Practical Neuromarketing Research

Overview

The course "Practical Neuromarketing Research" offers a deep dive into the intersection of behavioral science and neuromarketing, equipping you with the tools and knowledge to influence consumer decisions effectively. You will explore key behavior change models, including the neurocognitive influence model, and gain hands-on experience with biometric and neuroimaging tools for data collection. As you develop your research protocols, you’ll learn to apply ethical guidelines to human subject research, ensuring compliance with university and federal standards. By analyzing real-world data, you'll gain practical insights into the mechanisms behind influence, persuasion, and counter-arguing. What sets this course apart is its emphasis on applying theory to practice: from developing experimental designs to exploring cross-cultural neuroscience experiments, you'll walk away with not just knowledge but also the experience needed to advance science and contribute to neuromarketing research. This course is ideal for anyone looking to understand the neuroscience behind consumer behavior and apply it to real-world marketing challenges.

Syllabus

Course Introduction

This course explores models of behavior change, including classical theories and the neurocognitive influence model, with a focus on their application in neuromarketing research. Learners will learn ethical standards for human subjects research and develop research protocols that align with university and federal guidelines. The course also covers experimental design, data collection using biometric and neuroimaging tools, and the analysis of research data. Key skills in counter-arguing and its neural basis are explored within the context of influence theory. Hands-on experience in research analysis and protocol development will be emphasized throughout.

Influence and Human Behavior

This module will introduce the science of influence and persuasion. Understand what drives peoples' behavior and the theory behind influence interventions. These concepts are somewhat counter-intuitive, yet necessary to effectively advance policies, lead teams, and counter the threats of mis and disinformation.

Human Subject Research Fundamentals

This module will explore ethical considerations in human subjects research and neural marketing. You will obtain certification to conduct and support human subjects experimentation.

Experimental Design

This module will learn to analyze data collected from a range of advanced tools, including biometric, psycho-physiological, and neuroimaging instruments.

Data Collection in the Wild

In this module you will be introduced to a portion of a cross-cultural neuroscience experiment to understand neural synchrony/homophily among biased, opposing sectarian pairs of individuals working on a joint task together. This will introduce the capstone final project. The data was collected shortly after the fall of ISIS in Iraq as politics were at a contentious time. Due to funding re-prioritization, the collected data was never fully analyzed, so there are opportunities to discover new and interesting things and publish findings in academic publications. This is where the course gets really fun, interesting, and creative.