October 1, 2020

The Trait Theory of Personality in Consumer Behavior

Discussing the Big 5 personality model and how it can be used in market research

The Trait Theory of Personality in Consumer Behavior
Brooke Patton

by Brooke Patton

Marketing & Content Specialist at GutCheck

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What defines personality?

The American Psychological Association defines personality as “the enduring configuration of characteristics and behavior that comprises an individual’s unique adjustment to life, including major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns. Personality is generally viewed as a complex, dynamic integration or totality shaped by many forces, including hereditary and constitutional tendencies; physical maturation; early training; identification with significant individuals and groups; culturally conditioned values and roles; and critical experiences and relationships. Various theories explain the structure and development of personality in different ways, but all agree that personality helps determine behavior.

How does personality influence consumer behavior?

Many psychologists’ research on personality has given birth to trait theory, the study of human personality as it relates to their behavior, thoughts, and emotions. At the heart of trait theory lies the understanding that people with specific strong traits might behave one way, and someone with other strong traits might behave another way.

For example, someone with strong impulsivity might purchase item that catches their eye at the store; whereas, someone who is strong in perfectionism would stick to their list. Someone high in neuroticism might make health care decisions different from someone who is less neurotic.

Defining the Big Five model of consumer personality traits

The Big Five model for personality first emerged in the 1960’s. However, it became a more researched and advanced model in the 1990’s as more psychologists began studying it. Today, it’s a robust, empirical, data-driven model.

Many modern psychologists use the Big Five model because it provides a measurable means to understanding consumer personality. The point of it is to measure the degree to which an individual expresses particular personality traits; everyone exhibits each of the five traits, but at varying levels.

This model helps psychologists understand patients — and can help researchers understand consumers and their buying behavior. Sometimes referred to as OCEAN, CANOE, or the five-factor model, the big 5 model encompasses five key attributes of a consumer’s personality. Those five traits are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

The Big Five personality traits

  1. Openness means being open to experiencing new or different things. Those who score high on this trait tend to be intellectually curious, willing to try new things, and more creative or unconventional. Those who score low on this trait are usually opposed to change and struggle with abstract thought.
  2. Conscientiousness refers to acting in an organized or thoughtful way. Those who score high on conscientiousness tend to be self-disciplined, strive for achievement, and follow a plan or schedule. Scoring low on this trait, you may be more unstructured in your approach to tasks and procrastinate more often.
  3. Extraversion is seeking stimulation in the company of others. Those who score high on this trait don’t mind being the center of attention and tend to be very social and energetic. Those who score low on extraversion often prefer to be alone and may be anxious in social situations.
  4. Agreeableness entails being compassionate and cooperative towards others. Those who score high on agreeableness tend to get along well with people and are more sympathetic and caring. Those who score lower on this trait can be less empathetic and seem uninterested in others.
  5. Neuroticism refers to emotional sensitivity—particularly when it comes to environmental or situational factors. Those who score high for this trait can be easily stressed and sometimes come off as worry-warts. Those who score low on neuroticism, on the other hand, tend to be more emotionally grounded and laid-back.

Curious to see where you land? There are a variety of Big Five tests available online to understand where you score on these traits. And don’t worry, if you’re unhappy with any of your scores, it doesn’t mean you’ll be that way forever. As people mature or change their lifestyle their scores can adjust. It’s not all biological; environmental factors can influence personality, too.

Either way, you can see the Big Five model is a great way to understand more about a person. As a result, employers often use the Big Five personality test to ensure new employees fit with a team—or employees can use it to understand more about what career path they should take. But the Big Five model serves another purpose in marketing, market research, and understanding consumers.

Leveraging the Big Five in marketing research

As noted, the Big Five personality model helps understand consumer personality traits. Specific to marketing, understanding consumer personality traits can help identify and draw conclusions about consumer behavior, including preferences, habits, and motivations. If you think about new products, branding, and advertising, it’s easy to see how it would be wise to leverage the Big Five.

In fact, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides evidence for how psychological targeting is a proven approach to persuasion. Their research tests the difference between targeting viewers with ads based on whether they are extroverted or introverted: results show that when targeting viewers based on this, conversion rates double. This shouldn’t be surprising, but people are attracted to people with similar personalities or brands they feel represent them. Thus, it’s so important to execute marketing activities as it relates to a target audience’s personality traits. You wouldn’t target those who are high in one trait the same as those who are low in it.

An example using personality in advertising

Say a brand was looking to create ads for a new pair of yoga pants. Women high in extraversion are likely to relate to the first ad below. Women low in extraversion, but high in conscientiousness, might relate more to the second ad.

In fact, in a recent study conducted by GutCheck that leverages survey data to gain a deeper understanding of consumers, including personality. From the research, the favorable audience for a brand’s new product concept scored highest on agreeableness.

Using this insight, alongside other data, it was easy to see how the brand could determine what communications to use in their messaging and creative. It showed the brand should highlight how the product aids the consumer in helping their family and promote any higher causes they support within messaging.

So as you can see, personality is instrumental to how we behave. By learning more about personality trait theory in consumer behaviour, we can become more effective in our marketing messaging and targeting.

Editor’s Note: Applying personality theories has had a long history in advertising and market research (watch the first episode of Mad Men to see how the Freudian theory was being used in 1960).

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behavioral scienceconsumer behavior

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The views, opinions, data, and methodologies expressed above are those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect or represent the official policies, positions, or beliefs of Greenbook.

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