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ROLE OF EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY IN CONSUMER
                 BEHAVIOUR


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                                       EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


Almost one and a half century ago, Darwin presented his natural selection and inclusive fitness
theory, which has provided valuable insights into marketing in general and consumer behavior in
particular. From this perspective, human mind which controls psychological mechanisms, is in fact
shaped up and influenced by the evolutionary ancestors.

Evolutionary psychology (EP) posits that human mind is evolved over millions of years and the
human behavior is largely inherited through genes. Consumer behavior which is an important
marketing-related aspect needs to be studied with ultimate explanations rather than proximate.
Thus, to study the consumer behavior, it is imperative for marketers to understand it from the
evolutionary psychology perspective, instead of ‘standard social science model’ (SSSM), as the
psychological mechanisms of consumers are not only influenced by the surroundings and
environment they live in, but also the surroundings and adaptive problems their ancestors faced.

EP is considered very much relevant to consumer behavior by various psychologists and marketers.
EP is very powerful, in the sense that it examines and points out the critical reasons for human
behavior in various contexts – altruism, kin selection, gender differences, food preferences,
differences in preferences for potential mates, landscape preferences, standards of physical
attractiveness, and spatial abilities.

EP can provide marketers with insights into cultural similarities and differences which prove to be
valuable for firms targeting customers across borders; the significance of certain colors, preferential
attributes in potential mates, and gift-giving attitude exists in many countries irrespective of their
cultures. Moreover, EP psychologists explained why advertisements that portrayed young and naked
girls were successful to generate positive sexual stimuli in men, and why they do not work for female
customers.

Though, humans engage in several activities to maximize their benefits, yet they demonstrate self-
harmful behaviors by indulging into activities that are injurious to health, for instance sun tanning,
smoking and binge drinking. Understanding what drives them to indulge into such activities and
what motivates them to buy such products or services even after knowing their harmful effects,
marketers may be better able to develop effective and persuasive messages.

Understanding evolutionary psychology in regards to consumer behavior, and valuing its significance
is important to develop an effective marketing strategy. Just as it is indispensable in biology, EP
might be viewed in coming decades as something which is essential for marketers as well to study
consumer behavior and to suggest valuable implications.
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                               TABLE OF CONTENTS



CONTENT                                                           PAGE

Introduction                                                        1
Evolutionary psychology and consumer behavior                       2
Evolutionary psychology and culture                                 3
Evolutionary psychology and consumption patterns                    3
       Dark side consumption acts                                   4
               Excessive consumption                                4
               Illicit goods’ consumption                           4
Evolutionary psychology and advertising                             5
Evolutionary psychology and differences between sexes               6
       Higher level of parental investment by mothers               6
       Preferential attributes in potential mates                   6
       Gender-specific Toys                                         7
       Females’ communal behavior                                   7
       Response to sexual stimuli                                   7
Adaptations common to both sexes                                    7
       Kin selection                                                8
       Status and prestige                                          8
       Preference for sweets, salt and fatty products               8
       Inclination towards savanna-like landscapes                  9
Evolutionary psychology and neuromarketing                          9
Recommendations/Conclusion                                          9


Appendix 1                                                          11
References                                                          12
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INTRODUCTION

Firms have been spending millions of dollars in order to build and adopt effective marketing
strategies for their products or services; few have been successful in achieving recognition
for their efforts, whereas the others have just been grounded. Apart from all the other
aspects, understanding consumer behavior is one vital characteristic of marketing strategy
which can have major impact on the performance of the company. Consumer behavior is
not something which has been developed or influenced by the environment or surroundings
of the consumer only, but it has a lot to do with the dynamics of the environment that
consumers’ ancestors lived in. Therefore, understanding evolutionary psychology by
marketers is important to have a well-constructed marketing strategy.

Evolutionary psychology - often referred to as ‘Modern Darwinism’ (Nicholson 1998) - is
majorly concerned with the reasons of the particular behavior adopted by humans,
understanding which can open doors for marketers - it emphasizes on the ultimate
explanations instead of proximate. Human minds defined as the pinnacle of evolution
(Mitchell 1999) have evolved with the passage of time through the process of natural
selection, developing solutions for the adaptive problems affecting perceptual, cognitive
and motivational mechanisms underlying our behavior (Lynn et al 1999). Marketers can gain
valuable insights into consumer behavior by understanding evolutionary psychology as it
challenges the Standard Social Science Model (SSSM) by providing insights into the
environmental forces that led to the development of existing consumer behavior.
Evolutionary psychology can provide valuable insights to marketers about the different
attitudes of males and females and their evolved preferences; risk-seeking or risk-aversion
attitude of both the genders; response to sexual stimuli in advertising; consumer emotions
and their facial expressions; and consumption choices of both genders, and consumption
patterns of female during menstrual cycle. As Pinker (2005) opined, evolutionary biology is
very much related to psychology, more than botany to astronomy, this paper identifies
some of the benefits that marketers can gain from understanding the evolved consumer
behavior from evolutionary psychology perspective instead of SSSM.




