Consumer Psychology Lecture Summary
Contents
Lecture 1 (18-04-2023) – Introduction............................................................................................................ 3
Introduction to Consumer Behavior.....................................................................................................................3
Choice Overload...................................................................................................................................................3
Experiments..........................................................................................................................................................4
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
The Self.................................................................................................................................................................9
The Political Self.................................................................................................................................................10
The Religious Self................................................................................................................................................11
The Self-Construal..............................................................................................................................................12
, ............................................................................................................................................................................15
Lecture 3 (09-05-2023) – Compensatory Consumer Behavior........................................................................16
Self-Discrepancies...............................................................................................................................................16
Control................................................................................................................................................................16
Affiliation............................................................................................................................................................17
Self-acceptance..................................................................................................................................................17
Lecture 4 (16-05-2023) by Žan Mlakar – The Prosocial Consumer..................................................................19
Prosocial (consumer) behavior...........................................................................................................................19
Attitude-behavior gap: need to belong..............................................................................................................20
Lecture 5 (23-05-2023) – Affect and Consumer Behavior...............................................................................22
Affect..................................................................................................................................................................22
Relaxation...........................................................................................................................................................22
Nostalgia marketing...........................................................................................................................................24
Emotions through marketing cues.....................................................................................................................25
Consuming to regulate emotion........................................................................................................................26
Lecture 6 (30-05-2023) Scarcity and Consumer Behavior...............................................................................28
Financial Constraint - Financial Deprivation: Situational and Relative..............................................................28
Decision-Making Among the Financially Constrained.......................................................................................29
,Lecture 1 (18-04-2023) – Introduction
Introduction to Consumer Behavior
In general terms, consumer behavior is a psychologically-based study of how
individuals make buying decisions and what motivates them to purchase.
Several facets of consumer behavior exist, such as:
How a consumer feels about specific brands, products, or services.
What motivates a consumer to pick one product over another, and why.
What factors in a consumer’s everyday environment affect buying decisions or
brand perceptions and why.
It is about more than just products (e.g., going to the dentist, what TV programs to
watch, taking aerobics classes, seeking financial help, going skydiving, donating to a
cause, etc.).
Marketing management decisions are based on assumptions regarding the
psychology of the consumer.
Example: Jil Sander paper bag.
What drives these consumption decisions?
1. Beliefs
2. Financial resources
3. Emotions
4. Psychological states
5. Environment
Choice Overload
Does having many options to choose from make us happy? Amazon’s “Phones &
Accessories” category alone contains over 82 million products. And the proliferation
of options is not limited to online retailers or brick-and-mortar stores. Anyone
, purchasing water bottles, healthcare plans, car insurance, or financial services is
flooded with choices.
The Paradox of Choice
In essence, choice overload
refers to a cognitive process in
which people have difficulty
deciding when faced with many
options. There are a few
reasons for this:
1. It becomes more
difficult/stressful to determine
which option is best for you.
2. As humans, we inherently
feel sorrow about the
opportunities that we forego.
3. Moreover, when it’s clear
which option is best for you,
you’re more likely to regret the
decision that you eventually do
make.
When a choice is demotivating: can one desire too much of a good thing?
Experiment example: Supermarket Jams.
The study is conducted in a supermarket – field experiment.
Research assistants dressed as employees – confederate.
Tasting both (table) with 6 or 24 flavors – manipulation, IV.
Observer noted the number of consumers who approached the table and
those who did not stop and sampled jams – dependent variable, DV.
Interested shoppers received a redeemable coupon – dependent variable, DV.
Two consecutive Saturdays displays rotated hourly and counterbalanced
between days – attempts to decrease confounding variables.
It turned out that while a large selection of 24 types of jam initially generated more
interest, people were far more likely to purchase a jar from the small display with just
six choices than from the extensive collection with 24 options of jam.
Experiments
Experiments allow investigators to establish cause-and-effect relationships. In other
words, investigators can isolate different effects by manipulating an independent
variable and keeping other variables constant to see how it influences a specific
outcome variable.
Field experiments are done in the participants' every day (i.e., real-life)
environment. The experimenter still manipulates the independent variable but in a
real-life setting.
Strength: behavior in a field experiment is more likely to reflect real life
because of its natural setting, i.e., higher ecological validity than a lab
experiment. Also, demand characteristics are less likely to affect the results,
as participants may not know they are being studied. This occurs when the
study is covert.
