CLASS ASSIGNMENT- CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

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 ten day 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 for ten days.

2. At the end, look for 3 products you seem to “consume” most regularly or
consistently, then think back on the 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. For any three products, 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 double spaced, with
1 inch margins and 12 point Times New Roman 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

 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 applies to your
consumer behavior. This needs to be clearly linked in the application.

Everyone will submit their assignment by March 9.

THIS MUST BE TYPED OR I WILL NOT ACCEPT IT.