MKTG6007 Consumer Behaviour
The Complete Exam Bible · S1 2026MKTG6007 Overview
- University of Sydney
- S1 2026
- 9 chapters
- Marketing
Consumer Behaviour teaches the psychology of how people acquire, use and dispose of offerings — the MAO engine, perception, learning & memory, motivation & attitudes, the consumer decision process, post-purchase behaviour, social & cultural influence, and the self.
- Assessed by Changing Consumer Behaviour Challenge (CCBC) 30% · Group Written Assignment 25% · Group Oral Presentation 20% + 3 more
- Key terms MAO (Motivation, Ability, Opportunity), EAPC chain, Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), Compensatory vs non-compensatory rules
- How to prepare Because there is no exam, do not study to recall — study to apply.
- Most asked What theories does MKTG6007 cover?
What you get in the full MKTG6007 Exam Bible
- 9 chapters, 46 pages — every examinable topic
- 13 original practice questions, most with model answers in the Changing Consumer Behaviour Challenge format
- 9 worked examples, solved the way MKTG6007 marks
- Exam-morning plan for the Changing Consumer Behaviour Challenge (30%) — what to revise last, where marks are lost
Free on this page: assessment table, chapter map, one worked example, key terms, FAQ. The rest is in the full exam bible.
How MKTG6007 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Changing Consumer Behaviour Challenge (CCBC) | 30% | Individual · a self-experiment written up as a CB-theory blog post — the single biggest mark |
| Group Written Assignment | 25% | Group · diagnose a real consumer problem and design a theory-grounded solution |
| Group Oral Presentation | 20% | Group · communicate the problem, its CB explanation and the solution |
| LookBook portfolio | 18% | Individual · a 1.5% post + 1.5% reply + 15% document tagging everyday stimuli to concepts |
| Out-of-Class Quiz | 5% | Individual · open-book, 30 MCQ / true-false in the Week 6 slot |
| Business Research Component | 2% | Individual — confirm the exact split and current weights in your unit outline |
What other students are asking about MKTG6007
- Where can I find lecture notes or study guides for MKTG6007 at USyd?
- The MKTG6007 study guide in AskSia Library covers Consumer Behaviour in 9 chapters, with the assessment table, a chapter-by-chapter topic map, key terms and a worked example, free to read on this page.
- Is there a final exam in MKTG6007?
- No final exam is listed in the offering this AskSia Library guide is built from; MKTG6007 is assessed by Changing Consumer Behaviour Challenge (CCBC) 30%, Group Written Assignment 25%, Group Oral Presentation 20%, LookBook portfolio 18%, Out-of-Class Quiz 5%, Business Research Component 2%.
- What does MKTG6007 cover on perception?
- In AskSia Library's MKTG6007 guide, the Perception chapter explains the EAPC chain · attention & habituation · JND & Weber's Law · sensory marketing.
- What does MKTG6007 cover on learning and memory?
- In AskSia Library's MKTG6007 guide, the Learning and Memory chapter explains classical, evaluative & operant conditioning · the three stores · serial position.
- What does MKTG6007 cover on motivation and attitudes?
- In AskSia Library's MKTG6007 guide, the Motivation and Attitudes chapter explains needs & Maslow · means-end chain · ABC model · the ELM · TORA / TOPB.
What MKTG6007 covers
Nine chapters → one application-ready map of the consumer-behaviour theory MKTG6007 grades you on. Each links to its free chapter guide.
Consumer Behaviour Foundations
What CB is · the MAO engine · the 6-step decision process · high vs low effortConsumer behaviour is the totality of decisions a decision-making unit makes about acquiring, using and disposing of an offering over time — far wider than the moment of purchase.
- 1.1 What consumer behaviour really is — the four clauses
- Consumption = acquire + use + dispose, by a decision-making unit, over time
- 1.2 Why CB sits on a psychological core
- The MAO framework — Motivation, Ability, Opportunity (a logical AND)
- The six-step consumer decision process — and the loop back to memory
- High- vs low-effort decisions & the involvement continuum
Perception
The EAPC chain · attention & habituation · JND & Weber's Law · sensory marketingBefore a consumer can like, learn or buy anything, a stimulus must run a four-link chain: it has to be encountered (Exposure), noticed (Attention), sensed (Perception) and understood (Comprehension) — the EAPC chain.
- 2.1 Exposure — physical contact, selective exposure (zipping & zapping)
- 2.2 Attention — limited, selective, divided
- 2.3 Habituation — attention fades with repetition (ad wear-out)
- Perception & the thresholds — absolute threshold, the JND
- Weber's Law — the JND is a constant ratio of the original stimulus
- 2.4-2.6 Perceptual organisation, sensory marketing & comprehension
Learning and Memory
Classical, evaluative & operant conditioning · the three stores · serial positionConsumers learn brand responses three broad ways: by association (classical and evaluative conditioning), by consequence (operant/instrumental conditioning — reward versus punishment), and by observation (incidental and observational learning, emotional contagion).
