Scientific realism: what 'neuromarketing' can and can't tell us about consumers

Graham Page

This article is a summary of the presentation given by Graham Page at the 2011 Research Forum. Having recognised that some decision making is unconscious, some researchers have taken the other extreme and assumed there is no thinking involved in purchase decisions.

Scientific realism: what ‘neuromarketing’ can and can’t tell us about consumers

Graham Page

Millward Brown

 

According to some, ‘neuromarketing’ will change market research and marketing fundamentally. The argument essentially goes: people don’t (and can’t) really know what motivates them, because much of our mental processes are unconscious. So answers on surveys and in qualitative discussions are simply post rationalisations, and, to really understand what is going on, we have to measure the brain directly. This unique revelation of the inner truth is in essence the ‘Big Promise’ of neuromarketing.

There is some truth in this. Converging evidence from neuroscience,...

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