T. Parsons. The primary purpose of this paper is to revive and refine lifestyle as a theoretical and research tool and segmentation variable. The aggregate of consumer purchases, and the manner in which they are consumed, reflect a society's [or consumer's lifestyle (1963. Contemporary interpretations in the marketing literature generally define lifestyle to encompass both characteristic patterns of overt behavior and cognitive processes and properties (cognitive style), including such dimensions of personality as values, attitudes, opinions. providing more than simple data reports of psychographic and psychographic trends, the retail coach goes well beyond other retail consulting and market research firms offerings by combining current national and statewide psychographics and trend data with real-world, on-the-ground information gathered through extensive visits to our clients 46-50. Hawkins, Del J., Kenneth A. Coney, and Roger J. Wells, William D. (19751 ), "Psychographics: A Critical Review," Journal of Marketing Research, 12(May), 196-213. ABSTRACT - While the term lifestyle has gained popular currency, it continues to defy definitional and operational consensus. The emphasis Ansbacher ascribes to the unifying property mirrors his conviction that lifestyle bridges cognitive style and response style. 13, 82(December), 230-237. Weber's focus, like Veblen's, was upon collective lifestyles originated and perpetuated by status groups (Weber 1946, p. 187, 191, 300; Weber 1947, p. 429); however, lifestyle played only a minor role in Weber's writings. 900-901). LaPiere, R. T. (1934), "Attitudes vs. (1966), "Words and Needs: Social Science and Social Policy," Social Problems, vol. 226, University of Illinois at Urbana. Unique and creative aspects: Lifestyle implies anoriginal and idiographic property (1967, p. 205). The persistent conceptual and operational imprecision of the lifestyle construct has not only handicapped lifestyle research, but has undermined its usefulness as a segmentation variable. THE LIFESTYLE CONCEPT IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES. about 10 percent higher than the amount in the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX Metro Area: $47,161. This has proven both a convenience and a "Catch-29" for market analysts. 226, University of Illinois at Urbana. Conspicuous by omission in each instance, however, was a definition of lifestyle. Analysts who have preferred the term "lifestyle", on the other hand, have tended to focus either on broad cultural trends or on needs and values thought to be closely associated with consumer behavior (p. 319). Tx. 200-201). 125-337. Operational, functional and constancy aspects: Lifestyle connotes consistent operations and actions or behavior over time (1967, pp. 345-355). Conversely, another consumer who behaves in the same fashion, yet holds quite different values, attitudes, beliefs, opinions of interests, would be designated as characterized by a contrasting lifestyle. Ultimately Adler came to see stole of life as: the organismic ideas of the individual as an actor rather than a re-actor; the purposiveness, goal-directedness, unity, self-consistency and uniqueness of the individual; andthe ultimately subjective determination of his actions (Ansbacher 1976, p. 191). Intervening situational variables may cause lifestyle and cognitive style to be symmetrically or asymmetrically related. In his historical review of the lifestyle concept in the social science literature Ansbacher (1967) noted that the lifestyle concept has been applied in three different uses at three levels of aggregation. Mills, C. Wright (1953), "Introduction," The Theory of the Leisure Class, New York: New American Library, vi-xix. This is admittedly narrow as defining lifestyle as overt behavior does not allow for the broad, psychological Adlerian perspective of lifestyle. (1963), "Symbolism and Life Style," in Toward Scientific Marketing, ed. work from home jobs no experience part time / pharmakeia in hebrew. An individual's life-style is a large complex symbol in motion. 800.851.0962 | INFO@THERETAILCOACH.NET | THERETAILCOACH.NET | AUSTIN, TEXAS TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI 4 Income Range of Lifemode Summary Groups Bastrop, Texas + L1 AFFLUENT ESTATES Established wealth educated, well-traveled married couples + L2 UPSCALE AVENUES Prosperous, married couples in higher density neighborhoods The term "psychographics" [refers to] studies that place comparatively heavy emphasis on generalized personality traits. The suggested relationships are depicted in Figure l. Lifestyle is positioned as behavioral, and cognitive style is positioned as psychological and a subset of psychographic research. In Austin 6.82% of the population is Asian. $954. The criteria that form these groups are psychographic profiles. Such profiles are effective primarily because they allow marketers