University of Economics, Prague
Bachelor’s Thesis
2020 Svetlana Shumilova
University of Economics, Prague Faculty of Business Administration
Bachelor’s Field: Corporate Finance and Management
Title of the Bachelor´s Thesis:
Social and psychological aspects of the influence of stereotypes on the behaviour of
consumers on the Russian market
Author: Svetlana Shumilova
Supervisor: PhDr. Eva Kašparová, Ph.D.
D e c l a r a t i o n o f A u t h e n t i c i t y
I hereby declare that the Bachelor´s Thesis presented herein is my own work, or fully and specifically acknowledged wherever adapted from
other sources. This work has not been published or submitted elsewhere for the requirement of a degree programme.
Prague, May 1, 2020 Signature
Acknowledgment
I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to my thesis supervisor,
PhDr. Eva Kašparová, who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted
with the research of the thesis. Her guidance and valuable comments were of
major help and pointed me in the right direction when writing the thesis. At last
but not at least, I would like to thank my family for ongoing support.
Title of the Bachelor´s Thesis:
Social and psychological aspects of the influence of stereotypes on the behaviour of consumers on the Russian market
Abstract:
The goal of this work is to explore the sociological and psychological problems of having stereotypes of behaviour on the Russian market in the study group, its cultural aspects, and the model consumer decision at the time of acquaintance with the goods.
The theoretical part of this work will be based on sociological and psychological theories, marketing studies and concepts, cultural specifics, and influence of them to people. The methodology part is dealing with the research of Russian consumers of the study group.
Key words:
Consumer Behaviour, Stereotypes, Marketing, Psychology
Název bakalářské práce:
Sociální a psychologické aspekty vlivu stereotypů na chování spotřebitelů na ruském trhu
Abstrakt:
Cílem bakalářské práce je prozkoumat sociologické a psychologické problémy stereotypu spotřebitelského chování na ruském trhu v rámci zkoumané skupiny, jejích kulturní aspekty a model spotřebitelského rozhodnutí v době seznámení se zbožím.
Teoretická část dané práce bude založená na sociologických a psychologických teorii, marketingových výzkumu a konceptů, kulturních specifikách a jejích vlivů na lidé. Metodologická část se zabývá výzkumem ruské spotřebitelské skupiny.
Klíčová slova:
Chování spotřebitele, Stereotypy, Marketing, Psychologie
Contents
Introduction. ... 8
1 Theoretical part. ... 10
1.1 Product in consumer behaviour. ... 10
1.2 Socio-psychological aspects. ... 12
1.3 Psychological features of the behaviour of the Russian consumer. ... 14
1.4 Characteristics of the impact on the mental processes of the consumer. ... 15
1.4.1 Sensations. ... 15
1.4.2 Perception. ... 15
1.4.3 Attention. ... 16
1.4.4 Memory. ... 17
1.4.5 Thinking. ... 17
1.4.6 Imagination. ... 18
1.5 Analysis of socio-psychological characteristics of stereotypes. ... 19
1.6 The impact of stereotypes on human behaviour. ... 20
2 Methodology. ... 21
2.1 Purpose of the study. ... 21
2.2 Research design. ... 21
2.3 Questionnaire survey. ... 22
2.4 Supporting research. ... 29
2.4.1 Testing properties. ... 30
2.4.2 The results of the study, their processing and discussion... 31
2.5 Findings. ... 33
3 Conclusion. ... 34
4 Appendix 1. The questionnaire research. ... 35
5 Appendix 2. Emotional significance scale ... 37
6 Appendix 3. Methodology for the diagnosis of socio-psychological personality attitudes in the motivational-need sphere by Potemkina ... 38
7 References ... 41
8 List of tables ... 43
9 List of figures ... 43
8
Introduction.
Among the methods of psychological impact on humans, many authors name those based on the use of stereotypes. Robert Cialdini writes that stereotypes have an influence on us from early childhood, and they have been relentlessly harassing us throughout our lives that we rarely comprehend their power. However, each such principle can be detected and used as a tool of automatic influence. (Cialdini, 2007 )
The question is how the behaviour is carried out: as a result of conscious choice, external force, or is it a combination of factors? Why does a person make that choice: is it his personal choice or the influence of stereotypes of behaviour?
The problem is complicated. Most people do not know what types of products are currently being developed and will appear on the market in a few years. Therefore, the need for specific products forms in the process of perception of advertising and social norms.
Such an example could be the entry into the market of smartwatches; in the beginning, a person did not quite understand why they were needed, so he already has a smartphone with many functions. Under the influence of advertising, fashion for a healthy lifestyle - taking care of health, activity tracker, as well as additional usability - instant message viewing, timer, schedule, gradual distribution of the product among friends, almost everyone now has some version of this device. Thus, a change in attitudes do not always have a direct impact on behaviour, but thanks to it, a person may be more susceptible in following situations of social influence.
The product of the forces of social influence, according to Philip G. Zimbardo and Michael R.
Leippe, are usually prejudices that penetrate the minds even before a person has the ability or motivation to resist them. However, after prejudice has already appeared, people stubbornly resist liberation from these views. Often prejudices are a priori judgments based on incomplete information, which makes the attitude unfounded and irrational. Formed prejudices have a strong influence on the processing of relevant information since they serve the main cognitive goal of simplifying complexity and help us make our perceived world more predictable and manageable by grouping individual elements of information into categories. Thus, in our lives, stereotypes affect the processes of information processing, its organisation, storage in memory and search, and also manifest themselves in various forms of behaviour. (Zimbardo, 1991) The socio-political and socio-economic living conditions in Russia have not yet fundamentally changed the psychological stereotypes of the behaviour of older people, their norms, and values, although, of course, they have a destructive effect on them. The younger generation is more liberal and orientated towards Western culture, so it would be interesting to explore how they make their choice in such a combination.
In connection with ethnic characteristics: inexperience, ingenuity, emotionality, responsiveness to images and symbols, with the predictability of behaviour resulting from this, Russian people quickly become an object of manipulation. (Hofstede, 2001) All mentioned is one of the reasons
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that manipulative technologies in the media, including advertising, so strongly affect the minds of Russian people.
The objective of the study is to study a group of Russian consumers to identify their psychological characteristics in relation to stereotypes. The subject is the influence of behavioural stereotypes on the needs-motivational sphere of consumers of the study group.
The purpose of the research is to identify the degree of influence of behavioural stereotypes on the need-motivational sphere of a group of Russian consumers for the further development of methods and means of marketing communication.
