Perception Tests

In Fridays lecture, we did various experiments of perception, mainly taste testing. The experiments were fun, we got to eat chocolate and cookies and drink coke which was nice in the lecture. The experiments also got us thinking about our assignment on perception and what we're going to do for the test.

The tests showed that perception of branding plays a huge part when we buy products, especially when it comes to products like Tesco Value. Most ofthe tests showed that our class enjoyed the middle value brand compared to some of the others which surprised a few people.

Decision Making Processes

The decision process is roughly the same between everybody. Everyone goes through the same processes, from deciding to buy something to just a normal everyday decision.

When someone buys something, there are many processes they go through to decide and buy the product they do. Kotler's decision making process is said to be one of the main processes a person goes through when they buy something.


1. Need recognition - when the person realises they need something

2. Information search - searching about the product

3. Evaluation of Alternatives - search for similar products and compare the two

4. Purchase Decision - make a decision on which product to buy

5. Post-purchase Behaviour - how the person acts and uses after they have brought the product

This model isn't exactly the most reliable. There are many factors which have to be considered first before it can really be established if the process is true. The involvement, be it high or low, is the main issue that proves this model to be true or false. The product itself also affects the process, if the product is a normal, everyday item which the person buys everyday, the decision process isn't a major happening in the mind. However, if the product is something like an item of clothing or something bigger and more expensive such as a car, the decision making process is present in the mind as it is a lot of money to spend on something which is wrong for them.

We also did perceptual mapping. This is where products are plotted on a graph to see customers or potential customers perceptions of a certain type of product, eg chocolates. Perceptual maps act like a selector and interpretor of peoples perceptions of products and services. It shows the manufacturer where their product is about in the market and their competitors.

Laurent and Kapferer (1985) measured the involvement a person gets when they buy a product. They decided that there was not one single component of involvement which is used more then others. They devised a profile of five components which are involved in the involvment of purchasing a product. They called this the 'Involvment Profile'

1. Personal interest the consumer has in the product, personal meaning and importance play an impact in this.

2. Risk importance, the negative effects associated with the product if it is a poor choice.

3. Probability of making a bad purchase.

4. Pleasure value associated with the product.

5. 'Sign' value that comes with the product, how closely the product is linked with the consumer.

Measuring the involvement a consumer has with products allows maufacturers to capture the diverse reasons for the purchase of their product. However, they do not completely know why their product is brought, which is why the perceptual maps are the biggest help to them.

Painting Perception

Perception... something someone believes to be true. Anything can be perceived, from images of things to what someone or something looks like. Perception can be infuenced by many things that the object portays. Or, being put more formally, " Perception is the process by which organisms interpret and organise sensations to produce a meaningful experience of the world" Peter Lindsay and Donald Norman 1977.

Perception is a powerful thing. It can affect how we see things in shops, people and items around the place. Anything can be perceived differently as everyone has different tastes and see's things differently to everyone else.

Kotler can up with buying characteristic's which is a general explanation of how and why people perceive things the way they do.

This shows peoples reasoning behind buying certain items, the closer to the buyer, the bigger impact that has on their decision. So if something is culturally acceptable, but the person's perception of the product is stronger then the person is more likely to buy something they perceive to be better for them.

In our lecture, we had to produce names for paint samples for a chosen target market. My group got given children under 8. Not so easy as it sounds. Getting into the heads of children was hard enough, but then we realised that we had to appeal to their parents too, which made it even harder. We had to appeal to two target groups now, even though the range of names we came up with were pretty impressive! This activity showed that the perception of something as simple as paint can mean a lot as a name is one of the first things someone notices about paint, or anything.


We were also showed a variety of adverts, all of which appealed to one or two of the five senses we have; hear, see, feel, smell, or taste. We were showed that just by taking away the music of an advert, can make you have a totally different perception of what the advert is all about.

Advertisers need to get our attention if they are going to sell their products. They do this obviously through advertising their product to the public. However, to successfully market it they need to appeal to the 5 senses of the person. This is the only way marketers can egt through to people. Adverts such as this Marks and Spencer's advert appeals to our taste sense.

This makes us want the food and by making it look so good, they are showing the way the food could be. This sort of adverts particularly works well if the viewer is hungry as it gives them the urge for that food, making them more likely to go and buy it.

Magazine adverts also work in this way. These sorts of advertisements don't only appeal to the sight sense, by strategically placing products in the picture such as food or a product that looks like smell, they are appealing to more then one sense.

This advert appeals to the smell sense as it shows the freshness of the scent. The environment works well, and the people show the meaning of the perfume.

Perception and Eggs

We tried to perceive who two students were through their looks and body language. Most of the answers were gained through our own images of others, and trying to fit the students into what we would class as sterotypical characteristics for that type of person. Most of the answers the class got were correct for student 'A', but were not so correct for student 'B'.

A perception is the immediate impression someone gives off to another person. A person gives off their first impression within the first 17 seconds of meeting people. This would be the lasting perception others have of you.

The group did 'egg' of ourselves. This involved answers to questions being wrote in a shape of our choice. After collecting them and giving other random ones to us, /the group was asked to write our perceptions of the person, which was easier because we don't know much about each other yet. Getting a perception of the person i had was hard, not much information was given on the sheet, but there were a few obvious things which really stood out for me. I think i got a pretty good perception of who the person was and where their values lie.

The activities showed the group that perception is reasonably easy to understand, and showed that it is easy for the perception of something to be wrong.