A striking characteristic of addictive behavior is the pursuit of immediate reward at the risk of longer-term detrimental outcomes. It is typically accompanied by the expression of a strong desire to cease from or at least control consumption that has such consequences, followed by lapse, further resolution, relapse, and so on. Understood in this way, addiction includes substance abuse as well as behavioral compulsions like excessive gambling or even uncontrollable shopping. Behavioral economics and neurophysiology provide well-worn paths to understanding this behavior and this book...

Understanding how consumers choose between different products and services is a crucial part of professional marketing. Targeting brands at the consumers most likely to be interested in them is another critical aspect of business success. Marketers need to know what consumers think about brands, why they like them and what purposes they serve. This means delving into the psychology of the consumer to find ways of differentiating between consumers and matching brands to consumer niches at the level of consumers relationships with brands. Using psychology to segment consumers has been...

Marketing Interaction & Technology takes an interactionist perspective to study the relationship between marketing, interaction and technology. Current thought and research in marketing and associated fields like consumer research are still pervaded by behaviorist concepts that simplify the relationship between human action and the environment. By analysing clear illustrative cases "Marketing Interaction & Technology" will explicate the complexity and contingency of social relationships.

The cases in this volume examine discussions of technology used to facilitate and support marketing...