Deck 6: Personality, Lifestyles, and the Self-Concept

Question 1

A trait is defined as a distinguishable characteristic that describes one's tendency to act in a relatively consistent manner.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The aggregation approach is an approach to studying personality in which behaviour is assessed at a number of points in time.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Value consciousness represents the tendency for consumers to focus solely on price when making purchase decisions.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

According to the psychoanalytic approach to personality, the ego focuses on hedonic value.

Question 5

Personality is made up of all the emotions that consumers experience.

Question 6

The superego works against the ego by motivating behaviour that matches societal norms and expectations.

Question 7

There are only a few personality traits that are relevant to consumer research.

Question 8

The trait approach takes an idiographic perspective approach to personality.

Question 9

The unidimensional approach in trait research focuses on one particular trait.

Question 10

Materialism is seen as consisting of three separate dimensions: possessiveness, nongenerosity, and envy.

Question 11

Each individual has a unique personality.

Question 12

Personality traits are relatively stable, meaning that the situation does not influence behaviour.

Question 13

The ego works largely in accordance with the normative principle, which means it seeks to satisfy the id within the constraints of society.

Question 14

With the multiple-trait approach, researchers are interested in trait scores on numerous traits as potential predictors of consumer behaviour.

Question 15

Individual difference variables are descriptions of how individual consumers differ according to specific traits or patterns of behaviour.

Question 16

The id in the psychoanalytic approach to personality focuses on pleasure-seeking and immediate gratification.

Question 17

Skinner's psychoanalytic approach to personality suggests that personality results from a struggle between inner motivations and societal pressure to follow rules and expectations.

Question 18

Symbolism refers to the extent to which material goods are important in a consumer's life.

Question 19

The nomothetic perspective is a "variable-centred" approach that focuses on particular variables, or traits, that exist across a number of consumers.

Question 20

The motivational research era proved very successful in developing compelling, practical consumer behaviour theories and guidelines for marketing actions.

Question 21

Lifestyles are completely determined by personality.

Question 22

Consumer lifestyles refer to the ways consumers live and spend their time and money.

Question 23

Materialism tends to differ among generations, with lower materialism scores typically being found among younger consumers.

Question 24

It is usually enough for consumer researchers to consider demographic variables in isolation from other variables, such as psychographics.

Question 25

The ethnicity of Canada is changing and it is expected that diversity will continue to grow in the years to come.

Question 26

Tammy is married to a doctor, so she drives an expensive Lexus, wears designer clothing, and sends her children to an exclusive private school to display their social class to others. Tammy is exhibiting conspicuous consumption.

Question 27

The competitiveness trait is defined as an enduring tendency to strive to be better than others.

Question 28

Conspicuous consumption represents the tendency for a consumer to engage in bargaining behaviours when making purchases.

Question 29

A politician campaigning for votes may be considered an extroverted consumer because she tends to be outgoing and talkative with others.

Question 30

The five-factor model (FFM) proposes that five dominant traits are found in the human personality: extroversion, frugality, impulsiveness, anxiety, and conscientiousness.

Question 31

"Baby Boomers" are those consumers who were born between the years of 1981 and 1995.

Question 32

Consumers with high innovativeness tend to engage in effortful cognitive information processing and tend to think carefully about products, problems, and even marketing messages.

Question 33

Brand personalities can be described across five dimensions: competence, excitement, ruggedness, sincerity, and sophistication.

Question 34

Innovativeness refers to the degree to which a consumer tends to be open to new ideas and buying new products, services, or experiences early in their introduction.

Question 35

Hierarchical approaches to personality assume that some personality traits are more prevalent than others.

Question 36

Personality traits have been shown to be strong predictors of consumer behaviour.

Question 37

The hierarchical approach to personality allows consumer researchers to better understand the uniqueness of the individual consumer by combining information on traits, goals, and even consumer life stories in order to gain a better understanding of the complexities of the human personality.

Question 38

Brand personality refers to human characteristics that can be associated with a brand.

