Financing and Marketing Management

Unit 14 - Marketing Environment-Consumer Behaviour

14.10. Learning
When people act, they learn. Learning describes changes in an individual’s behaviour arising from experience. Most human behaviour is learned. Learning theorists say that a person’s learning is produced through the interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses and reinforcement.
We have seen that Margaret has a drive toward self-actualization. A drive is defined as a strong internal stimulus impelling action. Her drive becomes a motive when it is directed toward a particular drive-reducing stimulus object, in this case a computer. Margaret’s response to the idea of buying a computer is conditions by the surrounding cues. Cues are minor stimuli that determine when, where and how the person responds.
Learning theory teaches marketers that they can build up demand for a product by associating it with strong drives, using motivating cues, and providing positive reinforcement. A new company can enter the market by appealing to the same drives that competitors use and providing similar cue configurations because buyers are more likely to transfer loyalty to similar brands than to dissimilar brands.