Hypotheses of this study: There is a direct relationship between the stereotypes of a person and their purchasing decisions.
Tasks:
Theoretical:
Based on a study of the literature on the topic of research, identify features of the needs and motives of the modern consumer;
To analyse the socio-psychological characteristics of stereotypes;
To identify the mechanism of influence of stereotypes on human behaviour.
Empirical:
Creating empirical hypotheses for research
To identify the presence of attitudes in the need-motivational sphere of consumers;
Establish the relationship of stereotypical behaviour with the need-motivational sphere of the Russian consumer;
Determine the degree of influence of stereotypes of person’s behaviour.
The research hypothesis is the assumption that stereotypes of behaviour form the need- motivational sphere of Russian consumers in the study group.
The study is supported by previously studied psychological attitudes of the influence of stereotypes that was conducted in Yakushev's book, “The Impact of Behaviour Stereotypes on the Need-Motivational Sphere of Consumers: A Monograph” (Yakushev, 2010).
As a result of the study, the practical value of the thesis should demonstrate the relationship of customer stereotypes with the product selection process for the improvement of marketing communications for practitioners.
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1 Theoretical part.
The task of the theoretical chapter is to create a theoretical basis for further processing of the practical part of this work. In connection with the topic, the basic concepts included such as product, customers, and their behaviour, as well as the definition of socio-psychological aspects of the modern market.
1.1 Product in consumer behaviour.
Kotler’s definition is more common to characterise the concept of a product: it is “anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption. It includes physical objects, services, personalities, place, organisations and ideas.” (Kotler, 2012).
This definition applies to a nondurable, durable and intangible products, for example, a service (travel services, consulting and information services, financial services) or an idea (for example, a political or scientific case).
Several features distinguish services from tangible products. According to Vaštíková (Vaštíková, 2014), these are the five most important characteristics:
- immateriality, - inseparability, - heterogeneity - destructibility - lack of ownership.
Other properties derive from the immateriality of services. Usually, the service cannot be viewed or tested before purchase. The production and consumption of the service are inseparable. As a result, the services’ storage is impossible. It means that the use of service stops to exist; we cannot own it like any tangible product.
In connection with the different forms of the product, we can speak of a so-called complex product, which includes several products and services. An example is the tourism product - a destination that consists of a complex of services (accommodation, catering, transport, information, and entertainment).
Product Levels.
Marketing defines that any product includes sublayers. According to Kotler, there are five primary levels:
- the fundamental level (the core benefit), - basic product,
- expected product, - augmented product, - potential product.
11 Figure 1 Product Levels
Source: (Kotler, 2012) The core product has its name because it forms the basis of the product - the benefits that the buyer gains. It is usually the primary purpose of purchasing a product. These include, for example, satisfying hunger when buying bread, getting a better mood when using entertainment services. The basic product is related to the needs that customers are going to satisfy. The needs are following according to the known Maslow pyramid (Kotler, 2012).
Figure 2 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Source: (Kotler, 2012)
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Physiological needs include, for example, the need for oxygen, food, water. It is satisfied by common consumer goods (food, water, clothing). The need for security and safety includes a sense of security and protection of life. Accommodation services, municipal services, as well as police and protection services, can contribute to meeting these needs. The need for love and belonging is at the third level - social needs. Social motives often include entertainment services. The need for recognition and self-realisation is the highest stages of a pyramid, and their fulfilment is considerably more complex and depends on various personal factors. For example, luxury and branded goods can increase recognition, and in this case, an important role is played by the perception of product quality and brand image.
Higher levels of needs are often satisfied by other layers of the product - for example, the product itself, which includes its features, quality elements, brand features, packaging, and design.
To sum up, the product is a tool to meet customer needs. This is also confirmed by the fact that it is included in most variations of marketing mixes (for example, “4P”, “4C”, “7P”). So, the importance of the product can be understood as a customer relationship management tool.
1.2 Socio-psychological aspects.
Sociology and psychology are disciplines closely related to marketing disciplines. The study, for example, how customers are related to individual brands and products, why a particular brand is more popular in some group than in another group, what internal personality characteristics influence market behaviour. Sociology and psychology are so-called soft disciplines that they use qualitative research and observation methods.
The history of the development of the field of market psychology and social psychology dates to the same period - the beginning of the 20th century. This was due to increasing competition and the fact that the high quality or favourable price of a product in a competitive market was no longer sufficient. The idea has emerged that it is necessary to get to know a customer, their needs, and the causes of specific purchasing behaviour. Market psychology uses knowledge from general psychology, sociology, economics, and marketing, and examines the socio- psychological aspects of market demand and supply, marketing communication psychology, consumer behaviour, brand perception, product, and company image psychology.
The concept of consumer behaviour and the need-motivational sphere of consumers.
Consumer behaviour, according to Kotler, is the study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy, and why they buy. (Kotler, 2012) This is a social activity that is directly involved in the acquisition, use and disposal of products, services and ideas, including the decision processes that preceded this activity and the processes following it.
The main question is if there is a real demand for products or if the appearance of some product on the market creates its consumption. However, if the latter is true, then how do people begin to produce something, such as chocolate, if there is no initial need for it?
Need is a state of demand for something conscious and experienced (or unconscious) by a person. This desire for those conditions, without which it is impossible to maintain their healthy physical and mental state (Gough, 1994).
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Consumer interests can be classified as unconscious needs (subconscious, instinctive), actual needs (objective) and conscious needs or behaviour motives.
Based on these needs, five stages of a purchasing decision are distinguished (Kotler, 2012):
1) Problem recognition.
2) Information search.
3) Evaluation of alternatives.
4) Purchase decision.
5) Post-purchase evaluation.
All these factors create a cycle of consumer behaviour, where real need creates a conscious need or motive. It leads to action, to the search for options to meet this need, ending with a temporary trial consumption. After experience gained, evaluation of the results follows and, in the case of satisfaction, it transitions to continuous consumption. Otherwise, the search resumes. The consumer is not looking for a product or service, but a way to satisfy their needs or to solve the problems a person faces, so the buying process is very subjective. (Sandomirsky, 2006) The motive is an impulse to commit a behavioural act, generated by the system of human needs, and it is conscious or unconscious in general. (Stolyarenko, 2004) In the process, the implementation of behaviour, motives, being dynamic formations, can be changed at all stages of the act. As a result, it occurs according to not the initial, but the converted motivation.
