Psychographic segmentation divides the market into groups based on social class, lifestyle and personality characteristics. It is based on the assumption that the types of products and brands an individual purchases will reflect that persons characteristics and patterns of living.

The following are examples of psychographic factors used in market segmentation:

1. Social class Is the single most used variable for research purposes, and divides the population into groups based on the occupation of the ‘Chief Income Earner’ (CIE), as such it can be seen as a socio-economic scale. In the UK, The National Readership Survey, provides the following standardised groupings.

   The socio-economic scale

   	Social grade		Description of occupation		Example
   	A		higher managerial, administrative or professional		Company director
   	B		intermediate managerial, administrative or professional		Middle manager
   	C1		supervisory, clerical, junior administrative or professional		Bank clerk
   	C2		skilled manual workers		Plumber
   	D		semi- and unskilled manual workers		Labourer
   	E		state pensioners with no other income, widows, casual and lowest grade earners		Unemployed

       click to view more detailed breakdown of Social Grade Scale
2. Lifestyle Involves classifying people according to their values, beliefs, opinions, and interests. There is no one standardised lifestyle segmentation model, instead market research firms, and advertising agencies are constantly devising new categories, which will best help target possible consumers of their clients products.

   One example of a life style classification model, is that developed by the advertising agency, Young & Rubican, called Cross Cultural Consumer Characterization (4Cs for short). This classification model is presented in the table below

   The 4Cs
   Resigned	Rigid, strict, authoritarian and chauvinist values, oriented to the past and to Resigned roles. Brand choice stresses safety, familiarity and economy. (Older)
   Struggler	Alienated, Struggler, disorganised – with few resources apart from physical/mechanical skills (eg car repair). Heavy consumers of alcohol, junk food and lotteries, also trainers. Brand choice involves impact and sensation.
   Mainstreamer	Domestic, conformist, conventional, sentimental, passive, habitual. Part of the mass, favouring big and well-known value for money ‘family’ brands. Almost invariably the largest 4Cs group.
   Aspirer	Materialistic, acquisitive, affiliative, oriented to extrinsics … image, appearance, charisma, persona and fashion. Attractive packaging more important than quality of contents. (Younger, clerical/sales type occupation)
   Succeeder	Strong goal orientation, confidence, work ethic, organisation … support status quo, stability. Brand choice based on reward, prestige – the very best . Also attracted to ‘caring’ and protective brands … stress relief. (Top management)
   Explorer	Energy – autonomy, experience, challenge, new frontiers. Brand choice highlights difference, sensation, adventure, indulgence and instant effect – the first to try new brands. (Younger – student)
   Reformer	Freedom from restriction, personal growth, social awareness, value for time, independent judgement, tolerance of complexity, anti-materialistic but intolerant of bad taste. Curious and enquiring, support growth of new product categories. Select brands for intrinsic quality, favouring natural simplicity, small is beautiful.(Highier education)