Prospectus

nl en

Consumer Psychology

Course
2010-2011

Admission requirements

Bachelor course Social and Organisational Psychology or comparable courses.

Description

Consumers becoming more and more important. Through marketing and advertising companies try to influence consumers in their choices. This is not limited to questions concerning how to motivate consumers to buy a (new) product, but, for example, also includes questions related to how to enhance satisfaction of consumers. On a more general level consumers’ satisfaction has been regarded as an indicator of (future) economic growth. The sometimes whimsical behaviour a consumers becomes more and more a deciding factor (think about the stock market). But how do consumers make decisions and what drives their behaviour? In this course insights from social psychology and consumer behaviour are integrated and a broad range of topics is covered–the construal of judgments and decisions, automatic processes, sexual and humorous marketing, affective and cognitive feelings, and social norms. The course provides insight in the way consumer decisions are made and is therefore relevant for students, who are interested in the interplay between marketing, psychology and consumer behaviour.

Course objectives

By the end of the course students will be expected to understand the key concepts and theories presented in the course and are expected to be able to apply these to issues relevant to consumer behaviour.

Timetable

Consumer Psychology (2010-2011):

Mode of instruction

Seven lectures and final exam.

Assessment method

Final exam with 40 multiple-choice questions in English (dictionaries are allowed). The information presented in lectures will be part of the exam material.

From January 1, 2006 the Faculty of Social Sciences has instituted the Ephorus system to be used by instructors for the systematic detection of plagiarism in students’ written work. Please see the information concerning fraud .

Blackboard

Information on blackboard.leidenuniv.nl

Reading list

  • W. D. Hoyer & D. J. MacInnis (2009). Consumer Behavior (5th, International Edition). Publisher: South Western College (ISBN-10: 0324834276; ISBN-13: 978-0324834277)

  • Selected articles

Registration

Enrolment for courses of the first semester will take place from 7 July till 30 August 2010. Introduction and enrolment for courses of the second semester will take place in January 2011. More information will be available at the website of the Institute of Psychology.

Electives students
You have to enrol for each course separately. Read more on the electives (in Dutch)

NB: Exam registration will take place via uSis, and will be open between a month and a week before the (re)exam. Students, who haven’t registered, cannot participate in the exam.

Contact information

Dr. W. van Dijk
Room 2A-21
Tel: 071 5276844
E-mail: dijkwvan@fsw.leidenuniv.nl