2027 Top Consumer Psychology Master’s Programs

Explore Graduate Pathways That Bridge Psychology, Marketing, and Human Behavior

Consumer psychology is the study of how people think, feel, and act in marketplace settings. It blends psychology, marketing, and behavioral economics to understand what drives buying behavior, brand loyalty, and decision-making. As businesses increasingly rely on psychological insights to shape their branding, product development, and user experiences, interest in consumer psychology master’s programs has grown.

While few graduate programs are titled “consumer psychology” outright, many degrees in applied psychology, behavioral science, marketing, and related fields offer coursework and training that align closely with consumer-focused career paths. These programs prepare students for roles in market research, branding, UX, and behavioral consulting—even if the degree name doesn’t reflect “consumer psychology” directly.

This guide highlights some of the top graduate programs for 2027 that provide strong foundations in consumer behavior and decision science, helping students identify flexible, credible, and career-aligned options.

What Is Consumer Psychology — and How Is It Taught at the Master’s Level?

Consumer psychology focuses on how individuals make decisions in the marketplace—what captures their attention, how emotions influence purchasing, and why certain brands stick. It draws from areas like cognitive psychology, social psychology, behavioral economics, and marketing to examine buyer motivation, brand perception, and the psychology behind consumer choice.

At the master’s level, consumer psychology is rarely offered as a standalone degree. Instead, relevant coursework is typically embedded in broader programs. Common topics include:

• Attention and memory in advertising – Understanding how consumers process brand messages and retain information
  
• Social influence and purchasing behavior – How peer pressure, authority, and social norms impact buying decisions
  
• Emotion, identity, and branding – Exploring how feelings and self-concept affect product loyalty and consumer habits
  
• Cultural psychology and consumer values – How background and identity shape preferences and expectations
  

These themes are often covered in degrees such as:

• MS or MA in Psychology (with electives in consumer or business psychology)
  
• MS in Behavioral Science or Decision Science
  
• MS in Applied Psychology or Social Psychology
  
• MA in Marketing with integrated psychology coursework

To explore the range of degree types, prospective students can review this breakdown of types of psychology master’s degrees.

It’s important to note that most consumer psychology research roles in academic or experimental settings require PhD-level training. However, a master’s degree can still lead to impactful careers in:

• Applied market and consumer research
  
• UX and human-centered design
  
• Behavioral marketing or brand strategy
  
• Consulting and organizational insights
  

Master’s programs provide essential skills in behavioral analysis, research design, and communication—preparing graduates to apply consumer psychology in real-world business contexts.

What to Look for in a Consumer Psychology–Relevant Program

Because programs titled specifically as “consumer psychology” are rare, it’s important to evaluate broader degree options with a critical eye toward relevance. Whether you’re targeting a role in market research, UX, or brand strategy, the right program should blend psychological theory with practical, business-facing applications.

Degree Titles to Explore

Relevant master’s programs often appear under different names, including:

• MS in Psychology – With tracks or electives in consumer behavior, social psychology, or applied psychology
  
• MA in Marketing – Especially those offering concentrations in consumer insights or behavioral marketing
  
• MS in Behavioral Science or Decision Science – Emphasizing human behavior, motivation, and decision-making
  
• MS in Applied Psychology – Often includes coursework in persuasion, branding, and data-driven consumer research
  

Rather than focusing solely on a program’s title, examine the curriculum and specialization options to ensure consumer psych alignment.

Key Criteria to Prioritize

To identify a program that supports your career goals, look for the following:

• Relevant Curriculum
  Courses in areas such as:
  
  • Consumer behavior and decision-making
    
  • Behavioral economics or decision theory
    
  • Persuasion and attitude change
    
  • Psychology of branding and identity
    
  • Social and cultural influences on buying behavior
    
• Applied or Research-Based Project Opportunities
  Capstone projects, thesis options, or client-facing work that lets you apply theory to real-world consumer challenges.
  
• Faculty Expertise
  Professors with research or professional experience in marketing psychology, behavioral research, or consumer behavior.
  
• Internship or Industry Engagement
  Opportunities to gain hands-on experience through research labs, marketing agencies, or UX design projects.
  
• Program Format and Flexibility
  Many consumer psych–relevant programs are available online or in hybrid formats, supporting part-time, full-time, or accelerated paths—ideal for working professionals.
  

Choosing the right program involves more than just finding the right degree name. By focusing on curriculum content, faculty expertise, and applied learning opportunities, you can find a master’s program that prepares you to translate psychological insights into strategic consumer outcomes.

The 8 Best Consumer Psychology Master’s Programs (2027)

The programs featured below were selected based on research into master’s-level psychology programs that offer a strong focus on consumer psychology—whether through specialized tracks, concentrations, or coursework. These programs can provide valuable preparation for careers in marketing, branding, user experience, and other fields where understanding consumer behavior is key.

