Ernest poet

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Memorial plaque for the Dichter and Ernest Dichter department store

Ernest Dichter (born August 14, 1907 in Vienna , † November 22, 1991 in Peekskill , New York ) was an Austrian-American psychologist and pioneer of market psychology .

Life

Ernest Dichter was born in Vienna in 1907 as the eldest of three sons in a Jewish family (on his mother's side from the Sudetenland, on his father's side from Galicia). From 1930 he studied German literature and Romance studies at the University of Vienna , after which he continued his studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. From 1932 to 1934, when he returned to Vienna, he studied psychology with Moritz Schlick , Karl and Charlotte Bühler , Paul Lazarsfeld , Alfred Adler and Rudolf Carnap . In addition to the Vienna Circle , poets also shaped the discussion of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis (mediated by Wilhelm Stekel and Rudolf Aichhorn ). In 1934, Karl Bühler's dissertation followed on the subject: “The self-assessment of one's own abilities and achievements”.

1934–1936 Ernest Dichter opened a psychoanalytic practice, at the same time worked at the Austrian Business Psychological Research Center (market research - together with Paul Lazarsfeld ) and at the Psychotechnical Institute of the City of Vienna (headed by Karl Hackl ). 1935 Marriage with the concert pianist Hedy Langfelder (born August 16, 1911)

In 1937, the poet emigrated to Paris, then to the USA in 1938 . From 1938 onwards, poet's actual career began as a market researcher, initially until 1943 as an employee of various market research institutes as “market analysts”, including assignments for Esquire , Ivory Soap and Plymouth ( Chrysler ). He then worked as a program psychologist at CBS Corporation and, among other things, deals with why women listen to soap operas .

In 1946, Dichter founded his own motivational research institute, first as the Institute in Mass Motivations (Manhattan), then as the Institute for Motivational Research (Croton-on-Hudson near New York). In later years partner institutes were added in Frankfurt, Zurich, Paris, Tokyo, London, Barcelona, ​​Vienna, Munich, Panama and Miami. In 1957, he was a larger audience through the critically-intentioned book The Hidden Persuaders ( "The Hidden Persuaders") the journalist Vance Packard known.

From 1946 to 1991 extensive work as a consultant in politics and economics, lecturer and teacher in various organizations and institutions ( American Psychological Association , American Marketing Association , Professor of Marketing / MBA Program at Long Island University , Professor of Behavioral Research at the University of Haifa ).

He died on November 21, 1991 in Peekskill, New York

plant

Ernest Dichter is considered to be the founder of market research based on depth psychology and the "father of motivational research".

Unlike in the mainstream of statistically oriented market research after the Second World War , Ernest Dichter no longer viewed the market from the manufacturer's point of view, but instead focused his analyzes on the hidden wishes of consumers, which manifest themselves in purchasing decisions. Trained through his psychoanalytic background, he emphasized the role and importance of unconscious motives for purchase decisions and reformulated psychoanalytic concepts for market research and marketing. The latent motives of consumers are seen as a powerful driver of action. In doing so, poets established methods from clinical psychology in market research, for example the projective methods that are still widely used today.

According to poets, products are not exclusively rational objects, but have symbolic and psychological layers that need to be clarified in order to be able to market products successfully.

With the books “Strategy in the Realm of Desires” and “Handbook of Purchase Motives”, first published in 1961 and 1964, Dichter presented a comprehensive description of his approach and a compendium of diverse purchase motives beyond rational decisions.

More than 4000 market studies, 1500 dependent publications (articles) and around 20 books are the balance sheet of his professional life. The studies range from "The Psychology of Breakfast Cereals" (1940) to "The ABC of Humor in Advertising" (1967) to "Universal Studios Europe - Site Preference and Concept Analysis" (1989).

In 2005 an extensive symposium on the life and work of Ernest Dichter took place in Vienna.

effect

Ernest Dichter's impact is not easy to assess, as his work consists of publicly accessible publications and a large number of unpublished studies. As by far the best-known market researcher of the 50s and 60s, his publications polarized the public: Critical voices saw him (and the advertising industry in general) as a “seducer” of innocent consumers. Within the advertising industry, he was gladly invited to give high fees as a lecturer, and there were admirable attributions ("advertising pope", "father of motivational research"). Other voices saw him as a “charlatan” (as Rosser Reeves used the wording ), who put forward hypotheses that could not be proven and, above all, knew how to market himself - from the late 1950s, his methodology came under increasing criticism.