The motive has a complex internal structure:
1. It arises with the emergence of a need for something, accompanied by emotional anxiety, dissatisfaction.
2. Awareness of the motive is multi-stage: first, it becomes clear what the reason for the emotional dissatisfaction is, what a person needs to exact this moment; then the object is specified that meets the given need and can satisfy it or form a desire. And then it becomes clear how and by what actions, it is possible to achieve.
3. The energy component of the motive is realised in actions.
The motives by which the consumer chooses one or another product divide into the motives of common sense, emotional and mixed motives.
The motives of common sense are rational-logical or conventional. They are associated with the economic side of consumption or with such consumer properties of goods as:
- acceptable price.
- exploitation in the long run, reliability, service guarantees.
- convenience in of usage, practicality, and economy of operation.
Emotional motives are impulsive and often logically unreasonable; they occur when a person desires:
- increase the attractiveness among the circle of close communication, in order to maintain the attention of loved ones, or to expand the circle of communication among previously unfamiliar people.
- be accepted in a specific environment. These are motives of self-affirmation and prestige, fashion and assimilation, envy and competition.
- satisfy curiosity and to have awareness.
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- feel comfortable physically and psychologically. It can be caused by the aim to overcome internal complexes, fear, self-doubt, low self-esteem.
Mixed motives combine elements of rationality and irrationality, while emotional impulses are transformed in mind into rational motives. Motives of this kind include aesthetic trends, following traditions, creativity, and a passion for acquisition.
For different socio-demographic groups of consumers, motivation varies significantly. So, depending on the level of well-being of the buyer, they pay different attention to the price of the goods and quality along with the service. The consumer’s attitude to the choice of everyday goods and large purchases is different. It depends on not only the monetary but also the psychological value.
Also, a significant role is played by gender differences in consumer behaviour. The male version of purchasing behaviour is more characteristic of rational motives of profitability, conformity.
In the behaviour of female customers, there are more frequent manifestations of irrationality and impulsivity (Emelyanov E. N., 1998).
Sigmund Freud saw the buyer as an unconscious person (Freud, 2016). The psychoanalytic model focuses on the attitude of people and recommends influencing this attitude or changing it to motivate the purchase of goods or servicesю There are many examples of advertising campaigns that try to associate a product with suppressed and unconscious motives.
1.3 Psychological features of the behaviour of the Russian consumer.
Speaking about the peculiarities of the Russian consumer, it is necessary to mention first the fundamental difference in consumer behaviour with the post-Soviet and the new generation psychology. The main features of post-Soviet individual psychology are paternalism (psychological dependence on the state) and conformism (social obedience). Both are the consequences of a kind of psychological childishness, social infantility, which was purposefully formed by specific living conditions. For example, advertising is more likely to affect older people because they used to believe all the information on a newspaper page or a TV screen.
They understood this as a direct recommendation, a guide to action.
The criteria for choosing a product also differ. People whose consumer habits were formed during times of shortage, when quality was not paid attention to, were not yet used to analysing the price-quality ratio. It can be said that in many respects, the features of the domestic consumption are associated with the remnants in the mass consciousness of the cultural, behavioural, economic stereotypes of the former social system.
Psychological “Soviet syndrome” has not disappeared (Sandomirsky, 2006) :
- a sense of disunity and belonging to the people who are unable to control their fate.
- a sense of lost communication with civilisation.
- anarchist behaviour in relation to the state and its laws.
- lack of a sense of security.
In the practical part of this work, it will be interesting to find out whether these criteria affected the younger generation.
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1.4 Characteristics of the impact on the mental processes of the consumer.
One of the tasks is to study how the psychological component manifests itself in specific conditions. The specific manifestations of the mental process are studied considering the stereotypes of the Russian consumer.
1.4.1 Sensations.
A huge amount of goods, in food, perfumery and other sectors of light industry, is launched on the market to meet people’s needs for sensations. Therefore, most often in advertising portray people who enjoy the sensations created by such products. The psychology of non-verbal communications is required to find the necessary techniques in order to provoke the potential buyer with the relevant associations and the most powerful emotional reactions, presenting to a consumer, not the sensations themselves, but only some symbols that replace them.
Researchers attach great importance to the influence of colour on our feelings (Lister, 2014).
Sometimes colour causes specific reactions that can help in making any decisions. It also affects appetite, behaviour, pressure, and in general, the condition of a person. Modern sellers and advertising components consider such factors and try to choose specific colours to which people can react specifically.
1.4.2 Perception.
This understanding of the subject as a whole, the associations evoked in the brain when a person previously contacted the subject (Lebedev-Lyubimov, 2004). All perceptions include an active motor component and complex brain activity aimed at synthesising a holistic image.
Subjectivity is also characteristic of perception: people perceive the same information differently depending on their interests, needs and abilities.
Experience not only plays a decisive role in thinking, providing subjects with usual decision rules and methods of analysis but can also be a problem on the way of solving new problems because it is creating an irrational conservative basis for solving. The gestalt psychologist Max Wertheimer even believed that experience negatively affects creative, productive thinking. This is especially true for children. The fact is that under certain conditions when a person learns only a limited number of ways of solving problems, he/she can detect a very undesirable quality of thinking - rigidity. Rigidity is the dullness of switching thinking to new methods and rules;
it makes a process of change the previously developed program of activities harder. There are three types of rigidity: cognitive, affective (emotional) and motivational.
Such properties characterise perception as integrity; it means that perception always captures a holistic image of an object. However, such visual ability is not innate. Constancy helps us to perceive the surrounding objects as relatively unchangeable. Constancy is an acquired, not an intrinsic property. Also, perception is not a simple sum of sensations; we perceive a generalised structure. Meaningfulness is closely associated with thinking and perception. As a result, it relates to an understanding of the essence of objects (Stolyarenko, 2004).
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By several theories of the psychology of colour, for example, with the well-known theory of Max Lüscher, yellow reflects unlimited expansiveness, liberation from puts, discharge.
Symbolically, the yellow colour is “solar heat, causing joy, pep and happiness.” The green colour, according to Max Lüscher, means “contraction and tension, the will to act, tenacity and perseverance.” Green colour - “the embodiment of firmness, constancy, resistance to change.”
However, using these colours in advertising for decoration of various objects, for example, to inform, or attract attention, a person can get a completely different result in perception, which is expected initially, since the colour is perceived in the context of what is advertised (Lebedev- Lyubimov, 2004).
