Ph.D. student in Industrial-Organizational Psychology with a concentration in Occupational Health Psychology.

This tumblelog focuses on Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Organizational Psychology (a combination of psychology of the workplace, human resources, and applied statistics with some business). Throw in Occupational Health Psychology, Work and Stress, Social Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Motivation and Emotion, and even the occasional Clinical Psychology thoughts and topics and this is the result.

I try to find articles from the professional journals, blogs, popular news, and anywhere else that strikes my fancy...

I'm now starting to blog here - the name matches my main blog name/URL a bit better...Psych at Work (the new Applied Psych)

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Feb 6, 2010
@ 9:59 am
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Psychology Journal #1

missdefinition:

Journal #1: Maxim. Cosmo. Playboy. Playgirl. Elle. Men’s Health. Vogue. These magazines spend millions of dollars researching the male/female mind so that they can market to it…to you. How well do you think that they understand the male or female psyche? Do you think that you fit in the average demographic to which they are marketing? Why or why not?

In this information age, we Americans have been increasingly raised by media moguls and advertising conglomorates. Behaviorism is alive and well in the marketing sector. The hypothesis that you can make anyone do anything has been tested and proven true time and time again. Marketing has been distilled to a science. Just as experimental psychologists research humans to answer questions about their behavior and mental processes, so to do marketing psychologist, using the same empirical processes. The only difference is the motivation for their research.

Consumer psychology targets consumers in general, then works to stratify the group into every marketable niche imaginable. Demographics are often constructed on the basis of age, sex, income, occupation and education. I’ve not one shred of doubt that my number has come up in countless consumer studies. Americans have been enculturated to doubt ourselves which causes us to perceive a need for products that will help us feel valid. The aforementioned magazines feed on this human tendency to feel unworthy. These publications market insider information that will put us ahead of the game and help us to stand out as a supreme mate.

Although I am not one to partake in such mindless reading, I must admit that from time to time I have been intrigued by some novel spin on fashion, a sexy tip list or an inspiring cover girl. Those millions of dollars have yielded results, the numbers prove the effectiveness of the marketing. That being said, it is my hope that as we evolve, an increasing number of individuals will realize that there is so much more possibility than these adverts with editorials offer.

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