Psychographics

{{Short description|Qualitative methodology used to describe traits of humans on psychological attributes}} {{Distinguish|text=psychography}} {{multiple issues|{{cleanup rewrite|date=September 2012}} {{More citations needed|date=July 2017}}}} '''Psychographics''' is defined as "market research or statistics classifying population groups according to psychological variables."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of PSYCHOGRAPHICS |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psychographics |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref> The term psychographics is derived from the words "psychological" and "demographics."<ref>{{Citation |last1=Chandler |first1=Daniel |title=psychographics |date=2011-01-01 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199568758.001.0001/acref-9780199568758-e-2187 |work=A Dictionary of Media and Communication |access-date=2023-03-11 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199568758.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-956875-8 |last2=Munday |first2=Rod|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Two common approaches to psychographics include analysis of consumers' activities, interests, and opinions (AIO variables), and values and lifestyles (VALS).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Blasius |first1=Jörg |last2=Mühlichen |first2=Andreas |date=2010-02-01 |title=Identifying audience segments applying the "social space" approach |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304422X09000497 |journal=Poetics |language=en |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=69–89 |doi=10.1016/j.poetic.2009.10.003 |issn=0304-422X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Psychographics have been applied to the study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal | first = Jairo| last=Senise | title = Who Is Your Next Customer? | journal = Booz Allen Hamilton Inc, Strategy+Business | date = 28 September 2007 | url =http://www.strategy-business.com/press/enewsarticle/enews092807}}</ref> Psychographic segmentation is a technique for grouping populations into sub-groups according to similar psychological variables.<ref name=":03">{{Cite web |title=APA Dictionary of Psychology |url=https://dictionary.apa.org/ |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=dictionary.apa.org |language=en}}</ref> Psychographic studies of individuals or communities can be valuable in the fields of marketing, demographics, opinion research, prediction, and social research in general. Psychographic attributes can be contrasted with demographic variables (such as age and gender), behavioral variables (such as purchase data or usage rate), and organizational descriptors (sometimes called firmographic variables), such as industry, number of employees, and functional area.

Psychographic methods gained prominence in the 2016 US presidential election and the opposing campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, with the latter using them extensively in microtargeting advertisements to narrow constituencies.<ref>{{cite web|first=Brian|last=Resnick|url=https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/3/23/17152564/cambridge-analytica-psychographic-microtargeting-what|title=Cambridge Analytica's "psychographic microtargeting": what's bullshit and what's legit|website=Vox|publisher=Vox Media|location=New York City|date=March 26, 2018|access-date=February 15, 2020}}</ref>

== Uses == Psychographics is utilized in the field of marketing and advertising to understand the preferences of consumers and to predict behavior/patterns.<ref name=":03"/> Private research companies conduct psychographic research using proprietary techniques.<ref name=":03" /> For example, VALS is a proprietary framework created by Strategic Business Insights that separates US adults into eight distinct types by evaluating their motivations and resources to understand anticipated consumer behavior.<ref>{{Cite web |title=VALS™ {{!}} VALS™ Types {{!}} SBI |url=http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes.shtml |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=www.strategicbusinessinsights.com}}</ref> Psychographics is often used for market segmentation and improved target marketing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Market Segmentation: Best Practices & Benefits |url=https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/brand/what-is-market-segmentation/ |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=Qualtrics |language=en}}</ref>

Psychographic segmentation is also applied to other fields and across cultures in order to understand motivations and behavior including in healthcare, politics, tourism and lifestyle choices.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Time to Scale Psycho-Behavioral Segmentation in Global Development (SSIR) |url=https://ssir.org/articles/entry/time_to_scale_psycho_behavioral_segmentation_in_global_development |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=ssir.org |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Handler |first1=Isabell |last2=Kawaminami |first2=Junichi |date=2022-06-17 |title=Why do Japanese people visit hot springs during a pandemic? A psychographic segmentation analysis |journal=Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism |volume=41 |language=en |article-number=100530 |doi=10.1016/j.jort.2022.100530 |issn=2213-0780|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ling |first1=Pamela M. |last2=Neilands |first2=Torsten B. |last3=Nguyen |first3=Tung T. |last4=Kaplan |first4=Celia Patricia |date=2007-07-01 |title=Psychographic Segments Based on Attitudes about Smoking and Lifestyle among Vietnamese-American Adolescents |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X07001334 |journal=Journal of Adolescent Health |language=en |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=51–60 |doi=10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.03.004 |pmid=17577534 |issn=1054-139X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Elsevier Enhanced Reader |url=https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0167739X21004921?token=D178B47514A4FC5FE90B889D91DC1B8634043FB398917367167E65B1F52F696C114E675B0283B2AE2ADD25A0F4ACFE53&originRegion=us-east-1&originCreation=20230311180450 |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=reader.elsevier.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Psychographic profiling== Psychographics are applied to the study of cognitive attributes such as attitudes, interests, opinions, and belief, as well as the study of overt behavior (e.g., activities).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=Thomas W. Jr. |last2=Golden |first2=Linda L. |date=1984 |title=Lifestyle and psychographics: A critical review and recommendation. |url=http://web.b.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=00989258&AN=6434172&h=CIsX9Zir8%2b8NXi2BVIt1%2ffswaNv5juoKSAJqetpjmxf4Khxm%2fZCptEMhYQr3%2bMVxLq9TwmulOd3X3PhafMUluA%3d%3d&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d00989258%26AN%3d6434172 |journal=Advances in Consumer Research |volume=11 |pages=405–411}}</ref> A "psychographic profile" consists of a relatively complete profile of a person or group's psychographic make-up. These profiles are used in market segmentation as well as in advertising. Some categories of psychographic factors used in market segmentation include:

* activity, interest, opinion (AIOs) * attitudes *values * behavior * expressions * gesture

==Comparison to demographics== Psychographics is often confused with demographics, in which historical generations may be defined both by demographics, such as the years in which a particular generation is born or even the fertility rates of that generation's parents, but also by psychographic variables like attitudes, personality formation, and cultural touchstones. For example, the traditional approaches to defining the Baby Boom Generation, Generation X, or Millennials rely on both demographic variables (classifying individuals based on birth years) and psychographic variables (such as beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviors).

Infusionsoft published an article arguing that customer psychographic segmentation is more useful than demographic information.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Saunders |first=Amy |date=2016-05-09 |title=Why Psychographic Segmentation is Important |language=en |work=Infusionsoft.com |url=https://learn.infusionsoft.com/marketing/email-marketing/why-psychographic-segmentation-is-important/ |access-date=2018-03-20}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== * [http://www.netmba.com/marketing/market/segmentation/ www.netmba.com/marketing/market/segmentation] * [http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes.shtml www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes.shtml] * [https://leefamilyarchive.org/reference/books/bradford/12.html Lee and Psychography], appendix to ''Lee the American'' by Gamaliel Bradford * [http://susangilbert.com/use-psychographic-data-online-marketing/ How to Use Psychographic Data in Online Marketing], by Susan Gilbert

Category:Market research Category:Market segmentation Category:Marketing research Category:Political campaign techniques