Psychology and Consumerism

Week 3

Sigmund Freud

Born: Austria, May 1856Died: September 1939

‘sexual and aggressive forces inside humans that can be controlled by others’ which are ‘remnants of our

animal past’

Edward Bernays

Born: Vienna, November 22, 1891 Died: New York, March 9, 1995

Nephew of Sigmund FreudGiven the title ‘Father of Public

Relations’

Bernays’ development of advertising from his uncle’s study of psychology-

Dangerous and irrational desires and fears that lie under the surface of man.

These forces are naturally aggressive and sexual and define our subconscious.

Governors of society have to control these forces in order to guide the human mind

towards good.

These practices continued by…

Anna Freud believed that if people were encouraged to conform to the accepted patterns of family and social life their ego’s will be strengthened leading to a society of more rational beings.

Ernest Dichter known as the "father of motivational research.” Pioneered the application of Freudian psychoanalytic concepts and techniques to business — in particular to the study of consumer behavior in the marketplace.

This week..Opponents of Freudian ideas.

Those who believed inner self should be allowed to express itself, no to be

controlled. The liberation of feelings, memories and emotions.

A rising group of psychoanalysts in 1950s encouraged patients to express feelings openly as opposed to the Freudian idea of suppressing them, which they believed was proven to not work. Remember the following cases discussed last week?

The death of Marilyn Monroe and

her involvement with the Freudian

psychoanalyst Ralph Greenson

Dorothy Burlingham and

her three children living with Anna

Freud- resulting in suicide,

homophobia, alcoholism..

Wilhelm Reich (1897- 1957). Originally had been a follower of Sigmund Freud in 1920s Vienna but later grew to be one of the main challengers of Freud’s. He believed unconscious forces inside human beings were good- it was the repression of them by society that distorted them and made them dangerous.

Disturbing childhood- sex obsessed. Oedipus Complex

Freud and Reich had fundamentally different views on what was essential to human nature-

- Freud believed we were driven by irrational natural impulses

- Reich believed there was an underlying energy but but it was a good thing- LIBIDO- and by freeing these sexual forces it would lead to better individuals.

Used his ideas to create--Cloudbusters-UFO blockers-Vegetotherapy

-Orgone accumulators(eventually arrested for them)

Reich believed that Earth had an energy current which he calledOrgone energy- a sort of ‘orgasmic’ current.

But despite all this, lots of students were influenced by his works which coincided with their ideas about the state of society.

A young resurgence was building against companies who they claimed used manipulation and brainwashing to turn the masses into consumers.They promoted liberation of mind and sexual freedom and wrote Reich’s name over walls.

Youth Protests in 1960s America

Weather Underground Movement

-believed mass production and the manipulation of masses was to divert attention from illegal Vietnam war

In 1970 the group issued a "Declaration of a State of War" against the United States government, under the name "Weather Underground Organization”

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows", Bob Dylan - "Subterranean Homesick Blues".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiIC8YwQVV8

We felt that doing nothing in a period of repressive violence is itself a form of violence. That's really the part that I think is the hardest for people to understand. If you sit in your house, live your white life and go to your white job, and allow the country that you live in to murder people and to commit genocide, and you sit there and you don't do anything about it, that's violence.

—Naomi Jaffe, The Weather Underground

Herbert Marcuse 1898- 1979One-Dimensional Man- “The people recognize

themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level

home, kitchen equipment”

Marcuse strongly criticized society’s consumerist values.

- Believed government used it as a form of social control.

- May claim to live in a democratic society, but it is actually authoritarian in that a few individuals dictate our perceptions of freedom by only allowing us choices to buy for happiness.

- In this state of "unfreedom” consumers act irrationally by working more than they are required to in order to fulfill unnecessary needs- by searching for social connection through material items

‘There is a policeman inside all our heads..’

Can get rid of society’s power over individual minds from within.

Release the forces set on individuals by Freud, Bernays, Dichter etc and

revolutionize society one person at a time.

No fighting. The personal journey becomes political.

Back to ideas of Wilhem Reich- can free themselves from the controls put in their mind by society.

Must express feelings inside that previously were considered dangerous

TAKE OWNERSHIP OF WHO YOU AREhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg1A5YIdsg8

ACKNOWLEDGE SELF-POWER. USE PSYCHOLOGY TECHNIQUES LIKE ‘GESTALT THERAPY’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_voss41dyA

PRIMAL SCREAM THERAPY- LET OUT INNER EMOTIONShttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRqJgDTIAck

But those big corporations are now getting worried-People now expressing themselves and trying to be an individual

- outside of ‘mainstream’ society- outside of consumerism- outside of mass production.

NEED NEW TECHNIQUES NEW PSYCHOANALYSIS

NEW MARKET RESEARCH

New market research- these people are still CONSUMERS. However they look for products to

express their individuality.Mass production of limited ranges are out- instead production of VARIETY of products.

YES you can break free yourself from society’s rules and be whoever you want to be. And now products can be the the TOOL in helping you do

this.

American capitalism decided to help Americans express themselves.

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Stanford Research Institute VALS framework. Values and Lifestyles of consumers. Now placed in new categories. Simplified test across all demographics to understand inner motives.

Lifestyles and Values (Stanford Research Institute Personality Types)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGUwA4xkkKs

- CAN NOW LINK GROUPS TO PURCHASES- UNDERSTANDINGN UNDERLYING MOTIVATIONS LEADS

TO LIFESTYLE MARKETING- IF NEW PRODUCT EXPRESSED A PARTICULAR GROUP’S

VALUES IT WOULD BE PURCHASED BY THEM

AND NOT JUST RETAIL, SRI RESEARCH INFLUENCES POLITICS TOO. PROMOTE IDEA OF POWER TO THE PEOPLE –Margaret Thatcher http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK3eP9rh4SoRonald Reaganhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czwe6-UCQ5E&feature=related

So now can EXPRESS individuality through products. Can BUY any identity you wish.

Mass production out- computer operated machines drive smaller varied product ranges.

THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO CONSUMERISM- UNLIMITED EVERCHANGING NEEDS AS DESIRES RISE THROUGH MASLOW’S HEIRARCHY- NEVER ENDING CONSUMERIST BOOM?!

ADVERTS EXPRESS INDIVIDUALITY- YOU ARE DIFFERENT, YOU ARE WORTH IT ETC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNBoJZN-KIk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRyWwwY4tF8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IifJhpRRn3c

ACTIVITYWrite an advert to promote USING THE INTERNET but targeted to a specific consumer

groupThink- what are these people’s lifestyles like? What are their aims and values? How

are you going to satisfy them or make them better by getting them ONLINE?

PARENTShttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq2Nvs0va2g

MIDDLE-AGED WOMENhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0qDrRJT4zE

TEENAGERShttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cKpvwlSGOI

RECENTLY SEPERATED COUPLEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTjHCCU2E4c

STUDENTShttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1sT7QV8nfU&feature=relmfu

NEW BUSINESS OWNERShttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fki1SJ17kQ&feature=relmfu

CELEBRITYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDPJ-o1leAw