Consumer Psychology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Definitions and Visions of Consumption

   • Brian M. Young

   Pages 1-30

3. Concepts and Themes

   • Brian M. Young

   Pages 31-54

4. How Consumers’ Minds Work: An Introduction to the Basics

   • Brian M. Young

   Pages 55-76

5. How We Process Information: A Look at Embodied Cognition and Priming

   • Brian M. Young

   Pages 77-112

6. One Mind or Two? An Introduction to Dual Process Theories

   • Brian M. Young

   Pages 113-140

7. Development Through the Lifespan: Is It a Viable Approach?

   • Brian M. Young

   Pages 141-155

8. Erikson’s Stages of Life: Can We Bridge the Gap?

   • Brian M. Young

   Pages 157-197

9. Childhood and Younger Children: The Gaze from Developmental Psychology

   • Brian M. Young

   Pages 199-228

10. The Older Child: Becoming a Serious Consumer

    • Brian M. Young

    Pages 229-266

11. Children, Ownership and Possessions: The Origins

    • Brian M. Young

    Pages 267-302

12. Ownership and Possessions: The Adult Perspective and into the Future

    • Brian M. Young

    Pages 303-324

13. And Now the End Is Near…

    • Brian M. Young

    Pages 325-339

14. Back Matter

    Pages 341-354

    PDF

This book approaches consumer psychology from a unique perspective - it covers the entire lifespan, from birth to old age. Childhood and youth are not discussed as areas special, different and remote from the rest of consumer research but are integrated into our development as humans. Consumption is viewed as a process by groups and individuals with the cycle continuing through to disposal or ownership and possession. The author discusses how people’s natural lifespan influences their relationship to the things they own, how preferences are developed from childhood and how motivations for purchases change throughout their lives from childhood to old age. This book brings together the most recent findings and theories on child and youth consumption, including children’s understanding of advertising and marketing, teen and youth identities and their consumption tastes. Moving through Erikson’s life stages chapters continue on to adulthood, the mid-life ‘crisis’ and possessions and ownership in older consumers. This is a deeply interdisciplinary work that will be of interest to scholars across the fields of psychology, business and marketing, as well as to the more general consumer.

• consumer behaviour
• lifespan development
• consumption cycle
• Embodied cognition
• Dual process theories
• Life course theory
• Erikson’s Stages of Life
• consumer culture theory (CCT)
• tragedy of the commons
• ‘prosumption’
• The International Centre for Anti-Consumption Research (ICAR)
• youth consumption
• consumer identity

• The Business School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom

  Brian M. Young

Brian M. Young is an Honorary Research Fellow in The Business School at the University of Exeter, UK where he teaches consumer psychology. He is Editor of the quarterly journal Young Consumers and author of Television Advertising and Children.

Policies and ethics