/90-44_files/90-4400001im.jpg" width="692" height="242"
useMap="#Map">
History
and Systems of Psychology
PSY502
VU
Lesson
44
PSYCHOLOGY
IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Now
let us look at two of the
recently developed areas of psychology,
namely:
·
Consumer
psychology
·
Health
psychology
Consumer
Psychology
Consumer
Psychology emerged as a separate
field of psychology only in the
20th century. It studies the
psychology
of a person as a consumer, which
all of us are. Every
individual among us is a consumer in
one
way
or another. A consumer in marketing terms
is the one who purchases a
certain good and uses
it. We all
purchase
and use some goods
which are available in the
market therefore we all fall under this
category.
Consumer
psychology looks at the behavior of a
person as a consumer and
focuses on person's
consumer
choice
behavior. In other words, this
branch of psychology deals
with studying the purchase behavior
and
habits
of individuals as consumers. For
example, an old aged
consumer is more likely to
purchase medicine,
while
a young consumer may be spending
more on food items etc.
Therefore, the aim of consumer
psychology
is to determine these patterns of
behaviors of individuals, looking at them
as consumers. It has
become
an important field.
For
further explanation, consumer psychology
looks at how a consumer's behavior is
effected by:
Cultural
factors
o
Cultural
factors are those factors
which impact the consumer
behavior of individuals and
are
derived
from the culture of the individual. For
example, in a Muslim country
like Pakistan, food
chains
such as McDonald's have to
use only halal items in
their products. Therefore, the
culture,
influenced
by the religion, has had an
impact on the consumer's behavior,
who would not eat
any
thing
which is not halal. Cultural
factors are important in
many ways for the
organizations to
survive
and are studied under the umbrella of
consumer psychology.
Sub-cultural
factors
o
Sub-cultural
factors are factors which
are derived from smaller
cultures within the large
cultures.
For
example, the purchase behavior of
Sindhi's would be different
from Punjabi's as these
two
provinces
have their own cultures.
These cultures in turn also
influence the purchase behavior of
individuals
and need to be studied under
consumer psychology.
Consumer
psychology also looks at the influence of
social groups and familial
factors effecting consumer
behavior.
Social groups refer to the societal
factors in which the individual
lives; the society often
dictates
the
behavior of the individuals and therefore
plays a vital role in determining
his consumer behavior as
well.
Familial
factors on the other hand refer to the
factors which are derived
from individual's
family.
Consumer
psychology then studies the
individual determinants of consumer
choice behavior, such
as:
Personal
factors
o
These
are personal traits of the individual
such as personality etc.
Involvement
factors
o
Involvement
factors refer to the involvement of the
individual in the purchase decision of a
good.
For
example in the purchase of a television, the
involvement would be greater
than in that of a low
cost
good.
97
/90-44_files/90-4400002im.jpg" width="692" height="337"
useMap="#Map">
History
and Systems of Psychology
PSY502
VU
Memory
factors
o
Memory
factors refer to how much the
individual retains of a particular
advertisement. Therefore,
these
also play a vital role in
determining consumer behavior.
Evaluation
factors
o
Evaluation
factors refer to the individual's perception of the
product. In other words, how
the
individual
evaluates the product and
appraises it.
Post
purchase behavior
o
It
also looks at Post purchase
behavior. Post purchase
behavior refers to the
individual's
o
behavior
after he or she has made the
purchase.
All
these areas are studied
under consumer psychology. It has become
an important branch of
psychology
since
all marketing techniques which
aim at identifying the consumer's
wants and needs are
based upon
consumer
behavior understanding.
Health
Psychology
Health
Psychology is another recently developed
area of psychology. It is devoted to
psychological
influences
on what is health, how people stay healthy,
why they become sick and
how they respond in
illness.
It looks at various systems of the
body such as:
·
Cardiovascular
system
It
is the system of circulation of
blood.
·
Nervous
system
It
is the system of the nerves and the
brain responsible for all
the functions of the body.
·
Endocrine
system
It
is the system of glands in the
body.
·
Digestive
system
It
is the system of digestion of
food.
·
Renal
system
It
is the excretory system of the
body.
·
Reproductive
system
It
is the system of procreation in human
beings.
Health
psychology identifies health behavior
and prevention of diseases. It
looks at stress, its causes
and
management.
Stress results in fatigue and
many such diseases. Therefore, health
psychology focuses on
discovering
ways and means to reduce
and manage stress.
Health
psychology also studies pain
and its management. In other
words, it helps the patients
manage their
pain
and become healthy more
quickly.
Health
psychology looks at chronic illness and
its management. It deals
with cases of terminally ill
and their
management.
Terminally ill people could be
made to survive for a longer period of
time using techniques of
health
psychology.
98