ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that organized first around three different and complementary conceptions of the consumer learning process: the behavioural approach, the cognitive approach, and socialization. It examines results of research on the theme in the field of arts and culture, more specifically through the lens of socialization which the majority of studies have employed. For most people, learning is about analysing information from the environment in order to produce knowledge. Classical conditioning takes a passive view of learning, one that sees consumers as being limited to making associations. The behavioural and cognitive perspectives of learning are mainly limited to “snapshot” situations; the researchers attempt to explain how a given experience gives rise to learning. Socialization is a learning process in which different agents of that process play a role. Learning effected through agents of socialization takes place in three fundamental processes: modelling, reinforcement, and social interaction.
