Psychographics

Not to be confused with psychography.

Psychographics is defined as "market research or statistics classifying population groups according to psychological variables"[1] The term psychographics is derived from the words "psychological" and "demographics"[2] Two common approaches to psychographics include analysis of consumers' activities, interests, and opinions (AIO variables), and values and lifestyles (VALS).[3]

Psychographics have been applied to the study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles.[4] Psychographic segmentation is a technique for grouping populations into sub-groups according to similar psychological variables.[5]

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.[6]

  1. ^ "Definition of PSYCHOGRAPHICS". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  2. ^ Chandler, Daniel; Munday, Rod (2011-01-01), "psychographics", A Dictionary of Media and Communication, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199568758.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-956875-8, retrieved 2023-03-11
  3. ^ Blasius, Jörg; Mühlichen, Andreas (2010-02-01). "Identifying audience segments applying the "social space" approach". Poetics. 38 (1): 69–89. doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2009.10.003. ISSN 0304-422X.
  4. ^ Senise, Jairo (28 September 2007). "Who Is Your Next Customer?". Booz Allen Hamilton Inc, Strategy+Business.
  5. ^ "APA Dictionary of Psychology". dictionary.apa.org. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  6. ^ Resnick, Brian (March 26, 2018). "Cambridge Analytica's "psychographic microtargeting": what's bullshit and what's legit". Vox. New York City: Vox Media. Retrieved February 15, 2020.