Abstract

In business and the academic world, they usually try to understand consumer behavior by considering the interaction between the consumers and environment. It is the reason that there is the constant interaction between the consumers and market environment. After the industrialization, korean companies were only concentrated on production. But they started paying more attention to consumers since mid and late 80's. At that time, the competition among companies had been accelerating due to the development of science and technology. Then the companies and scholars regarded consumers as information-processors and adopted the positivist way of research because the consumers had to consume as rationally as possible with their limited income. But the radical change of social, economic and cultural environments such as the increase of income, appearance of internet and entrance of global companies into the domestic market occurred as we entered 21st century. The companies and academic world wanted to know what the changed market environment is and what the psychological and behavioral characteristics of the consumers who interact with that environment. For that reason, this research chvides the research subject of consumer and advertising psychology into six categories of advertising perception, the measurement of advertising effect, rationality and impulsiveness of purchasing behavior, the consumption area such as goods buying behavior and service using behavior, the cultural influence on consumer behavior, and consumption space. Then we will propose the context and new directions of research.