Archive for Consumer Psychology

Darwin’s Black Friday

August 15, 2012 / MHBAdmin / No comments

By: Wendy Lin

Most of us looked forward to the feast that Thanksgiving brings, along with the warm and loving aura of the holiday. Sweet moments of families gathering around the table, chattering happily and laughing heartily are cherished. Until it hits midnight. The quiet night becomes filled with anxious murmuring, and the impatience builds up to exploding frustration. The minute those doors to the “treasures” opens, protect yourself, men and women, because it has become a war zone.

Black Friday, as this phenomenon is called, holds its demonic powers over the people through time-limited discounted prices. Electronic products are especially to die for, as hundreds of dollars can be saved. And I literally mean, “to die for.” An article posted last November, after our most recent Black Friday, described exactly how primitive people can become in the face of a holiday deal. We saw pepper-spraying, mugging, stabbing, and shooting as channels of aggression, just to satisfy materialistic needs. Whoever can come out of it alive is – as they would like to think – the winner, so perhaps Black Friday is the modern-day form of Darwin’s so-called “survival of the fittest.”

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How Effective is Peer Pressure in Social Media?

August 14, 2012 / MHBAdmin / No comments

By: Kara Johnson

Source: B2C.com

In this age of social media, user reviews and recommendations are everywhere we look.  You can read other consumer’s opinions on practically any product on the market from toothpaste to travel destinations.  How influential are other consumer’s opinions and do they really cause us to change our minds about products?  A new study conducted by the HP Labs shows that peer pressure in social media is indeed effective and can have important implications for online marketing.  However, this study indicates that peer pressure in social media is more effective in reversing decisions when fewer people disagree than when many people disagree.

The study conducted by the HP Labs showed participants a picture of two loveseats on a computer screen.  Under the pictures, was the sentence “Your close friend wants your opinion on a loveseat for their living room.  Which do you suggest?”  Participants were asked to select their preference by clicking a button under the loveseat of their choice.  After varying intervals of time, participants were then shown the same items again and asked to make their selection again.  However, this time, participants were told that a varying number of other people had preferred the opposite loveseat than the one they had chosen.  The findings from this study showed that people were more likely to change their decision if only a moderate number of people had chosen the opposite loveseat versus a large number of people opposing their decision.

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Smokeless Tobacco and Social Learning

August 13, 2012 / MHBAdmin / No comments

By: Robert Davies

 

Source: NESN.com

The first game of the 2011 World Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals aired last October. In the weeks leading up to the game, US senators were consistently asking the Major League Baseball Players Association to voluntarily ban the use of all tobacco products on the field, in the dugout, in the clubhouse, and in the locker rooms. They asked that the ban include smokeless tobacco, like dip and chewing tobacco, long-time mainstays of the baseball world.

The reasoning behind the proposed ban is the use of smokeless tobacco not only endangers players’ health, but it sets an example for all the children who idolize their favorite players. A World Series games, for example, can draw over 10 million views, many of them children. The senators argue that children will watch their favorite players use tobacco, and thus, be more inclined to use it themselves. Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory supports the senators’ stance. Social Learning Theory states that we learn new information and behaviors from watching others (i.e., observational learning).

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The iParadox tablet

August 8, 2012 / MHBAdmin / No comments

By: Randall Warlick

 

Source: Tech.Fortune.CNN.com

 

Late last year, Amazon and Barnes & Noble both released tablet computers to compete with Apple’s iPad: the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet, respectively.  However, those two new tablets were not as powerful as the iPad.  The original models lacked Bluetooth, GPS, front- and rear-facing cameras, and GPS connectivity (1).  Simply said, while these tablets were less expensive than the iPad, they also lacked many of the specs and abilities of the iPad, and the interesting thing is, that is exactly what Amazon and Barnes & Noble wanted.  While the iPad could be used to consume content, no question about that, it could also be used to create content; its advanced specs allowed for it, while the two other tablets’ specs did not.

The thing is, Amazon and Barnes & Noble were not attempting to create directly competitive tablets; rather, they were “trying to win over customers by offering a cheaply priced tablet that can match the iPad in terms of content consumption” (1).  They were focusing solely on content consumption, and ignoring content creation.  The question is, if you’re a consumer, which tablet do you buy?  The iPad and the Kindle Fire could both be used to consume content, but the iPad could create content too.  Sure, it’s more expensive, but it also does more.  Isn’t that a selling point?

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Life After Napster: The Future of Online Music Distribution

August 7, 2012 / MHBAdmin / No comments

By: Elizabeth Urbic

The issue of online music distribution is one of the greatest of my generation.  A lifelong lover and consumer of music, as well as someone dedicated to the advancement of new technologies, my interest in the area is immense; I would venture to say that the same is true for the majority of my peers.  I remember when I was a kid, saving and saving until I hit that precious $16 mark and could head to the record store to spend it, thus, beginning the vicious saving cycle again.  I remember my first album – it was Green Day’s Dookie.  Full disclosure here, the Spice Girls’ Spice Up Your Life was in there too.

I also remember later getting into online music file-sharing, and my parents expressing fear that the authorities were going to knock on our door any minute.  Those of us in the “Net Generation” have had a front row seat to the often-heated debate over online music distribution, a conversation unprecedentedly entwined with technological innovation.

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