Personality and self-concept

Personality: 

a person’s unique make up,which consistently influences the way the person responds to his or her environment”

Personality reflects individual differences

o  Unique combination of inner characteristics

o  No two individuals are exactly alike

o  Venturesome (scuba diving, rock climbing) to

o  Some others who are not venturesome

o  Personality allows marketers to divide people

o  into different groups based on their traits

Self-concept:

the beliefs a person holds about his or her 

own attributes & how he or she evaluates those qualities” 

(Solomon,1999)

Personality is Consistent & Enduring

o    Mother – “child has been impulsive from the. Day he was born” – enduring & consistent.

o    Marketers cannot change consumers. Personalities to meet their products.

o    But understanding which specific

o    Characteristics bring in required responses, can help marketers to appeal to these traits 

in their target audience

Personality Can Change

v  May be altered by major life events – birth of a child, death of a loved one, personal 

tragedies – accident, health problem, divorce, significant career promotion.

v  Personality changes can also be part of maturing process.

v  Women’s personality in general has been changing faster.

Self-concept

Is defined as the totality of individuals thoughts and feelings having reference to him/her as an object. Life style, in many ways, is an outward expression of ones self-concept

Self-concept theory

 Ø  Holds that an individuals have a concept of self-based on who they think they are (the actual self) concept of who they think they would like to be (the ideal self).

Ø  Related to two key concepts of psycho- analytic theory, the ego and the super ego.

Ø  Ego is similar to one’s objective reality, so it’s similar to actual self.

Ø  Superego is defined by the way things should be and hence can be seen as a reflection of

Actual Self

ü  There is no one actual self.

ü  Consumers have various role identities– Mother, wife, working woman, volunteer etc.

ü  One of these roles is dominant in specific situations. This particular role affects the behaviour (dressing style,talking, way they conduct etc)

ü  The amalgam of individuals roles makes up the individual self.

Studies have confirmed that consumers buy products related to their self-concept.

       Dolich – studied buying of beer, cigarettes, soaps and tooth paste and found that respondents tend to prefer brands they rate similar to themselves.

       The same is in the case of automobiles too.

       Marketing take aways: the concept of ‘actual self’, says that image consumers have of themselves influences their purchases.

       They attain ‘self consistency’, by buying products they perceive as similar to their self-concept
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19974746/Personality-Self-Concept

http://ht mlimg3.scribdassets.com/d9qvp156gwte9s0/images/23-da257bc535/000.jpg

I-deal Self

Concept of ideal self relates to one’s self esteem.

The greater the difference between the actual self and the ideal self, the lower an individual’s self esteem

Dissatisfaction with actual self will end up in purchases of such products that they think will,enhance their‘self-esteem’.

 A woman who would like to be more modern, efficient and imaginative will use,different-perfumes, deodorant or shoat different stores than a woman