Contents
Lecture 1 (18-04-2023) – Introduction............................................................................................................ 3
Introduction to Consumer Behavior.....................................................................................................................3
Choice Overload...................................................................................................................................................3
Experiments..........................................................................................................................................................4
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................................9
The Self.................................................................................................................................................................9
The Political Self.................................................................................................................................................10
The Religious Self................................................................................................................................................11
The Self-Construal..............................................................................................................................................12
, ............................................................................................................................................................................15
Lecture 3 (09-05-2023) – Compensatory Consumer Behavior........................................................................16
Self-Discrepancies...............................................................................................................................................16
Control................................................................................................................................................................16
Affiliation............................................................................................................................................................17
Self-acceptance..................................................................................................................................................17
Lecture 4 (16-05-2023) by Žan Mlakar – The Prosocial Consumer..................................................................19
Prosocial (consumer) behavior...........................................................................................................................19
Attitude-behavior gap: need to belong..............................................................................................................20
Lecture 5 (23-05-2023) – Affect and Consumer Behavior...............................................................................22
Affect..................................................................................................................................................................22
Relaxation...........................................................................................................................................................22
Nostalgia marketing...........................................................................................................................................24
Emotions through marketing cues.....................................................................................................................25
Consuming to regulate emotion........................................................................................................................26
Lecture 6 (30-05-2023) Scarcity and Consumer Behavior...............................................................................28
Financial Constraint - Financial Deprivation: Situational and Relative..............................................................28
Decision-Making Among the Financially Constrained.......................................................................................29
,Lecture 1 (18-04-2023) – Introduction
Introduction to Consumer Behavior
In general terms, consumer behavior is a psychologically-based study of how
individuals make buying decisions and what motivates them to purchase.
Several facets of consumer behavior exist, such as:
How a consumer feels about specific brands, products, or services.
What motivates a consumer to pick one product over another, and why.
What factors in a consumer’s everyday environment affect buying decisions or
brand perceptions and why.
It is about more than just products (e.g., going to the dentist, what TV programs to
watch, taking aerobics classes, seeking financial help, going skydiving, donating to a
cause, etc.).
Marketing management decisions are based on assumptions regarding the
psychology of the consumer.
Example: Jil Sander paper bag.
What drives these consumption decisions?
1. Beliefs
2. Financial resources
3. Emotions
4. Psychological states
5. Environment
Choice Overload
Does having many options to choose from make us happy? Amazon’s “Phones &
Accessories” category alone contains over 82 million products. And the proliferation
of options is not limited to online retailers or brick-and-mortar stores. Anyone
, purchasing water bottles, healthcare plans, car insurance, or financial services is
flooded with choices.
The Paradox of Choice
In essence, choice overload
refers to a cognitive process in
which people have difficulty
deciding when faced with many
options. There are a few
reasons for this:
1. It becomes more
difficult/stressful to determine
which option is best for you.
2. As humans, we inherently
feel sorrow about the
opportunities that we forego.
3. Moreover, when it’s clear
which option is best for you,
you’re more likely to regret the
decision that you eventually do
make.
When a choice is demotivating: can one desire too much of a good thing?
Experiment example: Supermarket Jams.
The study is conducted in a supermarket – field experiment.
Research assistants dressed as employees – confederate.
Tasting both (table) with 6 or 24 flavors – manipulation, IV.
Observer noted the number of consumers who approached the table and
those who did not stop and sampled jams – dependent variable, DV.
Interested shoppers received a redeemable coupon – dependent variable, DV.
Two consecutive Saturdays displays rotated hourly and counterbalanced
between days – attempts to decrease confounding variables.
It turned out that while a large selection of 24 types of jam initially generated more
interest, people were far more likely to purchase a jar from the small display with just
six choices than from the extensive collection with 24 options of jam.
Experiments
Experiments allow investigators to establish cause-and-effect relationships. In other
words, investigators can isolate different effects by manipulating an independent
variable and keeping other variables constant to see how it influences a specific
outcome variable.
Field experiments are done in the participants' every day (i.e., real-life)
environment. The experimenter still manipulates the independent variable but in a
real-life setting.
Strength: behavior in a field experiment is more likely to reflect real life
because of its natural setting, i.e., higher ecological validity than a lab
experiment. Also, demand characteristics are less likely to affect the results,
as participants may not know they are being studied. This occurs when the
study is covert.