The signal from external surround can occur at two levels. At the bottom, the energy acts on our senses, and as soon as the energy of the stimulus becomes enough to excite one of the receptors, it turns into a coded message that will be transmitted to the brain. This limit of sensitivity of each receptor beyond which excitation cannot occur is a physical threshold. At a higher level, the signal, in order to be perceived, must then exceed the threshold of perception, which is the threshold of conscious recognition. It is controlled by the reticular formation of the brain. Richard Gregory’s experiments showed that one photon might be enough to excite the receptor and the retina, but it took eight such portions of energy for our brain to perceive the luminous point, and the person realised that sees it (Gregory, 1998). The physiological threshold is genetically determined and can only change depending on age or other physiological factors.
The perception threshold is variable; it depends on the level of brain wakefulness, on the attention of the brain to the signal that crossed the physiological threshold.
There is a zone of sensitivity in which the excitation of receptors entails the transmission of a message, but it does not reach consciousness. These signals enter the brain and are processed by its lower centres (subconscious, subthreshold perception), not reaching the cerebral cortex and not being recognised by a person. However, this information, accumulating, can affect behaviour. The same effect of subconscious perception is possible if the exposure time or the interval between the signals was less than 0.1 seconds and the signals did not manage to be processed at the level of consciousness (Gregory, 1998).
1.4.3 Attention.
Attention is a mental process that manifests itself in the form of human activity, which is expressed in the orientation of consciousness to significant phenomena for a person and her/his focus on external objects or subjective experiences. At the same time, according to some psychologists, attention is also characterised by the fact that it not only concentrates a person’s consciousness on important things but also distracts from things of secondary importance (Stolyarenko, 2004).
Attention classifies to involuntary, voluntary and after voluntary. Involuntary attention arises under the influence of external and internal factors, regardless of a person’s desire and often unexpectedly. Such attention is characteristic of both: people and animals. Also, a person by some effort can seize involuntary attention and turn it into voluntary. It happens if an object attracted the attention of a person, he/she can concentrate on it and begin to examine it and highlight details. Involuntary attention becomes active if the strength of the stimulus is higher
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than the level of human-conscious mental operations that a person performs at some moment.
Involuntary attention usually acts for a short time. After this, the person either loses interest in the stimulus, or attention becomes voluntary. (Stolyarenko, 2004)
Voluntary attention allows a person to disconnect from secondary stimulation. Essential characteristics of attention are volume, concentration, switching, distribution, and some others.
The amount of attention is the number of objects that a person can perceive at the same time.
An adult has the attention volume of 4-6 objects at the same time (Pashler, 1998).
The concentration of attention depends on the person’s motivation, interest in the object, the activity at that moment and on the psychophysiological state. The concentration of attention can be narrow and wide. During a wide concentration of attention, its distribution occurs. In some cases, the person focuses simultaneously on several objects or activities; switching attention is a voluntary or involuntary selection of an object.
Only strong motivation, the conscious need for a specific product can make the consumer solve such complex information problems for a long time while experiencing constant irritation, negative emotions and even anger about advertising and to the offered product or service. Studying such a mental process as attention, psychologists repeatedly set themselves the important practical task of finding ways to long-term hold the human gaze on the
advertised object. One of the basic concepts is the amount of attention, which is the main criterion for the sufficient work of advertisement (Lebedev-Lyubimov, 2004).
1.4.4 Memory.
Many psychologists specifically emphasise that thanks to memory the integrity of the “I” of a person, his personality, individuality is preserved (Stolyarenko, 2004).
Figurative memory allows a person to remember images that arise in consciousness based on appropriate analysers. The scientists distinguish visual, auditory, tactile, and olfactory memory.
The contents of the verbal-logical memory are concepts, judgments, and conclusions.
Emotional memory allows a person to remember emotions and feelings, and motor - movements how to ride a bicycle or to play the piano.
The memory is divided into involuntary and voluntary. In the first case, a person remembers something without setting a particular task, and in the second case, this process is conscious, for example, memorising some poem. Psychologists also distinguish operational, short-term, and long-term memory and the mechanisms of memorisation, storage, reproduction, and forgetting (Lebedev-Lyubimov, 2004).
1.4.5 Thinking.
A feature of thinking is its complicated nature. A person acquires knowledge that is contained in culture; it is the result of scientific and practical activities of a massive number of people.
Along with knowledge, a person learns the norms of thinking and behaviour. Thanks to thinking, a person acquires practical knowledge about objects. Thinking allows a person to use generalisations and concepts (Stolyarenko, 2004).
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The thinking of individuals can vary in such characteristics as independence, criticality, flexibility, depth, breadth, speed. Some characteristics of thinking can be measured using special psychodiagnostic tests. Studies of thinking are closely connected to studies of another mental process - intellectual abilities. Intelligence is a concept that denotes the ability of people and animals to solve any mental tasks.
Some researchers believe that stereotypes have arisen due to the constant tendency of thinking to simplify reality. This trend is called reification (Honneth, 2008). In the case when the described tendency is fixed in the consciousness of a specific social group, simplified concrete representations are realised in the form of a priori patterns of perception and judgment.
Stereotypes arise; the source of stereotypes is the person’s tendency to simplified thinking (Lebedev-Lyubimov, 2004).
1.4.6 Imagination.
Imagination is closely related to thinking, intelligence, and other mental processes. Moreover, the more versatile a person is, the wider his/her horizons are so the imagination is developed better. There is also an essential connection between imagination and emotions. As a rule, more emotional people have a better imagination. Because imagination is a kind of separation from reality, problems arise related to communication, communication, mutual understanding of people. Creativity always contains the potential danger of being misunderstood.
Bluma Zeigarnik noted that a violation of the emotional characteristics of a person should be manifested in his/her imagination, as well as in the description of graphic objects depicting characters and faces. Such people can create images that will negatively affect social norms and emotional relations in society (Lebedev-Lyubimov, 2004).
The emotional side of consumption.
The problem of studying the emotional attitude of consumers to specific products is also one of the problems that do not have a specific solution in psychology and can be considered differently. Moreover, the solution to the problem is achieved through psychological research, since any general recommendations based on literature data may, under specific conditions, suggest completely incorrect solutions (Lebedev-Lyubimov, 2004).
Products are too diverse to examine the perceptions of one product and, revealing some psychological patterns, immediately transfer the results to some other products. However, the general patterns are well reproduced in specific categories of goods, which also must be considered when planning and conducting the study. Emotions are value judgments, and the value element contains a stereotype. The stereotype is manifested as a simplified, pre-accepted representation; it arises based on the mediated perception of the object. Stereotypes influence the formation of a new empirical experience, the familiar to us becomes a synonym for “good”, and the unfamiliar becomes a synonym for “bad”. The evaluative element of the stereotype is always consciously determined, because the stereotype, expressing the feelings of the individual, the system of values, it is always correlated with group feelings and group actions.
