Specialist Option 2: Consumer Psychology
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Consumer Psychology overview and key studies
Consumer Psychology overview
• Specialist Option 2: Consumer Psychology - Consumer Psychology is the study of human behaviour in relation to the retail environment. For this option candidates look at different areas of consumer environments (shops, restaurants and online) and consider how psychology can affect consumer patterns and decision-making. Candidates will also explore the reaction and preferences of consumers to the packaging of products, the marketing of products and the advertising of products. Candidates should have the opportunity to explore the different issues and debates relevant to the psychological theories and concepts and the research methods used to investigate consumer psychology. For all topics and studies, candidates should be able to: - describe, evaluate and compare the psychological theories, research, approaches and explanations. - describe and evaluate research methods and methodological concepts (for AS and A Level) - consider how the topic area relates to psychological issues and debates (for AS and A Level) - apply the findings of the study and topic area to the real world. After each topic there is a list of issues and debates and research methodology which are most relevant to the topic. This list is not exhaustive and teachers may use other relevant issues and methodology in their teaching.
Consumer Psychology key studies
• Key studies for Consumer Psychology - North, A C, Shilcock, A and Hargreaves, D J (2003), The Effect of Musical Style on Restaurant Customers' - Spending. Environment and Behavior, 35(5): 712-18 - Robson, S K, Kimes, S E, Becker, F D and Evans, G W (2011), Consumers' Responses to Table Spacing in - Restaurants. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 52(3): 253-64 - Hall, L, Johansson, P, Tärning, B, Sikström, S and Deutgen, T (2010), Magic at the marketplace: Choice - blindness for the taste of jam and the smell of tea. Cognition, 117(1): 54-61 - Becker, L, van Rompay, T J, Schifferstein, H N and Galetzka, M (2011), Tough package, strong taste: The - influence of packaging design on taste impressions and product evaluations. Food Quality and Preference, - 22(1): 17-23 - Snyder, M and DeBono, K G (1985), Appeals to image and claims about quality: Understanding the psychology - of advertising. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49(3): 586-97
Consumer Psychology key-study requirements
• For each key study, candidates should know, understand and evaluate - the context of the study and relationship to other studies - the main theories/explanations included in the study - the aim(s) and hypotheses of the study [if stated] - the design of the study, including all methodology as appropriate, such as the research method(s) used, sample size and demographics [if known] and sampling technique [if known], procedure, technique for data collection - the results, findings and conclusions of the study - the main discussion points of the study. - describe and evaluate research methods used in and methodological concepts included in the study (for AS and A Level) - describe and evaluate the psychological issues and debates (for AS and A Level) included in the study.
2.1 The physical environment
2.1.1Retail store design
• 2.1.1 Retail store design - types of store exterior design including storefront, window displays and landscaping, including a study, e.g. Mower et al. (2012). - types of store interior design including grid, freeform and racetrack layouts; use of virtual store layouts, including a study, e.g. Vrechopoulos et al. (2004). - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: cultural differences, questionnaires, quantitative and qualitative data, objective and subjective data, ecological validity.
2.1.2Sound and consumer behaviour
• 2.1.2 Sound and consumer behaviour - music in restaurants focusing on how background music influences the amount spent on food and drink (exemplified by the following Key Study). - Key study on musical style and restaurant customers' spending: North et al. (2003). - background noise focusing on how sound and noise affect the perception of food taste including reasons why sound influences taste, including a study, e.g. Woods et al. (2011) study 1 or study 2. - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: individual and situational explanations, reductionism versus holism, determinism versus free-will, generalisations, validity.
2.1.3Retail atmospherics
• 2.1.3 Retail atmospherics - model of effects of ambience: Mehrabian and Russell's pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) model. - the effects of odour on shopper pleasure-arousal-dominance, including a study, e.g. Chebat and Michon (2003). - the effects of crowding on shopper pleasure-arousal-dominance, including a study, e.g. Machleit et al. (2000) study 1 or study 2. - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: application to everyday life, cultural differences, questionnaires, quantitative and qualitative data, objective and subjective data.
2.2 The psychological environment
2.2.1Environmental influences on consumers
• 2.2.1 Environmental influences on consumers - wayfinding in shopping malls; factors affecting wayfinding such as signs and you are here maps, including a study, e.g. Dogu and Erkip (2000). - shopper behaviour focusing on spatial movement patterns including types of trip (short, round, central and wave) and the five types of spatial behaviour patterns (specialist, native, tourist, explorer, raider); the use of CCTV tracking, including a study, e.g. Gil et al. (2009). - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: reductionism versus holism, idiographic versus nomothetic, questionnaires, generalisations, reliability.
2.2.2Menu design psychology
• 2.2.2 Menu design psychology - menu design focusing on the features of menu design which have positive and negative impacts and ways to study this, including the use of eye-tracking, e.g. Pavesic (2005). - the effect of primacy and recency and menu item position on menu item choice, including a study, e.g. Dayan and Bar-Hillel (2011). - the effect of food descriptions on menu choice, including a study, e.g. Lockyer (2006). - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: application to everyday life, field experiments, objective and subjective data, generalisations, validity.
