The paper provides psychological and social frameworks for analysing and influencing consumer decision-making, such as attitudes, motivations, heuristics, personality traits, and normative influence.

The paper is presented through lectures, videos, readings, discussions, writings and interactive exercises. Some content will be delivered and learning activities will take place online via Moodle.

Students will develop an understanding of the psychological, cultural and sociological factors that influence purchase and consumption, the methods by which we learn about consumer behaviour, and the implications of consumer behaviour for product design and marketing. The application of marketing concepts requires highly-developed analytical skills; in marketing practice, lessons learned from one industry are frequently applied to very different industries.Thus, students will demonstrate learning through:

• Identifying, defining, comparing and contrasting key concepts in consumer behaviour;
• Generalizing concepts from one consumer behaviour context (e.g., industry) to another (i.e., identify or describe how the concept does and does not apply to a new context);
• Evaluating marketing strategies and tactics in terms of potential effectiveness with a target consumer; and
• Evaluating marketing strategies and tactics in terms of social responsibility.

In addition, students will demonstrate learning through effective oral and written communication, and through effective teamwork. These skills are regularly cited by employers as critical to success in business. Communication and teamwork are critical to bringing ideas to fruition.

Some course material may be delivered online through Moodle. Scores, course documents, announcements, and resources will be posted in Moodle. Students are advised to check the Moodle coursesite daily. Participation in online learning may replace some scheduled contact time.

Some class meetings will be recorded via Panopto and made available for reviewing by students. This is done as a courtesy to students who want to watch a lecture a second time, and to students who must miss a class meeting due to illness, injury, or a death in the family.

Each credit point represents approximately 10 hours of study time; this means that 10 hours x 15 points = 150 total learning hours.

According to university policy, 200/300-level 15-point papers should have an average of 3 hours of contact time per week (i.e., the total of class and tutorial meetings). We have room scheduled for 3 hours of lecture/class meeting and 1 hour of tutorial per week. Tutorials will start in Week 3. During some weeks of the term, we will cancel the 3rd hour of lecture with the objective of meeting an average of 3 hours of total contact hours (class + tutorial) per week. Pay attention to announcements in class and on Moodle regarding class meetings and cancellations.

Students are expected to supplement in-class and tutorial learning opportunities with additional preparation hours such as reading, team meetings, project work, studying, and preparation of assignments/assessments.