Psychology of the Consumer and Its Development, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1999 An Introduction The Springer Series in Adult Development and Aging Series

An unusually understandable survey of the forces or perception and feeling that determine the purchases we make; the roles played by fashion, fads, and status; and the psychological needs that they fulfill. The book discusses how children become consumers and how they change as they age. Research based throughout, it shows how ads use classical conditioning, harnessing psychological motivation to create image and sell products.

1. Introduction.- 2. Attention and Awareness.- Modes and Levels.- Results of Increased Attention.- Variables of Attention.- Mainly-Stimulus Variables.- Between-Stimulus Variables.- 3. Inferences of Organization and Meaning.- Inferences of Organization.- Perceptual Organization.- Memory Organization.- Inferences of Completion.- Visual Construction.- Auditory Construction.- Inferences of Meaning.- 4. Cognition, Reasoning, and Choosing.- General Principles of Memory.- Inferences of Reasoning.- Distortions of Inference.- Making Choices: Cognitive Elements.- 5. Aspects of the Unconscious.- Unconscious Memory Influences.- Subliminal Perception.- Subattentional Perception.- Background Music.- Freudian Symbolism.- 6. Affect, Emotion, and Involvement.- Definitions and Distinctions.- Cognitive Impact of Affect.- Making Choices: Affective Elements.- 7. Attitudes and Persuasion.- Overview and Definitions.- Attitude Formation: The Cognitive Component.- Schema Congruity Theory.- Attitude Formation: The Affective Component.- Variables of Attitudinal Change.- 8. Psychological Needs.- Need to Feel Worth.- Sources of Self-Worth.- Cohort Versus Age Differences.- Other Approaches to Psychological Needs.- 9. Classical Conditioning in Marketing.- Classical Conditioning Basics.- Affective Conditioning.- Cognitive Conditioning.- 10. Operant Conditioning in Marketing.- Simple Conditioning.- Complex Conditioning.- The Nature of Reinforcement.- 11. Culture and Family Influences.- The Role of Culture.- Family Dynamics.- 12. Developmental Factors.- Our Personal History of Affect and Cognition.- Information Processing in Children.- Information Processing in Older Adults.- Processing Deficits.- References.