The purpose of the assignment is to lead 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. The journal will have three goals: (1) understanding the influences behind your purchases, (2) understanding the consequences of your purchases, (3) giving you a chance to reassess and change your purchase patterns. The method is as follows:

1. For a FOUR WEEK period, you must keep a diary of the products you purchase. This is simply a listing of the products, when, and where you made the purchase. Do this 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 four 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.

Your grade will be based on three main criteria: 3) 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 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.

Your final paper must include your complete 4-week journal.

FINAL ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE November 29th 2021 at the beginning of class.

Criteria that youll discuss your purchase decisions are;

Exposure

Before purchasing the product/service

Were you exposed to any kind of communication effort? (Commercial etc)

Was this exposition random or deliberate?

Attention Low involved product? High involved product?

Interpretation

Was your purchase decision impulse buying or not? What triggered you?

Did you think elaborately before purchase decision? What factors did you consider?

Was it an emotion purchase or rational purchase?

Memory

Was the product / service you purchased the brand that youve consuming for a long time, or was it the new one?

If new brand; What made you buy that product?

If old brand; What about your previous experiences with that product/service?

Have you seen any reinforcements of brands?

Have you seen any repetition?

Please state the place of the product that you purchased in Maslows Pyramid with the brief explanation.

What emotions, if any, are affected by the purchase and/or consumption of these products?

What factors lead to satisfaction with these products? Would you consider repurchasing?

Is the mode of motivation cognitive or affective?