- 3.1 Classical conditioning — learning by association (Pavlov, Watson)
- 3.2 Evaluative conditioning — transferring liking to a brand
- 3.3 Operant / instrumental conditioning — reinforcement vs punishment (Skinner)
- 3.4 Learning by watching — incidental, observational, emotional contagion
- Memory — the three stores and the encode → store → retrieve model
- Strengthening memory — chunking, rehearsal, recirculation, elaboration, serial position
Motivation and Attitudes
Needs & Maslow · means-end chain · ABC model · the ELM · TORA / TOPBEvery purchase starts with a felt gap. Motivation is the inner drive that energises and directs behaviour toward closing that gap — the first of MAO's three engines.
- 1.1-1.2 A need is a gap; Maslow's hierarchy as a targeting map
- 1.3-1.4 Motivational conflict; the means-end chain (attribute → consequence → value)
- 2.1 The ABC / tricomponent model; the six characteristics of an attitude
- 2.2 The effort × basis 2×2 (cognitive vs affective, high vs low MAO)
- 2.3-2.4 Cognitive-response model & the match-up hypothesis
- 2.5 The Elaboration Likelihood Model (central vs peripheral)
Consumer Decision Making
Problem recognition · search & judgement biases · compensatory vs non-compensatory rulesThe high-effort decision process runs six steps; this chapter covers the front half — recognising the problem, searching for information, judging the options, and applying a rule to choose — with low-effort decisions running the same skeleton, compressed.
- 3.1 Problem recognition — raise the ideal (opportunity) vs lower the actual (need)
- 3.2 Information search — internal then external; the five sources; search biases
- 3.3 Judgement — likelihood, anchoring & adjustment
- 3.4 Mental & emotional accounting
- 3.5 Judgement biases (confirmation, negativity, self-positivity, mood)
- 3.6-3.7 Decision rules — compensatory vs non-compensatory
Post-Purchase Behaviour
Dissonance & regret · the disconfirmation paradigm · NPS · the complainer typologyThe decision doesn't end at the checkout. Post-purchase evaluation decides repurchase, loyalty, reviews and word-of-mouth, and it applies to both high- and low-effort purchases.
- 4.1-4.2 Post-decision dissonance; regret of action vs inaction (Gilovich)
- 4.3 Satisfaction — the disconfirmation paradigm vs feelings-based satisfaction
- 4.4 NPS vs CSAT — long-term loyalty vs short-term satisfaction
- 4.5 The complainer typology — passives, voicers, irates, activists
- 4.6 Post-purchase learning by hypothesis testing
- 4.7-4.8 Top-dog vs underdog; disposition & meaningful objects
Social and Cultural Influences
Subcultures · social class · normative vs informational influence · household rolesNo consumer decides in a vacuum. Beyond individual psychology sit socio-cultural forces — subcultures, social class, reference groups, family and the immediate situation.
- 5.1-5.2 Subculture; ascribed (sex) vs achieved (gender) status
- 5.3 Gendered marketing & the pink tax
- 5.4-5.6 Social class — indicators, mobility, compensatory consumption, marketing by class
- Reference groups — normative vs informational influence (Deutsch & Gerard)
- 5.7-5.8 Conformity/compliance/obedience; foot-in-the-door; reactance; word-of-mouth
- 5.9-5.10 Household decision roles; situational factors override intention
The Self and Psychographics
Self-concept & extended self · the Big Five · lifestyle (AIO, VALS) · ethics & CSRConsumers do not just buy what a product does; they buy what it says about them.
- 13.1 Self-concept — actual, ideal, social, ideal-social self
- 13.2 The extended self (Belk) — we are what we have
- 13.3 Identity signalling — private to conspicuous; self-congruity
- 13.4 Personality & trait theory — the Big Five (OCEAN) in CB
- 13.5-13.6 Lifestyle & AIO; values & VALS
- 13.7-13.8 Dark-side consumption; CSR, sustainability & the ethical consumer
Applied Consumer Behaviour
The CCBC self-experiment · the group report & oral · theory-to-evidence craftMKTG6007 has no exam — it is assessed entirely by applied work, so this chapter is the unit's signature: how to apply CB theory in the assessments.
