Consumer psychology
2020 – 2021
1 INTRODUCTION
For communication scientists
- Important journals:
o Journal of Consumer Psychology
▪ Most cited articles: the unconscious consumer, feelings and consumer decision making: the
appraisal-tendency framework, free will in consumer behavior: self-control, ego depletion, and
choice
o Journal of Consumer Research
o Journal of Marketing
o Journal of Marketing Research
o International Journal of Research in Marketing
o Psychology & Marketing
o Journal of Advertising
o Journal of Advertising Research
o Journal of Public Policy and Marketing
o Health Psychology
o Health Communication
- Insights in consumer behavior are important for the following professions:
o Strategic planner in and advertising agency
o Market research companies
o Store design/retail communication
o Health communication
o Social marketing (NGO’s)
o Politics, political campaigning + communication
Course overview
- Information processing
- Emotions
- Sex differences
- Situational influences
- Advertising + persuasion knowledge
Evaluation
- Oral exam: 10p
o Empirical studies (explain studies, show insights in the theory, methods and results, apply in broader
contexts, critically evaluate)
o Theories, terms/concepts
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,- Assignment: 10p
o Pick an existing popular product (tip: choose one which has widely known advertising campaigns described
on the internet, allowing you to build upon them)
o Pick 3-5 research papers from the field of consumer psychology (tip: focus mostly on experimental papers
the describe straightforward effects of certain traits, heuristics, emotions or properties on people’s
preferences/behavior). You may pick a maximum of 1 paper from the ones that were discussed during the
lectures.
o Design an advertising campaign for the product that you have chosen. The campaign should be aimed at
utilizing the research findings from the papers of your choice. You may choose the goals of your campaign
(e.g., increasing sales, improving the perception of the brand, entering a new market, …) – you do not have
to design the visuals
o Your job is to prepare rudimentary campaign materials (for example: posters, logos, radio ad transcripts,
voiced radio ads, plans for ads on certain websites, plans for ads in certain newspapers, plans for ads aired
at certain timeslots, etc.) and justify some of their properties by referring to the scientific papers that you
have chosen. You do not have to prepare every type of ad. Choose the ones you find most suitable for your
product.
o Describe the methodology and results of the papers that you used to design your campaign. Explain your
own decisions with regard to the shape of the ad campaign by referring to the papers.
o The findings in the papers do not have to be revolutionary or unexpected. For example, Hooge & Camps
(2013) have described how humans follow a Z-pattern when scanning their visual field (e.g. a poster). Your
campaign could use that finding and place all the important information on the Z-path of the visual scan.
o The length of the assignment should be 3-6 A4 pages of campaign description + any other accompanying
files. The structure of the assignment should be constructed as follows:
▪ Short description of the product.
▪ Short description of the advertising campaign.
▪ Advertising element #1 (for example: billboards containing certain imagery and certain slogans)
▪ Explanation for the choice of advertising element #1 based on scientific article #1. (for example:
“The billboard will contain X because Researcher Y et al. (2019) discovered that…”)
▪ Description of the scientific article #1: methodology, results, conclusions.
o Repeat points 3, 4 and 5 for all the designed advertising elements and chosen scientific articles.
o Format: max. 3-6 A4 (excl. References), times new roman, 12, single spaced
o Deadline: one week after final lecture – 25th of December
o Mail to konrad.rudnicki@uantwerpen.be
o 50% of exam.
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,1.2 PROF. DR. KAROLIEN POELS & DR. KONRAD RUDNICKI
“I study how individuals use and experience ICT and how these insights can be applied for persuasive communication
(advertising, health promotion, crisis communication, consumer protection and empowerment).” – Poels
- Digital game experience (dimensions, methods, involvement)
- In-game advertising (e.g. attitudes, interaction with game xp)
- Online consumer behavior
- Advertising on social networking sites (personalization, adolescents)
- Advertising in online news media (native advertising)
o Native advertising = advertising in the style and feel of the medium
▪ There is a problem for news media when they use too much native advertising
▪ Adblockers are a big problem for news media. They live from advertising revenue (reclama-
inkomsten). When adblockers block their revenues from ads on their website, they have to
search an alternative format. This is why they choose native advertising.
▪ These articles don’t really look like ads, but if readers don’t recognize those articles as
advertisements,itcan imposeadangeron alljournalisticvaluesthatallqualitynewspapers must
have (e.g. independent, being a watchdog, …)
- Persuasive technologies (serious games, reflective interfaces)
o Serous game = a game that is developed to be a fun game but with the main goal to learn people
something specific, influence their attitudes, …
▪ Recently they developed a game to tackle cyber bullying. The game did have some positive
effects on attitude/… towards cyber bullying.
- Chatbots for marketingcommunication
o Chatbots are being used more and more by companies (e.g. customer service)
o When you talk to a chatbot, they will retarget you one day later for other marketing purposes. E.g. ‘you
booked this, why don’t you go eat there’
- Big data, big deal?
o What does de general public knows about big data? Do they see it as a kind of big brother thing, do they
trust it, … ?
- Smart cities = some kind of umbrella term for everything that happen in cities that is connected through
sensors
o Maybe: when there is no one on the street, the lights don’t have to shine
o In Antwerp they know who is a first visitor, a repeated visitor, a visitor from abroad, a visitor who only
goes to the Meir, a visitor who also goes to the other streets, …
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, “My main research interest is the application of experimental psychophysiological and neuroimaging methods
to answer the questions posed by social sciences and philosophy.” - Rudnicki
- Biological psychology (biomarkers, brain imaging)
- Evolutionary social psychology (group behavior)
- Analytical philosophy and logic (limits of rational thinking)
1.3 STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
- CM = communication management → general course, what is strategic communication, what can
organizations do to position themselves, corporate level
- CP = consumer psychology → more theoretical, theory, based on scientific studies, scientific and
psychological insights in consumer behavior and information processing, (mainly) experimental research –
applied in various professional fields
- EffOZ=effectiviteitsonderzoek → in depth study of advertising + how to evaluate the effectiveness, and
whether the advertising objects were met – link with practice/business
- Persuasive Technologies (new course!)
o How can we use technological tools to steer/influence/change behavior?
o E.g. apps, serious games, VR, chatbots, …
o Link with theories of behavioral change and human-computer interaction
o Collaboration with students from computer science
1.4 CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY
What comes to your mind?
- Callers psychology
- Music in a store, type of music, color of the walls, greenery in the store or not, store is crowded or not, store is tidy or
not, … = store atmospherics
o How does the environment influence the behavior?
- Involvement
o If you are involved with a particular product, will you react differently than when you are not
involved with that product?
o E.g. you are very involved with sneakers and there appears an add on your Facebook newsfeed
about sneakers. Will you buy it more or click more on the add than someone that is not
involved/interested in sneakers?
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