Socio-psychology and consumer behavior

 

Socio-psychology and consumer behavior

 

Socio-psychology is a branch of psychology that studies how the behavior of an individual or a group is affected by interaction with people, that is, society. It studies why an individual or a group, acts in a certain way or make certain decisions. This scientific study helps in finding out answers to the questions about human nature and how “we” humans work together in a society.

For a better understanding let us have a look at the basic beliefs of social psychology that not only address human interaction but also lays down how to observe human behavior and build theories.

• Behavior and decision making are largely influenced by society- An individual or a group decides to do a certain thing keeping in mind the norms and rules of the society.
• Experiments may be conducted to back up theories- socio-psychology is both predictable and experimental. Therefore, experiments of analyzing the human behavior are conducted to support or deny the arguments.
• Behavior is the main link to assess someone’s personality and character- “Actions speak louder than words” is an age old saying which applies to social psychology as well. Any question can be answered just by asking but it questions the accuracy of the answer and thus the actions of a person, that is, their behavior would speak more about their personality and character than words would.
• Behavior helps to reach goals- The society does affect the behavior of an individual but that behavior is to attain certain goals. It could be anything like achieving a certain status in the society.

 

Consumer behavior is the analysis of the likes and preferences of the consumer and why and when would they buy a certain product or service. Consumers are the center of all the market activities in an economy, they are the final users of a product and thus it is important to understand their behavior and choices.

Social psychology and consumer behavior are interrelated to a certain extent. The concept of social psychology helps in determining consumer behavior. It studies the need and wants of the consumers in the society.

It defines the impact of a product or service on a consumer and how one bad experience can affect an entire community of consumers. Since the word spreads in the society, a consumer not satisfied with a product would pass the information to other and the process will go on which will make a decent chunk of individuals to refrain from using that good or services.

Social psychology also has an impact on the consumers through trends. When we talk about what is the trending we are simply referring to something that is being extensively used or bought by the society. The consumers might not have a very strong liking to it or maybe its not something they need to buy at the moment but the fact that a majority of people in the society are doing or buying it, makes it an unintentional choice of the consumer.

This is how the study of impact of social interactions tend to affect consumer behavior to a certain extent.