Question 39

Typical variables in the study of demography include age, ethnicity, income, family size, and occupation.

Question 40

As a general statement, broad traits tend to be better predictors of individual behaviours than are specific traits.

Question 41

According to the psychoanalytic approach to personality, which personality element focuses on pleasure seeking and immediate gratification?

A) id
B) ego
C) superego
D) actual self

Question 42

Which term refers to the totality of thoughts, emotions, intentions, and behaviours that a person exhibits consistently as he or she adapts to his or her environment?

A) self-concept
B) introversion
C) personality
D) individuality

Question 43

In which approach to studying personality are behaviours assessed at a number of points in time?

A) multi-attribute
B) aggregation
C) linear
D) psychoanalytic

Question 44

Jenny is shy and often afraid to speak to other people. She would rather read a book than interact with others. Sometimes she's sad, though, because she would like to be a little more outgoing. Which term best describes these thoughts, emotions, and behaviours Jenny exhibits?

A) self-worth
B) personality
C) individuality
D) trait

Question 45

Demographics refers to the way consumer lifestyles are measured.

Question 46

Self-concept refers to the totality of thoughts and feelings that an individual has about him- or herself.

Question 47

The VALS group called "Believers" are self-expressive consumers who tend to be young, impulsive, and enthusiastic.

Question 48

Consumers have a single self-concept.

Question 49

Which term refers to the descriptions of how individual consumers differ according to specific traits or patterns of behaviour?

A) individual difference variables
B) individual descriptor variables
C) personality variables
D) individual lifestyle variables

Question 50

Symbology is the study of symbols and their meanings.

Question 51

The external self refers to the beliefs that a consumer has about how he or she is seen by others.

Question 52

The car brand Cadillac appeals to the esteem level needs of upscale car buyers.

Question 53

Self-matching theory proposes that much of consumer behaviour can be explained by the match between a consumer's self-concept and the image of typical users of a focal product.

Question 54

Understanding consumers is very important for marketers. But not all consumers are alike. For example, some consumers learn better through written words, while others prefer images. Some are frugal, while others are free-spenders. Which term refers to these traits that differ among consumers?

A) demographics
B) psychographics
C) individual difference variables
D) self-concept variation

Question 55

According to the shared meaning perspective, consumers agree on the shared meaning of products and symbols.

Question 56

AIO statements represent a popular psychographic method in consumer research that divides consumers into groups based on resources and consumer behaviour motivations.

Question 57

Which of the following statements does NOT accurately describe personality?

A) Personality is unique to an individual.
B) Personality can be conceptualized as a combination of specific traits or characteristics.
C) It is best to measure personality at one point in time.
D) Personality traits are relatively stable and interact with situations to influence behaviour.

Question 58

Geodemographic techniques combine data on consumer expenditures and socioeconomic variables with geographic information in order to identify commonalities in consumption patterns of households in various regions.

Question 59

Who advocated the psychoanalytic approach to personality?

A) Skinner
B) Pavlov
C) Maslow
D) Freud

Question 60

Cosmopolitan Elites is an example of one of the VALS subgroups.

Question 61

Which term refers to a distinguishable characteristic that describes one's tendency to act in a relatively consistent manner?

A) trait
B) self-concept
C) proneness
D) consciousness

Question 62

In which approach is the focus of the researcher on one particular characteristic, such as need for cognition, rather than on a combination of traits?

A) unidimensional
B) single-trait
C) multiple-trait
D) uni-trait

Question 63

Which perspective is a "variable-centred" approach that focuses on particular variables, or traits, that exist across a number of consumers?

A) unidimensional
B) multidimensional
C) nomothetic
D) VALS

Question 64

In the psychoanalytic approach to personality, which principle implies that the ego seeks to satisfy the id within the constraints of society?

A) pleasure
B) reality
C) egotistical
D) motivation

Question 65

"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace." Which consumer trait was John Lennon criticizing?

