Module BUSI2211: Consumer Psychology and Behavioural Science

Department: Management and Marketing

BUSI2211: Consumer Psychology and Behavioural Science

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To explore consumer interactions with the products and services of everyday life, and with the marketing of those products and services.
• To understand consumers’ responses – psychological and physiological – to a range of marketing stimuli and ways in which those responses vary in different situational contexts.
• To engage at a critical level with the latest behavioural science research into consumer behaviour and marketing practice

Content

• Introduction to the human brain – evolution, structure, form and functioning
• Evolutionary bases of consumption – survival, reproduction, kinship and reciprocation circuits
• Neuromarketing research – invasive and non-invasive techniques
• Sensations, perception and attention
• Learning and memory
• Conscious and non-conscious information-processing
• Wants, needs and desires
• Emotions and feelings
• Thinking and deciding
• Product and packaging design
• Building brain-friendly brands
• Advertising optimisation
• Shopper marketing and retail experience design
• Aberrant consumer behaviour – compulsive buying, theft, fraud, drug use, pornography, etc
• Emergent issues in consumer psychology - standards, policy implications and (neuro-)ethics

Learning Outcomes

• An understanding of the psychology of psychological, biological, situational, environmental and socio-cultural influences on behaviour;
• A critical awareness of the decision-making processes that individuals undertake and the models which seek to interpret this behaviour;
• An appreciation of why and how this understanding of psychology is important for marketing.

• Ability to observe, interpret and demonstrate marketing psychology in action.
• Ability to critically evaluate their own behaviour as consumers.
• Ability to develop and evaluate marketing strategies in the light of consumer psychology theory and neuromarketing research.

• Creativity and problem-solving (e.g. by thinking laterally and innovatively).
• Critical thinking.
• Active and reflective learning.
• Presenting in both the written and oral/visual form.
• Group work/teamwork and leadership skills.

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

• Teaching is via a workshop-based format, delivered in a collaborative learning space and designed to foster an experiential learning environment. Each workshop combines periods of lecture-style conceptual input with group activities, discussion topics and debates. A particular feature of the module will be the opportunity for students to learn by participating in demonstrations of consumer psychology experiments documented in the research literature and to gain some exposure to basic principles of experimental design.
• The module is assessed by means of a Shopper Marketing Project, work on which is ongoing throughout the year and supported by the workshop series. Students identify a specific shopper marketing problem and design, conduct and report on an approved topic, making marketing recommendations for the target brand. The project must be grounded in appropriate academic literature critically engaged with during the course of the module too. All students submit a compulsory proposal for formative assessment and approval early in Term Two, feedback from which informs the execution of the summative project itself.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Students submit a compulsory Project Proposal of 1000 words early on Term Two, along with appropriate ethical approval documentation, the feedback from which informs the ongoing summatively-assessed Shopper Marketing Project.

■ 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