Beyond public polemics, however, there is a multitude of enduring influences in advertising, marketing and market research. Ernest Dichter established psychological concepts, terms and methods within market research: Projective procedures, the in-depth interview or the term “image” have since been part of the arsenal of qualitative market research. The idea that products and brands can be personalized (“brand personality”) is also part of the poet's legacy.

In addition, Dichter is considered an initiator and stimulus giver in many areas of modern consumer research. According to Peter Lunt, there is no question that Dichter “already anticipated essential topics of today's consumer psychology a few decades ago”: The classification of products according to their symbolic value, the multi-dimensionality of consumer psychology, the importance of goods for identity formation, the importance of Leisure time, the link between political and social action and consumer behavior - “citizen” and “consumer”, the role of psychological expertise in politics and business.

In the meantime, historical-sociological research has discovered Ernst Dichter as a multi-layered figure in the implementation of new hedonistic consumption patterns and orientations in the 1960s and 1970s.

Ernest Dichter Archive

Opening on October 5, 1995 at the Department of Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Vienna.

Awards

bibliography

Own publications

  • 1947: The psychology of everyday living, New York: Barnes & Noble
  • 1961: Strategy in the realm of wishes, Düsseldorf: Econ
  • oJ (1962): Europe's invisible walls. The role of national prejudices and their overcoming, Düsseldorf: Europa Union
  • 1964: Handbook of motives for purchase. The selling appeal of goods, materials and services, Vienna u. a .: Econ
  • 1971: Why not? The why-not management principle. A seminar in Frankfurt am Main: Lorch
  • 1971: Motivating Human Behavior. NY u. a .: McGraw-Hill
  • 1975: the second career. New ways to a fulfilling professional life, Vienna a. a .: Econ ISBN 3-430-12083-7
  • 1975: The Naked Manager. Successful management without system constraints, Frankfurt am Main: Lorch ISBN 3-87496-006-4
  • 1977: Motivation research - my life. The autobiography of a creatively dissatisfied man, Frankfurt am Main: Lorch ISBN 3-87496-035-8
  • 1979: Getting motivated: the secret behind individual motivations by the man who was not afraid to ask "why?", New York a. a .: Pergamon Press ISBN 0-08-023687-1
  • 1981: The big book of purchase motives, Düsseldorf a. a .: Econ ISBN 3-430-12086-1
  • 1981: Convince - not seduce. The art of influencing people, Landsberg am Lech: mvg (identical to: Gezielte Motivforschung) ISBN 3-478-02740-3
  • 1984: This is how managers lead their company to excellence. In search of the success factors of leadership, Landsberg am Lech: mvg ISBN 3-478-32920-5
  • 1991: New thinking brings new markets. Analysis of the unconscious factors, implementation in marketing, suggestions and examples, Vienna: Ueberreuther ISBN 3-8000-3375-5
  • 1991: Targeted motivation research. How to get more out of your product! Landsberg am Lech: mvg (identical with convince - not seduce) ISBN 3-478-81122-8