As with any program list, it’s important to keep in mind that the best option for any individual student depends on their specific goals, background, and circumstances. While this list provides a useful starting point, prospective students are encouraged to explore these and other programs further, and to visit official program pages for the most up-to-date information.

Program	Total cost	Length
The Chicago School — M.A. Behavioral Economics	$65,655	40 credits · ~2 years
Franklin University — M.S. Business Psychology	$25,240	36 credits · 14 months min.
USC — M.S. Applied Psychology	$86,505	34 units · 9 mo campus / 16 mo online
Touro University Worldwide — M.A. Psychology	$18,200	36 credits · 12 months
NYU — M.A. Psychology, Consumer Psychology focus	$92,264	36 credits · 2 years
Cornell — M.P.S. Applied Economics & Management	$74,647	30 credits · 2 semesters
National University — M.S. Marketing	$24,040	30 credits · 10 courses
Penn — Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences	$74,598	9 course units · 1.5 years

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Chicago, IL (100% online) · Private nonprofit · WSCUC-accredited

If you want the deepest guaranteed consumer coursework on this list, this is it, and it is not close. Seven required courses — 22 of the 40 credit hours — are on the subject, and the six elective credits all come from an organizational-psychology list, which means the consumer content sits entirely in the required core and every admitted student completes all of it. No other program here has a required core that is majority on-vertical. It runs fully online with no residency and three starts a year, at $65,655 for the degree. The case for ranking it first is the curriculum, not the brand — and the caveats travel with it: no outcome data is published at any level, and no verified program-level ranking exists.

• Program page: The Chicago School — M.A. in Behavioral Economics
• Format: 100% online, no residency (catalog-confirmed) · ~2 years full-time · three starts a year
• Credits: 40 credit hours — 34 required core, 6 elective
• Required consumer coursework: Fundamentals of Behavioral Economics; Brain and Behavior; Social Cognition and Information Processing; Choice Architecture; Consumer Motivation; and both the qualitative and quantitative consumer research methods courses — all required, none either/or
• Culminating requirement: Applied Research Project, a six-term sequence
• Admissions: 3.0 GPA guideline · transcripts, résumé, two statements of 250–500 words · $50 fee · no GRE
• Accreditation: WSCUC institutional; no programmatic accreditor exists for this field
• Aid: Title IV eligible · 10% military rate · 25% alumni rate · employer-partner rate (amount unpublished) — not stackable, not combinable with scholarships
• Availability: All 50 states, DC and the territories
• Best for: working marketing, finance, research or policy professionals who want applied consumer decision science and need it fully online

Tuition & Total Cost

Based on $1,509 per credit hour for AY 2026-27 against the catalog’s 40 credits, plus the $415 institutional service fee charged every term enrolled across twelve terms, a $215 degree-conferral fee and a one-time $100 academic-success-lab fee. Confirm current rates on the tuition and fees page.

• Full-time, two years: 40 credit hours · $65,655 total indicated cost (TIC)

Part-time students pay more: the institutional service fee is charged per term, not per degree, so a longer path adds fees without adding credits.

Key Faculty

• Elizabeth Schwab, Psy.D., founding chair of the program (2014) — behavioral economics and behavioral finance: human irrationality against rational-consumer models, and bias in healthcare decision-making; co-author of a 2024 paper evaluating robo-advisors through a behavioral-finance lens in Frontiers in Behavioral Economics
• Noelle Newhouse, Ph.D., Professor and Program Chair, Business Psychology division — I-O psychology: training and development, performance management, organizational diversity, survey methodology; co-author of “Student Success Factors in Graduate Psychology Professional Programs” in Online Learning

The bench is teaching-weighted rather than research-weighted — the right shape for a practitioner degree, the wrong one if the master’s is a doctoral springboard. The program chair role transitioned in 2025.

Columbus, OH (100% online) · Private nonprofit · HLC-accredited

Franklin has no electives at all. All nine courses are required, and two are squarely on-subject: PSYC 605 Psychology of Marketing, which carries the consumer-behavior content, and PSYC 604 Behavioral Economics and Neurofinance. That structural guarantee outranks a larger course catalogue — a long elective list is an opportunity to take consumer coursework, a no-elective curriculum is a commitment that you will. At $25,240 for 36 credits against a 14-month published minimum, it is the best cost-to-curriculum ratio in the group and roughly a third of USC’s total.

