Psychology

The foundations of consumer psychology in a broad historical sense can be traced back to the rapid industrial growth witnessed in the latter part of the nineteenth century in the United States, where the productivity that characterized the new industrial age enabled the expansion of consumerism on an unprecedented scale. With such growth in the range and availability of consumer products came a parallel expansion in the emerging advertising industry and, of course, an even keener interest in understanding (and harnessing) the psychological impact of advertisements on the consumer. The early growth in consumer psychology was therefore driven by a mixture of basic practical and economic concerns.

In the early stages of development of the embryonic advertising industry, the dominant school of thought was based around ...