- A.1 The one move behind every task (observe → name → map → intervene → reflect)
- A.2 The CCBC (30%) — picking a behaviour and mapping it to theory
- A.3 Gathering evidence — baseline, dated log, lapses
- A.4 Structuring the blog write-up
- A.5-A.6 Group written report (25%) & group oral (20%)
- A.7 Writing & evidence craft — weak vs strong moves
There is no exam: the unit is assessed entirely by applied work, headlined by the 30% Changing Consumer Behaviour Challenge. So this guide teaches each model the way the assessments reward it — defined plainly, anchored to a real brand, then pointed at the move that earns marks: name the behaviour, name the CB mechanism, back it with evidence.
MKTG6007 cheatsheet for exam revision
AskSia publishes a free MKTG6007 cheatsheet for exam revision, a study sheet that follows the official permitted-materials rule for this assessment and condenses the topics in this guide. Open the MKTG6007 cheatsheet.
Worked example · free
Diagnose a habit with CB theory — the move every task rewards
- +1Name the behaviour precisely. Not “snacking” — a cue-triggered, low-effort consumption habit: the 3 pm slump is a recurring cue.
- +1Diagnose the learning. Classical conditioning — the 3 pm cue (CS) has been paired so often with the sugar reward (US) that the cue alone now triggers the craving (CR).
- +1Add the operant layer. The behaviour is sustained by operant reinforcement — the sugar hit rewards the act, making it more likely to repeat (a habit, not a decision).
- +1Read the MAO & attitude. It is low-MAO, peripheral-route processing; the stated wish to stop is an attitude that fails the TORA/TOPB intention–behaviour gap.
- +1Design the intervention. Use cue control (remove the 3 pm trigger) and substitute a new reinforcer (a walk, a tea) so the loop is re-routed, not just resisted.
- +1Evidence & reflect. Baseline first, keep a dated log of cue–feeling–context, then read the result through the disconfirmation paradigm — mechanism, not willpower.
Key terms
- MAO (Motivation, Ability, Opportunity)
- The unit's spine framework: a consumer processes an offering deeply only when all three switches are present. It is a logical AND, not an average — high motivation and ability still produce nothing if opportunity is missing.
- EAPC chain
- Perception's four links — Exposure → Attention → Perception → Comprehension. Each is a precondition for the next, so a message that fails does so because one link broke (never seen, ignored, too faint, or misread).
- Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
- Persuasion travels one of two routes set by the consumer's MAO: the central route (high MAO, processing the message's merits, building strong attitudes) or the peripheral route (low MAO, leaning on cues like source, music or repetition, building weak ones).
- Compensatory vs non-compensatory rules
- How consumers combine attributes into a choice. A compensatory rule lets a strong attribute offset a weak one (a weighted sum); a non-compensatory rule does not — fall below a cutoff on a key attribute (conjunctive, disjunctive, lexicographic, elimination-by-aspects) and you are out, however strong elsewhere.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- A loyalty metric from one question — “how likely are you to recommend us, 0–10?” NPS = %Promoters (9–10) − %Detractors (0–6); passives (7–8) are excluded. It measures long-term advocacy, where CSAT measures short-term satisfaction with one touchpoint.
MKTG6007 FAQ
Is MKTG6007 hard?
Conceptually it is approachable — the models are intuitive once anchored to a brand. The difficulty is that there is no exam to revise for: every mark comes from applying a theory to a real consumer with evidence, so the challenge is precision and analysis, not memorisation. Pure description of a campaign or habit is the most common way to lose marks.
How is MKTG6007 assessed?
Entirely by applied and continuous work, with no final exam. The biggest single piece is the Changing Consumer Behaviour Challenge (30%) — a self-experiment written up as a CB-theory blog post — alongside a group written report (25%), a group oral (20%), the LookBook portfolio (18%), an open-book quiz (5%) and a small research component (2%). Confirm this year's exact split in your unit outline.
What is the Changing Consumer Behaviour Challenge (CCBC)?
The headline 30% assessment: you change one of your own consumption behaviours over the semester (cutting spend, reducing sugar / social media, exercising more), document the journey with a dated log, then write it up as a mock blog post that interprets the whole experience through CB theory. It is an n=1 self-experiment — rigour comes from honest evidence and tight theory, not sample size.
What theories does MKTG6007 cover?
The psychological core: the MAO framework, the EAPC perception chain, classical/operant learning and memory, motivation (needs, Maslow, the means-end chain), attitudes (the ABC model, the ELM, TORA/TOPB), the consumer decision process and its biases, post-purchase behaviour (dissonance, satisfaction, NPS), social and cultural influence, and the self (self-concept, personality, lifestyle/psychographics, ethics & CSR).
The set text is Hoyer, MacInnis & Pieters.
Is using AskSia for MKTG6007 cheating?