• Program page: Franklin University — M.S. in Business Psychology
• Format: 100% online · four starts a year · no published application deadlines
• Credits: 36 credit hours — nine 4-credit courses, all required, no electives, no concentrations
• Required consumer coursework: PSYC 605 Psychology of Marketing and PSYC 604 Behavioral Economics and Neurofinance — every admitted student takes both
• Culminating requirement: PSYC 609 Business Psychology Mastery Demonstration — a self-selected major project with an assigned instructor
• Admissions: Bachelor’s + 2.75 GPA · GRE/GMAT only if the GPA threshold is not met · application fee, essay, letters and English-proficiency thresholds all unpublished on reachable pages
• Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission institutional; no programmatic accreditor exists for this field
• Aid: FAFSA aid · GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon · 50+ scholarships open to graduate students · per-credit rate locked at enrollment for up to three years
• Transfer credit: A 12-credit graduate cap is published, including some corporate training and certifications — but whether the full 12 applies to this 36-credit program is not stated, and neither are the grade, recency or sending-institution rules
• Availability: All 50 states and territories
• Best for: working business professionals who want fast, online applied behavioural science at the lowest credible cost-to-curriculum ratio here — and who are not aiming at clinical practice

Do not confuse this degree with Franklin’s MBA specialization in business psychology. Different degree, different curriculum. And 14 months is a published minimum, not an average.

Tuition & Total Cost

Based on $690 per credit hour, Franklin’s published standard master’s rate for AY 2026-27, against the catalog’s 36 credits, plus the $100 resource fee charged each semester. Confirm current rates on the tuition and fees page.

• Full-time, 14-month minimum: 36 credit hours · $25,240 total indicated cost (TIC)

Key Faculty

Franklin publishes no program faculty roster, which limits what can be verified. Two instructors are identifiable:

• Brenda Jones, Ph.D., Department Chair for Communications, Behavioral and Natural Sciences and Assistant Dean of Instruction; teaches PSYC 607 — organizational and leadership communication, emotional intelligence and teamwork, and communication with AI including AI ethics; holds a SOCHE Excellence Award and the student-nominated Robert L. Bailey Award for graduate teaching
• Jeffrey Ferezan, Ph.D., adjunct faculty and doctoral faculty advisor — teaches the managerial psychology coursework in this program and in Franklin’s doctoral programs; multiple teaching awards including a student-nominated Bailey Award

Both are teaching-and-practice faculty rather than active consumer-psychology researchers. If faculty research alignment is central to your decision, this is the program’s weakest dimension and its cost is the counterweight.

Los Angeles, CA · Private nonprofit (R1) · WSCUC-accredited

MAPP is built on two pillars — organizational psychology and consumer psychology — and PSYC 552 Consumer Psychology is required of every student in both formats, with up to two elective slots available for adjacent coursework in UX research or cross-cultural applied psychology. The faculty is the strongest practitioner bench here for consumer work. USC runs two formats, a roughly 9-month residential program and a roughly 16-month online one, and the real per-unit rate is USC’s catalogue figure of $2,539, not the $2,354 published on the outside marketing site — a $6,290 difference across the degree. No program-level completion or outcome data exists in either format.

• Program page: USC MAPP curriculum
• Format: Two formats — ~9 months residential in Los Angeles, or ~16 months online. Residential admits Fall only; online has Spring, Summer and Fall entries
• Credits: 34 units — 18-unit core plus three electives
• Required consumer coursework: PSYC 552 Consumer Psychology, required in both formats, plus up to two adjacent electives (User Experience Research; Cross-Cultural Psychology in Applied Settings)
• Culminating requirement: Online format carries a 240-hour practicum across one semester with a concurrent course. Whether the residential format carries the same hour count is not stated, though both list the same internship course
• Admissions: Holistic, no minimum GPA · 3 letters · 750-word statement · $120 fee · the GRE is not mentioned anywhere in the requirements
• Accreditation: WSCUC institutional; no programmatic accreditor exists for this field
• Aid: Federal loans · MAPP fellowships · five alumni scholarships · no employer or military rate found
• Availability: The online format is not offered in Mississippi, North Dakota or Puerto Rico; New Jersey is undetermined, and a further seven states (Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington, West Virginia) approve USC’s online programs only conditionally. Find your state in USC’s four-tier authorization table before applying
• Best for: career-changers aiming at consumer insights, UX research or organisational roles who want a named-university credential and can absorb the cost

The online format’s marketing site is run by Boundless Learning, an outside education partner, rather than by USC. That is where the lower tuition figure comes from.

Tuition & Total Cost

Based on $2,539 per unit — USC’s own catalogue rate for Fall 2026, which states tuition is identical for resident and nonresident students — against 34 units, plus the $55 graduate new-student fee and four semesters of the $20 programming fee and $11 student-aid fund fee. Confirm current rates in the USC Catalogue tuition and fees table.

