PSYCHOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY:

PSYCHOLOGY IN THE 21^ST 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 20^th 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:

1. Cultural factors
2. 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.
3. Sub-cultural factors

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:

1. Personal factors
2. These are personal traits of the individual such as personality etc.
3. Involvement factors
4. 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.
5. Memory factors

Memory factors refer to how much the individual retains of a particular advertisement. Therefore, these also play a vital role in determining consumer behavior.

1. Evaluation factors
2. Evaluation factors refer to the individual’s perception of the product. In other words, how the individual evaluates the product and appraises it.
3. Post purchase behavior
4. It also looks at Post purchase behavior. Post purchase behavior refers to the individual’s 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.