Psychological Self Consumption Assessment Assignment (10%) The purpose of the assignment is to get you to think about the psychology of consumer behavior by applying it to your own life. The theories or concepts that you apply are basically up to your own perception of your own behavior. However, these must be theories grounded in the text and classroom discussion (i.e. I don't want off the wall theories like aliens made you buy Tide rather than Cheer). The journal will have three goals: understanding the influences behind your purchases, understanding the consequences of your purchases, and giving you a chance to reassess and change your purchase patterns. The method is as follows: 1. For a THREE-WEEK period, you must keep a diary of the products/services you purchase. This is simply a listing of the products, when, and where you made the purchase. on a daily basis. 2. At the end of each week, look for 3 products you seem to "consume" most regularly or consistently, then think back on that week and analyze: a. why you bought that product over another b. what advantages or disadvantages resulted from purchasing that product over others c. your satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the purchase d. your intent to continue that purchase (or note if you decided to change your purchase pattern & why) 3. At the end of the three weeks, choose 3 key products and consider the one major psychological factor or process for each separate product (e.g. peer pressure, learning, subliminal messages etc.) that contributed most to your consumption pattern (i.e. one different process for each of the 3 products). I want you to be very specific to both the psychological processes and its application to your specific purchase pattern. I want to see specific reasons for why you think it was that process that was most influential on that product. The maximum length of each paper should be six (6) pages 1.5 spaced, justified with 1-inch margins and 12 point Arial font. Your grade will be based on three main criteria: 1) your ability to briefly summarize the psychological process you must show that you understood what the process involves, how it works, how it influences consumer behavior in general 2) your ability to effectively communicate its application to your life 2 you have to then take the theory one step further to show specifically how it applies to your particular consumer behavior and why it is the major reason behind your purchase pattern 3) the clarity and effectiveness of your communication compared to others in the class in this respect, writing style does matter because it is part of effective communication the key is to convey your point simply and clearly (BIG WORDS do not impress, but clarity does) It is important to note that your grade will also depend on your ability to clearly show how the SPECIFIC aspect of the psychological processes apply to your consumer behavior. This needs to be clearly linked in the application. Everyone will begin their journal June 18 You must hand in your journal as an appendix in your report. This must include the analysis of your purchases and reasons etc (see #2 of Method). THIS MUST BE TYPED OR I WILL NOT ACCEPT IT. FAILURE TO HAND IN YOUR JOURNAL AS AN APPENDIX WILL RESULT IN A LETTER GRADE REDUCTION FROM THE FINAL PAPER. Your final paper must include your complete 3-week journal.