Marketing

BUS 112 Winter 2019

Final Exam

Due: 3/19/19, 6 PM

Total: 25 pts.

“Helping Your Professor Find Love”

Let’s assume that your professor was hypothetically trying to find love. Of course, being the hopeless romantic that he is, he has no chance on his own. However, by leveraging the power of class concepts, you -the Consumer Behavior expert- can help guide your professor down his trek of love, to find the right partner and to live happily ever after. Remember – the fate of your professor’s future is hypothetically in your hands, so proceed wisely!

Prequel: Background Information Let’s say that there are three potential partners that caught your professor’s eye and whom he has been thinking about recently. Please read the following description of each person (fictional names have been used, but of course, since these people are hypothetical that’s a moot point): Person #1: Allison Allison is a very attractive female, who quickly caught the professor’s eye because of her beauty and charm. She has a bubbly personality that makes her fun to talk to, and she laughs easily at jokes, in a way that makes you feel kind of special. However, she can be overly sensitive, and prickly when stressed. When arguing, she tends to get emotional, and often refuses to see things from the other person’s perspective, leading her to sometimes make rash decisions. In relationships, she likes to be in charge, making decisions for both people. Also, she is very high-maintenance in terms of dress and appearance, meaning she is usually in full make-up with her hair done, even for mundane tasks like grocery shopping. In addition, she may be slightly manipulative, because she knows she can get away with things that others can’t, but overall, people do say that she’s a good person and that she is very generous with others. She is also very ambitious, as she has plans of pursuing grad school in the future, and is currently working 60 hours per week at two different jobs in the meantime to save money. Person #2: Sandra Sandra would be considered average in terms of attractiveness, but she may be one of those people who you find more attractive as time goes on. She is pretty serious at first and may seem hard-to-approach, and she would not be described as “upbeat” – she admits she has difficulty connecting with others at times. However, she does laugh at jokes, and once you get to know her, she is easygoing and doesn’t get stressed much. She is rational, but maybe overly so – she will look at every perspective in an argument, and is only convinced by cold, hard facts, making her seem “ruthless” at times. In a relationship, she tries to maintain a 50/50 split in decision- making. Additionally, she is very low-maintenance in her daily habits, making her an easy person to hang out with, and someone you wouldn’t have to worry about taking an hour to get ready for a trip to Target. She is also the person who will always stay afterwards to help clean up after a party or event. Like Allison, Sandra also plans to go to grad school in the future, but she plans to just study for her GRE and work on her application until then. Person #3: Cassie Cassie would be seen as cute, but maybe not gorgeous, at least not at first glance. However, she is easy-to-talk- to and easygoing, and someone who can engage well in conversation, though she may be too nice for the professor’s dry, sarcastic humor. In general, she’s usually in a good mood, and doesn’t let the “little things” get to her. She doesn’t get into too many arguments, but when she does, she is usually pretty silent, having some trouble in expressing herself or her opinions. In a relationship, she prefers to be led by the other person, allowing them to make most of the decisions. She’s not too high-maintenance, but she does care about her appearance to an extent and never looks overly shabby. Also, she is very caring, as she would be the person to help a friend move out, or to disregard her own interests if it means others would benefit. However, she has been “aimlessly” wandering a bit since graduating college, as she works at a job she doesn’t quite enjoy, but has no idea of what she’d want to do in the future.

Part I: Thinking about the Options Now that you know a bit about each person, it’s time to think about these individuals in greater depth. In order to do so, please complete the following:

1. Normative decision process (5 pts.) A. Create a weighted decision matrix for the people listed above. B. Explain your choices of attributes and weights. C. Normatively, who is the best partner? Do you agree with this choice?

2. Non-normative decision process (6 pts.)

A. Based on the lexicographic rule, who is the best partner? Explain. B. Based on elimination-by-aspects, who is the best partner? Explain. C. Based on the conjunctive rule, who is the best partner? Explain.

3. Comparing options (1 pt.)

A. Do your normative and non-normative choices differ? B. If your preferences differ, who are you leaning towards?

Part II: Thinking about the Fit Now that you’ve arrived at your recommendation (Part I: 3B), think about the fit between the professor and the potential partner. Consider the following:

1. Attitudes (5 pts.) A. Based on the description above, construct an ABC model detailing the professor’s likely attitude

towards the person. (For the sake of this final, assume that one component is dissonant from the other two)

B. Where does the dissonance lie? C. How would you go about changing this dissonant component? Use the three attitude change

methods, and explain your process.

2. Personality (2 pts.) A. Guesstimate an OCEAN score for the person. Explain your scores. B. As a reference, my OCEAN score is:

O: 34, C: 77, E: 85, A: 80, N: 23 Would you say there’s a good match between our OCEAN scores? Why or why not?

Part III: Thinking about Making the Move Now that we know who the perfect partner is and how the two of us fit, the final step is to think about the right move to make. Many a well-meaning gent has failed at this last step, because they simply did not know how to make the right move. So what’s the next step the professor should take? Consider the following…

1. Culture (2 pts.) A. Based on the cultural context of the United States, what are important qualities for the professor to

emphasize? Explain.

2. Learning (4 pts.) A. How can the professor use classical conditioning to create a sense of excitement when the potential

partner interacts with him? Explain. B. How can the professor use instrumental conditioning to encourage the potential partner to want to

talk to him?

Notes Of the potential partners, there are no right or wrong answers as to who you should suggest the professor to date. All that matters is that you followed the correct steps throughout the prompt. Creative answers are encouraged, but remember there’s a fine line between creative and weird. Guidelines 7-9 pages, double-spaced, 1” margins, 12-point Times New Roman.