Psychology (9990) | The psychological environment

A Level Psychology (9990): Consumer Psychology

The Psychological Environment (2.2)

Welcome to one of the most interesting chapters in Consumer Psychology! Here, we look at how the physical spaces we shop and eat in—like malls, stores, and restaurants—are carefully designed to influence what we buy and how we feel.

Think of this chapter as learning the "behind-the-scenes magic" of retail. By the end, you'll understand why you always seem to find the most expensive items exactly where you were looking!

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2.2.1 Environmental Influences on Consumers

The layout and design of a consumer environment aren't random. They are calculated to guide your movements, maximize your exposure to products, and ultimately, encourage spending.

1. Wayfinding in Shopping Malls

Wayfinding refers to how people navigate and orient themselves within a complex environment, such as a large shopping mall or a massive supermarket.

Factors affecting wayfinding:

• Signs: Clear, visible signs are crucial. If signs are too small or confusing, shoppers get frustrated and may leave (or reduce the time they spend browsing).
• 'You Are Here' Maps: These help people locate themselves relative to their goal. Good maps follow psychological principles (e.g., they match the user's viewpoint, so if the map says a shop is on the left, it should be physically on the left).
• Store Layout: Simple, logical layouts make it easier to find things, but complex ones might force shoppers past more products.

Study Example: Dogu and Erkip (2000)

This study investigated the effectiveness of signage and mapping in a real retail environment. They found that clearly visible maps significantly improved shoppers’ ability to find specific locations, reducing stress and increasing confidence.

Quick Tip: Clear wayfinding links to ecological validity, as consumers need to easily navigate real-world environments.

2. Shopper Behaviour: Spatial Movement Patterns

Psychologists track how consumers move through a space, often using methods like CCTV tracking (as seen in the Gil et al. study) or observing paths drawn on store blueprints. This reveals predictable patterns of movement.

Types of Shopper Trips (based on movement purpose):

1. Short Trip: Customer knows exactly what they want and moves quickly in and out.
2. Round Trip: Customer systematically covers most or all of the store perimeter (often seen in grocery stores).
3. Central Trip: Customer focuses their movement primarily around the centre of the store.
4. Wave Trip: Customer moves back and forth in a sweeping pattern, often browsing different sections.

Five Types of Spatial Behaviour Patterns (Gil et al., 2009):

These categories describe the shopper's overall style in relation to their knowledge of the store:

• Specialist: Highly motivated to find a specific item. (Focuses narrowly).
• Native: Knows the layout well and moves efficiently. (Experienced local).
• Tourist: Browsing and spending time in the store without a specific purchase goal. (Browsing).
• Explorer: Wanders widely, often investigating new areas. (High exploration).
• Raider: Moves very fast, often ignoring displays, aiming to quickly grab items. (Minimal involvement).

Did you know? Understanding these patterns allows retailers to place high-profit items along the "Native" and "Round Trip" paths, ensuring maximum visibility.

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2.2.2 Menu Design Psychology

Menus are essentially sales brochures. Consumer psychologists study how the design, wording, and layout of a menu influence what customers order and how much they spend.

1. Features of Menu Design and Eye-Tracking

Psychologists use technology like eye-tracking (monitoring where a person's gaze falls) to understand how customers scan a menu. This reveals that customers don't read menus like books (left to right, top to bottom).

Key Features:

• The 'Sweet Spot': Research (e.g., Pavesic, 2005) suggests customers tend to focus first on the upper right quadrant and the center of the menu. Restaurateurs place their most profitable items in these areas.
• Design Elements: Using borders, boxes, or specific fonts to draw attention to premium dishes.
• Price Placement: Often prices are listed without currency symbols ($), or are intentionally listed inconspicuously (e.g., in a small font or without trailing dots), to minimise the perception of monetary cost.

Don't worry if this seems tricky at first! The key principle is that attention is limited. Designers use visual cues to direct this limited attention to the items they want sold most.

2. Primacy and Recency Effects in Menus

This concept is borrowed from the Cognitive approach (Memory). It suggests that the position of an item strongly influences whether it is chosen.

