Psychology and consumer behaviour Answer all questions.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Feb/Mar 2018). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. Award 1 mark for a basic explanation of the term/concept.
2. Award 2 marks for a detailed explanation of the term/concept.
3. For example: Consumers make decisions based on expected outcomes. The better the outcome for the consumer the more likely it is they will want to purchase an item. The higher the utility use for the consumer, the more likely they will decide to make a purchase.
4. To be considered detailed the candidate must explain both sides of the theory (the expected outcome and the eventual decision to purchase or not).
5. Other appropriate responses should also be credited.
6. Award 1-2 marks for a basic answer with some understanding of the topic area.
7. Award 3-4 marks for a detailed answer with clear understanding of the topic area.
8. For example: System 1 involves thinking fast. System 1 thinking is emotional, automatic, unconscious and effortless. Questions are answered quickly. This usually involves quick decision making for everyday products (e.g. milk and bread). System 2 involves thinking slow. System 2 thinking is calculating, conscious, slow, controlled, effortful and lazy. This type of thinking is done by consumers buying more expensive items (such as a car or a house).
9. Other appropriate responses should also be credited.
10. Likely weaknesses will be:
11. If you use system 1 or 2 in the incorrect type of situation this will lead to a poor decision being made (e.g. using system 1 to buy a car)
12. Reductionist assumes just one type of thinking is used when making a purchase (the consumer may use system 1 for one part of the purchase – colour of the car but system 2 for the other part – model of car to be purchased,
13. difficult to assess what type of thinking is being used as difficult for consumers to explain their thought processes involved with making intuitive decisions as they may be unaware of some or all of these thoughts
14. Difficult to measure in an objective manner what type of thinking is taking place.
15. If a measurement is done it could lack validity and/or reliability. [This needs to be explained in order to be creditable.]
16. Deterministic. Assumes that if the product is a fast purchase, not much thought will have gone into it and the consumer will quickly decide what to buy. It is possible that a consumer may give a quick purchase quite a bit of thought (e.g. someone may decide to be more environmentally aware and research which companies that produce everyday consumables do so in the most environmentally friendly manner)
17. Other appropriate responses should also be credited.