CIE A Level Psychology Consumer Psychology Exam Questions

About CIE A Level Psychology Consumer Psychology

Consumer psychology is one of four specialist options at A Level on the Cambridge 9990 course. It has five topics: 2.1 The physical environment, 2.2 The psychological environment, 2.3 Consumer decision-making, 2.4 The product and 2.5 Advertising. It applies cognitive and social psychology to shopping, eating out and marketing. The five key studies are North et al. (2003), Robson et al. (2011), Hall et al. (2010), Becker et al. (2011) and Snyder and DeBono (1985). It is assessed in Paper 3 and in Section A of Paper 4. Examiners look for accurate descriptions of theories and studies, then evaluation using methodology and issues such as application, determinism and individual differences.

What you need to know

• 2.1 The physical environment Retail store design and layouts, the effect of music and background noise, and retail atmospherics such as the PAD (pleasure, arousal, dominance) model, odour and crowding. North et al. (2003) found that classical music in a restaurant was linked to higher spending than pop music or no music.
• 2.2 The psychological environment Wayfinding and shopper movement in malls, menu design (eye movement, primacy and recency, descriptive food names) and personal space. Robson et al. (2011) studied how restaurant table spacing affects diners' comfort, and Milgram et al. (1986) studied how people defend queues against intruders.
• 2.3 Consumer decision-making Utility theory, satisficing and prospect theory; compensatory and non-compensatory strategies; choice heuristics such as availability, representativeness, recognition and anchoring. Hall et al. (2010) showed choice blindness: in a supermarket tasting of jam and tea, most shoppers did not notice when their chosen sample was secretly swapped.
• 2.4 The product Packaging and positioning, sales techniques such as disrupt-then-reframe and Cialdini's principles, and buying models such as the Engel Kollat Blackwell model and post-purchase dissonance. Becker et al. (2011) found that package shape and colour saturation affected expectations of a yoghurt's taste and price.
• 2.5 Advertising Types of advertising and the Yale model of persuasion, product placement, and brand awareness through logos and slogans. Snyder and DeBono (1985) found that high self-monitors responded more to image-based adverts and low self-monitors to adverts about product quality.
• Evaluation of consumer studies Many studies are field experiments in real shops or restaurants, giving high ecological validity but less control. Others use questionnaires or lab tasks, which raises issues of social desirability and generalisation from student samples.

Common mistakes in Consumer Psychology

• Describing choice blindness as people forgetting what they chose. In Hall et al. participants often justified the swapped product as if it were the one they had chosen.
• Writing that music always increases spending. North et al. found the type of music mattered, with classical music associated with higher spending in that restaurant.
• Confusing high and low self-monitors in Snyder and DeBono. High self-monitors respond to image, low self-monitors respond to quality claims.
• Describing heuristics without examples. Give a consumer example for each, e.g. anchoring when a high original price makes a sale price look good.
• Evaluating every study as 'low ecological validity'. Many consumer studies were done in real retail settings, so check the method first.

Try three Consumer Psychology exam-style questions