Operant Conditioning in Advertising

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Operant Conditioning in Advertising
Commercials are designed to attract consumers through flashy forms of vision and audio. Usually commercials are evaluated in two ways, recognition measures and preference measures. Recognition is usually measured using surveys involving specific commercials viewed at home. Preference is a measure of personal liking, often measured by recorders installed in TV receivers (Nathan & Wallace, 1965).
This paper is a piece of research involving a new measure in the ability to understand the effectiveness of a commercial. The project was evaluated by the rate of work given to be able to watch or listen to commercials. Techniques like the ones used reach back to a familiar name, B. F. Skinner. Recently, his techniques have been refined in order to study the behavior of humans. Changes and additions have been made to increase the ability of the recording apparatus. These include the recording of both forms separately, the ability to control slide or sound stimuli to keep from repetition or delays, and variations in the required amount of reaction for each subject. D’Arcy Advertising Company asked Associates for Research in Behavior (ARBOR) to use four separate, 60 second commercials. The main reasons for selecting four different commercials was to measure the different focus level for each, the different amount of interest for different forms of commercials of the same commercials, and to develop rankings for the commercials (Nathan & Wallace, 1965).
Field study subjects included 408 people from various parts of the midwest. Every subject had participated in watching at least the third quarter of a specific, professional football game. The average age of those chosen for the field study was 40 and 80% w...

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...of the research in the future, technological advances will allow for different options for researching. The research supported advertisers with the belief that consumers pay more attention to their commercials than what they thought. However, it is possible for one to say the laboratory was not a replica of a home setting due to the lack of beverages, food, or restrooms (Nathan & Wallace, 1965).
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References
Nathan, P. E., & Wallace, W. H. (1965). An Operant Behavioral
Measure of TV Commercial Effectiveness. Journal Of Advertising Research,
5(4), 13-20. Retrieved February 13, 2014, from OhioLink Web Databases
(EBSCO host).

References
Nathan, P. E., & Wallace, W. H. (1965). An Operant Behavioral
Measure of TV Commercial Effectiveness. Journal Of Advertising Research,
5(4), 13-20. Retrieved February 13, 2014, from OhioLink Web Databases
(EBSCO host).

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