Specialist Certificate in Consumer Psychology

Course details

The Specialist Certificate in Consumer Psychology covers a wide range of topics that deal with how consumers think, feel, respond and act toward product and service related information and experiences. Learning from cognitive, social, neurobiological and other psychology domains, students will gain an in-depth understanding of consumer behaviour that will in turn help them to explain, predict and influence consumer responses. Topics include emotions, memory, attention, decision-making, social influences, personality and neuromarketing. A key area of focus is the application of theory to real world marketing problems.
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The programme has been designed for :

Professionals working in business, marketing, advertising or other careers which entail an understanding of consumers to design and promote winning products and services
Individuals with a background in Psychology who want to gain greater knowledge in Consumer Psychology
Interested individuals who wish to gain knowledge of markets and consumers
The programme provides participants with:

Core theories of consumer behaviour and the psychological and environmental factors that influence consumer choice
Research-based evidence to support theoretical understanding
Real-world examples and case studies that integrate theories with applications
Understanding of implications for marketers when designing marketing strategies
Teaching and Assessment

The programme will be delivered through lectures, group discussions, case studies and video presentations. Students will be assessed through an MCQ examination midway through the programme, and a written project due at the end of the programme.

Admission Requirements

Diploma holders and above
Be at least 18 years of age
Applicants who do not meet admission requirements will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and may need to attend an interview
Lectures

1. Introduction to Consumer Psychology

This lecture explores the definition and various fundamental concepts of Consumer Psychology. It also introduces a brief history of the field.

2. Consumers, Moods and Emotions

Theories that involve the mediating role of mood states and emotions in consumer evaluation and behaviour will be discussed. In addition, this lecture covers mood-induction strategies and ways of appealing to consumers' emotions.

3. Consumers and Message Processing

With motivation, opportunity and ability as the bases, this lecture examines the precedents required for consumers to engage in deep-level processing of brand's messages. It also covers executional strategies for effective advertising that will increase attention, message processing and encoding by consumers.

4. Consumers and Memory

This lecture introduces a basic understanding of memory systems and proceeds to discuss how consumers create memories via schema-based knowledge structures. Ways to facilitate recognition and recall for brands are also examined.

5. Consumers and Decision Making

This lecture begins by introducing the consumer decision making journey and its stages. It covers strategies, including the use of heuristics that consumers employ to cope with decision making. Decision making is examined in terms of familiar and unfamiliar brands as well as how it changes in different contexts.

6. The Social Consumer

This lecture covers social dimensions such as family and peer relationships and reference groups that influence consumer behavior. It discusses empathy in consumers via the Mirror Neuron theory and also examines the role of celebrities in marketing and communications.

7. Neuromarketing

In this lecture, neuromarketing and its usefulness in understanding and shaping consumer behaviour will be introduced. The lecture covers a few key areas of the brain associated with decision-making, memory and reward, and uses case studies to illustrate the applications of neuromarketing. Finally, the lecture introduces neurological testing techniques and discusses controversies surrounding the field.

8. Consumers and the Five Senses

This lecture examines the importance of the five senses in the marketing context. With reference to real-world branding strategies, students will learn how to construct products, messages and experiences that leverage the senses to influence consumer behavior.

9. Applications for Marketers 1

The first part of this lecture focuses on the consumer psychology of brands. Critical brand elements that contribute to brand equity will be discussed. The lecture focuses next on the psychology of pricing; price-quality relationship and other pricing strategies such as anchoring, relativity and price elasticity will be examined.

10. Applications for Marketers 2

A main topic of this lecture is the psychology of packaging. Various strategies of package design from imagery to spatial arrangement will be covered. Next, the lecture discusses how the retail environment can be designed to influence shoppers' experience and behaviour.

11. Individual Differences in Consumers / The Aging Consumer

This lecture examines the role of personality in consumer behaviour. Concepts covered include personality traits, self-theory and self-enhancement. In addition, the lecture discusses consumption behaviour of older consumers and suggests ways to meet this increasingly important segment's needs.

12. The Future of Consumer Psychology

In line with the proliferation of technology and social media, this lecture looks at ways in which consumer behaviour is being shaped by online platforms and virtual communities. The lecture also addresses the implications of such technological trends for marketers.