Psychological Dimensions

1
Psychological Dimensions

• How Many, How Much vs. Why
• Psychology
• the study of thoughts, feelings and actions of
  the individual
• Tourism is a purposeful, planned and motivated
  behavior!!

2
Influences upon Tourist
Social Family Roles
EXTERNAL FACTORS
Values
Attitudes
Travel Decision- Maker
Motives
Perception
Personality
Learning
INTERNAL FACTORS
Social Class
Reference Group
Environmental Conditions
Sub-culture
Culture
3
Perception

• An active, and complicated process
• also selective!
• Influenced by?
• Learning, past experience, peers, atmosph.
• What do you expect when Dining?

4
Perceptual Principles

• Sensory Adaptation (S.O.T.)
• taking things for granted need innovation
• Color and Contrast
• bright vs. dull contrasts the unusual
• Context
• The setting of the interrelated conditions in
  which something exists/occurs (expectations)
• Figure Ground
• Item/object that a person will focus on

5
More Principles

• Closure
• tendency to complete the picture, if only a
  portion is given
• Proximity
• assoc. of events occurring closely in time
• Perceptual Constancy
• the ability to view an object as the same, even
  though the stimulas is changing
• ie light, size, shape

6
Still more Principles

• Selective Perception
• Screening out or selecting specific types of
  information due to motivations, experiences, or
  culture. (60 minutes!)
• Weber/Fechner Law
• Amount of change needed to notice difference is
  relative to the amount of initial stimulus

7
Elements of Perception

• Perceiver
• Target
• Situation
• Does a Mango taste better in Paradise?

8
Types of Perception

• Environmental vs. Social
• Impressions know little assume
• Verbal vs. Non-verbal Cues
• physical, kinesic, paralanguage, proxemics
• Attributions

9
Attitudes!!!!!

• intellectual, emotional and behavioral responses
  to events, things and persons which people learn
  over time
• Affective - emotion
• Cognitive -assumed facts/beliefs
• Behavioral - persons actions
• ? Attitudes predict behavior?

10
More Attitude Stuff

• Stereotypes
• characteristics which people assign to a certain
  type of person, a group, or a set of objects
  unnecessary labeling.
• Fudgies/Snowbirds/Tourist Trap!
• Persuasion can we change attitudes?
• Source (credibility)
• Family/friends vs. strangers

11
Attitudes Tourism Dvlpmt.

• Host Community
• resentment related to attachment
• Tourists
• developed by interaction w/ host community
• decisions based on attitudes perceptions
• Image is Everything

12
Personality Measurement

• Personality is the manner by which a persons
  thoughts and actions interact with and modify
  conditions in their life.
• - most is hidden from others!
• Psychographics
• Personality, attitudes and values (w/
  demographics)
• Lifestyle Measures
• How your life unfolds (interests, activities,
  opinions)
• Values
• Form the criteria which guides behavior

13
Personality Traits

• Traits which help to describe a personality
• degrees to which one is
• Aggressive
• Outgoing
• Dominant
• Needy

14
American Values

• Self Respect (21)
• Security (21)
• Warm Relationships (16)
• Accomplishment (11)
• Self-Fulfillment (10)
• Being Well-respected (9)
• Belonging (8)
• Fun,Excitement and Enjoyment (4)

15
Learning Methods

• Conditioning
• Stimulas-Response (reinforcement)
• Modeling
• By observing or watching
• Latent Learning
• By doing
• Generalization (apply to other areas)
• Discrimination (knowing when not to apply)