Prospectus

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Emotions and (Ir)rationality in Economic Behaviour

Course
2020-2021

Important Note

  • All Semester II bachelor and master psychology courses and examinations (2020-2021) will be offered in an on-line format.

  • If it is safe and possible to do so, supplementary course meetings may be planned on-campus. However, attendance at these meetings will not be required to successfully complete Semester II courses.

  • All obligatory work groups and examinations will be offered on-line during Central European Time, which is local time in the Netherlands.

  • Information on the mode of instruction and the assessment method per course will be offered in Brightspace, considering the possibilities that are available at that moment. The information in Brightspace is leading during the Corona crisis, even if this does not match the information in the Prospectus.

Entry requirements

Only open to master’s students in Psychology with specialisation Economic and Consumer Psychology.

Description

This course provides you with advanced and specialized knowledge of the concepts, methods, and research findings central to the study of emotions in (social) contexts relevant to economic and consumer behaviour and of how this knowledge can be applied to understand and influence economic and consumer decisions. The seminars are interactive work group sessions and initiated by students’ views on the addressed themes. Each seminar has a specific theme to examine the influence of emotions on economic and consumer decisions (i.e., The Emotional Consumer, The Good Consumer, The Persuaded Consumer, The Complaining Consumer, The Conspicuous Consumer, and The Tempted Consumer). At the end of the course, your skills to apply theoretical insights to a ‘real life’ economic and consumer psychology topic will be further advanced and assessed by writing a paper.

Course objectives

During the course, students:

  • Gain specialized knowledge of theories, concepts, methods, and research findings central to the study of emotions in social contexts relevant to economic and consumer behaviour;

  • Learn to analyze different aspects of economic and consumer behaviour from a scientific perspective on emotions; and

  • Learn to apply their knowledge of emotions to understand and influence economic and consumer behaviour in practice.

Timetable

For the timetables of your lectures, work groups and exams, please select your study programme in: Psychology timetables

Registration

Course

Students need to enroll for lectures and work group sessions. Master’s course registration

Examination

Students are not automatically enrolled for an examination. They can register via uSis from 100 to 10 calendar days before the date. Students who are not registered will not be permitted to take the examination. Registering for exams

Mode of instruction

The course consists of 7 2-hour work group sessions (attendance of all work group sessions is mandatory; no web-lectures available).

  • All Semester I bachelor and master psychology courses and examinations (2020-2021) will be offered in an on-line format.

  • If it is safe and possible to do so, supplementary course meetings may be planned on-campus. However, attendance at these meetings will not be required to successfully complete Semester I courses.

  • All obligatory work groups and examinations will be offered on-line during Central European Time, which is local time in the Netherlands.

  • Information on the mode of instruction and the assessment method per course will be offered in Brightspace, considering the possibilities that are available at that moment. The information in Brightspace is leading during the Corona crisis, even if this does not match the information in the Prospectus.

  • At this time it is not possible to provide information about Semester II (2020-2021).

Assessment method

The final grade is based on: 5 written assignments (2 selected for grading, 30%), 1 rated presentation (30%), and 1 final paper (40%).

  • To pass the course, a total (weighted) course grade of at least 6.0 is required, whereby the mark for the paper should be at least 6.0.

  • In case your mark for the paper is lower than a 6.0 or if you miss the deadline, you will be given 4 weeks to (re)submit the paper. In that case, your mark for this assignment will not be higher than 6.0.

The Institute of Psychology follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of this fraud policy.

  • All Semester I bachelor and master psychology courses and examinations (2020-2021) will be offered in an on-line format.

  • If it is safe and possible to do so, supplementary course meetings may be planned on-campus. However, attendance at these meetings will not be required to successfully complete Semester I courses.

  • All obligatory work groups and examinations will be offered on-line during Central European Time, which is local time in the Netherlands.

  • Information on the mode of instruction and the assessment method per course will be offered in Brightspace, considering the possibilities that are available at that moment. The information in Brightspace is leading during the Corona crisis, even if this does not match the information in the Prospectus.

  • At this time it is not possible to provide information about Semester II (2020-2021).