• Online format, ~16 months: 34 units · $86,505 total indicated cost (TIC)

A residential student pays more: the programming fee is higher on campus, and a transportation fee and a non-optional health fee both apply.

Key Faculty

• Jorge Barraza, Ph.D., Program Director and Associate Professor (Teaching) — the program’s principal consumer-psychology voice: consumer behavior, consumer neuroscience, experience design, and the psychology of entertainment; built a peer-reviewed record in social and affective neuroscience before the teaching appointment
• Jason Buhle, Ph.D., Associate Professor (Practice) — teaches the UX research and methods side; first author of a heavily cited meta-analysis of human neuroimaging studies on cognitive reappraisal of emotion in Cerebral Cortex, one of the most-cited papers in emotion regulation

The bench is weighted toward professors of practice rather than research chairs — deliberate for an applied degree, a tradeoff if a doctorate is next.

Los Alamitos, CA (100% online) · Private nonprofit · WSCUC-accredited

At $18,200 this is the lowest total cost on the list by a wide margin — the next-lowest is $24,040 and the highest is $92,264 — and the fee schedule is the reason as much as the tuition: technology, library, media, ID and student-service fees are all listed at $0, leaving a single one-time $200 degree-audit charge as the only mandatory non-tuition cost. It qualifies for this list on one course: MPS 616 Principles of Consumer Psychology, required of every student in the 27-credit core. That is a real basis and a narrow one. This is a general applied psychology master’s with a consumer course in the core, not a consumer psychology program — if you want depth in the subject, the three programs above it offer substantially more.

• Program page: TUW M.A. in Psychology curriculum
• Format: 100% online · six 8-week terms per year · six starts a year on rolling admission, no deadline · 12 months full-time
• Credits: 36 credit hours — 27-credit core plus a 9-credit concentration
• Required consumer coursework: MPS 616 Principles of Consumer Psychology — consumer choice theory, cognitive and motivational processes, how consumer behavior shifted from the 1800s through the 2000s, and the research methods used to study it
• Culminating requirement: MPS 690 Capstone
• Admissions: Bachelor’s + 2.5 GPA (2.75 for graduate transfer credit) · no GRE, no application fee — the lowest-friction entry on this list
• Accreditation: WSCUC institutional, reaffirmed June 2025; no programmatic accreditor exists for this field
• Aid: Military-affiliated students pay $300 per credit — a 40% reduction — plus two free courses, which takes an already-low total substantially lower. Alumni and partner rates are advertised but unpublished
• Transfer credit: Up to 9 credits
• Best for: cost-sensitive and military-affiliated career-changers who want a general applied psychology master’s quickly, with consumer psychology as a component rather than the point

No program-level graduation rate is publishable. Touro’s own pages give three different counts of how many concentrations the degree offers, so no count appears here — none of the concentrations under any version is consumer psychology.

Tuition & Total Cost

Based on $500 per semester credit for AY 2026-27 against 36 credits, plus the one-time $200 degree-audit fee — the only mandatory non-tuition charge. Confirm current rates on the TUW tuition page.

• Full-time, 12 months: 36 credit hours · $18,200 total indicated cost (TIC)

Key Faculty

This is the program’s weakest published area, and the gap is itself the finding. Touro publishes no individual faculty profiles, CVs, research listings or publications for anyone in psychology — only names, degrees and titles on a staff listing.

• Abby Harris, Ph.D., Director of the Bachelor and Master of Arts in Psychology programs
• Aldwin Domingo, Ph.D., Associate Provost and Director of the School of Psychology

Neither resolves to a publication record that can be attributed with confidence. Touro markets the program as taught by “scholar-practitioners with expertise in the industry”; that claim cannot be checked against anything the university publishes, and 169 of its 188 instructional faculty are adjunct. If faculty research alignment is part of your decision, this program cannot support that decision and the three above it can.

New York, NY · Private nonprofit (R1) · MSCHE-accredited

NYU names two consumer-titled courses, Consumer Behavior and Consumer Research Methods, and maintains a Consumer Psychology focus area with its own faculty list and course guidance. Two things about that focus need to be clear before you apply, both stated by NYU itself in the first line of its own focus page: the focus is informal, and it does not appear on students’ transcripts. What you are awarded is an M.A. in Psychology.

The department labels both consumer courses as recommended, and only Consumer Research Methods is conditionally required, as one of two options satisfying a core requirement — so a student can complete this entire degree without a single consumer-titled course. That is why the program moved from the top of our list to the middle. The department is strong and the courses are real; at $92,264, the highest total here, the gap between what the focus name promises and what the degree requires is worth knowing in advance.