to focus on specific values and preferences. To acquire enough data to form psychographic profiles, marketers typically use the following two methods: Defining and operationalizing lifestyle to encompass both overt behavior and cognitive style needlessly confounds the task of lifestyle segmentation. Certificate of Completion from The University of Texas at Austin. Equally importantly, the proposed distinctions should lead to greater definitional consensus, operational clarity, and more defensible linkages to existing research and theory in the social sciences. Lifestyle formed the centerpiece of Adlerian psychology; indeed, Adler wrestled with the concept for forty years. LIFESTYLE AND MARKET SEGMENTATION The persistent conceptual and operational imprecision of the lifestyle construct has not only handicapped lifestyle research, but has undermined its usefulness as a segmentation variable. Andreasen, Alan R. (1967), "Leisure, Mobility, and LifeStyle Patterns," in Changing 'Marketing Systems, ed. Felson (1975) perhaps best captured the critical, if not terminal, conceptual and operational condition of lifestyle. Koponen, Arthur (1960), "Personality Characteristics of Purchasers," Journal of Advertising Research, vol. by Carrie Marie Schneider February 6, 2013. Hence, the lifestyle segment should be expanded to include all three consumers on the basis of behavioral parallelism. Segmenting first on the basis of parallel patterns of search, shopping and consumption behavior would result in lifestyle segments encompassing all potential prospects for the firm's products. EXHIBIT 1 LIFESTYLE AND PSYCHOGRAPHICS Compounding the conceptual confusion confounding lifestyle research is a semantic maze eclipsing the terms lifestyle and psychographics that remains unraveled. While knowledge of cognitive processes and properties may improve, understanding and predictions of overt behavior, and facilitate formulation of marketing strategy, the relationship is equivocal and imperfect, as recent research has demonstrated. William M. Dobriner, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 225-242. H. H. Gerth and C. W. Mills, New York:: Oxford University Press. Charles W. King and Douglas J. Tigert, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 189-195. Katona, George (1960), The Powerful Consumer, New York: McGraw-Hill. William D. Wells, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 243-266. 205-206). Indeed, the search for such systematic links has been much of the motivation behind the intensifying interest in lifestyle and psychographic research in the past two decades. Stephen A. Greyser, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 151-164. 33-38. An individual's life-style is a large complex symbol in motion. Perhaps the most noteworthy observation is the preponderance of references purporting to be lifestyle research which provide no explicit definition of lifestyle at all. Still, the terms psychographics and lifestyle remain largely undefined and indistinguishable in the marketing literature. Levy's definition prompted Kelley (1963) to postulate an important marketing implication of the lifestyle concept. Wells, William D. (1974), "Life Style and Psychographics: Definitions, Uses and Problems," in Life Style and Psycho- graphics, ed. Lazer in 1963 echoed earlier convictions concerning the potential richness and synergistic value of the lifestyle concept for consumer analysis and coined the initial explicit definition of lifestyle appearing in the marketing literature. 1, 21 (September), 6-12. Thus, conceptually lifestyle is today generally defined to encompass both characteristic patterns of overt behavior and cognitive processes and properties, including such dimensions of personality as values, attitudes, opinions, and interests. Dorny, Lester R. (1971), "Observations on Psychographics," in Attitude Research Reaches New Heights, eds. One final note: It would be erroneous to construe a plea for simplicity in the interpretation of lifestyle as an indictment of the legitimacy of psychographic research. Of particular relevance to the present analysis is Ansbacher's observation that: The concept of style may vary in range from a relatively limited segment to the totality of behavior when it becomes lifestyle. Yet, as Wells (1975c) concedes: The activity, interest and opinion research, and the term "life style", developed separately. Lair, J. K. (1965), "Splitsville: A Split-Half Study of Television Commercial Pretesting," Dissertation Abstracts, 27, 9894-2895. In the above case, although exhibiting parallel search, shopping, or consumption behavior, one consumer would be excluded from the lifestyle characterizing the other two on the basis of contrasting cognitive style. Sequential segmentation on the basis of consistencies in cognitive style will permit the precise targeting of marketing strategy. 