Reading List

In the work group sessions we will use:
Seminar 1, The Emotional Consumer
1. Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., Valdesole, P., & Kassam, K. S. (2015). Emotion and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 799–823.
2. Garg, N., & Lerner, J. S. (2013). Sadness and consumption. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23, 106-113.
3. Lelieveld. G.-J., Van Dijk, E., Van Beest, I., & Van Kleef, G. A. (2013). Does communicating disappointment in negations help or hurt? Solving an apparent inconsistency in the social-functional approach to emotions (2013). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105, 605–620.
4. Mogilner, C., Aaker, J., & Kamvar, S. D. (2011). How happiness affects choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 39, 429-443.

Seminar 2, The Good Consumer
1. Rubaltelli, E., & Agnoli, S. (2012). The emotional cost of charitable donations. Cognition & Emotion, 26, 769–785.
2. Cryder, C. E., Loewenstein, G., & Scheines, R. (2013). The donor is in the details. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,120, 15-23.
3. Dunn, E. W., Aknin, L. B., & Norton, M. I. (2014). Prosocial spending and happiness: Using money to benefit others pays off. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23, 41–47.
4. Newman, G. E., & Cain, D. M. (2014) Tainted Altruism: When doing some good is evaluated as worse than doing no good at all. Psychological Science, 25, 648–655.

Seminar 3, The Persuaded Consumer
1. Strick, M., Holland, R. W., Van Baaren, R. B., & Van Knippenberg, A. D. (2009). Finding comfort in a joke: Consolatory effects of humor through cognitive distraction. Emotion, 9(4), 35–45.
2. Hendriks, H., Van den Putte, B., & De Bruijn, G.-J. (2013). Changing the conversation: The influence of emotions on conversational valence and alcohol consumption. Prevention Science, 15, 625–633.
3. Mukherjee, A., & Dubé, L. (2012). Mixing emotions: The use of humor in fear advertising. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 11, 147–161.
4. Dunn, L., & Hoegg, J. (2014). The impact of fear on emotional brand attachment. Journal of Consumer Research, 41, 152–168.

Seminar 4, The Complaining Consumer
1. Bougie, R., Pieters, R., & Zeelenberg, M. (2003). Angry customers don’t come back, they get back: The experience and behavioural implications of anger and dissatisfaction in services. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31, 377–393.
2. Gregoire, Y., & Fisher, R. (2008). Customer betrayal and retaliation: When your best customers become your worst enemies. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36, 247–261.
3. Kim, J., & Gupta, P. (2012). Emotional expressions in online user reviews: How they influence consumers' product evaluations. Journal of Business Research, 65, 985–992.
4. McGraw, P. A., Warren, C., & Kan. C. (2015). Humorous complaining. Journal of Consumer Research, 41, 1153–1171.

Seminar 5, The Conspicuous Consumer
1. Handgraaf, M., Van Lidth de Jeude, M., & Appelt, K. (2013). Public Praise vs. Private Pay: Effects of Rewards on Energy Conservation in the Workplace. Ecological Economics, 86, 86–92.
2. Sivanathan, N., & Pettit, N. C. (2010). Protecting the self through consumption: Status goods as affirmational commodities. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 564–570.
3. Bolderdijk, J. W., Brouwer, C., & Cornelissen, G. (2018). When Do Morally Motivated Innovators Elicit Inspiration Instead of Irritation?. Frontiers In Psychology, 8, 1–9.
4. Van Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., & Van den Bergh, B. (2010). Going green to be seen: status, reputation, and conspicuous conservation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(3), 392-404.

Seminar 6, The Tempted Consumer
1. Van der Wal, R., & Van Dillen, L. F. (2013). Leaving a flat taste in your mouth. Task load reduces taste perception. Psychological Science, 24, 12771284.
2. Van Dillen, L. F., Papies, E. K., Hofmann, W. (2013). Turning a blind eye to temptation: How cognitive load can facilitate self-regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104, 427443.
3. Goldsmith, K., Cho, E. K., & Dhar, R. (2012). When guilt begets pleasure: The positive effects of a negative emotion. Journal of Marketing Research, 49, 872–881.
4. Hofmann, W., Vohs, K. D., & Baumeister, R. F. (2012). What people desire, feel conflicted about, and try to resists in everyday life. Psychological Science, 23, 582–588.

Contact information

Dr. Elise Seip e.c.seip@fsw.leidenuniv.nl