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EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Human behavior had been influenced by the environment humans lived in, in turn, affecting
the behavior of the ensuing generations by propagating genes with successful adaptations
into the next generation (Wright 1995). To better understand the existing human behavior,
it requires the recognition that humans are biological entities, minds of which have been
shaped by millions of years of evolution (Saad 2004) and by the experiences of our
ancestors in the distant past (Bagozzi and Nataraajan 2000). Saad and Gill (2003) suggested
that human behavior is “a product of an interaction between evolved psychological
mechanisms and the environment”. From the evolutionary perspective, humans’ physical
organs as well as mental organs developed over time. Moreover, innate characteristics
which are inherited by ensuing generations through genes, and the environment are not the
competing factors but the interacting variables which explain the human psychology (Lynn
et al 1999).

Companies spent significant amount of money on advertising - $320 billion in 2000, globally
(Kloss 2001). Therefore, to effectively utilize that money, marketers should base their
decisions on accurate view of human nature. The study of evolutionary psychology can
provide profound insights to marketers about consumer behavior and can suggest new
directions for consumer research as EP is very much relevant to consumer behavior (Lynn et
al 1999). For instance, according to the EP perspective, the universal preference for sweets
and fatty foods is believed to be due to scarcity of salty and healthy food in the ancestral
world. As is cited in Lynn et al (1999), EP perspective has already provided new insights into
human behavior, for instance, landscape preferences, differences in romantic and sexual
desires of both the genders, changes in consumption patterns of females during
menstruation cycle, spatial abilities and various other psychological aspects of human
nature. As humans are ‘hardwired’, Nicholson (1998) presented some management-related
implications for managers which can also be applied in marketing field (Appendix 1).

Moreover, EP can provide valuable information about the cultural aspects of consumer
behavior and socialization processes of the consumers (Saad and Gill 2000). In today’s
world, many theories from the EP perspective have been developed to explain human



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behavior, some of which are appropriately related to marketing in general and consumer
behavior in particular.




EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND CULTURE

“EP has the potential to be a causal link between natural and social sciences in the sense of
explaining the phenomena of culture by its biological underpinnings, with psychology as the
intermediate link” (Saad and Gill 2000). SSSM explanations about the consumer behavior
which assume that the behavior of a human being is shaped by its surroundings and
socialization agents are nullified by the psychologists valuing EP.

EP can help marketers and managers of global companies identifying the cross-cultural
similarities, defining human universals, contrary to cultural relativism. Moreover, EP
identifies the extent of similarities between humans across cultures (Saad 2004) which can
provide useful insights for global organizations targeting customers across borders (Saad
and Gill 2000). An example of such arguments is the finding of Chattopadhyah et al (1998) in
the context of uniform color preferences of humans across cultures (cited in Saad and Gill
2000). Universal preference for blue is attributed to the color of sky and water which have
been the dominant parts of our ancestral environment. Similarly, the universal preferences
of men and women in seeking and selecting the ideal mates – men and women valuing
beauty and social status respectively - are attributed to the evolutionary past, nullifying the
effect of disparate cultures. Moreover, the culture of gift-giving exists almost everywhere
irrespective of the cultures (Saad and Gill 2003). Tooby and Cosmides (1989) noted that the
psychological mechanisms are shaped by the evolutionary processes; these preferences are
explained by Darwinian propositions of evolved preferences that make adaptive sense.




EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND CONSUMPTION PATTERNS

Natural selection process that was adopted in evolutionary past to solve the adaptive
problems largely accounts for the behavior of the ensuing generations. Consumer behavior
studied from the EP perspective would help marketers to draw insights into the

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consumption patterns of the consumer. The differences in the consumption patterns of
males and females; biologically driven consumption choices by women; emotions that the
consumers experience during the ‘moments of truth’; and their attitudes towards
maximizing their fitness are explained by the evolutionary psychologists. Hence, EP
perspective would not only enable marketers to understand the consumer behavior, but
would also give them insights for better segmentation and targeting. For example, women
in order to look attractive to men would use dresses which serve that purpose, and men
who strive for resource acquisition would seek such products that satisfy this particular
need. Marketers need to understand the core motivational forces that lead to the purchase
of a specific product or brand.

       Dark Side Consumption Acts

       Excessive Consumption

       Human beings, though, strive for the solutions to adaptive problems to maximize the
       inclusive fitness, yet they have been engaged into the consumption of goods and
       services which have injurious effects on their mental and/or physical health. Eating
       disorders, chain smoking, binge drinking, pornographic addictions, and sun bathing
       are examples of activities that have adverse effects on the consumer. Marketers with
       the help of evolutionary psychology should look for the ultimate reasons for such
       attitudes and behavior to develop effective and persuasive messages. “When so
       many people in the society engage in a behavior so self-destructive can only suggest
       that powerful motivating psychological forces are at work” (Saad and Peng 2006).

       Illicit Goods’ Consumption

       Another significant problem of the 21st century is the growing consumption of
       counterfeits of luxury goods which has now become a significant economic
       phenomenon (Bian and Moutinho 2009; Hamm 2009). Consumers who aspire to buy
       luxury goods but cannot afford it, engage themselves into trade of illicit goods
       sometimes knowingly (non-deceptive counterfeiting), to create fake identities for
       themselves to become socially accepted.



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       EP perspective would enable luxury brand managers and genuine-item owners to
       understand the real motivations and psychological mechanisms of such consumers
       who not only adversely affect the brand equity of luxury brands but also shift the
       demand from genuine-item owners to counterfeiters (Bosworth and Yang 2002).




EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND ADVERTISING

Evolutionary psychology, about which Tooby and Cosmides claimed that it was not given the
due attention (cited in Mitchell 1999), and to which Saad and Gill (2000), referred as
“emerging paradigm in psychological science”, was made use of in developing products or
designing advertisements, though always not consciously. Psychological mechanisms
explained by EP have been taken into account for development of preferences for various
consumer products and marketing practices in the past. Various advertisers did not
consciously engineered the advertisements particularly based on EP perspective, but were
aware of the importance of advertising appeals which “emerged from an interaction of
psychological mechanisms, ecological conditions and cultural factors” (Colarelli and
Dettmann 2003).

The depiction of women in the advertisements as young and sexy is primarily because of the
evolved sexuality of men. It has nothing to do with oppression and little to do with the
cultural agents; though efforts are being made to end these hypersexualized depictions of
women in some parts of the world as it is considered offensive to women’s dignity (Nadeau
2011). Moreover, the EP perspective also lays the foundation of the different effects the
endorsers in advertising campaigns have on gender-related consumption patterns.

Though marketers are aware of such blatant reality as there is a great number of
advertisements in which females are shown as gorgeous and young, yet marketers can dig
deeper into the matter by looking at it from EP perspective to get new insights.




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EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SEXES

From the evolutionary perspective, men and women are same in reference to all those
domains in which they have faced similar kind of adaptive problems – food consumption,
but they demonstrate different behaviors in other domains – childbirth for instance (Buss
1995). Men and women evolved through evolutionary mechanisms and demonstrate
various differences from each other in regards to their behavior.

Higher Level of Parental Investment by Mothers

Women’s more nurturing attitude towards their children is due to their higher level of
parental investment, as EP explains it (Hill et al 2005). This is why marketers target baby
food or child-care products to mothers, as those are the ones who generally buy products
for babies; even advertisements are directed towards women because of their greater
interest in children and safety (Reda 1994, cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003).

Preferential Attributes in Potential Mates

Another explanation by EP that is related to males and females’ different preferences for
the attributes in their potential mates provides insights to marketers (Hill et al 2005; Dupré).
Women’s preference for youthful appearance due to high value given to beauty by their
potential mates gives firms the opportunity to target beauty products to women. Women
use more wrinkle removing creams and push-up bras to look more attractive to men.
Whereas women’s preference for resourceful mates makes it imperative for marketers to
target those products to men that depict men’s professional and financial status and make
men look more competitive and resourceful as compared to their counterparts.

Secondly, according to the research conducted by Grammer et al (1993) females’ clothing
tightness and display of skin and figure was indirectly proportional to the country’s
economic conditions (cited in Hill et al 2005). This has an implication for the firms in fashion-
clothing business as well as advertisers.




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Gender-specific Toys

The design and promotional campaigns of toys are gender-specific. Toys, for instance dolls,
are targeted to girls reflecting their greater interest in physical beauty, endorsed by
celebrities like Hannah Montana. Whereas, toys targeted to boys generally have mechanical
features (Fitzgeral 1993). “Gender-based toys preferences appear to be due more to innate
propensities than to socialization” (Colarelli and Dettmann 2003).

Females’ Communal Behavior

Evolutionary psychology perspective gives insights into “females’ communal and men’s
agentic” behavior (Archer 1996, cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). Being less
hierarchical and competitive among their counterparts, unlike men, women develop
stronger bond with same-sex friends. One successful business based on such insight is
Grameen Bank. Secondly, knowing this fact, more and more companies are making use of
the concept of “Affiliate Marketing”.

Response to Sexual Stimuli

Differences in response to stimuli tried to be generated by showing young, sexy women in
advertisements targeted to men, and men in advertisements targeted to females are
explained by EP. Marketers have used women as an important feature of their
advertisements to sell products ranging from men’s shaving blades to yachts. Using sexy,
naked women in advertisements targeted to men generate positive stimulus as men value
beauty to a greater extent, whereas, showing naked men in advertisements does not
generate positive stimuli in women’s minds, as is explained by evolutionary psychologists
(Colarelli and Dettmann 2003).




ADAPTATIONS COMMON TO BOTH SEXES

Various psychological mechanisms explained by EP, for instance, kin selection, status
seeking and savanna alike landscapes are common to both the sexes.




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Kin Selection

“One of the most powerful psychological mechanism” (W.D. Hamilton 1964, cited in
Colarelli and Dettmann 2003) – is the disposition to behave unselfishly to a kin. The more
the percentage of genes shared between the two individuals, the more the natural selection
will favor the individuals to be altruistic towards his/her kin. This is one of the reasons ‘life
insurance’ is targeted to individuals in more individualistic cultures where extended families
diminished over a period of time. Similarly, banks in the developing as well as developed
countries are targeting potential customers with the savings account for their children’s
college expenses.

Status and Prestige

Status and prestige, which are related to higher rank in hierarchy and greater access to
resources, have universal appeal which marketers make use of. According to evolutionary
psychology perspective, consumers tend to buy products and services which enhance their
status as well as prestige in order to attract potential mates from the opposite gender.
Marketers use the prestige appeal in their advertisements or even otherwise when targeting
consumers by developing the luxury image of the product or by portraying the relationship
of the product with the skill (Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). Higher price and exclusive
distribution are two of the many elements of marketing mix to signal prestige to the
consumers.

