Behaviour/Behavior
Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems include other systems or organisms and the inanimate physical environment.
It is the computed response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.
Human behaviour
The endocrine system and the nervous system likely influence human behavior. Complexity in the behavior of an organism may be correlated to the complexity of its nervous system. Generally, organisms with more complex nervous systems have a greater capacity to learn new responses and adjust to their behavior.
Consumers behavior
It involves the processes consumers go through, and reactions they have towards products or services. Consumers recognize needs/wants, and go through a process to satisfy these needs. Consumer behavior is the process they go through as customers. It includes types of products purchased, amount spent, frequency of purchases and what influences them to make the purchase decision or not.
Circumstances, which influence consumer behavior are varied. Both internal and external factors contribute to the purchase. Internal factors include attitudes, needs, motives, preferences and perceptual processes, whilst external factors include marketing activities, social and economic factors, and cultural aspects.
Doctor Lars Perner of the University of Southern California claims also physical factors influence consumer behavior. For example if a consumer is hungry, then this physical feeling of hunger will influence them. They go and purchase a sandwich to satisfy the hunger.
Consumer decision making
There is a model described by Lars Perner which illustrates the decision-making process with regards to consumer behavior. It begins with recognition. The consumer recognizes a need or want which has not been satisfied. This leads the consumer to search for information. If it is a low involvement product then the search will be internal, identifying alternatives purely from memory. If the product is high involvement then the search be more thorough, such as reading reviews or reports or asking friends.
Marketing influences consumer behavior
The Marketing mix (4 P’s) are a marketing tool, and stand for Price, Promotion, Product and Placement. Consumer behavior is influenced greatly by business to consumer marketing, the 4 P’s will have an effect on consumer’s behavior.
The price of a good or service is largely determined by the market. Businesses set their prices to be similar to that of other business so as to remain competitive whilst making a profit. When market prices for a products are high, it will cause consumers to purchase less and use purchased goods for longer periods of time. This means they are purchasing the product less often. When market prices for a product are low, consumers are more likely to purchase more of the product, and often.
Organizational
In management, behaviors are associated with desired or undesired focuses. Managers note what the desired outcome is, but behavioral patterns can take over. These patterns are the reference to how often the desired behavior actually occurs. Before a behavior occurs, antecedents focus on the stimuli that influence the behavior that is about to happen. After the behavior occurs, consequences fall into place. Consequences consist of rewards or punishments.
Social behaviour
Social behavior is behavior among two or more organisms within the same species, and encompasses any behavior in which one member affects the other. This is due to an interaction among those members.
Social behavior can be seen as similar to an exchange of goods, with the expectation that when one gives, one will receive the same. This behavior can be affected by both the qualities of the individual and the environmental (situational) factors. Social behavior arises as a result of an interaction between the organism and its environment. Social behavior can be determined by both the individual characteristics of the person, and the situation they are in.
Behavioral economics
It studies the effects of psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural and social factors on the decisions of individuals or institutions, such as how those decisions vary from those implied by classical economic theory