uses the process of repetition

50. Long-Term Memory
A repository for all information that a person has encountered
Represents permanent information storage
Semantic coding - The stimuli are converted to meaning that can be expressed verbally
Memory trace - Mental path by which some thought becomes active

51. Long-Term Memory Mental tagging helps consumers to retrieve knowledge
Rumination - Unintentional but recurrent memory of long-ago events that are not triggered by anything in the environment
These thoughts frequently include consumption related activities

52. Elaboration
Extent to which one continues processing a message even after he/she develops an initial understanding in the comprehension stage
Personal elaboration - A person imagines himself or herself associating with a stimulus being processed
Provides the deepest comprehension and greatest chance of accurate recall

53. Use the concept of associative networks to map relevant consumer knowledge.

54. Associative Network
A network of mental pathways linking knowledge within memory

56. Declarative Knowledge
Refers to cognitive components that represent facts
Represented in an associative network when two nodes are linked by a path
Nodes - Represent concepts in the network
Paths - Show the association between nodes in the network

58. Apply the cognitive schema concept in understanding how consumers react to products, brands, and marketing agents.

59. Cognitive Schemas
Schema - A type of associative network that works as a cognitive representation of a phenomenon that provides meaning to that entity
Exemplar - A concept within a schema that is the single best representative of some category
Prototype - Characteristics more associated with a concept

61. Script, Episodic Memory, and Social Schemata
Script - A schema representing an event
Episodic memory - To the memory for past events, or episodes, in one’s life
Social schema - Cognitive representation that gives a specific type of person meaning
Social stereotype

62. Video