Note on Understanding Consumer Behavior

Making the Unobservable Observable 

Introduction

What is it to understand? If we were to understand how people behave, how do we begin to approach the task? What are the mechanisms of the mind or the senses that prompt understanding? Brian Chance (2007) provides key points in his review of Wayne Waxman’s book, “Kant and the Empiricists: Understanding Understanding” published in 2005. The book surveys, as Chance describes it, the separation or linkages of Kant and other rationalists and the empiricists like Locke and Hume in their respective views of human understanding. Are concepts rooted mainly on the intellect or the senses? Rationalism and empiricism gave birth to theories of understanding that revolve around sensibilism, psychologism and associationism. After the intellect, pure intuition, the limits of the senses, etc. are debated, the central issue in Understanding Consumer behavior dwells more on what differentiates human understanding on the basis of character or function.