Perception

-Dr. JP Verma
What do you see?
What do you see now?
What colour comes to mind?
So.what then is perception?
How we interpret stimuli
from the environment

Perception is how we
organise and give meaning
to new information from the
environment

Perceptual Process
We receive external
stimuli through
our five senses
Information processing
Exposure
Exposure occurs when a stimulus comes
within range of someones sensory receptors
We can concentrate, ignore, or completely
miss stimuli
Cadillacs 5 second ad-Cadillacs can go
from zero to 60 in less than 5 seconds
Attention
Attention is the extent to which processing activity is devoted to a
particular stimulus
Consumers are often in a state of sensory overload
Marketers need to break through the clutter
Factors Leading to Adaptation
Intensity Duration
Discrimination Exposure
Relevance
Stimulus Selection Factors
We are more likely to notice stimuli that differ
from others around them
So, marketers can create contrast through:


Size Color Position Novelty
Creating Contrast with Size
Interpretation
Interpretation refers to the meaning we
assign to sensory stimuli. Eg:-TOYOTA
Perception theories that guide marketing
decisions
Absolute threshold

Lowest point that we perceive stimuli

Marketers need to break through the
clutter

Perception theories that guide marketing
decisions
Webers concept of Just Noticeable Difference (JND)
Just Noticeable Difference - the minimum level of
change to a stimulus that is required in order for
the change to be noticed
Webers law states: the stronger the initial
stimulus, the greater the change required for the
stimulus to be seen as different
Some things you want your customers to notice -
e.g. specials, improvements
Others you dont - changes in packaging, size,
price, etc.


Perception theories that guide marketing
decisions
Selective exposure
We dont notice everything!
We filter out unwanted information
Selective distortion
We add preconceived ideas or attitudes to interpret new
information that enters the sensory store of the memory
Selective retention
We remember information that we find meaningful and interesting
Selective attention
We dont take in all the information around us
Marketers need to identify what their customers will notice
and pay attention to
Perception theories that guide marketing
decisions
Stimulus generalisation
When a conditioned response occurs to stimuli
that are similar to the conditioned stimulus
When you find it hard to tell the difference
between two stimuli - e.g. me-too products

Stimulus discrimination
Ability to see a distinct difference between stimuli
What marketers want to achieve from their
products
Perception theories that guide marketing
decisions
The influence of colour on perception
Colours have different meanings, which can vary from culture
to culture
What do these colours mean to you?
Blue
Red
White
Green
Choose colours carefully for advertising, signage and packaging
as it can influence what they mean to your target audience

The influence of semantics on perception
Words can have double meanings - choose them carefully



Perception theories that guide marketing
decisions
Perceptual categorisation
Personal constructs - we categorise
related information into sets in our mind

Applications for marketers
Family branding


Differential Threshold
The ability of a sensory
system to detect changes
or differences between two
stimuli
Minimum difference between
two stimuli is the j.n.d. (just
noticeable difference)
Ex:if we made a package
smaller to cut our costs, we
would want to make the change
under the j.n.d. so that
customers did not notice that
they were getting less product
for the price.
Subliminal Perception
Subliminal perception occurs when
stimulus is below the level of the
consumers awareness.
Embeds: figures that are inserted into
magazine advertising by using high-speed
photography or airbrushing.
Subliminal auditory perception: sounds,
music, or voice text inserted into
advertising
Stimulus Organization
Gestalt: the whole is greater than the sum of
its parts
Closure: people perceive an incomplete
picture as complete
Similarity: consumers group together
objects that share similar physical
characteristics
Figure-ground: one part of the stimulus
will dominate (the figure) while the other
parts recede into the background (ground)
What do you perceive?
Application of the
Figure-Ground Principle