Module BUSS3141: CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY

Department: Business School (Business) [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

BUSS3141: CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY

Prerequisites

• Marketing Principles

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To enable students to:
• understand consumer responses to the products and services of everyday life, and to the marketing of those products and services
• display a critical knowledge of the central tenets of consumer psychology, together with its implications for marketing practice
• apply and critically assess psychological tools and concepts in the context of contemporary business practice and the consumer society

Content

• The science of human nature may enlighten the world of marketing and consumerism, and vice versa. Building on the introduction to buyer behaviour in the Level 2 module 'Marketing Principles', this module explores various psychological perspectives (i.e. psychodynamic perspective, evolutionary psychology, behavioural psychology, humanistic psychology, cognitive psychology and social psychology) and connects them with research within the consumer behaviour field, exploring themes such as consumers' preferences and motivations, advertising, and the media.
• The central theme of the module is the extent to which effective marketing can only begin with a comprehensive understanding of how and why customers behave as they do.
• Examples of discussed topics include: 'Psychoanalysing' consumers and their choices; Evolutionary origins of consumers' preferences, tastes, and motivations; Conspicuous consumption, romantic gift buying and human courtship; Motivation and self-identity in consumers' choices; Happiness, utility and fitness; Spatial cognition, landscape aesthetics and product aesthetics; Gender differences in consumer behaviour; Attitude development and change; The psychology of product recognition, branding and advertising; Advertising strategies; The role of emotions, values and social influences in consumers' decision making; Various models of consumer decision making.

Learning Outcomes

• Knowledge of the key perspectives in consumer psychology and the extent to which they shed light upon the nature of marketing and the modern consumer society.
• Comprehensive understanding of consumer interactions with the products and services of everyday life, and with the marketing of those products and services.
• The skills needed to apply psychological tools and frameworks within a marketing and consumer research context.

• Assess and critique consumer behaviour and marketing practices from a range of theoretical and positional perspectives in psychology
• Demonstrate the ability to think independently, work individually and as part of a group to locate, assess and use information
• Reflect on and better understand one's own behaviour in the roles of both consumer and prospective marketing manager

• Written communication - through summative assessment
• Verbal communication - presentation skills, giving and receiving feedback in class discussion
• Computer literacy - word-processing and layout of summative essay, interrogation of electronic and web-based academic databases

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching is delivered via lectures and seminars. Learning takes place through attendance at lectures, preparation for and participation in seminars, and private study. Formative assessment is by means of one short written report. Summative assessment is by means of one written assignment and one examination.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One short individual written report of 1500 words max.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University