My name is Apu and I am a shop keeper by day and a master mind blogger at night!
Well perhaps not, however I would like to introduce you to my personality twin! It is week seven and I must say this week I had lots of fun! This week we learnt about personality and self - concept. Schiffman and Kanuk, (2004) define personality as "Those inner psychological characteristics that both determine and reflect how a person responds to his or her environment." Before we started class Ruth sent over a link to complete a personality questionnaire, then we had to bring in the results the next day. After 70 questions, this is how my 'personality' looked like!
So I am classed as 'The Mentor'! If I am honest, with me I am one way or the other, a bit like Marmite I suppose, you can either love it or hate it, there is not really an in between. So I agree with being all of them, however I was shocked to see the result that I was leaning towards being judging! Using the link below, please try the personality test and see what you are. You might be surprised what the results show!
http://www.mypersonality.info/personality-types/
How was the test? Surprising or were the results what you expected? If you done the test please let me know what personality type you are using the comment box below this post.
On the day of the lecture, we took our results in and Ruth presented us with a Simpson themed personality chart. Who said learning could not be fun! There were four categories, protectors, creators, intellectuals and visionaries. I came under the visionary category. I have taken the chart from Ruth's lecture to allow you to see who you would be and what category you would come under.
P.s Thank you to Ruth for putting this together!
So what were you? Maybe a Bart or even a Ralph?
The question we had to ask ourselves was, 'What are the factors that influence our behaviour?' According to Kotler et al, there are four factors. They are:
Cultural Factors
- Sub- culture
- Social Class
Social Factors
- Reference Groups
- Family
- Roles and Statuses
Personal Factors
- Age and Life-Cycle Stage
- Occupation
- Economic Situation
- Lifestyle
- Personality and Self-concept
Psychological Factors
- Motivation
- Learning
- Perception
- Beliefs and Attitudes
How do these factors relate to our personality? According to Hollander's research into personality there are four aspects that create our personality. They are:
The External Aspect
How a person interacts with other people.
The Internal Aspect
A combination of their values and attitudes.
The Dynamic Aspect
Faced with a new situation, how do they behave.
The Consistent Aspect
Their Characteristic style.
However, where do we inherit our traits from? Was it down to nurture, nature, peers or even birth order? Once we recognised who we have inherited most of our traits from, Ruth wanted us to go into more depth into our personality and our traits. She presented us with Cattells Trait Theory. This theory looks at the different personality attitudes people have. It illustrates the negative attitudes to the positive. This would define our traits of our personality so we could analyse ourselves. This is what mine looked like!
How do you think yours would look? Who do you inherit your traits from, maybe your older brother or your best friend from school?
Another theory is Hollander's research. This theory has established four aspects which helps define personality. The aspects are:
- The External Aspect: how a person interacts with other people
- The Internal Aspect: a combination of their values & attitudes
- The Dynamic Aspect: faced with a new situation how do they behave e.g. social adjustments
- The Consistent Aspect: their characteristic style
Solomon, (2001) defines self-concept as "...people see themselves as they imagine others see them."
Self concept can also allow others to see our material possessions, which can be used as an expression of our selves. Self concept influences the person's perception of the world around it. Self concept does not have to be reality, for example, a person who is regarded by others as successful may perceive as being a failure. Again this links back into perception.
Self concept impacts on each of us, because it is what we think about ourselves. For example, a teenager who does not believe she is perfect or what is perceived to her as perfect, due to the influence of the media, tends to believe a size 0 will help them fit in, this then influences the teenagers self concept. I bet most of you are thinking this scenario sounds familiar!
Self concept makes individuals believe what they would like to become and how this will impact on them. The important factors that are involved in this are:
Self concept can also allow others to see our material possessions, which can be used as an expression of our selves. Self concept influences the person's perception of the world around it. Self concept does not have to be reality, for example, a person who is regarded by others as successful may perceive as being a failure. Again this links back into perception.
Self concept impacts on each of us, because it is what we think about ourselves. For example, a teenager who does not believe she is perfect or what is perceived to her as perfect, due to the influence of the media, tends to believe a size 0 will help them fit in, this then influences the teenagers self concept. I bet most of you are thinking this scenario sounds familiar!
Self concept makes individuals believe what they would like to become and how this will impact on them. The important factors that are involved in this are:
- Self image
- Self esteem
- Ideal self
Self image impacts people because this is how they tend to see themselves, in which they judge the positive and negative attributes about themselves.
The question is how does personality and self concept relate to marketing?