Consumer Behavior Insights

Updated 27 September 2019
MN 20546: Consumer Psychology | Term 1 2019–20
Lectures: Weeks 1–11
Sec. A: Tues, 14:15–16:15 (4E 3.38)
Sec. B: Fri, 11:15–13:15 (5W 2.4)
Seminars: Weeks 2, 4, 6
Sec. A: Fri, 10:15 (8W 2.20), 11:15 (8W 2.20), 12:15 (8W
2.20)
Sec. B: Tues, 9:15 (CB 4.5), 10:15 (CB 4.5), 14:15 (8W 2.13)
Instructor: Dr. Sam Johnson ([email protected])
Seminar Leader: Mrs. Zarema Khon ([email protected])
Learning Objectives: Whatever direction your career takes you,
one thing you can be sure
of is that you will be dealing with people—a lot. This module
asks: How do people work? Using
cutting-edge research in cognitive and behavioral science, you
will learn how humans make
choices. Our core objectives are:
1. To understand the psychological processes guiding human
behavior, with particular
emphasis on consumers’ psychology.

2. To apply behavioral science to business decisions, especially
marketing decisions, so that
you can translate ideas into practice.
3. To think critically about quantitative evidence about
consumers’ behavior.
Assessment: This module is assessed by coursework (30%) and
exam (70%). More details
about each of these assessments is provided at the end of the
outline.
Coursework (30%). The coursework for this unit will be a
consulting report (750–1250 words).
You have a choice of several different options for this
assignment, which are linked to different
lectures and therefore to different due dates ranging from 1 Nov
to 6 Jan. All options require
some data collection and synthesis of theory and practice. By 25
October, you will commit to
one of these options and due dates. These deadlines are binding,
and changes to your project
that would affect your due date need to be supported by a sound
argument and approved by me.
I aim to return feedback within 2 weeks of your deadline. If you
feel you could use the feedback
to write an improved report, you will have the option to write a
second report on a different
topic, and your final coursework mark will be the average of the
marks for the two reports.
Exam (70%). The exam will be composed of short answer and
multiple-choice questions. Content
will be drawn from lectures, seminars, and required readings.

Seminars: Seminars meet in Weeks 2, 4, and 6 and are designed
to help you with your
coursework project. Students in Section A have lectures on
Tuesday and seminars on Friday,
whereas students in Section B have lectures on Friday and
seminars on Tuesday. Seminar
allocations are being made by the timetabling office. These
assignments have been posted to
Moodle. You must attend your assigned seminar each week.
Class Preparation Guides: The week prior to each class period
(beginning with Lecture 2),
a class preparation guide will be posted to Moodle. This guide
will include a series of thought
questions and exercises to prepare you for the following week’s
lecture session. These also
double as study guides, as they are designed to focus your
attention on the content that is most
likely to appear on the exam.
Moodle: This unit is supported through Moodle, the University's
virtual learning environment.
We will regularly post announcements to Moodle. By default
you should receive these
announcements by email, but it is your responsibility to check
the unit’s Moodle page regularly
for announcements and materials.
Questions: There are three ways you can ask questions to
Zarema and myself. First, we

encourage you to use the module’s Piazza website (see below).
If you email a question that might
be relevant to other students, Zarema and I will generally post
our answers to Piazza anyway, so
it saves time for everyone if you put your question there
directly. Second, if your question is
straightforward, you can ask us before or after class; I always
try to arrive a few minutes early
and stay a few minutes late for questions. Third, you can attend
office hours. This is the best
option if you have a complicated question. Out of fairness to all
students, neither Zarema nor I
will give feedback on drafts of coursework, although we are
both happy to discuss ideas with you.
Piazza: This term we will be using Piazza for class discussion.
The system is highly catered to
getting you help fast and efficiently from classmates, Zarema,
and myself. Rather than emailing
questions to Zarema and myself, I encourage you to post your
questions on Piazza. We both
check Piazza regularly and usually answer questions within 24
hours.
This website is fantastic for several reasons. First, if you want
to ask a question about lecture or
reading content but don’t feel confident enough to bring it up in
class or office hours, you can
ask it on Piazza (anonymously to your peers if you like), so that
I can respond to your question
and other people with the same question can see my answer.
Second, if you want to ask a question
about the coursework, I can give transparent answers that
everyone can see, which helps to
ensure that things are fair. Third, one of the most exciting
features of this website is that students

can contribute and discuss answers to one another’s questions,
and we strongly encourage you
to do so. You can sign up for the Piazza forum at
piazza.com/bath.ac.uk/fall2019/mn20546.
Required Readings: Psychology: The Comic Book Introduction
(by Grady Klein and Danny
Oppenheimer) is the “textbook” for this module. This book
provides background on basic
psychology concepts so that we can focus lectures on more
advanced or more applied topics.
Other readings will be posted to Moodle, which will be a
combination of press or scientific
articles, chapters in textbooks or popular science books, videos,
and podcasts.
Optional Readings: The Art of Thinking Clearly (by Rolf
Dobelli) is recommended as a
supplementary text. This book contains brief, entertaining
examples of common errors in thinking
that consumers, managers, or anybody else can fall prey to.
Other optional readings will be posted
to Moodle. You will also want, of course, to consult additional
sources on your own to inform
your project.
Seminar and Lecture Schedule
Week Session Sec. A

