Neuromarketing and Consumer Free Will

Abstract

This article examines the impact of discoveries and methods of neuroscience on marketing practices as they relate to the exercise of individual free will. Thus, our focus centers on ethical questions involving consumers’ awareness, consent, and understanding to what may be viewed as invasion of their privacy rights. After a brief introduction, the article turns to scientific literature on the brain, followed by discussion of marketing persuasion models. Ethical dilemmas within the free will paradigm and Rawlsian justice developed in moral philosophy are delineated next. The article closes with policy implications and a revised consideration of consumer privacy.

Debates éticos en torno al neuromarketing político: el avance tecnológico y su potencial incidencia en la formación de la opinión pública

“…Las visiones distópicas donde el desarrollo tecnológico amenaza la autonomía de la ciudadanía es una de las imágenes que suele acompañar a las descripciones críticas del neuromarketing. Preocupación a la que se suele sumar otras como la amenaza de los potenciales dominadores -dictadores o personajes políticos poco deseables-de estas técnicas (Wilson, Gaines & Hill, 2008) o las consecuencias que puedan tener sobre la salud pública en su versión de neuromarketing comercial (Herman, 2005).…”

Consumer Neuroscience: Pricing Research to Gain and Sustain a Cutting Edge Competitive Advantage by Improving Customer Value and Profitability

“…Another respondent adds that the equipment needs to be made more -user friendly‖. Wilson et al (2008) predicts that the technological advancements will contribute to alleviating these limitations.…”

“…In addition, Quartz (2008) claims that many neuroscientists consider the fMRI technology as an extremely limited tool. However, Wilson et al (2008) explains that improvements in hardware and software technologies continue to increase the spatial and temporal resolutions of the images and the accuracy of tracking changes in brain activity over time. Moreover, Lohrenz and Montague (2008, p. 458) argue that fMRI has a reasonable resolution in both the spatial and temporal domains for investigating human behaviour.…”

“…(Hubert, 2008) Additionally, -the scarcity of theoretical foundation makes general predictions difficult‖. (Hubert, 2008) In contrast, Wilson et al (2008) explains that improvements in hardware and software technologies continue to improve the spatial and temporal resolutions of the images and by that the clarity of each image and the accuracy of tracking changes in brain activity over time. Eventually, Miller et al (2008, p. 55) suggests that one of the most exciting developments in imaging is the combined use of information from fMRI and MEG.…”

“…fMRI is able to locate active systems by comparing images taken of a brain when performing a specific activity to those images of the brain when that activity is not performed. For example, -memories triggered by visual stimuli are stored throughout the cerebral cortex and recalled through the hippocampus located deep in each brain hemisphere; the stored emotional memories and valences are processed by the amygdala, another nerve bundle located near the base of each hemisphere.‖ (Wilson, Gaines, & Hill, 2008) Quartz (2008) suggests that while fMRI has rapidly developed, it has basic limitations, including the -temporal properties of the haemodynamic response‖, its relation to underlying physiological events, and limited spatial resolution. He explains that neuroscientists typically regard fMRI as a convergent technique together with evidence from other neural sources such as data from animal models and -computational accounts‖.…”