• Program page: NYU Graduate Bulletin — Psychology M.A. · Consumer Psychology focus
• Format: On campus in New York, evening classes · full- or part-time · 2 years full-time
• Credits: 36 credits — 3 credits statistics, 9 credits core, 3 credits Core C, 21 credits electives
• Consumer coursework: Consumer Behavior and Consumer Research Methods, both labelled recommended; only Consumer Research Methods is conditionally required, as one of two Core C options
• Culminating requirement: Written comprehensive examination or a master’s thesis
• Admissions: 3.0 GPA guideline · prior introductory psychology and statistics at B+ or better · 3 letters. NYU is silent on the GRE, which is not the same as test-optional
• Deadlines: Published inconsistently — one NYU page says February 15 for Fall, another March 1 — and no admission year is printed against any deadline, Spring’s October 1 included. Confirm everything with the department
• Accreditation: MSCHE institutional, reaffirmed 2024; no programmatic accreditor exists for this field
• Aid: No program-specific financial aid. Funding is the university-wide tuition-match program, work-study and loans — the single most important fact in this profile at this price
• Transfer credit: Up to 12 credits, with at least 24 completed in residence and a 10-year recency limit
• Best for: New York-based applicants using the M.A. as a step toward doctoral study, and self-directed professionals who will build their own consumer focus out of the elective slate rather than expecting the degree to supply one

The official focus name is Consumer Psychology; it was formerly Social & Consumer Psychology, and the legacy name still circulates. Part-time study adds a per-term fee on top of the figure below.

Tuition & Total Cost

Based on the NYU Bursar’s FY26-27 schedule: $2,426 per credit for all Graduate School of Arts and Science programs, plus the Registration & Services fee at $503 per term and $81 per credit, against 36 credits over four semesters. Confirm current rates in the NYU 2026-2027 tuition and fees schedule.

• Full-time, two years: 36 credits · $92,264 total indicated cost (TIC)

Key Faculty

NYU’s psychology department holds some of the most consequential researchers in behavior change and social cognition, and their work bears directly on consumer decision-making:

• Peter M. Gollwitzer, Professor of Psychology — originator of implementation intentions, the “if-then” planning framework underpinning much of modern behavior-change practice; co-editor of The Psychology of Thinking about the Future (Guilford, 2018)
• Gabriele Oettingen, Professor of Psychology — developed mental contrasting and the WOOP framework, on how expectations and fantasies drive effort; co-editor of the same volume
• Jay J. Van Bavel, Professor of Psychology and Neural Science; directs the Social Identity and Morality Lab — social identity, group influence, moral judgment, misinformation and online behavior
• Emily Balcetis, Associate Professor of Psychology — motivated perception: how goals and desire shape what people literally see; author of Clearer, Closer, Better: How Successful People See the World (Ballantine, 2020)

One thing to confirm before you apply. These are the department’s social-psychology research faculty. The Consumer Psychology focus publishes its own separate faculty list and the M.A. has its own program coordinator. Access to the researchers whose names draw people to NYU is not something the master’s guarantees — ask the department which of them teach master’s courses and advise master’s students.

Ithaca, NY · Private (Dyson School, CALS and SC Johnson College of Business) · MSCHE-accredited

This is the strongest required coursework of any program here that sits outside a psychology department. Behavioral Marketing is one of six 9-credit concentrations in the degree: Marketing Strategy is required outright, then 3 credits are chosen from Behavioral Economics and Managerial Decisions, Consumer Behavior, or a hospitality-school Consumer Behavior equivalent, then a minimum of 4.5 elective credits from a list that includes data-driven marketing and applied behavioral economics.

Because every option in that 3-credit choice is on-subject, every student takes at least one behavioural or consumer course — a genuine guarantee, accurately stated. It ranks below the four programs above it for one reason, and it is the reason to say plainly: the degree awarded is an M.P.S. in Applied Economics and Management, from a business school. That is what goes on the diploma.

• Program page: Cornell Registrar — M.P.S. Applied Economics and Management
• Format: In person, Ithaca · full-time only — no part-time option · 2 semesters
• Credits: 30 credits — core plus a 9-credit concentration
• Required consumer coursework: AEM 5550 Marketing Strategy (1.5 cr) required; 3 credits selected from AEM 6140 Behavioral Economics and Managerial Decisions, AEM 6440 Consumer Behavior, or HADM 6470 Consumer Behavior; minimum 4.5 credits of listed electives
• Culminating requirement: MPS capstone problem-solving project
• Admissions: GMAT or GRE required, waiver available · 2 letters · 2 essays · $105 fee · no work experience or prerequisites — unusually open for an Ivy business credential
• Deadlines: Four rounds, published without a year attached. Confirm current dates with the program
• Accreditation: MSCHE institutional; SC Johnson separately holds AACSB business accreditation, which is not programmatic accreditation of this degree
• Aid: Automatic consideration for merit scholarships; no assistantships or fellowships mentioned
• Transfer credit: Up to 6 graduate credits, 5-year recency limit
• Other: STEM-designated, which matters for international students’ post-completion work eligibility
• Best for: early-career applicants who want an Ivy business credential with real behavioural coursework inside it, and can commit to a full-time year in Ithaca

