Consumer psychology
29/09/2023 – Class 1
Random notes
- Product place logo, for us this is visible because we study communication and are
higher educated. But for the general public this isn’t visible.
- Younger kids who also have TikTok – Her daughter asks, ‘why do some girls cry when
they see food?’ She saw girls talking about having an eating disorder. It’s good to put
this topic in the media, but not for a 10-year old.
- When people are in a good mood, they’re more in for variety or trying new things
out. For ex. new flavor of chips.
- Scarcity is very attractive (Persuasion heuristics)
- IMPORTANT: Read titles of articles: you need to be able to explain what they’re
about!
Consumer psychology
All behaviors that relate to people as consumers
= Applies psychological theories to understand consumers and consumer behavior.
- What makes them like/Choose/ buy?
o Emotions, rational behavior? Choice processes? Situational influences, …
- How do consumers deal with persuasion attempts?
o Influence, resistance, young consumers, …
- Psychological methods (experiments)
o focus on (underlying) processes of attitudes & behavior (and individual
differences or other moderators)
For example: When you get a reaction that you want to do the exact
opposite of what people tell you to do,
the government convinced everyone to take the Covid vaccine,
people didn’t want it anymore
OR when you were little and your parents told you to do
something, you didn’t want to do that anymore.
When looking at individual differences we can compare the genders
with each other
Basic idea of why it is important to go deeper in information processing?
- We look at how we as consumers look at our days. We are all bombarded with a lot
of information/ commercials. Consciously we don’t remember a lot. But that does
not mean that it doesn’t have a lot of effect on us.
Exposure Attention Comprehensions Acceptance Retention
1
,It’s a very linear way or dealing with persuasive communication. Nowadays we know that
this model falls an interesting thought, but it’s not possible to follow the complex way of the
way we think today.
Comprehension – When making a big decision (for ex. buying an house) you think a lot about
the options, but overall on most decisions, they are mostly just on the surface, we think
about it, but not that much.
Mere exposure effect
- Zajonc (1980): Preferences need no inferences
- Showed <<Chinese signs>>
- Tachistoscopy (subconscious)
o System that exposed people to those stimuli in just a few milliseconds, it
doesn’t allow them to process those stimuli
- Repeated exposure leads to liking
o By just repeating something, a stimulus, which you don’t have any attitude
toward, by just repeating it, people start liking it. By just being exposed to it,
you start liking it.
o He wanted to show, if you show people different Chinese designs, is it that
the signs that people were exposed more often to, were more liked?
- Applied to advertising (Janiszewski, 1983): Incidental processing
Given the exposure effect, it could have had an impact of how people react on
advertisements. While people read the news, and their ads in the newspaper, what does
that mean if we look at the exposure effects. While reading a news article, the brands that
are sometimes advertised were more known even if people didn’t really were conscious
about the ads.
Cognitive resources are limited!
- Mental muscle
- Depletion (it gets too tired, exhausted, it effects how we deal with our environment)
- Mental shortcuts!
Persuasion heuristics
Science of persuasion (Caialdini)
VIDEO
1) Reciprocity
People feel the obligation to give back when they receive. For example, if you were invited
for a party, you are more likely to invite that friend when you are hosting a party. Another
example is going to a restaurant. When they give you a mint with your bill, you’re more likely
to give a tip. The key to using the principle of reciprocation, is to be the first to give & to
assure that what you give is personalize and unexpected
2
, 2) Scarcity
People want more of things that they can’t get. It is not enough to just tell people the
benefits that they will gain if they choose your products or services. But you also have to
show what is unique about it and what people will lose if they don’t buy your product or use
your services.
3) Authority
The idea that people follow the lead of credible knowledgeable experts. For example, people
are more likely to give change for a parking meter to a complete stranger when he’s wearing
a costume, than when he’s wearing normal clothes. Another example is when being you’re
directed to someone via the phone with ‘speak to peter, he has over 20 years’ experience’.
The way how they were directed to someone had an impact in results.
4) Consistency
People like to be consistent with the things they have previously said or done. The example
of the ‘drive safe’ card. When people agreed to hang a little drive safe card on their window,
they later also agreed to a bigger board, compared to people who were never asked to hang
a small ‘drive safe’ card, who also didn’t agree with the bigger board.
5) Liking
People prefer to say yes to people they like. There are 3 important factors.
- We like people who are similar to us
- We like people who pay us compliments
- People who cooperate with us toward mutual goals
6) Consensus
Especially when they’re uncertain, people will look to the actions of behavior of others to
determine their own.
The example of the towels in a hotel. Sign to reuse towels with an explanation that it’s better
for our environment. But a more effective way to make people reuse their towels, is to hang
card with the information that 75% of the guests reuse their towels.
For communication Scientists
Insights in consumer behavior are important for the following professions
- Strategic planner in an advertising agency
- Market research companies
- Store design/ retail communication
- Health communication
- Social marketing (NGO’s)
- Politics! And political campaigning / communication
Course overview
- The consumer’s mind: Attitudes, beliefs and information processing
- At the heart of everything: emotions
- The two most important demographics: sex differences in consumer behavior and
their evolutionary roots
3
, - The fundamental principles of information processing:
o Attention
o Confirmation bias
o Availability heuristic
o Effort heuristic, scarcity heuristic
4
29/09/2023 – Class 1
Random notes
- Product place logo, for us this is visible because we study communication and are
higher educated. But for the general public this isn’t visible.
