Students will be able to:
• Predict how factors like relativity, ownership, social influence, arousal, and social market norms may influence consumer behavior
• Understand that consumers do not always act “rational”
• Make suggestions as to how marketers may benefit from consumer “irrationalities”
• Critically interpret research findings on the topic of irrational consumer behavior
• Identify the most appropriate statistical test for analyzing basic experimental data
• Identify the most appropriate experimental design for a specific research question
• Design a high-quality questionnaire
• Understand the different sampling procedures and measurement scales that are used in consumer research
• Work in teams
• Provide constructive feedback
• Organize and facilitate tutorials on the topic of irrational consumer behavior

The Consumer Psychology course is a specialized course in the Strategic Marketing Master program that seeks to explore the fundamental issues of conducting scientific research in the area of customer behavior. In addition, it provides students with in-depth and advanced level insights in the (sometimes irrational) behavior of customers. By the end of this course, you’ll understand how emotions, social norms, expectations and context can often lead us astray. Moreover, you will gain insight into how these irrationalities can affect your personal life, your business life, and the way you look at the world. As a bonus you will also learn how much fun consumer science can be, and how to see more clearly the causes for our everyday behaviors, including the many cases in which we are “predictably” irrational. The course consists of two parts. The first part (4 sessions) is dedicated to the fundamentals of conducting scientific research in the area of customer behavior (i.e., experimental designs, sampling procedures, measurement scales, questionnaire design, basic statistical tests). The second part is dedicated to discussing and reviewing academic articles on the topic of consumer behavior (facilitations).

- Predictably Irrational (D. Ariely)
- Malhotra N.K.- Marketing Research – an applied orientation, 6th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson. ISBN: ISBN10: 0-13-609423-6, ISBN13: 978-0-13-609423-4
- several academic articles

All students who are admitted to the Master of Science in International Business can follow this course. Exchange students with a Bachelor degree in Business, or with another Bachelor degree including a minor in Marketing are also admitted. This course assumes basic knowledge of consumer behaviour at an introductory marketing level. An advanced level of English.