Psychographics Explained

Psychographics play an important role within market research and insight gathering exercises, as it is essentially the study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles.

What are psychographics?

Psychographics is a market research approach used to understand the psychological and emotional characteristics of individuals or groups. Unlike demographics, which focus on measurable data such as age, income, gender, or location, psychographics explore the deeper motivations behind people’s behaviours, including their values, attitudes, interests, opinions, lifestyles, and personality traits. At a broader national level, UK psychographics could be seen as an equivalent to the concept of “culture”.

Types of psychographic data

Psychographics can be segmented into various categories, including:

• Activities: How people spend their time (e.g., sports, cooking, gaming)

• Interests: What people find engaging or exciting (e.g., art, technology)

• Opinions: Views on politics, culture, society, or the environment

• Values: Core beliefs that guide decisions (e.g., sustainability, family, ambition)

• Personality Traits: Emotional characteristics such as introversion, openness, or risk-taking

How are psychographics used?

Psychographics are typically used alongside demographics to create an image and understanding of the customer. When a complete profile of a person or psychographic make-up is constructed, this is called a “psychographic profile” which is often illustrated in an amalgamation of pictures and words to characterise their values, attitudes and beliefs. Psychographic profiles are used in market segmentation as well as in advertising testing and evaluation.

For research methods for collecting and gathering data, go to our quantitative research methods page.