The unity of stereotypes of various social institutions and social systems is possible.
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1.5 Analysis of socio-psychological characteristics of stereotypes.
A social stereotype is a stable, categorical, and extremely simplified idea about any phenomenon, group, historical person, widespread in a given social environment; it is assimilated by the individual in the process of socialization. Also, this term can be understood in a narrower sense: as a stereotypical idea of a social group or community. In this sense, two meanings distinguish between social autostereotypes (ideas about their group) and heterostereotypes (ideas about other groups). Thus, social stereotypes are clichés of consciousness developed by the social environment and ascribing certain descriptive, value, and prescriptive meanings to social groups and their typical representatives. A social stereotype, associated with a negative attitude to a particular group, is called prejudice (Schneider, 2005).
Stereotypes are not necessarily false; they usually contain a part of the truth. A significant number of people share them, which generally contributes to their rooting in the society.
Stereotypes can change over time, but it is often difficult to get rid of acquired ideas. The concept of “stereotype” was introduced into the social and scientific vocabulary by Walter Lippmann, who was not a scientist but a journalist. Walter Lippmann defined the stereotype as a representation of a complex world that includes orientation and identification. The concept of Lippmann's stereotype is based on the processes of perception and processing of information about the social world. Stereotypes are fictions that mediate clarifications about the world.
Therefore, they were not described as special works or products of painful addictions but are characteristic of the normal process of information processing (Newman, 2009).
Lippmann stereotypes are neither true nor false; they are, however, not neutral. They not only streamline our world but also protect our position in society. Stereotypes are included in the human value system. They determine in advance what facts we see and how we present them.
In the study of stereotypes and prejudices, an attempt is rarely made to compare the decisions made with reality. This is even more difficult than the doubt whether it is possible to make a comparison between the stereotype and reality from fundamental considerations. We cannot compare social reality and physical reality, there are no general comparative standards for this option. Opportunities for comparison are limited but do not exclude the re-examination of social behaviour (Jung, 1995).
The concept of prejudice reflects the sensual nuances of stereotypical opinion, the psychodynamic prerequisites of this reaction, as well as the attitude to social values. The social components and their stability are named as general defining stereotypes and prejudices. To justify the social nature of the stereotype and prejudice should be guided by socio-structural and cultural factors. Stability or the degree of stability of stereotypes is a consistent postulate of the Lippmann concept. “In a crazy world, we «peck» what our culture has already set aside for us, and we tend to perceive only what our culture has presented to us in the stereotyped form”
(Lippmann, 1922)
One of the Russian researchers in the psychology of advertising who developed a system of psychological influences based on the use of stereotypes is Igor Vikentiev. He believes that decision making, intuition, creative insight, on the one hand, and stereotyped thinking, rejection of the new, on the other, are realized based on a single psychophysiological mechanism: the principle of dominance. A person’s perception depends not so much on the impact on him, but
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on the dominance and stereotypes that a person has. Among the eternal stereotypes are stereotypes of life and death, domination and submission, wealth and poverty, freedom and slavery (Lebedev-Lyubimov, 2004).
1.6 The impact of stereotypes on human behaviour.
The upbringing and self-upbringing of a person are formed from a willingness to react to the creation of attitudes useful for a person and society. From early childhood, parents influence patterns of behaviour consciously and unconsciously. The child receives the standards of good and evil, beautiful and ugly, good and bad. By the age when self-awareness begins, there are already many entrenched feelings, opinions, views, attitudes in our psyche that influence both the assimilation of new information and the attitude to the environment. Being unconscious, they act with great power on a person, forcing them to perceive the world and react to it in the spirit of established stamps learned from childhood (Stolyarenko, 2004).
Attempts to change behaviour by changing stereotypes often end in nothing. The warning about the dangers of smoking has little effect on those who smoke. Many people want the violence, the demonstration of which leads to disheartening viewers, to be removed from the TV screens, while they watch such programs as often as before (Myers, 2010).
Our stereotypes often sleep while we act automatically without looking at them. For example, familiar scripts are activated by people without analysing what they are doing. People automatically say hello to those they meet. To the question: “How are you doing?” They answer
“fine”, even if not so good. Such actions are adaptive. This frees up resources to address more important issues. In unusual situations, people's behaviour is less automatic. A person thinks before making some decision in the absence of scripts.
Stereotypes can be easily imposed through the media. Moreover, the formation of a stereotype goes through several stages. In this case, as a result of special psychological manipulations, a complex phenomenon is reduced to some simplified and understandable scheme. Some psychologists call the three stages in the formation of stereotypes: alignment, amplification, and assimilation (Stolyarenko, 2004). First, a complex phenomenon or object is reduced to several well-known signs, and then these signs are given special significance in comparison with those that they had in the whole. After that, the features of the object or phenomenon are built into an image that has special psychological significance for the individual. Stereotypes and prejudices may belong to the premises of intolerance, hostility and discrimination and increase the influence of these processes in society (Macrae, Stangor, & Hewstone, 1996).
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2 Methodology.
2.1 Purpose of the study.
The purpose of this study was to research the stereotypes of consumer behaviour in Russia in the study group.
This study attempted to gather the information that can help people involved in psychology, sociology and marketing, offering an understanding of the formation of target groups, values, affiliation, motivation and traditions described by people who live in Russia. The aim is to answer questions such as what it means to be a Russian consumer, a description of the shopping culture, how society and stereotypes influence the perception of the process and motivation.
This chapter will examine the design of the study used for this study, procedures used, selection of participants, protection of participants and data collection.
The hypothesis of the study is the assumption that stereotypes of behaviour form the need- motivational sphere of Russian consumers in the study group. To test the hypothesis of the study, the following methods and techniques were used: questioning using the scale for assessing the significance of emotions, psycho-diagnostic testing, mathematical and statistical processing of the data.
2.2 Research design.
This study used quantitative methodology in the study group.
A quantitative social survey was conducted to obtain relevant indicators of the opinion of the Russian population in the study group on the role of stereotypes and their significance. The survey (Appendix 1) was created electronically using the Google Forms application at www.forms.google.com. It was chosen the form and type of the survey, which required minimal time and effort for the respondents. There were ten short, clear questions, to which a total of 112 people answered. The link to this survey was sent to various Internet portals and social networks and it was anonymous. The first part of the survey provided general information about the respondents: gender and age. This part was followed by questions regarding the respondent’s directly formed opinion about stereotypes and their influence, suggesting that the respondent will answer questions based on personal experience or the influence of already prevailing behavioural norms. The questionnaire was developed on social-psychological aspects of stereotypes.