- Younger kids who also have TikTok – Her daughter asks, ‘why do some girls cry when
they see food?’ She saw girls talking about having an eating disorder. It’s good to put
this topic in the media, but not for a 10-year old.
- When people are in a good mood, they’re more in for variety or trying new things
out. For ex. new flavor of chips.
- Scarcity is very attractive (Persuasion heuristics)
- IMPORTANT: Read titles of articles: you need to be able to explain what they’re
about!
Consumer psychology
All behaviors that relate to people as consumers
= Applies psychological theories to understand consumers and consumer behavior.
- What makes them like/Choose/ buy?
o Emotions, rational behavior? Choice processes? Situational influences, …
- How do consumers deal with persuasion attempts?
o Influence, resistance, young consumers, …
- Psychological methods (experiments)
o focus on (underlying) processes of attitudes & behavior (and individual
differences or other moderators)
For example: When you get a reaction that you want to do the exact
opposite of what people tell you to do,
the government convinced everyone to take the Covid vaccine,
people didn’t want it anymore
OR when you were little and your parents told you to do
something, you didn’t want to do that anymore.
When looking at individual differences we can compare the genders
with each other
Basic idea of why it is important to go deeper in information processing?
- We look at how we as consumers look at our days. We are all bombarded with a lot
of information/ commercials. Consciously we don’t remember a lot. But that does
not mean that it doesn’t have a lot of effect on us.
Exposure Attention Comprehensions Acceptance Retention
1
,It’s a very linear way or dealing with persuasive communication. Nowadays we know that
this model falls an interesting thought, but it’s not possible to follow the complex way of the
way we think today.
Comprehension – When making a big decision (for ex. buying an house) you think a lot about
the options, but overall on most decisions, they are mostly just on the surface, we think
about it, but not that much.
Mere exposure effect
- Zajonc (1980): Preferences need no inferences
- Showed <<Chinese signs>>
- Tachistoscopy (subconscious)
o System that exposed people to those stimuli in just a few milliseconds, it
doesn’t allow them to process those stimuli
- Repeated exposure leads to liking
o By just repeating something, a stimulus, which you don’t have any attitude
toward, by just repeating it, people start liking it. By just being exposed to it,
you start liking it.
o He wanted to show, if you show people different Chinese designs, is it that
the signs that people were exposed more often to, were more liked?
- Applied to advertising (Janiszewski, 1983): Incidental processing
Given the exposure effect, it could have had an impact of how people react on
advertisements. While people read the news, and their ads in the newspaper, what does
that mean if we look at the exposure effects. While reading a news article, the brands that
are sometimes advertised were more known even if people didn’t really were conscious
about the ads.
Cognitive resources are limited!
- Mental muscle
- Depletion (it gets too tired, exhausted, it effects how we deal with our environment)
- Mental shortcuts!
Persuasion heuristics
Science of persuasion (Caialdini)
VIDEO
1) Reciprocity
People feel the obligation to give back when they receive. For example, if you were invited
for a party, you are more likely to invite that friend when you are hosting a party. Another
example is going to a restaurant. When they give you a mint with your bill, you’re more likely
to give a tip. The key to using the principle of reciprocation, is to be the first to give & to
assure that what you give is personalize and unexpected
2
, 2) Scarcity
People want more of things that they can’t get. It is not enough to just tell people the
benefits that they will gain if they choose your products or services. But you also have to
show what is unique about it and what people will lose if they don’t buy your product or use
your services.
3) Authority
The idea that people follow the lead of credible knowledgeable experts. For example, people
are more likely to give change for a parking meter to a complete stranger when he’s wearing
a costume, than when he’s wearing normal clothes. Another example is when being you’re
directed to someone via the phone with ‘speak to peter, he has over 20 years’ experience’.
The way how they were directed to someone had an impact in results.
4) Consistency
People like to be consistent with the things they have previously said or done. The example
of the ‘drive safe’ card. When people agreed to hang a little drive safe card on their window,
they later also agreed to a bigger board, compared to people who were never asked to hang
a small ‘drive safe’ card, who also didn’t agree with the bigger board.
5) Liking
People prefer to say yes to people they like. There are 3 important factors.
- We like people who are similar to us
- We like people who pay us compliments
- People who cooperate with us toward mutual goals
6) Consensus
Especially when they’re uncertain, people will look to the actions of behavior of others to
determine their own.
The example of the towels in a hotel. Sign to reuse towels with an explanation that it’s better
for our environment. But a more effective way to make people reuse their towels, is to hang
card with the information that 75% of the guests reuse their towels.
For communication Scientists
Insights in consumer behavior are important for the following professions
- Strategic planner in an advertising agency
- Market research companies
- Store design/ retail communication
- Health communication
- Social marketing (NGO’s)
- Politics! And political campaigning / communication
Course overview
- The consumer’s mind: Attitudes, beliefs and information processing
- At the heart of everything: emotions
- The two most important demographics: sex differences in consumer behavior and
their evolutionary roots
3
, - The fundamental principles of information processing:
o Attention
o Confirmation bias
o Availability heuristic
o Effort heuristic, scarcity heuristic
4
