Importance of Psychology in Advertising
One of the most prominent reasons why I chose to major in Psychology has been how relatable it is to people. I consider myself someone who enjoys both the presence of people and learning about people’s different experiences. Another aspect that fascinated me was how big corporations played on people’s feelings and inner thoughts, their biases and beliefs to sway them towards their products. We are surrounded by advertising and the implications of psychological testing at all times. Just turn on the TV — we are bombarded with ads that tug at people’s heartstrings or rekindle passions. Since psychology is the study of human behavior, advertising is the perfect field to help sway and influence basic human instincts.
One of the main psychological tests companies use when creating marketing strategies are projective tests. One such test is the Thematic Apperception Test, or TAT. In a standard TAT subjects create a narrative after seeing an ambiguous picture, delving into motives and concerns. These tests have been crucial in qualitative marketing research — a research method that looks into the in-depth motivations behind consumer buying behavior or opinions. One major aspect of this testing is having subjects make potential associations between brand images and the emotions they provoke. This technique has been used numerous times and is usually administered to large samples. The overall results are coded which provides direct consumer feedback to companies. This technique has been one of the most used tests by companies big and small to get true feedback regarding potential advertising campaigns. Without this direct relationship with consumers, firms would be unable to learn about the potential impact a campaign can have.
Another aspect of psychology that is tapped into by marketing has been replicated through an experiment is reciprocity. In a study created by Dennis Reagan, a research assistant would create a reciprocal relationship with some subjects, but not with others. The results saw subjects in the reciprocal relationship be more willing to buy raffle tickets sold by the researchers. This technique he been replicated numerous times by companies and firms. If they provide users with actual value they are far more likely to return to a website or try a product. This kind of marketing is truly effective when creating a relationship with the user. Similarly, companies use basic biases or heuristics to attempt to sway users, hoping they make snap decisions to process information. One major bias touched on is the Framing Effect, first researched by Daniel Kahneman. Here, people were shown to give different responses to the same problem depending on how the question is worded. This can be applied to marketing by proving that the context in which events are shown to users has a drastic effect on the way they process information. Both tone and information presented has a very obvious effect on consumer behavior.
It is clear that psychology and the testing of various constructs has a dramatic and crucial effect on how consumer perceive the information they are presented. People are always afflicted by personal biases and motivations — it is important for companies to provide them with the clearest message possible. Therefore, it is no surprise that firms spend millions of dollars on perfecting their advertising strategies in the hope of maximum consumer retention.