Survey and questionnaire are the leading methods of conducting sociological and marketing research. The data obtained from a small group of people can be disseminated to a large group, because most of the representatives of the group react similarly to goods, price, packaging, advertising, etc. There is no need to interview all representatives of the group since a small sample can present its opinion with high accuracy (Yatsenko, 2013).
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2.3 Questionnaire survey.
The questionnaire was conducted and the probability of responses in the population was estimated by hypotheses testing using binominal test (Pecáková, 2018). It is one of the possible ways of hypotheses testing of the questionnaire answers.
The first question helped establish the age groups of the people participating in the study.
According to Romanovich, the younger generation is more willing to participate in various surveys and studies, less fear of the consequences of the survey, which was confirmed by the first question (Romanovich, 1996).
Table 1 Age of respondents
Age N %
before 18
16 14,29
19-35
57 50,89
36-45
10 8,93
46-60
24 21,43
from 60
5 4,46
Source: The questionnaire research, 2020 The second question also considers demographic aspects.
Table 2 Gender of respondents
Gender N %
Male 36 32,14
Female 76 67,86
Source: The questionnaire research, 2020 The third question answers the attitude to the stereotypes of the respondents. According to the gestalt psychologist previously indicated in the theoretical part, Max Wertheimer believed that perception is formed based on experience and negatively affects the productivity of the mental
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process and a critical assessment of what is happening. Therefore, this issue is empirical for each person and shows the social prerequisites for the formation of an opinion.
Table 3 Stereotypes’ perception
Stereotypes’ perception N %
Stereotypes are harmless, but do not bring many benefits;
I do not consider it necessary to pay attention to them.
43 38,39
Stereotypes are primitive; life is much more complicated. 26 23,21 Stereotypes are worth listening to; they are a source of
community experience.
37 33,04
Be sure to get rid of stereotypes. 6 5,36
Source: The questionnaire research, 2020 Based on the data in the table 3, a hypothesis test can be conducted. The assumption is that the answers are equally represented will be tested against an alternative, which in this case is the preference of the first answer in the population. For the purposes of the test two the most popular answers will be confronted since the others are obviously less demanded.
Mathematically hypothesis can be written as following:
𝐻0: 𝜋1 = 𝜋3 𝐻1: 𝜋1 > 𝜋3
There 𝜋1 is the relative frequency of the first answer and 𝜋3 of the third. The significance level 𝛼 = 0.05 will be used for every hypothesis test in this thesis. For the hypothesis test p-value must be calculated using the cumulative distribution function (cdf) of binomial distribution. In our case the parameters of the distribution 𝐵(𝑛, 𝑝) are: 80 (43+37) – number of trials, 0.5 – probability of success.
𝑐𝑑𝑓 = 0.71178470 𝑝 − 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = 1 − 𝑐𝑑𝑓 = 0.288
The p-value is higher than the significance level, which means that the 𝐻0 cannot be reject, the assumption of the preference of the first answer in the population was not confirmed.
The same approach will be used for hypothesis testing for questions 4, 5, 6 and 10.
Based on the research of the theory, it can be said that stereotypes are certain beliefs and habitual knowledge of people regarding the qualities and character traits of other individuals, as well as events, things, phenomena. Stereotypes can carry both a negative and a positive load, but in neither case are they the full product of false or, conversely, true interpretations. Stereotypes are also not neutral. They help people build a certain structure, differentiate, and simplify their social environment, in a word, restore order in the world around them. For a long time, stereotyping was considered as a form of primitive thinking, or as an unnecessary simplification
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of reality. Moreover, stereotypes were presented as immoral. This provision was based on the fact that stereotypes may represent incorrect judgments about individuals based on inaccurate descriptions of groups. Labelling a “bad” or “good” applied for anything is immoral. But the grouping of individuals into categories, characteristic of each person, is neither bad nor good.
It simply reduces the complexity of reality to a size that can be dealt with. Negative views on stereotyping processes impede understanding of people's behaviour and their own stereotypes.
(Popkov, 2002)
Table 4 Concern over the phenomenon
Concern over the phenomenon N %
I often resort to their help myself. 9
8,04 I notice them in the behaviour, conclusions
of other people.
65
58,04 I do not notice anything; it does not
concern me.
38
33,93
Source: The questionnaire research, 2020 In case of question 4 the following hypothesis will be tested:
𝐻0: 𝜋2 = 𝜋3 𝐻1: 𝜋2 > 𝜋3
The binominal distribution parameters 𝐵(103,0.5), the cdf and p-value are:
𝑐𝑑𝑓 = 0.99496833
𝑝 − 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = 1 − 𝑐𝑑𝑓 = 0.00503167
The p-value is below the significance level 𝛼 = 0.05, which means that 𝐻1 should be accepted, the preference of the second answer in the population is statistically significant.
The fifth question shows an understanding of the origin of stereotypes in a person; this is his / her subjective opinion. The theoretical basis for the source of stereotypes was examined in the concept of Lippmann's stereotypes where they are based on the processes of perception and processing of information about the social world.
25 Table 5 Origin of stereotypes
Origin of stereotypes N %
We endure stereotypes from
childhood, along with education 56 50,00
A more educated person is less inclined to the truth of template
conclusions and stereotypes. 31 27,68
Men believe in stereotypes about
women and vice versa. 7 6,25
An individual team member believes in the same stereotypes as the team (school class, university group, work
team, company of friends). 18 16,07
Source: The questionnaire research, 2020 The hypothesis test for question 5:
𝐻0: 𝜋1 = 𝜋2 𝐻1: 𝜋1 > 𝜋2
The binominal distribution parameters 𝐵(87,0.5), the cdf and p-value are:
𝑐𝑑𝑓 = 0.99516339
𝑝 − 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = 1 − 𝑐𝑑𝑓 = 0.00483661
The p-value is below the significance level 𝛼 = 0.05, which means that 𝐻1 should be accepted, the preference of the first answer in the population is statistically significant.
The sixth question shows what type of stereotypes an individual most often encounters and offers both: ready options and own answer. According to the survey, buyers in Russia most often encounter sexual (41.07%) and age-related (27.68%) stereotypes, 6.25% said they did not encounter stereotypes in their answers.