The prestige appeal in the advertisement is generally created by the celebrity endorsements
related to the skills of the celebrity or even which are unrelated to celebrity’s skills. Skills
related product endorsements example would be a GNC product endorsed by an athlete,
whereas an example of unrelated product would be LVHM bag endorsed by a tennis player.

Preference for Sweets, Salt and Fatty Products

Preference for sweets, salt, and fatty products have been developed due to the high levels
of nutrients (for example in fruits), high mineral content, and scarcity of food resources
(Gallup and Frederick 2010) respectively, in the ancestral world. Consequently, sales of salty
snacks reached $19billion in 1999 (Howell 2000, cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003), US


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population spends 21.5% of their food expenditure on food items with high fat contents,
and 25% of American children are overweight due to consumption of such products (United
States 2002, cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003).

Inclination towards Savanna-like Landscapes

According to evolutionary psychology perspective, preference for savanna-like landscapes
exists as it provided conducive environment for humans’ survival and reproduction in the
evolutionary past, as compared to other settings (Kaplan 1992; Orians and Heerwagen 1992,
cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). Generally most people like pictures of clear water,
mountains, grassy landscapes, in comparison to their opposites.

This is one of the reasons marketers and advertisers depict such sceneries in their products
packaging and advertisements respectively. Such features are used in advertisements to
evoke positive stimuli in the consumers’ mind, especially while promoting countries and
cities (Place Branding), and in the advertisements of hotel resorts (Steinauer 2002, cited in
Colarelli and Dettmann 2003).




EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND NEUROMARKETING

The field of neuromarketing is also likely to benefit from the theories of EP and vice versa.
Neuromarketing basically explains how the neural mechanisms shape the depicted behavior
and “Evolutionary theory provides a consilient framework for the neuromarketing
paradigm” (Garcia and Saad 2008).




RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSION

Although much has not been written about evolutionary psychology in regards to marketing
and consumer behavior, marketers can draw various implications from the underpinnings of
human behavior that the evolutionary psychology suggests. By what has been written about
EP, it seems imperative for marketers to take into account the EP perspective into their



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marketing and advertising strategies in particular to effectively target the potential
consumers.

Marketers in the past had been using intuitive evolutionary psychology perspectives, though
the psychologists and marketing academicians ignored the valuable insights EP could
generate in relation to consumer behavior. EP is a valid framework to study human
psychological mechanisms, and is crucial in understanding consumer behavior and to
develop effective marketing strategies. Marketers and advertisers should adopt the process
of reverse engineering of successful practices studying the successful products and ad
campaigns and using them as template, as is suggested by Colarelli and Dettmann (2003).
Moreover, marketers should develop products and services based on the EP, considering
ultimate explanations instead of proximate ones.

Though evolutionary psychology perspective can provide various significant insights for
marketers, yet there are several deficiencies as well in this field of psychology in relation to
marketing and consumer behavior. While EP can explain the reasons of ubiquitous
preference for sweet and fatty products, and differences in consumption patterns of males
and females, it cannot explain the distinctive preferences and unique characteristics of a
given individual. Moreover, there is a need to develop a framework which combines the
elements of both EP and SSSM to explain the consumer behavior in a better way, as there
are certain behavioral characteristics which cannot be explained by either of the both in
isolation. Even then, Wilson (2002) opined that EP might be given its due importance one
day in reference to studying human behavior.




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APPENDIX 1




                        Source: Nicholson 1998




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References:

   1. Bian, X., Moutinho, L. (2009). The role of brand image, product involvement, and knowledge
       in explaining consumer purchase behavior of counterfeits. European Journal of Marketing,
       45(1/2), pp. 191-216.
   2. Bagozzi, R.P. and Nataraajan, R. (2000). The year 2000: Looking forward. Psychology &
       Marketing, 17(1), pp. 1-11.
   3. Bosworth, D. and Yang, D. (2002). The Economics and Management of Global Counterfeiting.
       Sixth World Congress on Intellectual Capital and Innovation. September 2002.
   4. Buss, D.M. (1995). Psychological sex differences: Origins through sexual selection. American
       Psychologist, 50(3), pp. 164-168.
   5. Buss, D. M. (1989). Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses
       tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 12, pp. 1–49.
   6. Colarelli, S.M. and Dettmann, J.R. (2003). Intuitive evolutionary perspectives in marketing
       practices. Psychology & Marketing, 20(9), pp. 837-865.
   7. Dupré, J. What the theory of evolution can’t tell us? Critical Quarterly, 42(3), pp. 18-34.
   8. Fitzgerald, K. (1993). Toyland's elusive goal: Win over both sexes. Advertising Age, February,
       pp. S2, S18.
   9. Gallup, G., & Frederick, D. (2010). The science of sex appeal: An evolutionary perspective.
       Review of General Psychology, 14(3), pp. 240-250.
   10. Garcia, J.R. and Saad, G. (2008). Evolutionary neuromarketing: Darwanizing the
       neuroimaging paradigm for consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Behavior, July-October,
       pp. 397-414.
   11. Hamm, K. (2009). Effects of Counterfeiting on the Image of Luxury Brands in China. China
       Business     and     Research,      No.     004.     [Online].   (URL:   http://www.frankfurt-
       school.de/content/en/ecbc/ecbc_portal/content_files/file7/CBR2009_004_Hamm_Effects_c
       ounterfeiting.pdf). (Accessed 14 April 2011).
   12. Hill, R.A., Donovan, S. and Koyama, N.F. (2005). Female sexual advertisement reflects
       resource availability in Twentieth-century UK society. Human Nature, 16(3), pp. 266-277.
   13. Kloss, I. (2001). Advertising worldwide. Heidelberg: Springer. [Online]. (URL:
       http://www.ingomar-kloss.de/download/advertising1.pdf). (Accessed 23 April 2011).
   14. Lynn, M., Kampschroeder, K. and Pereira, A. (1999). Evolutionary perspectives on consumer
       behavior: An introduction. Advances in Consumer Research, 26, pp. 226-230.
   15. Mitchell, M. (1999). Can evolution explain how the mind works? A review of the
       evolutionary psychology debates. Complexity, 4(3), pp. 17-24.
   16. Nadeau, B. (2011). ‘We are treated like prosciutto’. Newsweek, April, pp 46-48.
   17. Nicholson, N. (1998). How hardwired is human behavior? Harvard Business Review, July-
       August, pp. 133-147.
   18. Pinker, S. (2005). So how does the mind work? Mind & Language, 20 (1), pp. 1-24.
   19. Reda, S. (1994). Big stores and little kids. Stores, 76, pp. 22–24.
   20. Saad, G. (2004). Applying evolutionary psychology in understanding the representation of
       women in advertisements. Psychology and Marketing, 21(8), pp. 593-612.
   21. Saad, G. and Peng, A. (2006). Applying Darwinian principles in designing effective
       intervention strategies: The case of sun tanning. Psychology & Marketing, 23(7), pp. 617-638



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22. Saad, G. and Gill, T. (2003). An evolutionary psychology perspective on gift giving among
    young adults. Psychology & Marketing, 20(9), pp. 765-784.
23. Saad, G. and Gill, T. (2000). Applications of evolutionary psychology in marketing. Psychology
    & Marketing, 17(12), pp. 1005-1034.
24. Tooby, J. and Cosmides, L. (1989) Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture,
    part 1. Ethology and Sociobiology, 10, pp. 29-49.
25. Wilson, D.S. (2002). Human evolutionary psychology: Pardon our dust. Evolution, 56(11), pp.
    2334-2338.
26. Wright, R. (1995). The moral animal. Why we are, the way we are: The new science of
    evolutionary psychology. New York: Vintage Books.




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Role of evolutionary psychology in consumer behaviour

