Introducing Sensation and the Perceptual Process – Weeks 3 and 4

Wow! I’ve been at university for nearly a month now, although it really doesn’t feel like it! This week, Ruth explained that the best marketing provides simple but factual information and still meeting consumer’s wants and needs. This is defined as “the perceptual process”. There are three key stages: exposure (or sensation), attention and interpretation.

Sensation simply involves receiving stimuli through sensory factors, whereas the perception process involves receiving raw data from each of the senses and then “filtering, modifying or transforming the data completely through the process of cognition” (ICMR 2010).

This focuses on what we “add to or take away from sensations as we assign meaning to them” e.g. advertising appealing to your senses. (Solomon et al 2010).

The perceptual process is the “primary source of knowledge about the world around us” and “operates at a pre-conscious level of cognition” (Helm et al, 2006). This means organizing incoming information (e.g. visual advertising or advertising appealing to senses).

The different types of consumer stimuli that make up the perceptual process are sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures. These are divided into two groups; sensation and meaning. “Sensation” refers to the immediate response of an individual’s “sensory receptors” (eyes, nose, mouth) and “attention”. “Meaning” is how a customer interprets (“interpretation”) these stimuli and their “response”. An overview of this is shown below.

(Solomon et al 2010) - You can click on the diagram above to view it larger.

My prep for this week’s work was to identify 2 useful articles on warc.com. However, when I tried accessing the website it would not let me view any of the articles. Although, here are some of the searches I found:

http://beta.warc.com/Pages/Search/WordSearch.aspx?q=sensation&Filter=ALL OF WARC&Area=ALL OF WARC

I also discovered from outside reading that the study of perception focuses on what we “add to or take away from sensations as we assign meaning to them” e.g. advertising appealing to your senses. (Solomon et al 2010).

Come back next week to learn about perceptual maps. Hope to hear back from you.

Erica.