Becoming a Consumer Psychologist

Ashwani Monga, Rajesh Bagchi

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781351061766
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Applied Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Written by two scholars at the forefront of conducting research on the psychology of consumers and mentoring those new to the field, Becoming a Consumer Psychologist provides a guide to what it takes to become a consumer psychologist, and achieve success in this area.

Monga and Bagchi lay out the varied experiences that lead one to be a consumer psychologist in academia, marketing, or public policy. The book discusses the academic route in detail, guiding you on how to apply to schools, including for a Ph.D., what courses to take, and what to expect during your educational experience and after. It also discusses other routes that lead to diverse non-academic career paths in which practitioners apply their knowledge about consumer psychology.

The authors' guidance is backed by their own experiences as consumer psychology researchers, mentors, and journal Associate Editors; and the insights that the authors have gathered exclusively for this book from 23 other leading academics and practitioners. This book is essential reading for anyone looking to start their career in consumer psychology, and for mentors and advisors who are guiding students about career choices.

Chapter One

The Field of Consumer Psychology

The American Psychological Association (APA) recognizes consumer psychology as a sub-field that deals with theoretical psychological approaches to understanding consumers (APA Division 23: Society for Consumer Psychology). This sub-field has traditionally been seen as an offshoot of social psychology. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, whereas social psychology is the “scientific study of the behavior of individuals in their social and cultural setting,” consumer psychology is a “branch of social psychology concerned with the market behavior of consumers.”

The field of consumer psychology has broadened over the years, with insights from social psychology blending with those from other areas of psychology (e.g., cognitive psychology, which is concerned with learning, behavior, and other aspects of human cognition). Insights have also come in from related fields such as economics. In particular, behavioral economics research by Nobel Laureates Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler (and their collaborators such as Amos Tversky) has nudged consumer psychology toward understanding the heuristics and biases that underlie consumers’ judgments and decisions. These different perspectives have turned consumer psychology into an interdisciplinary area encompassing diverse topics such as consumers’ memory, learning, preferences, biases, customs, and so on. An understanding of such topics is of interest to academic researchers trying to get a better grasp on consumers and marketplaces. It is also at the heart of all business enterprises targeting consumers, and others that support such enterprises, including marketing research firms and advertising agencies. Such an understanding is also critical for public-policy makers trying to promote consumer welfare and prevent predatory business practices.

Who Is a Consumer Psychologist?

Given the diversity in professions that consumer psychology interfaces with, it is often hard to describe who exactly a consumer psychologist is. After all, “consumer psychologist” is not usually a job title that is written on the business cards of individuals. Rather, this phrase characterizes the type of work that comprises different professions.

We, the authors, consider ourselves consumer psychologists because of the kind of research that we conduct. Ashwani tries to understand the psychology of time and money. For instance, he has shown that consumers use short-cuts in information processing (i.e., heuristics) much more when decisions relate to spending time rather than spending money. Think of the time that consumers spend on searching, such as in going from one store to another to find the perfect pair of shoes. What Ashwani and his co-author have found is that consumers do not systematically treat time expenditures the way they treat money expenditures (Monga and Saini 2009; Saini and Monga 2008). Rather, they simply use a heuristic such as “visit three stores” while giving little consideration to how much time it takes to visit each store.

Rajesh tries to understand consumers from multiple perspectives, but particularly with respect to how consumers approach the goals that they have, and how they process numerical information. For instance, he has shown that loyalty programs are viewed differently depending on whether the program is structured using small numbers (earn 1 point per dollar and redeem $6 when you have 100 points) or large numbers (e.g., earn 10 points per dollar, and redeem $6 when you have 1,000 points). Note that the two formats are mathematically identical but result in different preferences under different conditions because of how consumers process numerical information (Bagchi and Li 2011).