  • 1. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ ROLE OF EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/
  • 2. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Almost one and a half century ago, Darwin presented his natural selection and inclusive fitness theory, which has provided valuable insights into marketing in general and consumer behavior in particular. From this perspective, human mind which controls psychological mechanisms, is in fact shaped up and influenced by the evolutionary ancestors. Evolutionary psychology (EP) posits that human mind is evolved over millions of years and the human behavior is largely inherited through genes. Consumer behavior which is an important marketing-related aspect needs to be studied with ultimate explanations rather than proximate. Thus, to study the consumer behavior, it is imperative for marketers to understand it from the evolutionary psychology perspective, instead of ‘standard social science model’ (SSSM), as the psychological mechanisms of consumers are not only influenced by the surroundings and environment they live in, but also the surroundings and adaptive problems their ancestors faced. EP is considered very much relevant to consumer behavior by various psychologists and marketers. EP is very powerful, in the sense that it examines and points out the critical reasons for human behavior in various contexts – altruism, kin selection, gender differences, food preferences, differences in preferences for potential mates, landscape preferences, standards of physical attractiveness, and spatial abilities. EP can provide marketers with insights into cultural similarities and differences which prove to be valuable for firms targeting customers across borders; the significance of certain colors, preferential attributes in potential mates, and gift-giving attitude exists in many countries irrespective of their cultures. Moreover, EP psychologists explained why advertisements that portrayed young and naked girls were successful to generate positive sexual stimuli in men, and why they do not work for female customers. Though, humans engage in several activities to maximize their benefits, yet they demonstrate self- harmful behaviors by indulging into activities that are injurious to health, for instance sun tanning, smoking and binge drinking. Understanding what drives them to indulge into such activities and what motivates them to buy such products or services even after knowing their harmful effects, marketers may be better able to develop effective and persuasive messages. Understanding evolutionary psychology in regards to consumer behavior, and valuing its significance is important to develop an effective marketing strategy. Just as it is indispensable in biology, EP might be viewed in coming decades as something which is essential for marketers as well to study consumer behavior and to suggest valuable implications.
  • 3. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENT PAGE Introduction 1 Evolutionary psychology and consumer behavior 2 Evolutionary psychology and culture 3 Evolutionary psychology and consumption patterns 3 Dark side consumption acts 4 Excessive consumption 4 Illicit goods’ consumption 4 Evolutionary psychology and advertising 5 Evolutionary psychology and differences between sexes 6 Higher level of parental investment by mothers 6 Preferential attributes in potential mates 6 Gender-specific Toys 7 Females’ communal behavior 7 Response to sexual stimuli 7 Adaptations common to both sexes 7 Kin selection 8 Status and prestige 8 Preference for sweets, salt and fatty products 8 Inclination towards savanna-like landscapes 9 Evolutionary psychology and neuromarketing 9 Recommendations/Conclusion 9 Appendix 1 11 References 12
  • 4. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ INTRODUCTION Firms have been spending millions of dollars in order to build and adopt effective marketing strategies for their products or services; few have been successful in achieving recognition for their efforts, whereas the others have just been grounded. Apart from all the other aspects, understanding consumer behavior is one vital characteristic of marketing strategy which can have major impact on the performance of the company. Consumer behavior is not something which has been developed or influenced by the environment or surroundings of the consumer only, but it has a lot to do with the dynamics of the environment that consumers’ ancestors lived in. Therefore, understanding evolutionary psychology by marketers is important to have a well-constructed marketing strategy. Evolutionary psychology - often referred to as ‘Modern Darwinism’ (Nicholson 1998) - is majorly concerned with the reasons of the particular behavior adopted by humans, understanding which can open doors for marketers - it emphasizes on the ultimate explanations instead of proximate. Human minds defined as the pinnacle of evolution (Mitchell 1999) have evolved with the passage of time through the process of natural selection, developing solutions for the adaptive problems affecting perceptual, cognitive and motivational mechanisms underlying our behavior (Lynn et al 1999). Marketers can gain valuable insights into consumer behavior by understanding evolutionary psychology as it challenges the Standard Social Science Model (SSSM) by providing insights into the environmental forces that led to the development of existing consumer behavior. Evolutionary psychology can provide valuable insights to marketers about the different attitudes of males and females and their evolved preferences; risk-seeking or risk-aversion attitude of both the genders; response to sexual stimuli in advertising; consumer emotions and their facial expressions; and consumption choices of both genders, and consumption patterns of female during menstrual cycle. As Pinker (2005) opined, evolutionary biology is very much related to psychology, more than botany to astronomy, this paper identifies some of the benefits that marketers can gain from understanding the evolved consumer behavior from evolutionary psychology perspective instead of SSSM. 1
  • 5. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Human behavior had been influenced by the environment humans lived in, in turn, affecting the behavior of the ensuing generations by propagating genes with successful adaptations into the next generation (Wright 1995). To better understand the existing human behavior, it requires the recognition that humans are biological entities, minds of which have been shaped by millions of years of evolution (Saad 2004) and by the experiences of our ancestors in the distant past (Bagozzi and Nataraajan 2000). Saad and Gill (2003) suggested that human behavior is “a product of an interaction between evolved psychological mechanisms and the environment”. From the evolutionary perspective, humans’ physical organs as well as mental organs developed over time. Moreover, innate characteristics which are inherited by ensuing generations through genes, and the environment are not the competing factors but the interacting variables which explain the human psychology (Lynn et al 1999). Companies spent significant amount of money on advertising - $320 billion in 2000, globally (Kloss 2001). Therefore, to effectively utilize that money, marketers should base their decisions on accurate view of human nature. The study of evolutionary psychology can provide profound insights to marketers about consumer behavior and can suggest new directions for consumer research as EP is very much relevant to consumer behavior (Lynn et al 1999). For instance, according to the EP perspective, the universal preference for sweets and fatty foods is believed to be due to scarcity of salty and healthy food in the ancestral world. As is cited in Lynn et al (1999), EP perspective has already provided new insights into human behavior, for instance, landscape preferences, differences in romantic and sexual desires of both the genders, changes in consumption patterns of females during menstruation cycle, spatial abilities and various other psychological aspects of human nature. As humans are ‘hardwired’, Nicholson (1998) presented some management-related implications for managers which can also be applied in marketing field (Appendix 1). Moreover, EP can provide valuable information about the cultural aspects of consumer behavior and socialization processes of the consumers (Saad and Gill 2000). In today’s world, many theories from the EP perspective have been developed to explain human 2
