Consumer Learning is the process by which individuals acquire the purchase and consumption knowledge and experience they apply to future related behavior.
Most of the learning is incidental. Some of it is intentional. Basic elements that contribute to an understanding of learning are: 1. Motivation
2. Cues
3. Response
4. Reinforcement There are 2 theories on how Individuals learn: 1. Behavioral Theory
2. Cognitive Theory Both contribute to an understanding of consumer behavior.
Behavioral Theorists view learning as observable responses to stimuli, whereas Cognitive Theorists believe that learning is a function of mental processing.
3 Major Behavioral Learning Theories are: 1. Classical Conditioning: Includes Repetition, Stimulus generalization and Stimulus discrimination.
2. Instrumental Conditioning: Instrumental Learning theorists believe that learning occurs through a trial and error process in which the positive outcomes in the form of results or desired outcomes lead to repeat behavior like Repeat Purchase or Repeat Positive Word of Mouth. Both positive and negative reinforcement can be used to encourage the desired behavior. The timing of repetitions influences how long the learned material is retained. Learning usually persists longer with distributed re-enforcement schedule, while mass repetitions produce more initial learning.
3. Observational Conditioning or Vicarious Learning:
Cognitive learning theory holds that the kind of learning most characteristics of humans is PROBLEM SOLVING. Cognitive theorists are concerned with how information is processes by the human mind: how it is stored, retained, and retrieved.
Involvement theory proposes that people engage in limited information processing in situations of low relevance to them and people engage in extensive information