Course content
This course is designed to help students become curious discoverers and astute thinkers for consumption phenomena and challenges that organizations face. The consumer psychology course provides a comprehensive coverage of theories, concepts and management tools to understand the “minds, hearts and motives” of consumers.
An important question facing businesses in this time is how a pandemic such as the COVID-19 affects consumers and firms. Be it such an extraordinary situation, or the mere purchase of a smartphone, of a luxury bag or a holiday destination, the foundation of an organization's success lies in understanding how consumers think, feel, choose, and consume products and services. In most cases, the answer to these questions can be obtained by drawing on the extensive field of psychology. Over the last two decades, marketing researchers and managers have increasingly recognized the potential of psychology to understand consumer behavior.
The topics discussed in this course can be grouped in four broad psychology clusters. Each cluster comprises various consumer psychology applications:
Attitude, Motivation and Personality
- Image and Brand Personality
- Mental Processing and Decision-Making
- Consumer Motivations and Goals (e.g., Hedonism and Utilitarianism)
Emotions, Feelings and Moods
- Consumer-Brand Relationships (e.g. Brand Love)
- The Influence of Emotions on Judgment and Decision-Making
- Sensory Marketing
Evolutionary Psychology
- Evolutionary Needs and Consumer Behavior
- Luxury and Status Consumption
- Sexual Signaling Consumption
Stereotyping, Culture and Intergroup Behavior
- Country Biases: Ethnocentrism, Animosity, Disidentification, Affinity
- Country-of-origin and Destination Image
- Consumer Identities and Values
In addition, this courses features a session on 'Consumer Well-Being' and 'Nudging', and a wrap-up.
By facilitating cutting edge knowledge and critical thinking the course also reflects the aims in the Nordic Nine.
See course description in course catalogue