Course Wrap-Up

Consumer Behavior is defined as "the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires" (Solomon, pg. 7).My final post will be about a summary/reflection on what I learned in this course and what the major points included.

What I have realized is all the purchases consumers make are much more calculated then we let ourselves believe. We are influenced by our attitudes, lifestyles, environment, culture, peers, and personalities. Of course, I always knew that sometimes my purchases were influenced by these various factors. However, almost every single thing I buy is through a "nudge" of these various factors. 

All decisions have a reason and reasoning behind them. Some are just more prevalent than others. For example, I bought a new pair of skis recently and a lot of factors influenced that purchase. I also put a lot of time and effort into this purchase whereas I would with a different product. Such as my toothpaste, or shampoo. 

My environment, peers, and lifestyle definitely played a huge factor in my decision. Much more goes into purchase decisions than most people think. It is not just the price, location, and availability. We are all influenced by multiple factors. I think this is the main thing I learned from this course. 

Overall, I am happy we are required to take a course like this. Due to the fact that we receive a bachelors of science degree in business, we mainly focus on quantitative practices. We deal with hard numbers and facts and research. However, this course is also based on research but it is about the motives and reasoning behind purchases and decisions. This course touches upon how consumers act and I believe this will be very valuable information to use in correlation with the other classes I have taken thus far. 

Now, I am officially done with the Fall semester of 2013!! Time to celebrate :) And go back to having a normal life! Also, get to experience the Southern California weather I am used too. No more of this -15 degree weather......!!

Week 11- Consumer Behavior: College Students, Dead Week, and Finals

There is no environment even remotely similar to a college campus; especially during dead week and finals week. It is unlike anything in society. A time of extreme daze, stress, coffee consumption, and tiredness. So much work, group projects, studying, and writing papers consists during these two weeks. A time when sleeping on a desk, in the library is socially acceptable:

For most of us, its a time when we realize we actually haven't learned that much.... We are expected to learn 12 weeks of material and remember it all for a two hour exam. And most classes a passing grade is based solely on how well one performs on the final. I believe all typical consumer behavior concepts cannot be applied during dead week and finals week. For example, I feel like I completely loose my sense of self. The activities and rituals I normally do, are forgotten and left behind during dead week and finals week. I usually love my night time routine and sleep, but during these two weeks I skip most, if not all of these rituals. 

Personally, my dead week aka the week before finals is way more stressful than my finals week. This week I have to write this blog post, read a 250+ page book and take a quiz on it, study for and take two exams, finish a 15 page presentation, complete a 50 point project by Thursday that was only assigned on Sunday afternoon, create powerpoint slides for a 35 page business plan, attend meeting at BBC to get feedback on 35 pages business plan, revise and submit 35 page business plan, practice for two presentations, and give one of those presentations. That is just the week before finals.  

Lucky for me, all my finals are on one day: Monday. This day, I have three papers due, a 100 point exam, one 15 minute presentation, one mandatory "course wrap-up", and one blog post due. All. In. One. Day. 

This is such a stressful time period, they have therapy dogs everyday in the library. These two weeks will literally make or break my grade. If for some reason I do poorly on the items listed above, I will drop down a grade. Or if I don't do them at all, I probably wouldn't even pass the class. Regardless of the fact I have gotten A's on almost everything I have done the past 11 weeks. If that isn't stressful, I don't know what is. 

College is also like a subculture. A subculture is a "group whose members share beliefs and common experiences that set them apart from others" (Solomon, p. 484). No one can truly understand what we are going through besides our peers. Even people who have graduated college have a hard time relating because things are different now and we face different challenges than the generation before us did.

Overall, I hope finals go well for everyone and that 3 weeks during Christmas break is enough time to recover. I always say "I wish I could be bored" because in college there is literally no time to be bored. I hope once this semester is over, we can all go back to being normal consumers, at least until next semester. When it is time to engage in this strange consumer behavior phenomenon we call college.