Fluent Essays

Read the attached file.Part 1Select one of Hostede’s dimensions of culture. Explain where your culture falls on that dimension. Give one example of how this influences your culture’s attitudes toward a given product, service, brand or company.Minimum words is 250 and cite references in apa format.Part 2Hostede has suggested five dimensions of culture. Come up with another, different from any of Hostede’s, and explain it in detail. Give examples of different cultures at each extreme. Give one example of a product, service or brand that might fit well (or poorly) in a given culture because of the importance of this dimension.Your assignment should be two pages in length, double-spaced, 12-point font, Times New Roman.Part 3Each day, reflect Maslow’s different needs and how different products and services meet those different needs. Minimum words is 300 and cite references in apa format. Read the attached file.Part 1Select one of Hostede’s dimensions of culture. Explain where your culture falls on that dimension. Give one example of how this influences your culture’s attitudes tow UNIT 6: MOTIVES & ATTITUDES QUESTION #6.1: Why do people do what they do? SHORT ANSWER: there are many human motives that compete and interact A motive is a something inside an organism that impels action. When a motive is activated, the organism percei ves a need, and is driven to some action intended to meet that need. Abraham Maslow suggested a hierarchy of needs that become sequentially activated as lower levels are met and the higher levels emerge. Maslow’s theory involves a prioritization of human needs. The first needs demanding attention are the physiological needs, including hunger, thirst, sleep, temperature maintenance and pain avoidance. Once these needs are met, the organism focuses on safety needs. When those are met, the social needs emerg e. When those are met, there are the needs for self -esteem. Only when all of those are met does the organism become concerned with creative self -actualization. The lower level motives (e.g., the physiological, safety) are known as extrinsic needs because t hey focus on needs related to the environment. The high level needs (e.g., self -actualization) are known as intrinsic . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka96Y0PkC1g Will Herzberg questioned whether there was a simple equation of meeting needs led to satisfaction. He acknowledged that fulfilling certain higher needs would lead to satisfaction, but thought that other types of needs did not lead to greater satisfaction, but that the lack of these factor s led to dissatisfaction. For example, a worker may love his job and experience great satisfaction from it because it meets his creative needs, but if it not, he would not be dis satisfied with his job. If that worker’s place of employment development had a problem with ventilation such that his workplace became hot and smelled bad, that would lead to a specific dissatisfaction. When the ventilation problem is corrected, the dissatisfaction is eliminated, but it does not result in satisfaction. The applicat ion to marketing is that these theories call upon companies to focus their products and services to serve one specific need, and then target their advertising and other marketing efforts to those consumers for whom such needs are in the forefront. Also, ad vertisers should not over -promise how much a given product or service will improve someone’s life. The only benefit that should be anticipated is the removal of a specific need. Another deficit to be avoided for most people is risk. Many people are more m otivated by fear of losing what little they have rather than by hope of gaining something new. When considering the purchase of a new product, many consumers are confronted by doubts and fears:  What will it cost?  How do I know it will work?  Could it b e dangerous?  Will people think me foolish for using it? Advertisers and salespersons must address these lingering fears if the products are to be sold. The theories of Maslow, Herzberg, and others are obviously generalizations about human needs. There a re differences between persons that psychologists should attempt to assess, and differences between cultures that sociologists and anthropologists should address. QUESTION #6.2: How do cultures differ do? SHORT ANSWER: cultures differ on several dimensio ns Dutch anthropologist Geert Hofstede has studied dozens of national cultures and created several dimensions on which we may note differences. Perhaps the most widely known of these dimensions would be power distance vs. egalitarianism. In cultures (whe ther national or organizational) high on the power distance index, people understand, expect, and approve of the fact that some people in the organization have more power and have a right to exercise it. In low PDI cultures, there is an egalitarian expecta tion. Examples of high PDI cultures would be Japanese society, the Roman Catholic Church and the military. This dimension would be important for marketers in terms of identifying the decision makers: who in an organization will make the decision to purchas e a product or service. Individualism vs. collectivism is another dimension of the culture (and this refers to the culture rather than the political system per se). One type of