  • 6. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ behavior, some of which are appropriately related to marketing in general and consumer behavior in particular. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND CULTURE “EP has the potential to be a causal link between natural and social sciences in the sense of explaining the phenomena of culture by its biological underpinnings, with psychology as the intermediate link” (Saad and Gill 2000). SSSM explanations about the consumer behavior which assume that the behavior of a human being is shaped by its surroundings and socialization agents are nullified by the psychologists valuing EP. EP can help marketers and managers of global companies identifying the cross-cultural similarities, defining human universals, contrary to cultural relativism. Moreover, EP identifies the extent of similarities between humans across cultures (Saad 2004) which can provide useful insights for global organizations targeting customers across borders (Saad and Gill 2000). An example of such arguments is the finding of Chattopadhyah et al (1998) in the context of uniform color preferences of humans across cultures (cited in Saad and Gill 2000). Universal preference for blue is attributed to the color of sky and water which have been the dominant parts of our ancestral environment. Similarly, the universal preferences of men and women in seeking and selecting the ideal mates – men and women valuing beauty and social status respectively - are attributed to the evolutionary past, nullifying the effect of disparate cultures. Moreover, the culture of gift-giving exists almost everywhere irrespective of the cultures (Saad and Gill 2003). Tooby and Cosmides (1989) noted that the psychological mechanisms are shaped by the evolutionary processes; these preferences are explained by Darwinian propositions of evolved preferences that make adaptive sense. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND CONSUMPTION PATTERNS Natural selection process that was adopted in evolutionary past to solve the adaptive problems largely accounts for the behavior of the ensuing generations. Consumer behavior studied from the EP perspective would help marketers to draw insights into the 3
  • 7. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ consumption patterns of the consumer. The differences in the consumption patterns of males and females; biologically driven consumption choices by women; emotions that the consumers experience during the ‘moments of truth’; and their attitudes towards maximizing their fitness are explained by the evolutionary psychologists. Hence, EP perspective would not only enable marketers to understand the consumer behavior, but would also give them insights for better segmentation and targeting. For example, women in order to look attractive to men would use dresses which serve that purpose, and men who strive for resource acquisition would seek such products that satisfy this particular need. Marketers need to understand the core motivational forces that lead to the purchase of a specific product or brand. Dark Side Consumption Acts Excessive Consumption Human beings, though, strive for the solutions to adaptive problems to maximize the inclusive fitness, yet they have been engaged into the consumption of goods and services which have injurious effects on their mental and/or physical health. Eating disorders, chain smoking, binge drinking, pornographic addictions, and sun bathing are examples of activities that have adverse effects on the consumer. Marketers with the help of evolutionary psychology should look for the ultimate reasons for such attitudes and behavior to develop effective and persuasive messages. “When so many people in the society engage in a behavior so self-destructive can only suggest that powerful motivating psychological forces are at work” (Saad and Peng 2006). Illicit Goods’ Consumption Another significant problem of the 21st century is the growing consumption of counterfeits of luxury goods which has now become a significant economic phenomenon (Bian and Moutinho 2009; Hamm 2009). Consumers who aspire to buy luxury goods but cannot afford it, engage themselves into trade of illicit goods sometimes knowingly (non-deceptive counterfeiting), to create fake identities for themselves to become socially accepted. 4
  • 8. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ EP perspective would enable luxury brand managers and genuine-item owners to understand the real motivations and psychological mechanisms of such consumers who not only adversely affect the brand equity of luxury brands but also shift the demand from genuine-item owners to counterfeiters (Bosworth and Yang 2002). EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND ADVERTISING Evolutionary psychology, about which Tooby and Cosmides claimed that it was not given the due attention (cited in Mitchell 1999), and to which Saad and Gill (2000), referred as “emerging paradigm in psychological science”, was made use of in developing products or designing advertisements, though always not consciously. Psychological mechanisms explained by EP have been taken into account for development of preferences for various consumer products and marketing practices in the past. Various advertisers did not consciously engineered the advertisements particularly based on EP perspective, but were aware of the importance of advertising appeals which “emerged from an interaction of psychological mechanisms, ecological conditions and cultural factors” (Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). The depiction of women in the advertisements as young and sexy is primarily because of the evolved sexuality of men. It has nothing to do with oppression and little to do with the cultural agents; though efforts are being made to end these hypersexualized depictions of women in some parts of the world as it is considered offensive to women’s dignity (Nadeau 2011). Moreover, the EP perspective also lays the foundation of the different effects the endorsers in advertising campaigns have on gender-related consumption patterns. Though marketers are aware of such blatant reality as there is a great number of advertisements in which females are shown as gorgeous and young, yet marketers can dig deeper into the matter by looking at it from EP perspective to get new insights. 5
  • 9. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SEXES From the evolutionary perspective, men and women are same in reference to all those domains in which they have faced similar kind of adaptive problems – food consumption, but they demonstrate different behaviors in other domains – childbirth for instance (Buss 1995). Men and women evolved through evolutionary mechanisms and demonstrate various differences from each other in regards to their behavior. Higher Level of Parental Investment by Mothers Women’s more nurturing attitude towards their children is due to their higher level of parental investment, as EP explains it (Hill et al 2005). This is why marketers target baby food or child-care products to mothers, as those are the ones who generally buy products for babies; even advertisements are directed towards women because of their greater interest in children and safety (Reda 1994, cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). Preferential Attributes in Potential Mates Another explanation by EP that is related to males and females’ different preferences for the attributes in their potential mates provides insights to marketers (Hill et al 2005; Dupré). Women’s preference for youthful appearance due to high value given to beauty by their potential mates gives firms the opportunity to target beauty products to women. Women use more wrinkle removing creams and push-up bras to look more attractive to men. Whereas women’s preference for resourceful mates makes it imperative for marketers to target those products to men that depict men’s professional and financial status and make men look more competitive and resourceful as compared to their counterparts. Secondly, according to the research conducted by Grammer et al (1993) females’ clothing tightness and display of skin and figure was indirectly proportional to the country’s economic conditions (cited in Hill et al 2005). This has an implication for the firms in fashion- clothing business as well as advertisers. 6