Regardless of the specific research questions that are pursued, the eventual goal of consumer psychology is to understand consumers’ thoughts, feelings, and actions as they interact with products, services, and ideas in the marketplace (Peter and Olson 2017; Hoyer and MacInnis 2007; Schiffman and Kanuk 2000). Thus, consumer psychology is focused on a “consumer” interacting in a “marketplace.” A “consumer” chooses how to spend resources in return for market-related benefits. The resources could be varied, such as money, effort, and time spent deliberating about a purchase. The benefits could also be varied, such as acquiring a product or gathering information about where to shop. The “marketplace” often refers to online and traditional retail establishments such as grocery stores. But consumers interact not just with stores, but also with other marketplaces in which they make choices, such as those relating to health (e.g., which doctor to visit) and finances (e.g., which brokerage firm to use). The personal goals of consumers also intersect with the marketplace. For instance, consumers’ weight-loss goals influence what they buy at the grocery store. Their self-imposed restraints on shopping for clothes have implications for the apparel industry. And their targets for retirement savings hold consequences for financial services firms.

Consumer psychologists examine the “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “why” of decision making (Hoyer and MacInnis 2007; Schiffman and Kanuk 2000). Who is making the decision—is it one individual or a group (e.g., a restaurant choice by an individual vs. a family), and who is the decision for: oneself or someone else (e.g., a health decision for oneself vs. one’s child). What is the decision—is it to make a purchase or is it to defer the purchase and gather more information? When is the decision being made—early on in a planned manner or in a rushed manner at the very last minute? Where is the decision made—at home or inside a store? Why is the decision made—to simply take care of a problem or for some aspirational goal? In fact, the “why” is perhaps the most important aspect explored by consumer psychologists. If one is able to understand the “why”—the factors and processes underlying consumers’ decisions—one can better predict what may happen in different consumption situations.

Diverse Profiles of Consumer Psychologists

The reasons for figuring out the psychology of consumers are varied. A consumer psychologist at a university may be trying to advance a general understanding of consumers; a marketer may be trying to influence consumers in a certain way; and a public-policy maker may be trying to improve consumer welfare. In the previous section, we offered the reader a glimpse of the kind of research that we conduct. However, our intention is not to limit this book to our own perspectives. Rather, we wish to share insights from consumer psychologists across a wide spectrum of industries and backgrounds in order to give a sense of what this field encompasses. With that objective in mind, we reached out to several leading experts.

Some of these individuals were known to us through personal and professional interactions, and others were selected based on their public profiles (e.g., on LinkedIn). We then emailed all a survey with several questions related to their careers. Many of them (23 in all) very graciously agreed to share their insights with us. While all 23 individuals saw themselves as consumer psychologists in a broad sense, this does not mean that their work is exclusively about consumer psychology. Consider one individual who completed our survey, David Brinberg. Although he has contributed extensively to consumer psychology, and is a leading expert, he has also contributed to other areas and commented accordingly: “I think my interests align with research areas in consumer psychology, but not exclusively in that domain.” It is safe to assume that most others who completed our survey are also not working exclusively in consumer psychology. But their work does connect closely to consumer psychology and they are recognized leaders. Because of this, we incorporated their excellent insights while writing this book. We remain forever indebted to them and we believe readers will benefit tremendously from their input. They are listed below in last-name-alphabetical order, with a mention of their educational and professional profiles (at the time they responded to our survey).

1Wilson Bastos

Position: Assistant Professor of Marketing, Catolica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, Portugal

Degrees: Bachelor of Science, International Business Administration; Master of Business Administration, Marketing; Doctor of Philosophy, Marketing

2Kerry Bianchi

Position: Chief Executive Officer, Visto

Degrees: Bachelor of Arts, Psychology

3David Brinberg

Position: R.O. Goodykoontz Professor, Virginia Tech

Degrees: Bachelor of Science, Psychology; Master of Science, Psychology; Doctor of Philosophy, Psychology

4Kristina Durante

Position: Associate Professor of Marketing, Rutgers Business School

Degrees: Bachelor of Science, Mass Communication; Master of Arts, Social Science; Doctor of Philosophy, Psychology

5David Gal

Position: Professor of Marketing, University of Illinois at Chicago

Degrees: Bachelor of Science, Computer Science; Master of Science, Management Sci...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Endorsement
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• About the Authors
• Chapter One The Field of Consumer Psychology
• Chapter Two Studying to Become a Consumer Psychologist
• Chapter Three What Consumer Psychologists Do
• Chapter Four Graduate Studies in Consumer Psychology
• Chapter Five The Destination of Consumer Psychologists
• Chapter Six Continuing on the Consumer Psychology Journey
• Appendix: Verbatim Responses of Several Consumer Psychologists
• References
• Index