Careers in Consumer Psychology

Quick Links to Subsections on this Page
Introduction	Education
Brief History	Employment
Important Terms	Learning More
Subfields	Outlook
A Typical Day	Summary
Pros and Cons	Acknowledgments

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Introduction

CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY is the study of human responses to product and service related information and experiences. Many responses are important, including beliefs and judgments, emotions, purchase decisions, and consumption practices. A broad range of product and service related information is also important, such as advertisements, package labels, coupons, consumer magazines, and word-of-mouth communications from friends and relatives. The goals of consumer psychologists are to describe, predict, influence, and/or explain consumer responses.

Consumer psychologists are educators, researchers, and administrators. They get direct feedback from their work and they see how it changes things. It is not easy to understand why some people buy and others do not. Nor is it a simple matter to discover the trends and predict where things are going in the next few years. The majority of business executives and managers are well educated and trained in their field, but few are also all that familiar with the behavioral sciences. This is where consumer psychologists step in. The consumer psychologist's job is not easy. Once a Coke was a Coke. Today's consumers have more than brand preferences. Some want regular cola, some decaffeinated, some sugar-free, and some both decaffeinated and sugar-free. And there is still more: New formula and Classic; cherry-flavored, too.

A Brief History

John B. Watson was the first prominent psychologist to apply psychology to advertising. He believed that psychology could not be recognized as a science until its practical usefulness was demonstrated in many fields. He said, "If psychology would follow the plan I suggest, the educator, the physician, the jurist, and the businessman could utilize our data in a practical way." He interestingly designed ads for Johnson & Johnson's baby powder. With doing so, he played on new mothers' anxieties and feelings of incompetence about properly caring for their children. He recognized and exploited not only the power of emotional appeals in advertising, but also the impact of experts who recommended products, and the presentation of products as new or improved.

*Some Important Terms in Consumer Psychology*
	Consumer Behavior	Consumer behavior deals with how products are evaluated and chosen by consumers; what information os paid attention to, and what was ignored.
	Personality	A normal individual's personality is internally consistent, even though it might not appear that way from the outside. It is also pretty durable; it ordinarily does not change a great deal over the months and years of a person's life.
	Sales	You spend money when someone "sells" you something directly or indirectly. Good sellers know that most purchases are based upon emotion, not logic.
	Marketing	Marketing requires making choices that will please others. Most people find it difficult to decide what is best for themselves.
	Choice	Consumer choice would be simple if the outcomes were perfectly predictable. In fact, they almost never are. The purchase of just about any kind of consumer product or service involves some risk for the buyer.

Some Interesting Subfields

There are several important and interesting subfields in Consumer Psychology. Each subfield adds to the psychology of consumer behavior in its own way.

*Some Interesting Subfields Within Consumer Psychology*
	Advertising	Advertising is very widespread. It splashes across newspaper and magazine pages, blurts out from radio broadcasts, comes with the daily meal, interrupts television programing and invades the landscape on signs and billboards.
	Perception	Consumers often "taste" with their eyes and ears. They learn far more from words and images than from sensations. Their perceptual acuity is not nearly as sensitive as marketers usually think it is.
	Life Stages	Time works its way on all of us. Much of what we are is the result of the maturation process. Time and experience invariably etch their marks on our physical and our psychological selves and consumer preferences.
	Motivation	We often do not really know exactly why we do the things we do. When people are asked why they made a particular purchase, the responses they give are often not especially accurate or useful.
	Psychology of Price	What is something really worth? This deceptively simple question is surprisingly difficult to answer. In Medieval times, the idea was that something cost what it was worth, no more and no less. Today the somewhat cynical answer is "whatever the market will bear."

A Typical Day Practicing Consumer Psychology

Consumer Psychologists combine creativity with sound business sense to market a product based on financial, sociological, and psychological research. To ensure this complicated process works smoothly, they spend a lot of time in the office (a six-day week is not unusual). The majority of time is spent brainstorming, creative blockbusting, and sifting through demographic research; a minority of time is spent meeting with clients. The need to be flexible cannot be emphasized enough. One can expect periods when they will have little, if any, free time. At other times, the workload is light and mundane.

Many people say that their favorite part of consumer psychology is that "you get recognized when you have a good idea." They also mentioned that failure is always recognized. It takes a very disciplined person to handle both the creative and the details-oriented side. The ability to work on a team is one of the most important skills a successful consumer psychologist can have.

Pros and Cons of a Career in Consumer Psychology

There are both potentially rewarding and frustrating aspects to working in Consumer Psychology that need to be carefully considered before pursuing a career in this field. In order to succeed in the field, one needs to view the drawbacks as being potential challenges rather than downfalls.

*Some Potential Attractions of Careers in Consumer Psychology*
	Challenge of Working With Others	Regular work in a rewarding team environment is not unusual. You get to meet, communicate with, and work with many different individuals.
	Human Behavior	You gain knowledge and insight through analysis of human choice patterns.
	Creativity	There is ample opportunity for creativity. There are many opportunities to be creative and make your opinion count. You can be creative with how you go about different studies.
	Seeing Hard Work Pay Off	You are oftenable to see all of your hard work pay off by seeing predictions work out. It is satisfying to see that your findings can help companies make better products for you.