A) value consciousness
B) complaint proneness
C) competitiveness
D) materialism

Question 66

Which perspective on personality focuses on specific consumer characteristics as motivators of various consumer behaviours?

A) trait approach
B) motivational research
C) psychoanalytic approach
D) tendency approach

Question 67

Which trait represents the tendency for consumers to focus on maximizing what is received from a transaction as compared to what is given?

A) materialism
B) conscientiousness
C) bargaining proneness
D) value consciousness

Question 68

Which perspective focuses on the total person and the uniqueness of his or her psychological makeup rather than focusing on one trait across many individuals?

A) holistic
B) nomothetic
C) universal
D) idiographic

Question 69

A market researcher concentrates on understanding distinguishable characteristics that describe a consumer's tendency to act in a relatively consistent manner. For example, she studies consumer characteristics such as materialism, innovativeness, and need for cognition and their impact on consumers' purchase behaviour. What is this an example of?

A) motivational research
B) trait approach
C) psychoanalytic approach
D) visceral approach

Question 70

Stan wants to drink more beer to get really drunk, but part of his personality is stopping him because he knows that this is not socially acceptable behaviour. According to the psychoanalytic approach to personality, which element of his personality is motivating him to match societal norms and expectations?

A) id
B) ego
C) superego
D) social self

Question 71

Some consumer researchers have focused on one specific trait, such as innovativeness, to predict the adoption rate of new products. This one trait has been used to describe how quickly new products will be adopted by consumers. Which approach to studying consumer traits focuses on one trait?

A) unidimensional perspective
B) nomothetic perspective
C) consciousness perspective
D) primary perspective

Question 72

Juan is a consumer researcher interested in understanding the complexity of each individual consumer. He focuses on the total person and the uniqueness of his or her psychological makeup instead of on individual traits or how they can be studied across multiple consumers. Which perspective is Juan embracing?

A) multifaceted
B) nomothetic
C) idiographic
D) universal

Question 73

What is the function of the superego according to the psychoanalytic approach to personality?

A) It focuses on pleasure-seeking and immediate gratification.
B) It works against the id by motivating behaviour that matches societal norms and expectations.
C) It focuses on resolving the conflicts between the id and the ego.
D) It attempts to balance the desires of the id with the constraints of, and expectations found in, the ego.

Question 74

Researchers for one company are interested in examining a combination of consumer traits and the total effect of the collection of traits in influencing consumers to purchase their products instead of focusing on one particular trait. These researchers believe that the prediction of individual behaviour will be stronger by using this approach. What is the term for this approach?

A) nomothetic perspective
B) multidimensional perspective
C) universal approach
D) multiple-trait approach

Question 75

Which trait refers to the extent to which physical goods are important in a consumer's life?

A) materialism
B) value consciousness
C) vanity
D) Possessiveness

Question 76

Paul is always the one in a group who wants to have the most fun. He buys things he doesn't have the money for and just puts them on his credit card. He rarely thinks about the consequences of his actions because he just focuses on the pleasure he'll realize by doing it. According to the psychoanalytic approach to personality, which of the following is primarily driving Paul's behaviour?

A) ego
B) superego
C) id
D) ideal self

Question 77

Danielle is a very careful shopper and has a tendency to focus on getting the most for her money. She bids for items on eBay, uses coupons whenever she can, and purchases items on sale to save money. However, she will pay more for a brand if she thinks it is the best one to meet her and her family's needs. Which trait is Danielle exhibiting?

A) materialism
B) value consciousness
C) competitiveness
D) idiographic consciousness

Question 78

According to the psychoanalytic approach to personality, which element works largely in accordance with the reality principle?

A) id
B) ego
C) superego
D) self-concept

Question 79

Which principle motivates a person to focus on maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain?

A) reality
B) fantasy
C) hedonic
D) pleasure

Question 80

Which type of consumer research uses tools such as in-depth interviews and focus groups to improve understanding of inner motives and needs?

A) reality
B) hedonic
C) motivational
D) trait