  • 10. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ Gender-specific Toys The design and promotional campaigns of toys are gender-specific. Toys, for instance dolls, are targeted to girls reflecting their greater interest in physical beauty, endorsed by celebrities like Hannah Montana. Whereas, toys targeted to boys generally have mechanical features (Fitzgeral 1993). “Gender-based toys preferences appear to be due more to innate propensities than to socialization” (Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). Females’ Communal Behavior Evolutionary psychology perspective gives insights into “females’ communal and men’s agentic” behavior (Archer 1996, cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). Being less hierarchical and competitive among their counterparts, unlike men, women develop stronger bond with same-sex friends. One successful business based on such insight is Grameen Bank. Secondly, knowing this fact, more and more companies are making use of the concept of “Affiliate Marketing”. Response to Sexual Stimuli Differences in response to stimuli tried to be generated by showing young, sexy women in advertisements targeted to men, and men in advertisements targeted to females are explained by EP. Marketers have used women as an important feature of their advertisements to sell products ranging from men’s shaving blades to yachts. Using sexy, naked women in advertisements targeted to men generate positive stimulus as men value beauty to a greater extent, whereas, showing naked men in advertisements does not generate positive stimuli in women’s minds, as is explained by evolutionary psychologists (Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). ADAPTATIONS COMMON TO BOTH SEXES Various psychological mechanisms explained by EP, for instance, kin selection, status seeking and savanna alike landscapes are common to both the sexes. 7
  • 11. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ Kin Selection “One of the most powerful psychological mechanism” (W.D. Hamilton 1964, cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003) – is the disposition to behave unselfishly to a kin. The more the percentage of genes shared between the two individuals, the more the natural selection will favor the individuals to be altruistic towards his/her kin. This is one of the reasons ‘life insurance’ is targeted to individuals in more individualistic cultures where extended families diminished over a period of time. Similarly, banks in the developing as well as developed countries are targeting potential customers with the savings account for their children’s college expenses. Status and Prestige Status and prestige, which are related to higher rank in hierarchy and greater access to resources, have universal appeal which marketers make use of. According to evolutionary psychology perspective, consumers tend to buy products and services which enhance their status as well as prestige in order to attract potential mates from the opposite gender. Marketers use the prestige appeal in their advertisements or even otherwise when targeting consumers by developing the luxury image of the product or by portraying the relationship of the product with the skill (Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). Higher price and exclusive distribution are two of the many elements of marketing mix to signal prestige to the consumers. The prestige appeal in the advertisement is generally created by the celebrity endorsements related to the skills of the celebrity or even which are unrelated to celebrity’s skills. Skills related product endorsements example would be a GNC product endorsed by an athlete, whereas an example of unrelated product would be LVHM bag endorsed by a tennis player. Preference for Sweets, Salt and Fatty Products Preference for sweets, salt, and fatty products have been developed due to the high levels of nutrients (for example in fruits), high mineral content, and scarcity of food resources (Gallup and Frederick 2010) respectively, in the ancestral world. Consequently, sales of salty snacks reached $19billion in 1999 (Howell 2000, cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003), US 8
  • 12. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ population spends 21.5% of their food expenditure on food items with high fat contents, and 25% of American children are overweight due to consumption of such products (United States 2002, cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). Inclination towards Savanna-like Landscapes According to evolutionary psychology perspective, preference for savanna-like landscapes exists as it provided conducive environment for humans’ survival and reproduction in the evolutionary past, as compared to other settings (Kaplan 1992; Orians and Heerwagen 1992, cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). Generally most people like pictures of clear water, mountains, grassy landscapes, in comparison to their opposites. This is one of the reasons marketers and advertisers depict such sceneries in their products packaging and advertisements respectively. Such features are used in advertisements to evoke positive stimuli in the consumers’ mind, especially while promoting countries and cities (Place Branding), and in the advertisements of hotel resorts (Steinauer 2002, cited in Colarelli and Dettmann 2003). EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND NEUROMARKETING The field of neuromarketing is also likely to benefit from the theories of EP and vice versa. Neuromarketing basically explains how the neural mechanisms shape the depicted behavior and “Evolutionary theory provides a consilient framework for the neuromarketing paradigm” (Garcia and Saad 2008). RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSION Although much has not been written about evolutionary psychology in regards to marketing and consumer behavior, marketers can draw various implications from the underpinnings of human behavior that the evolutionary psychology suggests. By what has been written about EP, it seems imperative for marketers to take into account the EP perspective into their 9
  • 13. http://brandingtodominate.blogspot.com/ marketing and advertising strategies in particular to effectively target the potential consumers. Marketers in the past had been using intuitive evolutionary psychology perspectives, though the psychologists and marketing academicians ignored the valuable insights EP could generate in relation to consumer behavior. EP is a valid framework to study human psychological mechanisms, and is crucial in understanding consumer behavior and to develop effective marketing strategies. Marketers and advertisers should adopt the process of reverse engineering of successful practices studying the successful products and ad campaigns and using them as template, as is suggested by Colarelli and Dettmann (2003). Moreover, marketers should develop products and services based on the EP, considering ultimate explanations instead of proximate ones. Though evolutionary psychology perspective can provide various significant insights for marketers, yet there are several deficiencies as well in this field of psychology in relation to marketing and consumer behavior. While EP can explain the reasons of ubiquitous preference for sweet and fatty products, and differences in consumption patterns of males and females, it cannot explain the distinctive preferences and unique characteristics of a given individual. Moreover, there is a need to develop a framework which combines the elements of both EP and SSSM to explain the consumer behavior in a better way, as there are certain behavioral characteristics which cannot be explained by either of the both in isolation. Even then, Wilson (2002) opined that EP might be given its due importance one day in reference to studying human behavior. 10
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