*Some Potential Drawbacks of Careers in Consumer Psychology*
	High Risk of Burnout	There is a lot of overtime expected with a six day work week or a possible 50 hours a week when there are product development deadlines..
	Slow Start	As you begin your career in consumer psychology, it can be slow at first. You can spend most of your time entering computer data.
	Lack of Cooperation	You may experience hard times with finding cooperative candidates to interview and to use for supplying good consumer data.
	Discouragement	There may be many instances when things do not go as planned and research projects do not lead to meaningful conclusions.
	Decision Overload	As a Consumer Psychologist, you will have to make many decisions regarding research, tests, consumers, and data interpretation. This may overload some individuals.

Education and Training for Careers in Consumer Psychology

SKILLS, ABILITIES AND KNOWLEDGE NEEDED to be successful in Consumer Psychology include the ability to evaluate problems and make appropriate decisions, apply a thorough understanding of human development and behavior, interpret psychological research, understanding others, promote good relationships, observe and analyze data, communicate well, and use computers while assisting in lab research.

BY OBTAINING ONLY A BACHELOR'S DEGREE in Consumer Psychology, there are many different career paths you can choose from. Advertising is a particularly popular field. Other paths include public affairs, education, business, sales, and working for service industries. Basically, a bachelor's degree prepares you for both life and work. The annual salary range for a bachelor's degree (1999 data) is roughly $21,000 to $26,000.

BY FURTHERING YOUR EDUCATION AND PURSUING A MASTER'S DEGREE involving Consumer Studies, you can expect to make roughly about $30,000 to $40,000 (1999 data), depending on the exact field you are working in. Many psychologists with terminal master's degrees often work under the direction of a doctoral psychologist. Also, there are related jobs in organizational development, advertising, survey research and data analysis, to name a few.

*Some Terminal Master's Degree Programs for Pursuing a Career in Consumer Psychology*
	Family and Consumer Economics at Purdue University	Graduate study and research in family and consumer economics concentrates on the factors influencing the decisions and well-being of families and consumers.
	Family and Consumer Behavior at the University of Nebraska	This master's program focuses on household efforts to improve economic well-being through effective use of resources, and on the economic and social systems that enhance or constrain these efforts.
	Family and Consumer Science at Ball State University	To acquire a M.S. degree, 33 credit hours of study are required, 18 of which are dedicated specifically to Family and Consumer Science

IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE A DOCTORAL DEGREE in Consumer Studies, you may choose from many different Ph.D. programs, including ones focused on consumer economics, family and consumer studies, consumer behavior, and consumer science. Jobs are similar to the ones previously listed. However, the pay ranges and responsibilities increase. The highest paid and greatest range of jobs are available to doctoral graduates. Doctoral salaries begin at $40,000 (1999 data) and progress significantly upward as more job experience is acquired.

*Some Doctoral Degree Programs for Pursuing a Career in Consumer Psychology*
	Consumer Behavior at Purdue University	A very sound and well-rounded program in Consumer Behavior.
	Consumer Economics at Cornell University	Consumer Economics focuses on the interaction of markets for goods and services, the well-being of individuals and consumers, and on consumption behavior.

Employment Resources for Consumer Psychology

A person in Consumer Psychology can find a great deal of information about job opportunities on the Internet, particularly by becoming a member of the Society for Consumer Psychology. It is a good idea to talk to many people about career aspirations in this field, possibly including a professor, because word of mouth is an important factor.

*Some Resources for Exploring Careers and Career Prospects in Consumer Psychology*
	APA Monitor	This informative website has interesting articles, news events, and links. You can also earch within the Monitor .
	Direct Market News	This is a helpful site that allows you do a job search. It has information regarding marketing and contains a good collection of news articles.
	Advertising Age	This site covers advertising and marketing careers. It allows for job searches and provides helpful information about a variety of topics.
	PsychNet	This site is great for job searching. It contains job hunting tips, articles, and general psychology links.

Learning More About Consumer Psychology

Consumer Psychology is a relatively young field. Therefore, it can be difficult to find a lot of information on it. Here are a few informative websites to consider exploring:

*Some General Resources for Learning More about Consumer Psychology*
	Society For Consumer Psychology	This site offers information on Consumer Psychology and how to join the society. It also offers informative journals.
	Encyclopedia of Psychology	This interesting site offers a lot of helpful information about Psychology. It contains career opportunities, definitions, etc.

Outlook

Consumer psychology has an exciting future. Consumer Psychologists are doing many different things today. In the laboratory, a psychologist may be photographing eye movements for a package design company as his/her subjects observe a succession of soft drink containers. At a government bureau, a psychologist may be presenting the results of a study concerning consumer response to an advertising claim. At an automotive company, a psychologist may be assessing consumer response sto various combinations of product features to help engineers determine the optimal combination. At an advertising agency, a psychologist may be presenting study findings that show how well alternative commercials affect attitudes toward a brand of coffee. There are many emerging opportunities for consumer psychologists; the primary challenge is deciding what subarea to concentrate upon.

Summary

Consumer Psychology is a very exciting field. It offers many excellent opportunities to not only learn a great deal about consumers and why they buy, but also to gain a better understanding of yourself, and how and why you do the things you do. This is a superb field for anyone interested in applying research in ways that lead to tangible and meaningful differences in organizational decisions about the services or products they provide.

Acknowledgments

This web page was created by Julia Carpenter. Building this page was a Senior Seminar project in a Psychology (PSY400) class taught by Dr. Arvid J. Bloom at West Chester University of Pennsylvania in Spring 2000.