Groups and Peers

Groups

A group is formed by two or more individuals who tend to share a set of norms and have role relationships. Groups tend to influence the society in many ways such as the socialisation process influences individuals on the basis of what they learn and how they tend to behave. Groups can reflect brand names such as Burberry, CK, or Chanel. Groups impact on brand names because a particular group of people would purchase their products not all as Chanel is seen as a expensive brand people in the higher society will be able to purchase their products than the lower class individuals.

There are various different types of groups for example:

* Acquired- joined or moved into, relates to educational,work or scouts
* Aspirational- like to belong to, relates to fashionistas
* Peers- people of equal standing, relates to school or students
* Ascribed- born into, relates to family, gender, social class

Many brands aim at specific target groups of audience, for example cars such as Mercedes aim to sell their product to people in the higher class group rather than middle class people as their cars are represented as luxury and expensive products. Below is an advert of Mercedes car.

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Solomon (2000), states that a product model looks at public/private necessities and public/private luxeries.
Public necessities represent influences on a weak product and strong brand, for example cars and wrist watches.
Private necessities represent influences on weak product and weak brand, for example floor lamps and refridgeators.
Public luxeries represent influences on a strong product and brand, for example golf clubs and yacht.
Private luxeries represent influences on a strong product and weak brand, for example TV game and icemaker.

The need of groups:

The theory of Social Comparison Theory impacts on the need of groups as looks at the behaviour of individuals in order to provide a guide and to reassure their self evaluation. Changingminds.org (http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/social_comparison.htm) (2010), states that this theory it enables individuals to learn their own abilities and attitudes by comparing themselves with other people and
their opinions. People like to compare themselves with individuals who they think they should have similarities with, therefore they are selective to about whom they use as a benchmark.

Group norms and pressures:

Groups main influence represents the certain expectations of individuals behaviour, for example following rules and regulations. This can affect individuals in many ways, for example they have the pressure of indentification, counter conformity and compliance.
Groups can pressure individuals becuase can influence them in many ways such as degree of support from others and importance of memebership.

Marketing:

Commercial marketing impacts on groups as it creates peer pressure therefore this links to advertising. These sort of advertisments impact people in various ways and send a message across to the audience, for example alcohol ads and cigarette ads. Below a examples are given:

Alcohol advert:

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Smoking Advert:

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Values

In today's lecture we learnt about what values are and how they influence individuals. The term 'Value' has been given many definitions throughout the years. Some of the definitions given to this term are (AskOxford.com)(values) principles or standards of behaviour. Another definition is given by (Dictionary.com)the ideals,customs, institutions, etc., of a society toward which the people of the group have an affective regard. These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, or education, or negative, as cruelty,crime, or blasphemy. Definitions to the term 'Value' given by(Wilkie)is, he stated that “Values are our ideas about what is desirable”.

Values tend to motivate people, therefore the theory that represents different values is Kahle's List of values (1983). This theory represents various values that impact on people such as self respect, being well respected,self-fulfilment,security and sense of belonging. These values reflect people in many ways as they impact on peoples life style, for example people may purchase a certain product in order to satisfy their needs. Values encourage people to achieve their aims or objectives that they have set.
Kahle's List of Values (1983) includes:

1. Self respect
2. Excitement
3. Well respected
4. Self fulfilment
5. Sense of accomplishment
6. Warm relationship with others
7. Security
8. Fun & Enjoyment
9. Sense of belonging

Values tend to influence individuals socially and culture wise also. The reason for this is because people are affected by these factors within the society and they tend to follow and gain values from what they learn either from their parents or the people that are close to them. Referring back to Kahle's List of values, these value refer to positive and negative factors that may affect individuals for example self respect and fun and enjoyment.


Activity:

In lecture we carried out an activity which related to Kahle's list of values. Students had to state which of Kahle's list of values was most important to them and which vlaues we would like to have in the future. The results varied as most people preferred warm relationships with others and fun and enjoyment.

Another activity was carried out in which we had to show how people perceive us. We were given different animals which we had to put in order of what appealed to us first and so on. The order I put the animals in was dog, lion, parrot and elephant. Each animal had different meanings which impacted on how people would percieve me. The first selected animal was the one that percived me, as I had chosen the dog first that meant that I was friendly, faithful, loyal, protective, hard working and loving. I can relate to this as I am a friendly person and loving towards the people
I am close to.



The second picture meant how we would like to be perceived by others. I had chosen the lion, therefore this meant that I was dominant, leading and independent. I do slightly agree with this as I do like to be independent and make my own decisions with certain situations, however I am not leading or dominant.



The third picture meant how how we would like to be perceived by others in the future. I had chosen parrot, therefore this meant that we want people to see us as fun, lively and popular. I do not agree with this as I am not a loud person and I do not want to be perceived as loud and lively as that does not relate to my personality.




The last picture meant how we actually want to be, without the influence of others. I had chosen the elephant, therefore this meant that I would like people to perceive me as calm, wise and strong. I agree with this as I this can relate to the way I am.




Time lines:

Time lines represent different stages of an individuals life or events that took place throughout a period of time. Time lines shows events surrounding people within the society, these events impact on all the individuals within the society as it becomes an social thing. This time line reflects my own life in which certain events took place.

Key Events:

The date of Diana's death in 1997
Tony Blair prime minister in 1997
World trade center attacks in 2001
London terrorist bombing in 2005

Laddering techniques:

Laddering techniques allow individuals to identify the relation between functional product attributes and desired end states. Individuals have specific terminal values for example self respect. Laddering has many stages that impact on it, such as concrete attributes, abstract attributes, functional consequences, psychological consequences, instrumental values, and terminal values. The laddering technique can be used with certain products such as shoes, as individuals will understand and know what they are looking for therefore it will be easier for them to find it. The laddering technique helps marketers also as it can help them with their positioning strategy in order to launch a new product in the market. This will make it easier for the marketers to achieve their aims regarding the product.

Overall, I have carried out a values survey, which reflects on values, attitudes and lifestyle survey. The results show that I am a thinker. Thinkers are motivated by ideals, they are mature, satisfied, comfortable and reflective who value order, knowledge and responsibility. They tend to be well educated and actively seek out information in the decision making process.