(Tues)
Sec. B
(Fri)
Topic
1 L 1 Oct 4 Oct The Sciences of Behavior
Module Overview; Complex Systems; Behavioral Research
2 L 8 Oct 11 Oct. Motivation
Needs; Goal-Pursuit; Personality
S 11 Oct 8 Oct Qualitative Research Techniques
3 L 15 Oct 18 Oct NO CLASS
Use class time to collect qualitative data
(Bonus lecture to be re-scheduled)
4 L 22 Oct 25 Oct Perception & Action
Attention; Perception; Usability
S 25 Oct 22 Oct Quantitative Research Techniques I
5 L 29 Oct 1 Nov Learning
Conditioning; Information Search; Memory
6 L 5 Nov 8 Nov Thinking
Heuristics; Intuitive Theories; Cognitive Style
S 8 Nov 5 Nov Quantitative Research Techniques II
7 L 12 Nov 15 Nov Decision-Making
Value; Risk; Time
8 L 19 Nov 22 Nov Emotion

Affect; Sensory Marketing; Aesthetics
9 L 26 Nov 29 Nov Attitudes
Attitude Structure; Attitudes & Behavior; Persuasion
10 L 3 Dec 6 Dec Communication
Language; Signaling; Word-of-Mouth
11 L 10 Dec 13 Dec Self & Other
Morality; Metacognition; Reference Groups
Coursework Details
Overview: The coursework will be an individual consulting
report of 750–1250 words. The
objective is to apply the ideas and tools discussed in class
hands-on to a real product. You will
imagine you have been hired by an organization to make a
strategic recommendation. This will
require (i) collection of qualitative data to generate ideas; (ii)
an analysis that integrates ideas from
consumer psychology with some quantitative data (you will be
given a choice of several options
to help you decide what to focus on); and (iii) a
recommendation based on your analysis.
Product: For this project, identify a specific product marketed
by your client. You may choose
a product from any of the following broad categories. (Keep in

mind that the project is more fun
to think and talk about if you pick a more interesting or unique
product!):
• Goods (e.g., Crest toothpaste, Starbucks latte, Apple iPhone,
Bosch freezer, Zappos shoes,
Peter Max paintings, antique spoons sold on eBay, custom
guitar straps sold on Etsy)
• Services (e.g., dentistry, BSc degree, online brokerage,
Dropbox Pro, budget flights)
• Experiences (e.g., a J.K. Rowling movie, a resort vacation in
Cambodia, a trip to a museum)
• Charity (e.g., a donation to Oxfam, volunteering at a homeless
shelter)
• Ideas (e.g., “climate change is important”, “free markets
generate prosperity”)
• Policies (e.g., Brexit, nationalizing U.K. railroads, banning
plastic straws)
• People (e.g., electing Donald Trump or Liberal Democrats,
hiring you for a consulting job)
Other appropriate topics may not fit into these categories; feel
free to inquire.
Project: Once you have decided on a product, you will carry out
the following steps:
1. Qualitative Data
Interview (individually or as a group) at least two actual or
potential customers. Try to
identify a problem with the product’s marketing (broadly
construed—this could include
the firm’s STP strategy, issues with any element of the
marketing mix, etc.) where an

understanding of the customer’s behavior can be relevant.
Examples will be given in the
Week 2 seminar. In your report, write about 100–200 words
explaining what the problem
is, using comments made by your respondents to motivate your
argument.
2. Psychological Analysis
Use (i) ideas from lectures, readings, and the broader research
literature and (ii) some
quantitative data to generate some insight around the problem
you identified. Ideally, you
should use consumer psychology principles to generate a
hypothesis, collect some data
to test the hypothesis, and explain how your data bears on your
hypothesis. You can of
course use material from the lectures, but ideally you would
also include some literature
that was not covered directly in class or the required readings.
You have many options for what to focus on. At the end of this
outline is a list of potential
options you may choose. These each correspond to material
covered in a particular week
of class, and will be discussed in more detail during that class
period, along with other
potential options. Depending on which week’s material you
choose to focus on, the due
date will vary between 1 November and 6 January.

