3 credits
Fall 2025 Lecture Upper Division
Consumer behavior is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires. We will draw on research from psychology, marketing, economics and sociology to learn why consumers behave in the ways that they do. The course focuses on three general topics. 1) Consumers as individuals. We will explore basic psychological concepts like intrinsic motivation, perception, memory, and emotions to help us understand behavior. 2) Attitude change and decision-making. We will examine how consumers search and evaluate alternatives, develop attitudes, and make choices. 3) Consumers in their social and cultural settings. We will examine the interaction between the consumer and multiple external influences. We investigate how social elements (friends, family, etc.) and culture influence behavior.
Learning Outcomes1Organize, explain and predict consumers judgements and choices using social science multiple concepts, frameworks and theories.
2Identify & analyze consumer behavior issues and apply relevant theories to aid in managerial decision-making.
3Generate basic applied experiments in consumer behavior to test relevant theories with real consumers.
Prerequisites
Restrictions
made by Purdue students.