Tuition & Total Cost

Cornell publishes this as a flat academic-year program total rather than a per-credit rate: $73,946 tuition plus $701 in confirmed mandatory fees. Health insurance is mandatory but waivable with comparable coverage, and its rate was unpublished, so it is excluded. Cornell’s tuition page carries no academic-year label, so this figure cannot be pinned to a year. Confirm on the MPS AEM tuition and financing page.

• Full-time, two semesters: 30 credits · $74,647 total indicated cost (TIC) · academic year not stated by the institution

Key Faculty

Research-active behavioural and consumer faculty, which is what separates this from a general marketing concentration.

• Stephen Shu, Professor of Practice of Behavioral Economics and the program’s academic director — behavioral economics, decision making and applied behavioural consulting, with three decades of industry experience helping launch some of the first commercial behavioural-economics practices
• Jacqueline R. Rifkin, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Johnson Graduate School — consumer behavior and consumer psychology: the beliefs people hold about themselves and the world, and how those shape consumption; published in Nature, the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
• Suzanne B. Shu, John S. Dyson Professor in Marketing and Dean of Faculty and Research, SC Johnson College — consumer self-control and consumption timing; financial decision making including retirement decumulation, annuities and Social Security claiming; NBER Faculty Research Fellow, joint appointment at the UCLA Medical School, and a multi-year visiting scholar at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Teaching assignments move between terms and two of the three carry other appointments, so check the live roster for the term you would enter.

San Diego, CA (online) · Private nonprofit · WSCUC-accredited

It qualifies on curriculum rather than housing: a required Consumer Behavior course in the marketing core plus a 9-credit Behavioral Economics specialization. At $24,040 it is the second-lowest total here, and the four-week course format with monthly starts suits people fitting a degree around full-time work. The degree awarded is an M.S. in Marketing from a business school.

One finding worth stating neutrally: National University’s business school holds IACBE and ACBSP accreditation, but this specific program is covered by neither — a scope fact rather than a red flag, since business-school accreditors routinely cover some programs in a school and not others, and the university is institutionally accredited throughout.

• Program page: National University — M.S. in Marketing, Behavioral Economics
• Format: Four-week courses with monthly starts, year-round · no published deadlines
• Credits: 30 credits as ten 3-credit courses
• Required consumer coursework: MKT 620 Consumer Behavior in the core, plus a 9-credit Behavioral Economics specialization (three BHE courses). No course descriptions are published for the specialization, so its content cannot be described beyond the titles
• Culminating requirement: Not published
• Admissions: Bachelor’s from an accredited institution · no GPA or GMAT requirement stated · no application fee
• Accreditation: WSCUC institutional. The business school holds IACBE and ACBSP accreditation; this program is covered by neither
• Aid: No graduate-specific aid; a military tuition-assistance scholarship covers two courses
• Transfer credit: Unclear — National University publishes three different figures: a 12-credit registrar policy, a 9-credit graduate transfer page, and 3 credits on this program’s own requirements listing
• Availability: National University states this program “is not offered in every state” but publishes no list of which. The only published availability is institution-wide: 48 states plus DC, Mississippi discontinued, North Carolina pending. That is the floor, not the answer — ask an admissions counsellor about your state before applying
• Best for: working marketers who want behavioural-economics coursework in short, flat-priced increments around a full-time job — and military-affiliated students

Tuition & Total Cost

Built from National University’s own published components: $783 per credit against 30 credits, plus the $55 per-course material fee across ten courses. A conditional $450 learning-management fee is excluded. National University labels no academic year on its tuition page, so this figure carries none — treat any year you see attached to it as unsupported. Confirm on the tuition and fees page.

• Ten courses: 30 credits · $24,040 total indicated cost (TIC) · academic year not stated by the institution

Key Faculty

National University names no program lead for this degree and publishes no biographies, research focus or individual profile pages for the faculty in the subject area that houses it.

• Dr. David Wade, faculty in Finance, Economics, Marketing and Accounting — the only person named for the subject area; nothing further is published
• John Cicero, Ph.D., Provost and acting dean of the college

As with Touro, this is a genuine limitation rather than an omission here: there is no published basis on which to evaluate who would teach you or what they work on. Weigh it against the program’s cost and scheduling, which are its real strengths.

