CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY
BLOCK 1 — CONSUMER INFORMATION PROCESSING
General Consumer View
Key Background
Herbert Simon (1955) → Bounded Rationality
What problem was this trying to solve?
Classical economics assumed that people:
have unlimited information
have unlimited time
have unlimited cognitive capacity
→ therefore they always make optimal decisions
Simon said: this is unrealistic.
Bounded rationality means that people try to be rational, but their
rationality is limited (“bounded”) by:
limited information
limited time
limited attention
limited memory
limited mental energy
Consumers are adaptive, not optimal
So consumers cannot evaluate all options perfectly.
Decision-making is shaped by this (eg. you choose something that looks
good enough)
satisfycing: sattisfy and suffice
What do people do instead?
They use shortcuts:
heuristics
habits
emotions
rules of thumb
1
,Important exam terms
Bounded rationality
Satisficing
Cognitive load
Limited capacity model (the human brain has a limited capacity: can’t
attend to everything)
Exam sentence:
Bounded rationality (Simon, 1955) refers to the idea that consumers aim to
make rational decisions, but are constrained by limited cognitive resources,
time, and information.
Involvement
Involvement = how personally relevant a decision is at that moment.
Key authors
Krugman (1965) — involvement in advertising
Zaichkowsky (1985) — Personal Involvement Inventory (PII)
Important distinctions
Situational involvement: temprary involvement caused by specific
situation or contex
o It fluctuates depending on
Time
Risks
Consequences
Current goal
Enduring involvement: a stable, long-term interets in a product
category or domain
o Reflexts: hobbies, values, identity
o
Why examiners care
Involvement is a moderator in:
ELM
persuasion effectiveness
attitude strength
💡 Exam sentence:
2
,Involvement determines the depth of information processing and
moderates the impact of message arguments versus peripheral cues.
3
, ELM: Elaboration likelihood model
Petty & Cacioppo (1986)
Big question ELM answers
- “When and how do persuasive messages change attitudes?”
Core idea
People process persuasive messages in different ways, depending on:
- motivation
- ability
- opportunity
Two routes to persuasion
CENTRAL ROUTE
- High involvement
- High motivation
- Careful evaluation of arguments
Leads to:
- strong attitudes
- stable attitudes
- resistant to counter-persuasion
PERIPHERAL ROUTE
- Low involvement
- Low motivation
- Focus on cues (celebrity, music, aesthetics)
4
BLOCK 1 — CONSUMER INFORMATION PROCESSING
General Consumer View
Key Background
Herbert Simon (1955) → Bounded Rationality
What problem was this trying to solve?
Classical economics assumed that people:
have unlimited information
have unlimited time
have unlimited cognitive capacity
→ therefore they always make optimal decisions
Simon said: this is unrealistic.
Bounded rationality means that people try to be rational, but their
rationality is limited (“bounded”) by:
limited information
limited time
limited attention
limited memory
limited mental energy
Consumers are adaptive, not optimal
So consumers cannot evaluate all options perfectly.
Decision-making is shaped by this (eg. you choose something that looks
good enough)
satisfycing: sattisfy and suffice
What do people do instead?
They use shortcuts:
heuristics
habits
emotions
rules of thumb
1
,Important exam terms
Bounded rationality
Satisficing
Cognitive load
Limited capacity model (the human brain has a limited capacity: can’t
attend to everything)
Exam sentence:
Bounded rationality (Simon, 1955) refers to the idea that consumers aim to
make rational decisions, but are constrained by limited cognitive resources,
time, and information.
Involvement
Involvement = how personally relevant a decision is at that moment.
Key authors
Krugman (1965) — involvement in advertising
Zaichkowsky (1985) — Personal Involvement Inventory (PII)
Important distinctions
Situational involvement: temprary involvement caused by specific
situation or contex
o It fluctuates depending on
Time
Risks
Consequences
Current goal
Enduring involvement: a stable, long-term interets in a product
category or domain
o Reflexts: hobbies, values, identity
o
Why examiners care
Involvement is a moderator in:
ELM
persuasion effectiveness
attitude strength
💡 Exam sentence:
2
,Involvement determines the depth of information processing and
moderates the impact of message arguments versus peripheral cues.
3
, ELM: Elaboration likelihood model
Petty & Cacioppo (1986)
Big question ELM answers
- “When and how do persuasive messages change attitudes?”
Core idea
People process persuasive messages in different ways, depending on:
- motivation
- ability
- opportunity
Two routes to persuasion
CENTRAL ROUTE
- High involvement
- High motivation
- Careful evaluation of arguments
Leads to:
- strong attitudes
- stable attitudes
- resistant to counter-persuasion
PERIPHERAL ROUTE
- Low involvement
- Low motivation
- Focus on cues (celebrity, music, aesthetics)
4