Secondary literature

  • Evelyne Antreich: Where is creative dissatisfaction rooted? A search for the social science sources of motivational research by Ern (e) st Dichter. Diploma thesis at the Institute for Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Vienna, Vienna, 1999.
  • Thomas Cudlik: Ernest Dichter. Depth boy. Motivation as an imperative of the information society. A systematization of theory and practice of the "father of motivational research" with an assessment of its current practical relevance. Diploma thesis at the Institute for Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Vienna, Vienna, 1999.
  • Thomas Cudlik, Christoph Steiner: "Rabbi Ernst". The strategist in the realm of wishes - a portrait , in: Franz Kreuzer, Gerd Prechtl, Christoph Steiner (eds.): Tiger in the tank. Ernest Dichter - An Austrian as an advertising guru , Vienna: Manz, 2002, pp. 45–83 ISBN 3-214-13251-2
  • Rainer Gries: Products as media. Cultural history of product communication in the Federal Republic and the GDR , Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2003. ISBN 3-935693-81-8
  • Rainer Gries, Stefan Schwarzkopf, (ed.): Ernest Dichter - doyen of seducers. On the 100th birthday of the father of motivational research , Vienna Mucha, 2007, ISBN 978-3-900823-58-0 , ISBN 3-900823-58-8
  • Kai-Uwe Hellmann: Ernest Dichter as an obstetrician and educator. A contribution to the sociology of the consumer , in: Gries / Schwarzkopf, 2007, pp. 146–156
  • Daniel Horowitz: From Vienna to the USA and back. Ernest Dichter and American Consumer Culture, in: Gries / Schwarzkopf, 2007, pp. 108–126
  • Franz Kreuzer, Gerd Prechtl, Christoph Steiner (eds.): Tiger in the tank. Ernest Dichter - An Austrian as an advertising guru , Vienna: Manz, 2002, ISBN 3-214-13251-2
  • Franz Kreuzer: Why - why not? Franz Kreuzer in conversation with Ernest Dichter and Peter R. Hofstätter , Vienna: Franz Deuticke, 1984. ISBN 3-7005-4496-0
  • Peter Lunt: Kulturkritik with Vance Packard and Ernest Dichter , in: Gries / Schwarzkopf, 2007, pp. 76–94
  • Medien & Zeit, special issue: Ernest Dichter - "father" of motive research . Vienna 2005: Medien & Zeit vol. 20, issue 4 ISSN  0259-7446
  • Katherine Parkin: "The Power of Real, Unadulterated Sex". Ernest Dichter, The Libido and the American Advertising Industry , in: Gries / Schwarzkopf, 2007, pp. 128–144
  • Gabriele Reithner, Christian Führer: Ernest Dichter - father of motivational research , Vienna, 2004 ( http://www.vmoe.at/show_content2.php?s2id=94 )
  • Dirk Schindelbeck: Ernest Dichter and his German colleagues. Shown using the example of his relationship with Hans Wündrich-Meißen , in: Gries / Schwarzkopf, 2007, pp. 234–254

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For the biography s. Cudlik 1999, Reithner / Führer 2004, Cudlik / Steiner 2002, p. 46ff., Ernest Dichter Archive , section "Life"
  2. ↑ Signature of the Vienna University Library: D-3480
  3. ↑ Reithner, Gabriele / Führer, Christian: Ernest Dichter - father of motivational research  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , medien & zeit, issue 4/2005, special issue Ernest Dichter - "father" of motive research@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.vmoe.at  
  4. ↑ Ernest Dichter 1964: Strategy in the realm of wishes. Munich: dtv, p. 88–115: “The soul of things”, Rainer Gries 2005: “The birth of the advertising expert from the spirit of psychology”, in: Medien & Zeit Heft 4 (2005), p. 10f.
  5. ↑ See the Ernest Dichter estate in the library of the Department of Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Vienna, made accessible by the Ernest Dichter Archive
  6. ^ Symposium on the life and work of Ernest Dichter . Retrieved March 30, 2019  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.ernest-dichter.info
  7. ↑ Willi Bongard: Men make markets , Oldenburg / Hamburg 1963, pp. 27–34.
  8. ↑ On projective procedures and in-depth interviews: Dichter 1961, p. 311 ff., On the term “Image” Kreuzer et.al 2002, p. 13, 45. On the country-specific reception in Germany: Semrad 2005, 62 f., Gries 2003, p 53ff .; Schindelbeck 2007, p. 243ff., On Italy: Arvidsson 2007, on Great Britain: Schwarzkopf 2007
  9. ↑ Lunt 2007, pp. 83f.
  10. ↑ See the essays by Hellmann, Horowitz, Lunt and Parkin in Gries / Schwarzkopf 2007
  11. ↑ Ernest Dichter Archive . University of Vienna. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  12. ↑ Who was Ernest Poet? . Christoph Steiner. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  13. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF file; 6.59 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Poet, Ernest
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-American psychologist and market researcher
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH November 22, 1991
Place of death Peekskill , New York