No. AskSia is a study reference written in our own words — we host none of your lecturer's files, and Sia teaches you the method (how to pin a CB theory to a real consumer with evidence) to earn the marks; it does not complete or submit your assessments.
Questions students ask in each MKTG6007 chapter
- Is consumer behaviour just about buying?
- No — that is the most common misread. CB is the totality of decisions about acquiring, using and disposing of an offering over time. Cutting takeaway coffee, for example, involves the buying trigger (acquisition), the ritual it is wrapped in (usage) and the cups and waste (disposition). Analysing all three phases, not just purchase, is what the assessments reward. Chapter 01 · Consumer Behaviour Foundations
- Why is EAPC a chain and not a list?
- Because each link is a precondition for the next, so the chain can break at exactly one point. A billboard nobody drives past gets no exposure; an ad you skip gets no attention; a jingle too quiet gets no perception; a clever pun in a language you don't read gets no comprehension. Diagnosing which link broke, then prescribing the fix for that link, is the analytical move the assessments reward. Chapter 02 · Perception
- What is the difference between classical and operant conditioning?
- Classical is learning an association between stimuli, before any behaviour — pair a brand with nice music and you come to like the brand. Operant is learning from the consequence of a behaviour you already performed — you bought, it rewarded you, so you buy again. One conditions feeling; the other conditions action. Mixing them up is the most common error in this chapter. Chapter 03 · Learning and Memory
- How do marketers create a need they can't manufacture?
- They cannot conjure a need from nothing, but they can widen an existing actual–ideal gap. Two moves: raise the ideal (“you could be safer / smarter / more admired” — aspirational appeals) or lower the perceived actual (“you're not as protected as you think” — problem-led appeals). Both increase the felt tension that motivates action. Chapter 04 · Motivation and Attitudes
- What is the difference between need recognition and opportunity recognition?
- Both open the actual–ideal gap that fires problem recognition, but from opposite ends. Need recognition lowers the perceived actual state — making the present feel inadequate or unsafe (“you're not as protected as you think”). Opportunity recognition raises the ideal state — showing a better possible self or life (a phone that “reinvents” the category lifts what people think they should expect). Marketers can trigger either. Chapter 05 · Consumer Decision Making
- What is the difference between dissonance and regret?
- Post-decision dissonance is anxious doubt about whether the right choice was made — it spikes after expensive, hard-to-reverse purchases and is reduced by reassurance and confirming reviews. Regret is the stronger belief that the wrong choice was made (buyer's remorse). The course adds a time twist: regret of action fades short-term, while regret of inaction lingers long-term, and the biggest life regret is not becoming the ideal self. Chapter 06 · Post-Purchase Behaviour
- What is the difference between sex and gender in this unit?
- The course frames it as ascribed versus achieved status. Sex is ascribed — assigned at birth, biological (hormones, anatomy). Gender is achieved — socially constructed and learned through socialisation (Lindsey). The marketing consequence is that because gender is learned, gendered marketing both reflects and reinforces it, which is why it can entrench stereotypes (and the pink tax) or, used differently, break them as a strategy. Chapter 07 · Social and Cultural Influences
- How does the self-concept connect to the rest of the unit?
- It is the same actual–ideal machinery. The gap between the actual self (how I see myself now) and the ideal self (how I'd like to be) is a need — an actual-vs-ideal-state gap — so brands that promise to close it (fitness, skincare, education) are running the “raise the ideal state = opportunity recognition” move from decision-making. The self also surfaces in post-purchase regret (not reaching the ideal self), disposition (meaningful objects), and social class (compensatory consumption). Chapter 08 · The Self and Psychographics
- What does “apply” actually mean in this unit?
- It means showing the mechanism operating in your specific case, not name-dropping a theory. “This is classical conditioning” earns little; “the jingle (CS) had been paired with the reward of the snack (US) so often that hearing it alone triggered my craving (CR) at 3pm” earns the mark. The two killers are theory too loose (“motivation” instead of “low-perceived-relevance, low-MAO processing”) and assertion without evidence — so tie every theory to a datum. Chapter 09 · Applied Consumer Behaviour
How to study for the exam
Because there is no exam, do not study to recall — study to apply.
Pick one real behaviour now (ideally your CCBC behaviour) and read every model asking “how does this explain me doing this?” For every chapter, drill the one move the markers reward: (1) name the consumer behaviour precisely, (2) name the CB mechanism that explains it (cite the model — MAO, habituation, operant reinforcement, peripheral-route attitude, a non-compensatory rule), (3) back it with concrete evidence.
The killer combo for habit work is operant + classical + cue control; the killer trap across every task is pure description — “this ad is colourful and fun” instead of “this ad uses peripheral cues to build a low-effort affective attitude via mere exposure.”
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