In your report, write about 500–700 words that (i) use consumer
psychology concepts
to motivate your hypothesis, (ii) explain your data (no need for
formal statistical tests,
but please provide a figure or table summarizing your data), and
(iii) critically evaluate
your hypothesis (it’s fine if your hunch was wrong!).
3. Strategic Recommendation
Use your analysis to make a strategic recommendation. In your
report, write about 150–
350 words explaining your recommendation, why you think your
analysis supports it, and
why it would help your client to achieve their goals.
Report FAQ:
What is the word limit?
The word limit is 750–1250 words. This does not include cover
or title pages, references,
figures or tables, or (optionally) any appendices. Reports
outside the word limit but within a
5% buffer will not be penalized as long as the writing is
concise.
When, where, and in what file format is my report due?
Your report is due to Moodle as a PDF file by 11:59pm on the
date given in the table below.

How should I format the report?
I am not fussy about format (as long as it’s presentable and
consistent), but it’s hard to go
wrong with single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman type and
APA referencing style. If you
need to make a graph, Excel can make nice ones.
Can I include appendices? What would I want to include?
Yes, but this is not required and your report must stand
independently of them. That is, your
appendices can supplement your overall story and provide more
details, but your report must
present a coherent narrative on its own. In this sort of
assignment, students sometimes submit
transcripts of interviews, methodology details (e.g., lists of
questions asked in a survey or
materials used in an experiment), more detailed quantitative
analysis of the data, or mock-
ups of potential recommendations (e.g., a proposed alternative
layout for a store or a
storyboard for an ad). Such appendices can be helpful if they
help to flesh out (but not
replace!) arguments from the report. However, they usually do
not make a large contribution
to an assignment’s mark and you can get an excellent mark
without including any appendices.
What background should I assume that the reader has?
Keep in mind that this is supposed to be a report for a
consulting client. You can assume your
client knows basic things about marketing (e.g., you don’t have

to define the term
“segmentation”), but you should assume no background in
psychology. Write in a way that
your roommate or grandmother could understand; avoid
technical terms as much as possible,
and if you use psychology jargon be sure to define it.
Feedback and Second Attempt: I will endeavor to get your work
back within 2 weeks of
your deadline. If you don’t like the mark you get the first time,
you may submit a second report,
corresponding to a different option in the table below. (Keep in
mind that you need to follow the
relevant deadline, so your options become more constrained as
the semester goes on). You may
use the same product and rely on the same qualitative (but not
quantitative) data, although you
will likely want to present these data differently since you are
now focusing on a different
problem. If you submit a second report, your final coursework
mark will be the average of the
marks for the two reports, even if the second mark is lower than
the first.
Options for Psychological Analysis: There are numerous ways
that consumer behavior
can be helpful for marketers. You may choose from any of the
following topics for your project.
More detailed suggestions will be provided in class on the
weeks when this material is covered.

If you are interested in an aspect of consumer psychology not
covered below (whether covered
in class or not), feel free to discuss other possibilities with me.
Material from…
Deadline
Potential Topics Sec. A
(Fri)
Sec. B
(Mon)
Week 2
Motivation
1 Nov 4 Nov What needs does the product satisfy?
What personality traits are associated with this product or its
use?
Week 4
Perception
8 Nov 11 Nov How well does the product’s in-store placement
or advertising draw attention?
How well can consumers use the product or navigate the retail
environment?
Week 5
Learning
15 Nov 18 Nov What do consumers know about the product and
how do they learn it?
Are the product’s advertisements memorable?

Week 6
Thinking
22 Nov 25 Nov What heuristics do consumers use to assess this
product’s key attributes?
What mental models do consumers use to think about this
product?
Week 7
Decision-Making
29 Nov 2 Dec How do consumers choose between this product
versus its competitors?
How do consumers determine whether the product is a good use
of money?
Week 8
Emotion
6 Dec 9 Dec What emotions does the product, its advertising,
or retail environment evoke?
How well does the product’s marketing provoke interest or
aesthetic pleasure?
Week 9
Attitudes
13 Dec 16 Dec What are consumers’ attitudes toward the
product? Do they match behavior?
Does the product’s advertising successfully persuade
consumers?
Week 10
Communication
6 Jan 6 Jan How do consumers use this product to signal?

How well does the product or its advertising generate word-of-
mouth?
Week 11
Self & Other
6 Jan 6 Jan What moral judgments or behaviors does this
product provoke?
What reference groups do consumers look to as they evaluate
the product?
Exam Details
The exam will include multiple-choice and short answer
questions. Questions cover concepts
from lecture, seminar, and readings, with emphasis on concepts
that overlap between lecture and
readings, or are emphasized in the weekly preparation guides.
Questions will be answerable
without having completed optional readings, but these are
strongly recommended as supplements
to improve your understanding.
Coursework Marking Criteria
The coursework for MN20546 will be marked to standards
following the generic marking scheme
for undergraduate assessments at Level 2/3 (see Section 8 of the
university’s Assessment
Handbook, appended to this document).
Basic Criteria

