Marketing Psychology

[wallsofblue]

Hey everyone!

 

I'm currently in a MS Experimental Psychology program and hope to have my Master's by Spring 2016. I have been wanting to go on to a PhD Clinical Psychology program but after applying to a bunch of programs in Fall 2013, I have realized that it's even more competitive than I thought.

 

After a few months of grad school, I have decided that eventually, I would like to work in the private sector in something related to marketing psychology and consumer behavior. I'm trying to look up programs online but I don't know whether I should pursue PhD programs for Social, I/O, or Marketing.

 

If anybody has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it!

[lewin]

My feeling, based on conversations with friends in that area, is that the private sector would like a business school (i.e., marketing department) better than the other two areas and, even more importantly, a place with good name recognition.  Like social psychology at Duke or Harvard is better than Marketing at Podunk U.

 

If you're going into academia then the reputation of your advisor matters more than the particular program; there's increasing overlap between social psychology and marketing.

[wallsofblue]

My feeling, based on conversations with friends in that area, is that the private sector would like a business school (i.e., marketing department) better than the other two areas and, even more importantly, a place with good name recognition.  Like social psychology at Duke or Harvard is better than Marketing at Podunk U.

 

If you're going into academia then the reputation of your advisor matters more than the particular program; there's increasing overlap between social psychology and marketing.

 

Thank you for your insight! I don't know anyone else who is interested in this area so this is very helpful. I think I'll speak to a professor at my university who started off in the field of psychology and then specialized in marketing. That way, I can get an idea of what I'll need to do to prepare for PhD application season next fall!

[FinallyAccepted]

When I was looking around at different programs for social psych, it seemed that there were a number of universities where my SOP actually had a dual position in the psychology and business departments (i.e. Northwestern, U of Chicago). Maybe schools like that would be good for you if you're not sure exactly which route to go.

[wallsofblue]

When I was looking around at different programs for social psych, it seemed that there were a number of universities where my SOP actually had a dual position in the psychology and business departments (i.e. Northwestern, U of Chicago). Maybe schools like that would be good for you if you're not sure exactly which route to go.

 

Thank you! I'll definitely look into something like that because it sounds ideal. I have been searching online and it seems like it is more common to see business departments incorporating social psychology and consumer behavior. I'm struggling to find social psychology programs that have faculty who specialize in marketing but I'll have to search more extensively.

[lewin]

Thank you! I'll definitely look into something like that because it sounds ideal. I have been searching online and it seems like it is more common to see business departments incorporating social psychology and consumer behavior. I'm struggling to find social psychology programs that have faculty who specialize in marketing but I'll have to search more extensively.

 

haha, that's because if you're a social psychologist who does marketing, then you get a job in a marketing department and get paid 3x as much   But seriously, yes, I think what you're saying is harder to find. You may have to look for cross-appointed people (like shana said) or think about more mainstream social psychology topics that could be expanded into marketing applications.

 

Off the top of my head, these are business schools with lots of social psychologists: Northwestern, Stanford, Columbia, Chicago, Fuqua/Duke, Wharton/Penn, Harvard, Rotman/Toronto.

Edited December 3, 2014 by lewin

[wallsofblue]

haha, that's because if you're a social psychologist who does marketing, then you get a job in a marketing department and get paid 3x as much   But seriously, yes, I think what you're saying is harder to find. You may have to look for cross-appointed people (like shana said) or think about more mainstream social psychology topics that could be expanded into marketing applications.

 

Off the top of my head, these are business schools with lots of social psychologists: Northwestern, Stanford, Columbia, Chicago, Fuqua/Duke, Wharton/Penn, Harvard, Rotman/Toronto.

 

That is very true! I don't hear much about people who are interested in both social psych and marketing so I wonder how competitive it is to get into a PhD program in either one of the fields. Part of the reason why I'm changing career plans is because the PhD clinical psych programs were too competitive.

 

Thank you to you and shana for the advice about cross-appointed people and school suggestions. I'm finishing up my first semester of an MS Experimental Psych program with a mentor who specializes in social cognition so for my thesis, I'm thinking of collaborating with a professor from the marketing department who has a background in psychology.