20432 - THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MARKETING: FROM NEURAL NETWORKS TO SOCIAL NETWORKS

The main objective of this course is to provide a psychological foundation for understanding marketing and consumer behavior. The course consists of two sections, both of which build from current psychological theory to understand recent marketing applications.

The first section, Neural Networks, focuses on the individual consumer. Topics include neuroscience and the perceptual sciences, with application to consumer perceptions, attention, and preferences (i.e., neuromarketing).

The second section, Social Networks, focuses on the individual within a social group. Topics include language, emotion, and social cognition, as applied to marketing communications, brand personality and social media marketing.

Students on this course should learn:

• how the basic principles of neuroscience constrain and predict consumer perceptions and preferences;
• how psychological models of attention and memory can be used to develop effective marketing strategies and campaigns;
• how language and emotion influence consumer behavior;
• how individuals and brands engage with social media.

Section 1: Neural Networks

• The brain: A marketer’s guide
• Capturing attention in a crowded market
• Perceiving similarity and differentiation
• Consumer memory and neuromarketing

Section 2: Social Networks

• The language of marketing communication
• Marketing emotions
• Brand Personality
• Social media marketing

• 5% class exercises: throughout the semester we will complete a number of simple in-class exercises to demonstrate the class topics. Your participation in each of these exercises will be rewarded on a pass/fail basis, and the number of exercises that you participate in will determine your grade on this component of the course.
• 40% group presentation: Students will form small groups (5 or 6 members per group), will select a topic, and will give a 30-minute in-class group presentation on the selected topic.
• 15% written evaluation of group presentations: Each group will submit a short (2-page) evaluation of the other groups’ in-class presentations.
• 40% final exam: The exam will be a 2-hour written final exam, based on assigned readings (i.e., see References) and lecture materials from the course.
  

• 100% final written exam on Chapters 2, 5, 7, 11, 20, 25, 29, 30, 40, and 47 of Handbook of Consumer Psychology (see Course Materials above). These 10 chapters span approximately 300 pages, and cover many but not all of the topics that will be covered in class. The exam will be a 2-hour written essay exam, with 5 broad questions.