2.2.3Consumer behaviour and personal space
• 2.2.3 Consumer behaviour and personal space - personal space at restaurant tables including Hall's four zones; functions such as overload, arousal and behaviour constraint (exemplified by the following key study). - Key study on consumers responses to table spacing: Robson et al. (2011). - defending place in a queue including nature of intrusion, number of intrusions, social structure of a queue, responses of people queuing, including a study, e.g. Milgram et al. (1986). - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: individual and situational explanations, cultural differences, observations, quantitative and qualitative data, ethics.
2.3 Consumer decision-making
2.3.1Consumer decision-making
• 2.3.1 Consumer decision-making - models of consumer decision-making focusing on explanations and examples of utility theory, satisficing, prospect theory. - strategies of consumer decision-making focusing on explanations and examples of compensatory, non-compensatory and partially compensatory strategies including explanations and examples of each. - decision-making strategies applied to internet shopping focusing on website design, including a study, e.g. Jedetski et al (2002). - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: application to everyday life, cultural differences, reductionism versus holism, determinism versus free-will, idiographic versus nomothetic.
2.3.2Choice heuristics
• 2.3.2 Choice heuristics - heuristics focusing on availability, representativeness, recognition, take-the-best, and anchoring, including explanations and examples of each. - point of purchase decisions including multiple unit pricing and suggestive selling, including a study, e.g. Wansink et al. (1998). - applying heuristics to decision-making styles, including a study, e.g. del Campo et al. (2016). - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: application to everyday life, individual and situational explanations, experiments, quantitative and qualitative data, objective and subjective data.
2.3.3Mistakes in decision-making
• 2.3.3 Mistakes in decision-making - thinking fast and thinking slow (system 1 and system 2) including explanations and examples of each, e.g. Shleifer (2012). - choice blindness, preferences and defending a choice (exemplified by the following key study). - Key study for choice blindness when tasting and smelling food items: Hall et al. (2010). - consumer memory for advertising including how retroactive and proactive interference affect memory, including a study, e.g. Burke and Srull (1988). - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: individual and situational explanations, determinism versus free-will, experiments, interviews, reliability.
2.4 The product
2.4.1Packaging and positioning of a product
• 2.4.1 Packaging and positioning of a product - gift-wrapping including beliefs of giver and recipient: why gifts are wrapped, types of wrapping. - food package design (exemplified by the following key study). - Key study on food package design and taste perceptions: Becker et al. (2011). - attention and shelf position including planograms; central gaze cascade effect, use of eye-tracking, including a study, e.g. Atalay et al. (2012). - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: reductionism versus holism, determinism versus free-will, generalisations, objective and subjective data, validity.
2.4.2Selling the product
• 2.4.2 Selling the product - sales techniques focusing on customer-focused, competitor-focused, product-focused techniques including effect of each on buyer-seller relationship. - interpersonal influence techniques; focusing on disrupt-then-reframe including the need for cognitive closure and factors affecting the need for cognitive closure, including a study, e.g. Kardes et al. (2007). - Cialdini's six ways to close a sale. - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: application to everyday life, cultural differences, determinism versus free-will, idiographic versus nomothetic, field experiments.
2.4.3Buying the product
• 2.4.3 Buying the product - the Engel Kollat Blackwell model of buyer decision-making. - deciding where to buy including reasons for store choice by demographics such as age and gender, including a study, e.g. Sinha et al. (2002). - post-purchase cognitive dissonance including factors that can increase dissonance and ways to reduce dissonance, including a study, e.g. Nordvall (2014). - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: cultural differences, reductionism versus holism, idiographic versus nomothetic, objective and subjective data, validity.
2.5 Advertising
2.5.1Advertising types and techniques
• 2.5.1 Types of advertising and advertising techniques - the Yale model of communication including five features. - advertising media including types of advertising media: printed, television, internet and smartphone; use of eye-tracking and EEG, including a study, e.g. Ciceri et al. (2020). - Lauterborn's 4 Cs marketing mix model. - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: application to everyday life, cultural differences, objective and subjective data, generalisations, validity.
2.5.2Advertising-consumer interaction
• 2.5.2 Advertising-consumer interaction - advertising and consumer personality including self-monitoring (exemplified by the following Key Study). - Key study on consumer personality and advertising: Snyder and DeBono (1985), focus on study 3, specifics of methodology for study 1 and study 2 will not be needed. - how product placement in films affects choice including examples and explanations for choice, such as mere exposure and reminders, including a study, e.g. Auty and Lewis (2004). - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: use of children in research, determinism versus free-will, self-reports, quantitative and qualitative data, validity.
2.5.3Brand awareness and recognition
• 2.5.3 Brand awareness and recognition - brand recognition in children including how children acquire an understanding of advertising via logo recognition, including a study, e.g. Fischer et al. (1991). - brand awareness, brand image and effective slogans including types and function of slogans; guidelines for creating effective slogans, e.g. Kohli et al. (2007). - Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: application to everyday life, use of children in research, determinism versus free-will, experiments, interviews.