Summary the Sociology, Psychology and Culture of Food, Fitness and Health (all subjects)
Part 1: Psychology and Advertising
Lecture 1 – brands and attitudes
• A brand as person – It’s all about associations! Physical aspects (e.g. low price), Emotional aspects
(e.g. friendly), “Brand identity” / “Brand DNA”
• Brand identity is conditional for brand loyalty (emotional relationship)
• Too many choices: brands make life easier by its associations (unconscious decisions / low impact
decisions)
An attitude - A feeling or opinion about something or someone, or a way of behaving that is caused by this.
Companies or brands intend to shape or form (or build) a positive attitude in the mind of the consumer
ABC model of attitudes:
Affective - the emotional reaction one has toward an attitude object.
Behavioral - the way one behaves when exposed to an attitude object.
Cognitive – knowledge and believes towards an attitude object.
Lecture 2 – the self and gender
The self – inner private and outer public self
• Western society: focus on uniqueness of each person
• ‘Each single human life is unique’ – this idea developed between the 11 th and 15th century
• Eastern cultures: focus on collective self – a person derives his or her identity largely from a social
group / relationship with others
Self-concept – refers to the beliefs a person holds about their attributes, and how they evaluate these qualities
Self-concept comes from Others, self-observation, assumed roles, group associations, Upward / downward
social comparisons
Upward comparisons: comparing ourselves to others who are better than we are.
Downward comparisons: comparing ourselves to those who are not as proficient as we are at a given task.
Ideal self (how you want to be) vs actual self (how you actually are)
• Choice for products / services because they fit (are consistent) with our actual self
• Choice for products / services because they help us to get closer to our ideal self
Impression management – work hard to manage what others think of us
Self-esteem - Level of positivity of a person’s self-concept
Low self-esteem: expects not to perform well, avoiding situations, etc.
High self-esteem: expects to be successful and like to be in the center of attention
Brands specifically target specific levels of self-esteem
• Exposure to advertisements: trigger a process of social comparison – comparing their self to the
people depicted in the picture
• Feel better about ourselves when we own products of high aesthetical value
• Female subjects felt badly about themselves after watching thin female models, but evaluated the
brands associated with the model as more positive and when female subjects saw ads depicting
normal weight models, they did not feel bad about themselves but did rate the brands lower.
Part 1: Psychology and Advertising
Lecture 1 – brands and attitudes
• A brand as person – It’s all about associations! Physical aspects (e.g. low price), Emotional aspects
(e.g. friendly), “Brand identity” / “Brand DNA”
• Brand identity is conditional for brand loyalty (emotional relationship)
• Too many choices: brands make life easier by its associations (unconscious decisions / low impact
decisions)
An attitude - A feeling or opinion about something or someone, or a way of behaving that is caused by this.
Companies or brands intend to shape or form (or build) a positive attitude in the mind of the consumer
ABC model of attitudes:
Affective - the emotional reaction one has toward an attitude object.
Behavioral - the way one behaves when exposed to an attitude object.
Cognitive – knowledge and believes towards an attitude object.
Lecture 2 – the self and gender
The self – inner private and outer public self
• Western society: focus on uniqueness of each person
• ‘Each single human life is unique’ – this idea developed between the 11 th and 15th century
• Eastern cultures: focus on collective self – a person derives his or her identity largely from a social
group / relationship with others
Self-concept – refers to the beliefs a person holds about their attributes, and how they evaluate these qualities
Self-concept comes from Others, self-observation, assumed roles, group associations, Upward / downward
social comparisons
Upward comparisons: comparing ourselves to others who are better than we are.
Downward comparisons: comparing ourselves to those who are not as proficient as we are at a given task.
Ideal self (how you want to be) vs actual self (how you actually are)
• Choice for products / services because they fit (are consistent) with our actual self
• Choice for products / services because they help us to get closer to our ideal self
Impression management – work hard to manage what others think of us
Self-esteem - Level of positivity of a person’s self-concept
Low self-esteem: expects not to perform well, avoiding situations, etc.
High self-esteem: expects to be successful and like to be in the center of attention
Brands specifically target specific levels of self-esteem
• Exposure to advertisements: trigger a process of social comparison – comparing their self to the
people depicted in the picture
• Feel better about ourselves when we own products of high aesthetical value
• Female subjects felt badly about themselves after watching thin female models, but evaluated the
brands associated with the model as more positive and when female subjects saw ads depicting
normal weight models, they did not feel bad about themselves but did rate the brands lower.