Table 6 Most common stereotypes
Most common stereotypes N %
National 13 11,61
Age 31 27,68
Gender 46 41,07
Professional 9 8,04
Household 6 5,36
Own option 7 6,25
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Source: The questionnaire research, 2020 The hypothesis test for question 6:
𝐻0: 𝜋2 = 𝜋3 𝐻1: 𝜋3 > 𝜋2
The binominal distribution parameters 𝐵(77,0.5), the cdf and p-value are:
𝑐𝑑𝑓 = 0.94499220
𝑝 − 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = 1 − 𝑐𝑑𝑓 = 0.0550078
The p-value is below the significance level 𝛼 = 0.05, which means that 𝐻1 should be accepted, the population assumes, that the gender stereotypes are the most common.
The seventh question clarifies whether stereotypes influence the buying process. According to the results, opinions were divided almost equally. Researchers have found that in a stream of different and often conflicting information, the buyer does not choose exactly the information that could lead him/her to a rational, if not optimal choice (Yakushev, 2010). On the contrary, in this situation, a person tries to seize on the information that confirms general ideas and initial settings, and which does not contradict the choice made before. This assumption means that it is difficult for a person to determine at what points he or she is subject to stereotypes. Only by turning on purposefully analytical thinking can be fully convinced that we are not subject to it.
Table 7 Influence of stereotypes when buying goods
Do they influence? N %
Yes 33 29,46
No 45 40,18
Difficult to answer 34 30,36
Source: The questionnaire research, 2020 The eighth question was an open answer, which suggested the answer to which group of products stereotypes provide the most viable solution. Answers were received:
1. The food. The most common answer (37.05%, 42 participants) can be explained by the theory of different stereotypical cultural attitudes and rituals associated with the eating process. The kitchen and stereotypes associated with it are some of the most powerful. When the choice is rich, the consumer begins to create commercial stereotypes that facilitate his choice. These commercial stereotypes are primitively formed brand ideas. The consumer ceases to choose a specific product with one or another set of rational characteristics since this is a very long process. The consumer begins to buy a product that matches stereotypical ideas. Unfortunately, the buyer does not have alternatives, so the choice of each product would take a lot of time and effort. Each time, the ability to compare products with each other, study the characteristics and make the right decision is limited when buying products in a supermarket. Therefore, stereotypes come to the rescue.
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2. Clothing (27,68%, 31 participants). The consumer chooses brands not only in accordance with income level, age, and social status. What is important is the brand image and how this image matches the image of a potential buyer. Natalya Antonova and Veronika Morozova during the study confirmed the hypothesis that there is a connection between the identity of the consumer and the identity of his preferred brand (Antonova & Morozova, 2016). The higher the similarity between the customer’s image and the personality of the preferred brand, the higher the consumer’s brand commitment. Brands cause a strong emotional attachment among consumers and form stereotypes of choice.
3. Household appliances and other techniques (27,68%, 31 respondents).
4. Cosmetics (7,14%, 8 respondents).
5. Other (3,57%, 4 respondents).
Figure 3 Group of goods influenced by stereotypes
Source: The questionnaire research, 2020 The ninth question shows the gradation of the strength of a particular stereotype in society, which are associated with specific groups of stereotypes (gender, age), which can help in understanding which stereotypes are more critical in developing advertising and making a customer choice.
37,50
27,68 24,11
7,14 3,57
Group of goods (%)
Food Clothing Household appliances and other techniques Cosmetics Other
28 Table 8 The strength of a stereotype (%)
Strongly agree
Agree Difficult to answer
Disagree Strongly disagree Self-care prerogative of
women
11,61 36,61 36,61 9,82 5,36
A man should be a little prettier than a monkey
13,39 30,36 38,39 15,18 2,68
New technologies are more understandable to young
4,46 23,21 31,25 37,50 3,57
A woman should always wear high heels
8,04 16,96 20,54 43,75 10,71
Only thin people buy sportswear
9,82 29,46 14,29 31,25 15,18
Source: The questionnaire research, 2020 The tenth question asks about the role of stereotype in people's lives. Most people are inclined to a neutral answer that stereotypes help to navigate the world, that they are neutral. This number is entirely consistent with the theory that they were not described as unique works or products of painful addictions but are characteristic of the normal process of information processing.
Table 9 The role of stereotype in people's lives
N %
They store the experience of humanity, so the positive 23 20,54 They interfere with thinking outside the box; they
have long become obsolete. negative 17 15,18
There is nothing wrong with them, sometimes they work and help to understand the world and people;
neutral 41 36,61
They make a person stupid, a knowledgeable person
they should not follow them; negative 11 9,82
Their influence is not so significant as to evaluate it 20 17,86
Source: The questionnaire research, 2020 The hypothesis test for question 10:
𝐻0: 𝜋1 = 𝜋3 𝐻1: 𝜋3 > 𝜋1
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The binominal distribution parameters 𝐵(64,0.5), the cdf and p-value are:
𝑐𝑑𝑓 = 0.98361712
𝑝 − 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 = 1 − 𝑐𝑑𝑓 = 0.01638288
The p-value is below the significance level 𝛼 = 0.05, which means that 𝐻1 should be accepted, the preference of the third answer in the population is statistically significant.
Even though the hypothesis testing was conducted for generalization of some of the questionnaire results, it is inappropriate to state that the assumptions were proved for the whole population due to the small sample (small amount of the respondents). The results of hypothesis studies show the probability of a response in the population, but for the reliability of the indicators, the sample is planned to be increased in a further study.
2.4 Supporting research.
An empirical study of the influence of stereotypes was also conducted for Yakushev's book,
“The Impact of Behaviour Stereotypes on the Need-Motivational Sphere of Consumers: A Monograph” (Yakushev, 2010).
The empirical objectives of the study were as follows:
1. to identify the presence of attitudes in the need-motivational sphere of Russian consumers.
2. to establish the relationship of stereotypical behaviour with the need-motivational sphere of the Russian consumer
3. determine the degree of influence of stereotypes on the behaviour of Russian consumers The hypothesis of the research is the assumption that stereotypes of behaviour form the need- motivational sphere of Russian consumers.
The main sample of subjects consisted of consumers of men and women of Moscow aged 23 to 45 years (average age 34 years), with higher education and various purchasing power. The main sample of subjects was 52 people. Of these, 26 are men and 26 are women.
Stages of survey were following:
1. Stage 1: a survey was conducted using the scale of significance of emotions. To determine the most preferred emotional reactions in consumers.