culture emphasizes individual achievements, and freely chosen affiliations. By contrast, collectivistic cultures have long term affiliations offering security in exchange for loyalty. The U.S. would be an example of a more individualistic culture, while tribal societies would be more collectivistic. Another dimension reflects a cul ture’s desire to avoid uncertainty and ambiguity. Where there is high avoidance of ambiguity, there are many social mores that attempt to prevent change. In low uncertainty avoidant cultures, people are more accepting of poorly defined relationships and po orly structured situations, and express tolerance for the change that this facilitates (or even welcome such change). Time orientation (short term vs. long term) is another dimension. Some cultures put more value on future outcomes and emphasize savings a nd persistence. Cultures emphasizing the short term look backward, and prize steadiness, social obligations, and saving face. Another dimension is sometimes referred to as masculinity vs. femininity. Cultures emphasizing the former are more assertive, co mpetitive, and materialistic, with more pronounced differences in gender roles. Feminine cultures emphasize nurturing relationships and quality of life. Whether we choose to understand cultural differences in terms of these dimensions or other conceptuali zations, we must recognize that such differences are real and do impact the way that marketing takes place. QUESTION #6.3: What are attitudes? SHORT ANSWER: attitudes are (changeable) habits for responding to social stimuli http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JSt49Vn6sY An attitude is a person’s tendency to respond in a certain way to a given social stimulus. That stimulus could be a political candidate or a marketed product, or a brand it represen ts or the company that made it. Attitudes are always dependent variables and they can be measured on different scales. One of the most commonly used is the Likert scale that measures an individual’s level of agreement with a statement (usually expressed as a favorable attitude toward something) where the response format involves three or more levels of agreement. Here is an example. Brand X makes products of high quality. COMPLETELY AGREE MOSTLY DISAGREE NOT SURE MOSTLY AGREE COMPLETELY DISAGREE Attitudes are habits, but they may change as new experiences arise. I may have an initially favorable attitude toward Brand X, because it was reasonably priced, or because I got along well with the salesperson. However, if I see consistent proble ms in product quality, I may develop an unfavorable attitude. But if I then have a good encounter with someone in customer service who sends me a new unit which proves to be problem free, I’ll change my attitude again. Attitudes must not be confused with personality traits. Attitudes are not as permanent or as consistent as personality traits. Traits are supposed to be characteristic of the individual, regardless of the situation. Attitudes are more influenced by the situation. An attitude is always abou t a specific thing, and describes the subjects understanding of that thing, the emotional evaluation of that thing, and his predisposition to act in a certain way toward that thing. So, each attitude can be dissected into three components: cognitive, affe ctive, and behavioral. The cognitive component refers to the subjects belief about the thing in question. Here we are not talking about religious beliefs (which are doctrines about God and salvation) but beliefs as factual statements that are empiricall y testable. For example, I believe that it is now about 20 degrees Celsius in this room is a belief in the sense of being a statement about my acceptance of a certain claim of fact. We could empirically verify the statement by getting a thermometer. Noti ce that my belief about the temperature in this room (unlike my religious doctrines) will frequently change when new information is supplied. I might readjust my estimate upward if I notice that I am perspiring, or if someone shows me a different thermomet er with a reading of 22 degrees. The affective component is how I feel about the thing in question. This might be the emotions I experience when I am in the presence of the thing, or even start to think about it. The affective component can also refer to how I evaluate the thing in question, especially how it fits into a larger scheme of preferences, priorities and values. Note that ethical and moral judgments should not be referred to as beliefs (because they are not empirically verifiable). Moral ju dgments are not based upon facts, but values, and are therefore part of the affective component of the attitude. The behavioral component refers to what the subject tends to do in the presence of the thing. When it comes to attitudes about political can didates or issues, the corresponding behavior is how you vote or to which side you might contribute your time or money. When it comes to attitudes about products and companies, the behavioral component is the consumers decision to purchase the product. In most instances, these three components of an attitude are consistent. People’s actions are consistent with their beliefs and values. People who voted for Romney instead of Obama really believed that Romney would bring