Philadelphia, PA · Private nonprofit (Penn LPS) · MSCHE-accredited

MBDS is a decision-science degree rather than a consumer-psychology one, and the basis for including it is worth stating plainly: its curriculum contains no consumer or marketing courses of any kind, confirmed at catalog level, and coursework outside its host school is capped by rule at one unit — so tailoring the degree toward consumer work is limited by policy, not just by catalogue. It qualifies because BDS 5210 Judgments & Decisions, a judgment-and-decision-making course, is required of every student.

What it does offer is rigour in the adjacent discipline: a required experimental-methods core, a required quantitative unit assigned by pre-program evaluation, applied behavioural-intervention coursework, and a two-part capstone built with an industry or policy partner. If you want quantitative behavioural training, this is a strong version of it. If you want consumer coursework, look higher on this list.

• Program page: Penn LPS — MBDS curriculum
• Format: On campus in Philadelphia · full- or part-time · Fall entry only, no deferral
• Credits: 9 course units over 3 semesters (1.5 years full-time; 2.5 years part-time)
• Required on-subject coursework: BDS 5210 Judgments & Decisions. Core also includes experimental methods, behavioural interventions for policy and organisations, a quantitative unit assigned by evaluation, and at least one applied unit
• Culminating requirement: Two-part capstone built with an industry or policy partner
• Admissions: GPA 3.5 or substantial professional experience · GRE required if fewer than three years of experience · statistics and microeconomics prerequisites — the most demanding bar on this list, consistent with the quantitative emphasis
• Deadlines: December 1 priority, February 1 regular
• Accreditation: MSCHE institutional, reaffirmed 2024; no programmatic accreditor exists for this field
• Aid: No MBDS-specific scholarships or grants. Funding is loans or self-pay
• Best for: quantitatively prepared career-changers heading into behavioural consulting, policy or research — not readers who want consumer coursework

Penn’s university-wide and business-school rankings do not measure this degree and should not be read as doing so. It is the most likely way a page like this gets attacked.

Tuition & Total Cost

Based on $7,444 per course unit for AY 2026-27 against 9 course units, plus Penn’s General Fee — which is tiered by course load rather than linear, at $2,134 per term for a full-time student at 3 c.u. — plus the $600 annual program fee and the per-term clinical fee. Confirm on the MBDS tuition and fees page.

• Full-time, three semesters: 9 course units · $74,598 total indicated cost (TIC)

Penn’s program page states 1.5 years across three semesters; Penn’s graduate catalog describes the degree as one full-time academic year. The program page is used here as the more specific and more recently maintained source.

Key Faculty

The strongest research faculty on this list, and the main reason the program is worth a look despite the curriculum caveat.

• Cristina Bicchieri, Founding Director of the MBDS, S. J. Patterson Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics, and founder of Penn’s Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics — the field’s leading authority on social norms, their nature, measurement and change; author of The Grammar of Society (2006) and Norms in the Wild (2016)
• Eugen Dimant, Associate Professor of Practice — experimental behavioral economics and behavioral ethics: how norms and nudges shape beliefs and drive pro- and antisocial behaviour, and political polarization; author of “Hate Trumps Love: The Impact of Political Polarization on Social Preferences” in Management Science (2023)

One thing to check when you read Penn’s roster. The program lists a large “affiliated faculty” group separately from its current instructors. The affiliated names are not who teaches the courses — read the instructor roster, not the affiliate list.

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Career Paths for Consumer Psychology Master’s Graduates

A master’s degree focused on consumer psychology can lead to diverse, applied roles in business, marketing, research, and design. While these positions don’t require a doctoral degree, they do demand a solid understanding of human behavior, data analysis, and communication—skills developed through many of the programs featured above.

Common Roles for Graduates

Graduates may work in areas such as:

• Market Research Analyst
  Analyze consumer data, design surveys, and provide insights that shape marketing campaigns and product strategies.
  
• Consumer Insight Specialist
  Interpret buyer behavior to guide brand development, customer engagement, and media targeting.
  
• Brand Strategist
  Craft and position brand identities using research on consumer perception, emotion, and cultural values.
  
• UX Researcher
  Use behavioral methods to evaluate user interactions and improve product design, navigation, and experience.
  
• Behavioral Marketing Manager
  Apply psychology-informed strategies to drive customer behavior, conversion rates, and brand loyalty.
  
• Advertising and Campaign Strategist
  Design messaging and creative concepts based on audience segmentation, emotional triggers, and social influence theories.
  

Key Skills Emphasized

Most consumer psychology–relevant master’s programs train students in:

• Data analysis and interpretation
  Using statistical tools to understand behavior patterns and evaluate campaign effectiveness.
  
• Survey design and psychometrics
  Creating valid, reliable instruments to measure attitudes, preferences, and emotional responses.
  
