In Response to Laura's post...

Should we be more careful when it comes to sharing information online? Or do you think that this information will inevitably be found when scouring the web? And do you share/post a lot of your own personal information online? Why or why not?

Personal information being available on the Internet has been one of the greatest advances in technology, but one of the most risky at the same time. With information being on the Internet it can bring unwanted things, such as credit card information stolen to being stalked. I do think everyone should be more careful when sharing information online. Like Laura said, it is important to make more stuff on networking sites private, because you really don't know who's actually looking at your information. Recently my family told me about how easy it is to access information online. With just the click of a button and my name in the name field, I was able to view a lot of information that I thought was private. It listed my mothers name, fathers name, sisters name, our house phone number, and our exact mailing location. At first I thought it was illegal, but when I did some research I found out that it was in fact "public information" that is able to be found anywhere. This really stunned me. As for stalkers they can easily access your information for free on the Internet. After this circumstance I do believe personal information can be found on the Internet. As for private information such as social security numbers etc. I do not believe that will be posted on the Internet. As for myself posting my own personal information online, I do but not a lot. On my facebook page I do not have my full birth date like Laura. I also set almost all of my stuff to private so my friends are the only ones that are able to view my personal information. I do not list my address or any direct contact information. The only flaw to making my profile private is the ability for one to hack into my profile and see the information. People can also track where you are by your ISP address in your computer. I have already seen in the news that this is causing problems. Not only were people being stalked to where they drove to but they could also be found through their ISP address. Do you believe that eventually there will not be privacy what so ever?

Psychological Influences on the Buying Decision Process

There are many psychological influences on the customer during their decision when buying a product. According to Marketing Express, psychological influences determines people's general behavior and influence their behavior as consumers. The main psychological influences on consumer behavior are perception, motives, learning, attitudes, personality, self concept and lifestyles. When a customer is perceiving, this is the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information inputs to produce a meaning. These information inputs are received through the five senses. Perception has a three step process to it. The first is selective exposure, where the consumer is selecting inputs to be exposed to their awareness and ignoring others. The second is selective distortion. With this, a customer changes and twists information when it is inconsistent with their own opinion. The last is selective retention. A person would be doing this if they were only remembering information inputs that supports their decision. Motives are the second type of psychological influences. Motives are internal energy force that brings a persons behavior to satisfy needs. Patron motives are important for any marketer. Since these motives influence where a person purchases products on a regular basis, means a new firm must come up with new ideas to get them to shop at their company. Learning is also a psychological influence. Any firm would want the consumer to learn only the best things about the firm. If a consumer learns new information they are happy with, it can attract more customers to the company. Attitudes are also psychological influences. Since customers have different preferences, their attitude could be beneficial to your company or not. A way to measure consumer attitudes is through the attitude scale. Ones personality and self concept are also psychological influences in the buying decision process. Once again, based on the different preferences of the customer may or may not attract them to your company. Lifestyle is the last psychological influence. Lifestyle is an individuals pattern of living expressed through their interests and opinions. For an example of this, if you are coming out with a new very high end retail store. You may want to locate yourself in a place where there is a high standard of living, like New York city. Do you think psychological influences are an important aspect if you are working in the marketing industry?