2. Stage 2: the same sample of subjects was tested using a few psychodiagnostics techniques.
3. Stage 3 of the study was the observation of consumer behaviour in the condition of choice.
To test the hypothesis of the study, the following methods and techniques were used: monitoring consumer behaviour, questioning using the scale for assessing the significance of emotions, psycho-diagnostic testing, mathematical and statistical processing of the data.
Research methods and their description:
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1. Survey-questioning using a scale for assessing the significance of emotions (Appendix 2).
Emotions and states that are truly capable of giving us pleasure can be determined by ranking emotional preferences. The rank number (1-10) should be put down next to each of the estimated emotional states. This technique was proposed by Dodonov (Yakushev, 2010).
2. Psychodiagnostic testing using the Potemkina’s methodology "Diagnostics of social and psychological personality attitudes in the motivational-need sphere." (Yakushev, 2010) (Appendix 3) This technique consists of two questionnaires on 20 questions. The first part of the questions is aimed at identifying socio-psychological attitudes aimed at altruism/egoism and the process/result. And the second part is aimed at identifying socio-psychological attitudes aimed at freedom/power and labour/money. The purpose of the method: to identify the severity of socio-psychological attitudes.
2.4.1 Testing properties.
The process of knowing the motivational sphere of the personality is inextricably linked with the study of its needs, within which it is important to understand that the social nature of each person is guaranteed to leave an imprint on the formation of the latter. All approaches to the study of the content, methods and successive stages of socio-psychological attitudes are directly based on the analysis of a person’s personality as a subject of labour, communication, and cognition.
The study of changes in orientations of a person’s social needs is of extreme importance in studying the motivational and behavioural picture of a person.
The doctor of psychological sciences, professor Olga Potemkina, is the developer of the methodology for diagnosing socio-psychological settings (Gibradze, 2018).
The essence of the methodology for diagnosing socio-psychological personality attitudes in the motivational-need sphere is that it allows you to diagnose the severity and relationship of socio- psychological attitudes in a person or group of people. At the same time, the first 40 questions (part 1) show what is more important for a person: altruism or egoism, a process or a result, and the next 40 questions (part 2) are aimed at assessing the significance of freedom or power, the content of work or money.
For each answer “Yes” to a specific question, 1 point is awarded. Then the total score for each of the eight personality settings is calculated, according to the keys of the questionnaire below:
Part 1. Identification of the attitudes altruism/egoism, process/result:
• focus on the process (questions): 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37;
• result orientation: 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38;
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• orientation to altruism: 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, 31, 35, 39;
• focus on egoism: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40.
Part 2. Identification of the attitudes freedom/power, labor/money:
• orientation to work: 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37;
• orientation to freedom: 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38;
• orientation to power: 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23, 27, 31, 35, 39;
• orientation on money: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40.
2.4.2 The results of the study, their processing and discussion.
52 consumer respondents (N = 52) were surveyed, of which 26 were men and 26 were women aged 23 to 45 with higher education. The ranking of the scale showed that women (n = 26) were more likely to prefer (65% of the respondents) (Yakushev, 2010) such emotional reactions as joy, good mood, sympathy, appreciation when communicating with people you respect and love when you see friendship and mutual understanding when you yourself get help and approval from other people. Fun, carefree, well-being, enjoying delicious food, relaxation, a relaxed atmosphere, safety, and serene life. Joyful excitement, impatience with the acquisition of new things are also were dominant answers. The least preferable for women (3% of the respondents) (Yakushev, 2010) were such emotions as military excitement, a sense of risk, rapture, excitement, thrills at the moment of struggle, danger, interest and pleasure in learning new things, in getting acquainted with amazing scientific facts, joy and deep satisfaction in understanding the essence of phenomena, confirming your guesses and suggestions.
Respondents of men (n = 26) more often chose (53% of the respondents) (Yakushev, 2010) such emotional preferences as joyful excitement, enthusiasm, enthusiasm when work is useful when you see that you are achieving successful results. Excitement, a sense of risk, rapture with it, excitement, thrills at the moment of struggle, danger are also mentioned. Satisfaction, pride, if you can prove your value or superiority over rivals when you are sincerely admired. The least preferable for men (7%) (Yakushev, 2010) were such emotions as a sense of unusual, mysterious, unknown, appearing in an unfamiliar area, setting.
The result showed that women are more likely to experience similar emotional reactions than men.
32 Psychodiagnostics’ Testing.
The next stage of the study was in the form of psychological testing using several techniques.
According to the methodology for diagnosing the socio-psychological attitude of a person in the motivational-need sphere of Potemkina, the following data were obtained:
a) a technique for identifying the severity of socio-psychological attitudes aimed at altruism/egoism, process/result showed that 43% of the number of subjects (N = 52) is more process-oriented and think less about achieving a result, that is, they are more motivated by an interest in the case, and to achieve the result requires a lot of routine work, a negative attitude towards which they cannot overcome. It can be noted that people of this type are focused on the process of fast, impulsive purchase or product selection. Results-oriented people (16% of the subjects) are some of the most reliable. They can achieve results despite fuss, hindrances, failures. Those people are more sensitive to purchases; they know what they want to get. People focused on altruistic values, and this is 17% of the subjects, often to the detriment of themselves, deserve respect. Altruism is a valuable social motivation, the presence of which distinguishes a mature person. Such people have an unfriendly concern for their neighbours, but they can quickly become an object of influence, and stereotypes too.
People with overly expressed selfishness are quite rare. A certain proportion of rational egoism (24% of subjects) cannot harm a person more than its absence. Such people, most likely, acquire stylish things, brands, are good oriented in trends.
b) the methodology for identifying socio-psychological attitudes aimed at freedom/power, labour/money showed the following: 17% of those surveyed are labour-oriented and use all their free time to carry out this process. Work brings them more joy, pleasure than other activities. Freedom, the main value for 14% of the subjects. Often this orientation is combined with a focus on work and less often with a focus on money. Freedom of choice is the main guide for such consumers. Orientation to power is characteristic of 28% of the subjects. More often men are oriented to power than women. They have a more pronounced desire to dominate, control the process, possess what others do not have. Orientation to money usually happens in two cases when there is money and when there is none. In our sample, orientation is expressed in 41% of the subjects.
Table 10 Results of Potemkina’s testing
Orientation % Orientation %
Process 43 Labour 17
Result 16 Freedom 14
Altruism 17 Power 28
Egoism 24 Money 41
Source: (Yakushev, 2010)