Reports receiving marks of 60 or above will generally meet all
of the following criteria:
Problem Identification
– Clearly identifies an organization and product for the
consulting report
– Identifies a marketing problem where consumer research can
be relevant
– Justifies problem, based on qualitative data and/or secondary
data
– Identifies a hypothesis, based on qualitative data and/or
consumer psychology research
o Hypothesis should be about consumers’ psychology (how
consumers think, feel,
or behave)
Psychological Analysis
– Uses research literature effectively to argue for why
hypothesis is plausible
– Psychological concepts are explained correctly and applied
logically to the product
– Explains methodology in terms of how it tests hypothesis
– Explains results in terms of how they bear on hypothesis
– Depicts results clearly (e.g., using a figure or table)
– Describes any important limitations on interpreting the results
Recommendations
– Uses results (as they relate to hypothesis) to justify one or
more key recommendations
– Clearly explains recommendation(s), possibly using further

psychology or marketing
literature to elaborate
– Makes clear why the recommendations are aligned with the
firm’s goals (e.g., increasing
sales) and any important limitations are at least briefly
discussed
Overall
– Tells a clear and coherent story, with the report flowing
logically
– Clearly and concisely expresses arguments
– Is written presentably and professionally, with minimal
technical jargon
Exceptional Criteria
Reports marked at 70 or above meet the above criteria, while
going beyond these requirements
in some way. For example, such reports might meet some (not
necessarily all) of the following:
– Shows an effort to think “outside the box”
– Relies substantively on material not covered directly in class
– Makes particularly creative or non-obvious (albeit plausible)
recommendations
– Includes novel psychological theorizing (going beyond what is
already known)
School of Management Assessment Handbook 2017/18 (Version
1.1)

of 48
0-19 Fail. A failure even to approach the learning outcomes for
the unit or the
set assessment criteria. Significant portions of the assessment
either
not present or not comprehensible as an answer to the question
set.
(marks in this range are outside the condonable range and a
successful retrieval is required before credit can be awarded)
Level 2/3 (units starting with MN2 or MN3)
Convenors should provide students with a copy of the relevant
School of Management Generic Marking
Scheme at the time that assessment is set.
80-100 First class performance
plus.
Outstanding
performance that fulfils
and exceeds designated
learning outcomes
The level of reasoning and research or critical approach to
research
is highly professional and potentially publishable. Demonstrates
a
high degree of originality in the argument and execution. Strong

evidence of understanding and critique of complex ideas from
reading published research in the field. Excellent, highly
readable
expression.
70-79 First class performance.
Excellent performance
relative to designated
learning outcomes
Excellent understanding of the theories presented on the unit
and
critical approach to research findings in the subject area.
Examples
are drawn from the student’s own investigation or conception
and
are intelligently used. Demonstrates a good understanding of
central ideas in the discipline from wide reading of published
research in the field. Shows the capacity to sustain a sound
argument through to conclusions clearly informed by research in
the
subject area or discipline. Very good expression.
60-69 Good Pass.
Very good performance
learning outcomes
Shows good understanding of the theoretical content and of its
application. Where examples are used, these are derived from
the
student’s own investigation rather than simply being transferred
from class material. The argument and/or presentation of
different

points of view are clear and well-constructed in relation to the
question set. Shows a broad awareness of emerging ideas from
recent research in the subject area drawn from reading outside
lectures. Only minor flaws in expression.
50-59 Pass.
Good performance
learning outcomes
Demonstrates an understanding of the content of the unit, but
may
lack some understanding of the more sophisticated theory.
Arguments or points of view are presented but understanding of
their background or principles may be more limited than for
marks
in the higher categories. Limited engagement with emerging
ideas
in the subject area or discipline and limited evidence of reading
outside lectures. Some use examples drawn from the student’s
own
reading. Expression needs attention.
40-49 Low Pass.
Satisfactory
performance in
designed learning
outcomes
Demonstrates an understanding of the content of the unit, but
does
not extend investigation or analysis beyond material presented
in
lectures. Expression needs serious attention.

School of Management Assessment Handbook 2017/18 (Version
1.1)
Page 24 of 48
35-39 Borderline Fail.
The student has not yet shown an adequate grasp of the subject,
possibly with some serious misconceptions in the theory or
failure
to apply it in an appropriate way.
(marks in this range are potentially condonable – i.e., depending
on the student’s overall profile of marks, it is possible for credit
to
be awarded without the need for a successful retrieval to be
undertaken)
20-34 Fail.
A failure to meet the assessment criteria for the piece of work,
either through consistently poor execution, comprehensive
misunderstanding of the unit’s content or a failure to address
the
question set.

0-19 Fail. A failure even to approach the learning outcomes for
the unit or the
set assessment criteria. Significant portions of the assessment
either
not present or not comprehensible as an answer to the question
set.

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