• Emotional and cultural factors in branding
  Understanding how values, identity, and social norms shape consumer decision-making.
  
• Buyer persona development
  Translating research into detailed customer profiles for use in product development and messaging strategies.
  

With the right combination of academic preparation and hands-on experience, graduates are well positioned to contribute to the growing demand for human-centered strategy in business, nonprofit, and government sectors.

Consumer Psychology Master’s Salary and Career Outlook

While a master’s degree in psychology does not qualify graduates to work as licensed clinical or research psychologists, it can still lead to lucrative and impactful roles—especially in fields that apply psychological principles to business, marketing, and organizational behavior.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median annual wage for psychologists was $92,740 as of May 2023. Among all psychology specializations, industrial–organizational psychologists—many of whom hold a master’s degree rather than a doctorate—are consistently among the highest paid, earning a median annual salary of $147,420.

Salary Potential with a Master’s in Consumer Psychology

Graduates of consumer psychology–relevant programs typically pursue applied roles that combine behavioral science and marketing strategy. While these positions may not carry the “psychologist” title, they can still offer competitive compensation, particularly in corporate or consulting environments.

Salaries vary by industry, geographic location, and experience level. Fields such as technology, healthcare, and finance may offer higher pay, especially for professionals who combine psychology training with skills in data analytics, design thinking, or marketing strategy.

Job Outlook

Overall employment for psychologists is projected to grow 7% from 2023 to 2033, which is faster than the average for all occupations. Demand for professionals who understand human behavior—particularly in consumer-facing industries—is expected to remain strong.

FAQ: Consumer Psychology Master’s Programs

Is a master’s in consumer psychology the same as a marketing degree?

Not exactly. While both explore buyer behavior, a consumer psychology master’s program approaches the topic from a psychological perspective—emphasizing human cognition, emotion, and social influence. In contrast, a traditional marketing degree typically focuses on strategy, analytics, and business operations. Some interdisciplinary programs blend both perspectives, which can be ideal for roles that require both behavioral insight and strategic execution.

Can I work in UX or branding with this type of degree?

Yes. Many graduates pursue careers in user experience (UX) research, brand strategy, or customer insights, especially if the program includes coursework in behavioral science, consumer decision-making, or applied research methods. These roles value professionals who can interpret human behavior and translate findings into product, design, or messaging strategies.

Will I need a PhD to work in consumer research?

It depends on the role. A PhD is typically required for academic or high-level research positions, particularly those in university settings or specialized R&D departments. However, many applied research and strategic roles in business, marketing, and UX are accessible with a master’s degree—especially when paired with hands-on experience in research or data analysis.

Are online consumer psychology programs respected by employers?

Often, yes—especially when the program comes from a well-known university and offers relevant, career-focused coursework. Online degrees are increasingly accepted in fields like user experience (UX), market research, and behavioral marketing—provided they demonstrate academic rigor and real-world applicability.

When researching programs, you’ll likely see mention of accreditation—usually a statement that the university is “regionally accredited.” This refers to institutional accreditation, a baseline standard that ensures the school meets broad academic and administrative quality benchmarks. Most legitimate U.S. universities—especially public and nonprofit institutions—hold this type of accreditation.

It’s important to understand that institutional (regional) accreditation is not the same as programmatic accreditation, which applies to specific professional fields. Programmatic accreditation is essential for clinical and counseling psychology programs that lead to licensure, but it’s typically not relevant for consumer psychology–focused master’s degrees, which are non-clinical in nature.

To ensure the program is respected and career-relevant:

• Choose a university with a strong reputation in psychology, behavioral science, or business
  
• Review course offerings for topics like consumer behavior, persuasion, and behavioral decision-making
  
• Look for applied learning opportunities, such as real-world projects or internships
  

Ultimately, employers tend to focus less on whether a degree was earned online and more on what skills and knowledge you bring to the role, especially in applied fields like branding, UX, and market insights.

Choosing the Right Program for Your Goals

If you’re drawn to the intersection of psychology and consumer behavior, a master’s program with a focus on consumer psychology can open doors to dynamic careers in marketing, UX, research, and branding. The key is choosing a program that aligns with your goals—whether that means pursuing applied roles in business or laying the groundwork for future doctoral study.

As you compare programs, consider:

• How deeply the curriculum integrates psychological theory with real-world consumer applications
  
• Whether the program emphasizes research, business strategy, or both
  
• Faculty expertise in areas like behavioral science, decision-making, or marketing psychology
  
• Program format, flexibility, and time-to-completion
  
• The value of institutional accreditation and the credibility of the school offering the degree
  

By taking a focused, informed approach, you’ll be well positioned to choose a graduate path that transforms your interest in consumer psychology into a meaningful and marketable career.