El concepto de neuromarketing

NEUROMARKETING

We are in what is called "the era of the brain", where scientific advances have been developed in the recent years; more than ever throughout the history of mankind. This has meant that neuroscience as a scientific discipline is a contribution in all areas of research, defining the biological basis of human behavior. Conduct is an important to study in the field of human behavior. In the case of consumer behavior; decision making in respect of various products and brands in the market becomes the focus of attention.

In recent decades, consumer theory has evolved, from an economic perspective to a neuroeconomist point of view (Streb, 1998; Braidot, 2014). This means that recent advances in neuroscience have allowed the understanding of decision-making processes, where the unconscious factors are the key element (Stanton, Day and Welpe, 2010). So it seems more realistic to consider the consumer as being more "intuitive" than "rational" (Gomez Salgado Velasco, 2012). In this sense, the development of studies of consumers decision making began in the early nineties, when Gary Becker coined the concept of "Homo economicus" (Becker, 1993; Streb, 1998). Becker argued that people are driven solely by utilitarian motives and acts in order to maximize satisfaction of their own interests and their own needs, according to their preferences (Maletta, 2010). Subsequently, the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio refuted the concept of "Homo economicus", adding to the theory the concept of "emotionality" in decision-making (Damasio, 1997). This means that the consumer before making a purchase decision, filed in his mind all the information related to the costs and benefits of the product (López Blasco, 2008). Thus, this is where the theory proposed by Damasio becomes relevant, because through emotional means, human beings seek positive over negative feelings. The economic context, the consumer will prefer a product that will deliver a profit and this response is achieved through emotion located in the subconscious (Damasio, 1997; Ciprian et al, 2000; Thaler , 2000).

In 2002 the paradigm became more visible through studies by Daniel Kahneman (Genco, Pohlmann, Steidl, 2013). Winning the Nobel Prize in economics, he said that most decisions were taken by subconscious or not strictly rational reasons (Kahneman, 2003), plus the fact that the verbal opinions do not always reflect the actions of consumers. More in-depth studies are therefore required (Yoon et. al, 2012). Given this, Kahneman argues that the evaluation of a product could occur consciously, but that the choice as such would be unconscious. The choice could be influenced by other variables such color, shape, sound and weight products (Piqueras-Fiszman and Spence, 2011). In this context, in 2010 Bodenhausen and Todd said that there would be explicit and implicit elements in decision making, so that consumers would not be aware of the influence of the latter (Bodenhausen and Todd, 2010).

So, what are these implicit components affecting consumption decisions for people? According to the German researcher Hans Gearge Häusel, author of ThinkLimbic,

...