Consumer

Neuroscience
The goal of consumer neuroscience is to apply neuroscientific theory and methods to better understand consumer psychology

Familiar, favorable brands that are well established in

Using fMRI, studies indicate Neural activation &
consumer’s mind (so- called strong brands) elicit
deactivation in areas of brain which has been shown to
different neural responses than familiar but unfavorable
predict the degree of bias an individual affords a brand
or unestablished brands (so- called weak brands
on judgments of product attractiveness and credibility

The individual, and their brain, is shaped by sociocultural

Brand associations are learned attributes or values that a
factors. Cultural and social influences during
brand elicits in a consumer’s mind. Studies show that
psychological development play a key role in preference
showed that brands that are known to signal high social
formation. Important developmental milestones, such as
status, through wealth and social dominance, are
the representation and recognition of visual stimuli, occur
associated with the brain’s reward circuit.
during critical periods

Brands have personality characteristics, similar to
humans, and consumers are able to form relationships
with brands as a result of consumers form affective
bonds with the store or brand which is consistent with the
neural activation patterns observed
Leading choice theories postulate that consumers first
filter the alternatives into a small set prior to making a
final decision called consideration set. Cognitive
resources, such as deliberation, memory, and attention,
are only devoted to items within the consideration set.
 Product
Intangible features of a
product, such as product
design, have implications
for the success of the
product.
fMRI research shows that
visual product attractive -
ness is associated with
activation in the nucleus
accumben with which
product preference is
correlated
Price
Price influence
experienced utility of
products above and
beyond intrinsic aspects of
the product.
The malleability of price
perceptions showed that
not only does price
influence perceived quality,
but neural activation differs
as a result of the
expectancies created by
given price point
Place
. The location of products in
displays matters—some
locations can attract more
attention than others.
Eye- tracking studies have
shown that automatic visual
attentional biases exist.
Eg- products place on the
upper shelves and to the
right, within a given
category, received longer
eye fixations
Promotion
Celebrity endorsement
pairings are effective
because they increase
positive affect and elicit
the retrieval of explicit
memories related to
the celebrity
Promotion using
“expert power,” or the
persuasive effect of
communicators with
expertise