63-94). Weber's focus, like Veblen's, was upon collective lifestyles originated and perpetuated by status groups (Weber 1946, p. 187, 191, 300; Weber 1947, p. 429); however, lifestyle played only a minor role in Weber's writings. Writing at the same time, Levy (1963) proposed a contrasting concept of lifestyle, one reminiscent of Adler's conviction that a fictionalized goal or theme pervades one's life providing structure to both self-concept and behavior. Far and away the most popular of operationalizations of lifestyle is the activities, interests and opinions (AIO) method pioneered by Wilson (1966), Pessemier and Tigert (1966), and Wells (1968). LaPiere's (1934) classic study of racial prejudice in 1934 inaugurated a series of investigations and reviews reporting negative relationships between attitudes and behavior (Festinger 1966). W. Thomas Anderson, Jr., University of Texas at Austin $1,873. 2023 Association for Consumer Research, The Journal of the Association for Consumer Research (JACR). Charles W. King and Douglas i. Tigert, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 200-201. Get the most of the growing demand in cybersecurity with UT Austin's program. Although quickly adopted as the most widely cited interpretation of the lifestyle concept in. The confusion of the terms lifestyle with psychographics has further compounded these problems. It first documents the diversity and internal inconsistency of definitions and operationalizations of lifestyle in consumer behavior literature. Live mentorship with experts. U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Austin city, Texas QuickFacts Austin city, Texas QuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns The lifestyle concept, partly because of its intuitively appealing and rather obvious relationship to consumer behavior, has received a considerable amount of attention in the marketing literature. The term psychographic (psycho = mental; graphic = profile) connotes the profiling of psychological processes or properties. 45, #3 (March), 347-355. $53,937 Per capita income. In the restricted range, in respect to individuals, characteristic perceptual styles, also known as cognitive styles, and response styles, as well as complex response styles have been discerned (Emphasis added, 1967, p. 203). Moore (1963) suggested still another definition of lifestyle to bridge conceptual and operational interpretations of the term closely approximating those which have come into contemporary use. 13. The paper then contrasts lifestyle and cognitive style conceptually and operationally, underscoring their intuitive, if imperfect, symmetry. Quite the contrary, behavioral and marketing analysis seem characterized by ever-increasing conceptual, operational, and methodological complexity, much of which seems needless. $79,542 Median household income. The analysis and classification of activity or behavioral reports from the consumer which are frequently classified as "psychographics", should be given their own distinct term, such as "lifestyle" (pp. Little has changed in the ebb tide of interest in lifestyle research over the last five years. The emphasis in market segmentation is on consistencies in overt behavior, irrespective of contrasts in cognitive style, because the marketing practitioner is primarily interested in parallel patterns of search, shopping or consumption behavior. Market segments are definable in terms of individuals whose expected reactions are similar to similar marketing strategy (Kotler 1980, pp. Download Brochure. Best (1980), Consumer Behavior-Implications for Marketing Strategy, Dallas, TX: Business Publications. Levy, Sidney J. Axelrod, Joel N. (1968), "Attitude Measurements that Predict Purchases," Journal of Advertising Research, vol. Engel, James F., Martin R. Warshaw, and Thomas C. Kinnear (1979), Promotional Strategy, Homewood, IL: Irwin. Yet, it would appear to be symptomatic of scientific pubescence, if not maturity, that the social sciences, and marketing in particular, periodically seek not only synthesis of findings, but also simplicity for the sake of conceptual and operational claritY. 317-363) attempted to delimit and distinguish the domains of lifestyle from psychographic research. The lifestyle concept, partly because of its intuitively appealing and rather obvious relationship to consumer behavior, has received a considerable amount of attention in the marketing literature. P. 130). The confusion of the terms lifestyle with psychographics has further compounded these problems. Pessemier, Edgar A. and Douglas J. Tigert (1966), "Personality, Activity, and Attitude Predictors of Consumer Behavior," in New Ideas for Successful Marketing, eds. Rather, Adler's interpretation is relegated to the realm of psychographics or cognitive style. William D. Wells, Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, 243-266. 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