Have you ever gone grocery shopping with a grocery list of items to get, but then walked out of the store with more things than your grocery list? Grocery stores are spaces that are designed to make you spend more money. Strategic aisle placements and product positions follow a deliberate strategy rooted in consumer psychology and decades of behavioral research.
Back in 1997, the researchers stocked an English supermarket with four types of French and German wines, all similarly matched in cost, dryness, and sweetness. For two weeks, the store speakers either played German oom-pah music or French accordion music. North and his colleagues would switch the music daily and measure the effect on sales. Turns out, 83% of wine buyers bought French wine when the accordion music was playing,
In the 1890s, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov noticed how dogs began salivating not just when food was placed in front of them, but when they heard the footsteps of the person bringing the food. He ran experiments where he'd ring a bell right before he fed his dogs. After repeating this several times, the dogs started salivating at the sound of the bell alone, no food needed.
Glossy ads roll out, tech journalists dissect every new feature, and millions of people rush to pre-order, sometimes queuing overnight or trading in perfect devices. Every YouTube video seems to carry an iPhone ad, and celebrities and influencers flock to the launch event in California, drawing audiences, followers, and fans into the hype. To outsiders, this might seem like irrational spending. But to psychologists, it is a masterclass in how consumer culture taps into deep human needs: novelty, identity, and social belonging.