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Consumer psychology
Consumer psychology studies the psychological processes underlying consumer judgment and behavior, including attention, attitudes, decisions, social influences, and responses to marketing.
- Type of entry
- Interdisciplinary fieldAn area that draws on psychology together with other disciplines. Types are editorial labels, not an official classification.
- Cluster
- Work, technology, and performanceOrganizations, design, markets, media, sport and the military.
- Sources opened
- 2 of 20 read as a full page, 2 as selected text or an abstract, 0 not verified.
- Independent review
- Admitted after correctionscodex-applied-repair-reviewer, 2026-10-21. 8 claims checked against 2 sources opened by the reviewer.
What it studies
Consumer psychology studies the processes underlying consumer judgment and behavior. The Journal of Consumer Psychology describes a scope spanning individual and interpersonal processes, including attitudes, advertising responses, information processing, and family decisions. Questions concern what attracts attention, how people evaluate information, and how motivations and social influences shape choices. The field connects psychological explanation with questions about consumption.
History and people
The Society for Consumer Psychology traces its organizational groundwork to the creation of APA Division 23 in 1962. Its history describes independence by 1988 and the launch of the Journal of Consumer Psychology in 1992. These are institutional and publication milestones in one professional community. They do not date the beginning of all psychological research on consumers or identify a single origin.
People and documented roles
The sources checked for this profile name no individual contributors.
The new sources document institutional milestones and research practices. A presidents list alone is insufficient to describe a substantive intellectual contribution, so earlier list-only people entries have been removed.
Dated milestones
- 1962Society or organization formed. Year.Establishment of APA Division 23, an organizational milestone reported by SCP. [1]
- By 1988Society or organization formed. Approximate.SCP describes having become independent by this year; not an exact founding date. [1]
- 1992Publication. Year.Launch of the Journal of Consumer Psychology. [1]
Methods
The journal’s stated scope includes laboratory and field experiments, survey research, and correlational studies. It also welcomes theoretical and review articles that integrate existing research. This range matters when interpreting a finding: evidence from an experiment, a survey, and a synthesis addresses different kinds of questions. No single technique defines consumer psychology, and the journal does not restrict it to experimental work.
Training and applications
Applied research questions described by the journal include responses to advertising, changes in attitudes, consumer information processing, and family and group decisions. These topics connect psychological explanation with consumer settings. The journal accepts several empirical designs as well as theoretical and review articles. Its scope documents research questions and methods, without establishing professional licensing or employment eligibility.
Boundaries and limits
Consumer psychology includes cultural and individual differences, so an account of a consumer decision should specify whose behavior is being studied. The journal’s scope shows psychological questions arising in consumer settings; it does not establish that every marketing activity is psychological research. The historical selection here concerns a society and journal, and does not constitute a global institutional history.
Evidence behind the claims
The Journal of Consumer Psychology covers psychological processes underlying individual and interpersonal consumer judgment and behavior.
The society traces its organizational groundwork to the establishment of APA Division 23 in 1962.
The society describes itself as having grown into an independent entity by 1988.
The society dates the launch of the Journal of Consumer Psychology to 1992.
The journal welcomes laboratory experiments, field experiments, surveys, and correlational research.
The journal also encourages theoretical and review articles integrating existing research.
In the Psy101 course
- OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 12.3: Attitudes and PersuasionChapter 12, Social Psychology. Topic reading. Nearest related reading; direct coverage of this field has not been verified.Nearest reading on attitudes and persuasion; textbook page not opened.
- OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 2.2: Approaches to ResearchChapter 2, Psychological Research. Method reading. Nearest related reading; direct coverage of this field has not been verified.Nearest reading on experiments and correlational research; textbook page not opened.
This is course relevance only. It is not evidence for the historical or practice claims on this page.See the full course map.
Sources and inspection
2 of 2 sources were opened and read at the level shown. A source marked as not verified supports no claim on this page by itself.
- [1]History - Society for Consumer PsychologySociety for Consumer Psychology, undated. Society history. Supports the history.Selected text readRead Our history and the executive-officer paragraph; the presidents list and host-institution footer were not used. Checked on October 21, 2026.
- [2]JCP - Society for Consumer PsychologySociety for Consumer Psychology, undated. Professional association. Supports the description of methods.Selected text readRead the substantive Journal of Consumer Psychology scope paragraphs, including topics, empirical designs, and reviews. Checked on October 21, 2026.
Independent source review: codex-applied-repair-reviewer, 2026-10-21. Verdict: Admitted after corrections. Of 8 claims checked, 6 were supported as written, 0 were reworded and 2 were removed.