Attention and Comprehension

Chapter 5

Aspects of the Cognitive System that Influence Interpretation

Interpretation involves interactions The activated knowledge influences which information to attend to and how to understand it People can only comprehend small amounts of info at a time. Much attention and comprehension occurs with little or no conscious awareness

Involved in Interpretation

Exposure to information
Critical for consumers interpretation processes Two types of exposure to marketing information 1. Intentional 2. Accidental Goal-directed search behavior by consumers Levels of intentional exposure to marketing information are rather low

Selective Exposure to Information

Increased amount of marketing informationin the environment Consumers become more adept at avoiding exposure Selective exposure

Exposure to information- Marketing Implications

Strategies to enhance consumers exposureto information and products: Facilitate intentional exposure Maximize accidental exposure Create appropriate level of exposure Maintain exposure

Attention Processes

Attention Process
Attention implies selectivity. Attention connotes awareness and consciousness. Consumers need to be:

Conscious Alert Aroused

Attention

Implies selectivity
Connotes awareness and consciousness Suggests intensity and arousal

Variations in Attention

Preconscious Attention Focal Attention

Levels of Attention
Preconscious Attention Uses active knowledge from long term memory No conscious awareness Automatic process Uses little or no cognitive capacity More likely for familiar, frequently encountered concepts, with welllearned memory representations More likely for concepts of low to moderate importance or involvement Focal Attention Uses active knowledge from long term memory Conscious awareness Controlled process Uses some cognitive capacity More likely for novel, infrequently encountered concepts, with welllearned memory representations More likely for concepts of high importance or involvement

Factors Influencing Attention

Affective States

Involvement

Environmental Prominence

Factors Influencing Attention

Affective States
Low arousal reduces amount and intensity of arousal High arousal narrows consumers focus of attention; makes it selective Other affective states, such as moods, (are diffuse and general, and are not related to any stimulus); also influence attention

Affective States

Affective States

Factors Influencing Attention

Involvement
Determined by the means-end chains activated from memory, related affective responses, and arousal level A motivational state that guides the selection of stimuli for focal attention and comprehension

Involvement

Involvement

Factors Influencing Attention Environmental prominence Stimuli associated with marketing strategies can influence consumers attention Most prominent marketing stimuli are most likely to attract attention

Environmental prominence

Factors Influencing Comprehension

1. 2. 3.
Knowledge in Memory Involvement Exposure Enivronment

Knowledge in Memory
Consumers ability to comprehend marketing information is largely determined by their existing knowledge in memory.

Consumers are quite familiar with a product category, product form, and product brands.

Consumers have little prior experience with the product or brand.

Involvement
Consumers involvement at the time of exposure has a major influence on their motivation to comprehend marketing information.

Exposure Environment
Affect consumers' opportunity to comprehend matketing information. These include factors such as time pressure, consumers's affective states and distractions.

Marketing Implications
Marketers need to understand consumers comprehension processes to design effective marketing strategies
Knowledge and Involvement Remembering Miscomprehension of Marketing Information Exposure Environment

Knowledge and Involvement

Marketers should design their messages to fit consumers' ability and motivation to comprehend in order to encourage appropriate comprehension processing.

Remembering
Consumers ability to recall meanings from memory is important to marketers because consumers often do not make purchase decisions at the time of exposure, attention, and comprehension

Miscomprehension of Marketing Information

The type of miscomprehension can vary from confusion over similar brand names to misinterpreting a product claim by forming an inaccurate meansend chain.

Exposure Environment

Many aspects of the environment in which exposure to marketing information occurs can influence consumers comprehension processes.