Syllabus in 60: Buyer Behavior
Friday, October 10, 2025
Faculty research is embedded throughout the courses taught at Minnesota Carlson. Here’s a 60-second breakdown of one of the many classes leaving an impact on students.
MSMK 6055: Buyer Behavior
If a marketer’s job begins and ends with the consumer, then understanding how that consumer thinks, feels, and acts isn’t just helpful, it’s essential. Taught by Professor William Hedgcock, a leading researcher in consumer behavior and the neuroscience of choice, Buyer Behavior dives deep into what drives decision-making in the marketplace. Hedgcock brings his expertise—from eye tracking to functional brain imaging—into the classroom, helping students decode behavioral patterns and translate them into marketing impact across various platforms.
5 Takeaways
- Buyer Behavior is a required course for graduate students in the Master of Marketing program.
- Students explore how internal factors, like motivation and perception, and external ones, like culture and social influence, impact consumer behavior.
- Students learn to apply behavioral findings directly to decisions around product design, pricing, promotion, and distribution.
- Touch is one example of a factor influencing consumers. Hedgcock’s research shows shoppers resonate more when a photo or virtual reality experience shows a hand touching a product. This effect increases a willingness to buy and a feeling of psychological ownership of the product.
- “You can’t influence a choice without understanding what drives it,” says Hedgcock. “This class helps students decode those drivers and turn them into action.”