• Primacy Effect: Items listed first (at the beginning of a section) are more likely to be remembered and chosen.
• Recency Effect: Items listed last (at the end of a section) are also more likely to be remembered and chosen.
• Items stuck in the middle are often overlooked (the 'asymptote').

Study Example: Dayan and Bar-Hillel (2011)

They investigated menu item position. They found that placing items at the beginning or end of a menu section made them significantly more likely to be chosen, confirming the primacy and recency effects in a consumer context.

3. The Effect of Food Name on Menu Item Choice

The way a dish is named dramatically affects its perceived quality, taste, and value.

Descriptive vs. Undescriptive Names:

• Undescriptive: 'Chicken soup.'
• Descriptive: 'Grandma's rich, homemade South-Western chicken and vegetable stew.'

Study Example: Lockyer (2006)

Lockyer found that adding descriptive labels (like "succulent," "local," or "traditional") to menu items increased sales by up to 27%! Customers perceived these foods as being higher quality and tasting better, even if the ingredients were exactly the same.

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2.2.3 Consumer Behaviour and Personal Space

This section explores how proxemics (the study of personal space) impacts consumer comfort, spending, and behaviour, especially in dense environments like restaurants and queues.

1. Personal Space at Restaurant Tables (Hall’s Four Zones)

The layout and spacing of tables in a restaurant critically influence the diner's experience and behaviour.

Hall's Four Zones of Personal Space (A Prerequisite Concept):

Anthropologist Edward Hall identified four zones of distance that people maintain, depending on the situation and relationship:

1. Intimate Distance (0-1.5 feet): Close relationships, whispering.
2. Personal Distance (1.5-4 feet): Friends and family.
3. Social Distance (4-12 feet): Formal interactions, business. (This is the most common zone for restaurant spacing).
4. Public Distance (12+ feet): Public speaking, large groups.

Functions of Space (Violations of these zones cause discomfort):

• Overload: Too many stimuli (sights, sounds, smells) due to closeness, causing stress.
• Arousal: The psychological and physiological response (feeling alert, possibly anxious) caused by being too close to strangers.
• Behaviour Constraint: Feeling restricted or unable to move freely due to lack of space, which reduces comfort.

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Key Study: Robson et al. (2011) - Consumers' Responses to Table Spacing

Context/Aim: To investigate how the physical spacing between restaurant tables affects customer experience, time spent, and spending.

Procedure (Field Experiment):

Robson et al. conducted a field experiment in an actual dining environment (a restaurant). They manipulated the independent variable (IV): the distance between adjacent dining tables. They measured customer spending and time spent as dependent variables (DVs).

Results/Conclusion:

• When tables were spaced closer than 3.5 feet (too close, violating social distance), customers reported feeling more stressed and constrained.
• Crucially, closer spacing led to customers spending less time dining and resulted in lower overall spending on food and drink.

Discussion: This study demonstrates that violating personal space acts as an environmental stressor, which leads to negative outcomes for both the consumer (discomfort) and the retailer (lower sales). This supports the functions of space (overload/constraint).

2. Defending Place in a Queue

Queues are highly structured social environments where norms about territory and personal space are important. Intrusions can lead to conflict and negative emotional responses.

Factors influencing responses to queue intrusion:

• Nature of Intrusion: How sudden and rude the intrusion is. A person cutting in aggressively generates a stronger negative response.
• Number of Intrusions: Multiple intrusions degrade the queue structure and may lead to widespread frustration.
• Social Structure of a Queue: People near the front feel a greater sense of ownership and are more likely to defend their place than those in the middle.

Study Example: Milgram et al. (1986)

Milgram (famous for his obedience study) conducted a field experiment investigating queue violations. A confederate would intrude (cut in) into various lines (e.g., at a subway station). They manipulated where the intrusion occurred (second in line, sixth in line, etc.).

• Findings: The people immediately behind the intrude were most likely to protest. However, surprisingly, in many situations, most people did not actively protest, illustrating passive acceptance unless personally confronted.

Linking Debates: This area strongly involves situational explanations (the environment of the queue/restaurant affects behaviour) versus individual explanations (some people are naturally more assertive in defending their space).