prosperity, and were more closely a ligned with Romney’s more traditional values. However, sometimes behavior does not match the other components of an attitude. This is known as cognitive dissonance . This uncomfortable situation usually leads to people changing what they believe, rather t han what they do. This has several implications for marketing. One is that tactics such as coupons may initially change customer behavior, and then what customers think about the product (or even the company) may change to match the behavior. Attitudes a re habits, but they are not unchangeable. Attitudes can be changed by advertising, publicity and buzz. Advertising is when a company pays to have some medium promote favorable messages about one of its products, services, or brands. Publicity (e.g., press releases) involves messages that might not directly relate to a specific product or brand, and perhaps the company did not have to pay for it. Buzz is word of mouth: what consumers tell each other about a given product, service, brand or company. With the advent of the internet and social media, buzz is more powerful than in the past. Persuasion is the attempt to change an attitude. This is what publicity and advertising attempts to do. The three components of attitudes are not equal in terms of persuasive power. For many products (and political candidates) it is hard to change an attitude with a direct factual assault on beliefs (the cognitive). Simply referring to an array of facts is not convincing in most cases. Many sellers know that they must connect on a deeper emotional or values level (affect). When values are threatened, people won’t listen to facts inconsistent with those values. The need for persuasion does not stop with the point of purchase. Some customers will develop a post purchase buyer’s regret. This is a tendency to question their own decision, even though they have not yet discovered a flaw in the product or had any reason to believe that they have paid too much. Fortunately, most consumers (and voters) have the opposite tendency most o f the time. After formally indicating their preference (by purchasing or voting for one alternative) most people convince themselves that they made a wise choice. There is a role for post -purchase advertising and customer service in making sure that more c ustomers end up with this favorable attitude and avoid the buyer’s regret that can reduce repeat business and create an unfavorable buzz. UNIT 6: MOTIVES & ATTITUDES Flash cards & matching games http://www.quia.com/jg/2533154.html Jumbled words http://www .quia.com/jw/470553.html Summary paragraph http://www.quia.com/cz/467579.html UNIT 6 TERMS: motives & attitudes AFFECT : refers to emotions, feelings, mood; the affective component of attitudes can r efer to values and priorities ATTITUDE : a learned habit to respond to a specific social stimulus (e.g., a product or service or company); attitudes involve cognition, affect, action; attitudes are modifiable by advertising BELIEF: the cognitive component of an attitude; the individual’s level of acceptance or credence of a factual statement (e.g., whether the consumer thinks that the product will actually work as advertised); do not use this term to describe religious doctrines, ethics, rituals, myths or symbols BUZZ : communication (especially favorable) between consumers about a product or service; buzz is cheaper and more effective than advertising COGNITION, COGNITIVE : refers to thinking, beliefs, problem solving, concept formation COGNITIVE DISSONAN CE : inconsistency between attitude components; behavior tends to prevail over belief (Festinger) FESTINGER: developed the theory of cognitive dissonance FOLKWAYS : social behavioral norms which do not have strong sanctions to enforce them (e.g., matters o f fashion, taste) FOOT IN THE DOOR TECHNIQUE : an attempt to get compliance (e.g., used by a salesperson) where a small request will be advanced, and if granted, followed by a larger request HERZBERG : developed the theory that different factors account fo r satisfaction as opposed to dissatisfaction HOFSTEDE: developed the theory that there are several important cultural dimensions: power distance vs. egalitarian, individualism vs. collectivism, masculine vs. feminine, conspicuous consumption, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation HOMEOSTASIS : an optimal balance or steady state, that when disturbed impacts a drive (e.g., hunger); drives such as achievement and sex are not homeostatic in humans INTRINSIC : motivation that comes from within; creativit y and self -actualization (Maslow) are more intrinsic LEARNED MOTIVES : secondary motives, not necessary for survival, such as achievement and affiliation LIKERT : a scale for measuring attitudes, using three, four, five, or more levels of agreement: e.g., completely agree, mostly agree, not sure, mostly disagree, completely disagree MASLOW : humanistic, self -actualization; said in the pyramid of needs, the physiological have priority; inspired VALS MORES : behavioral norms about what the society deems to be important; strong sanctions may enforce mores MOTIVE : a major internal need which prompts or guides an organisms behavior (e.g., hunger, thirst, curiosity, achievement) PERSUASION : the attempt to change attitudes of another person