CHAPTER 4 - CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR CONSUMER MOTIVATION ...
CHAPTER 4 - CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR CONSUMER MOTIVATION • Human needs are the basis of all modern marketing • Marketers do not create needs, although they strive to make consumers more keenly aware of unfelt or dominant needs MOTIVATION AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL FORCE • Motivation is the driving force within individuals that impels them to action o Produced by a state of tension, which exists as the result of an unfilfilled need • Individuals strive to reduce this tension through selecting goals and subsequent behaviou that they anticipate will fulfill their needs and thus relieve them of the tension they feel • Needs o Every individual has innate needs - innate needs are physiological Primary needs o Acquired needs are needs that we learn in response to our culture or environment May include self-esteem, prestige, affection, power, and learning Secondary needs o Motives or needs can have a positive or negative direction • Goals o Goals are the sought after results of motivated behaviour o All bejaviour is goal oriented o Generic goals are the general classes or categories of goals that consumers see as a means to fulfull their needs o Product specific goals are tailored o Individuals set goals on the basis of their personal values and they select means that they believe will help them achieve their desired goals o SELECTION OF GOALS Goals selected by individuals depend on their personal experiences, physical capacity, prevailing cultural norms and values, and goals accessibility in the physical and social environment A positive goal is one toward which behaviour is directed, it is a approach object A negative goal is one from which behaviour is directed away and is referred to as an avoidance object o INTERDEPENDENCE OF NEEDS AND GOALS Needs and goals are interdependent, neither exists without the other RATIONAL VERSUS EMOTIONAL MOTIVES • Some consumer behaviourists distinguish between so-called rational motives and emotional motives • Rationality in the marketing context, the term rationality implies that consumers select goals based on totally objective criteria DYNAMICS OF MOTIVATION • Motivation is a highly dynamic construct that is constantly changing in reaction to life experiences
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Needs and goals change and grow in response to an individuals physical condition, environment, interactions and experiences • Some of the reasons why need-driven human activity never ceases includes: many needs are never fully satisfied, new needs emerge as old needs are satisfied, people who achieve their goals set new and higher goals for themselves • NEEDS ARE NEVERFULLY SATISFIED o Most human needs are never fully or permanently satisfied o Even more complex psychological needs are rarely fully satisfied • NEW NEEDS EMERGE AS OLD NEEDS ARE SATISFIED o Some motivational theorists believe that a hierarchy of needs exists and that new, higher-order needs emerge as lower-order needs are fulfilled • SUCCESS AND FAILURE INFLUENCE GOALS o A number of researchers have exploredthe nature of the goals that individuals set for themselves o Concluded that individuals who successfully achieve their goals usually set new and higher goals for themselves, they raise their levels of inspiration o Nature and persistence of an individual's behaviouyr are often influenced by expectations of success or failuyre in reaching certain goals o Substitute Goals: when an individual cannot attain a specific goal or type of goals that he or she anticipates will satisfy certain needs Although the substitute goal may not be as satisfactory as the primary goal, it may be sufficient to dispel uncomfortable tension o Frustration: failure to achieve a goal often results in feelings of frustration Products may represent creative responses to the concept of frustration o Defense Mechanisms: people who cannot cope with frustration often mentally redefine their frustrating situations in order to protect their self-images and selfesteem Coping individual may select a less expensive vacation trip or react with anger Last two possibilities are respectively aggression and rationalization MULTIPLICITY OF NEEDS AND VARIATION OF GOALS • A consumers behaviour often fulfills more than one need • One cannot accurately infer motives from behaviour AROUSAL OF MOTIVES • Most of an individuals specific needs are dormant much of the time • The arousal of any particular set of needs at a specific moment in time may be cause by internal stimuli found in the idnivisuals physiological condition • Physiological Arousal o Bodily needs at any one specific moment in time are based on the individuals physiological condition at that moment o Most of these physiological cues are involuntary yet they arouse relatred needs that cause uncomfortable tensions • Emotional Arousal o Sometimes daydreaming results in the arousal or stimulation of latent needs
People who are bored or who are frustrated in trying to achieve their goals often engage in daydreaming • Cognitive Arousal o Sometimes random thoughts can lead to a cognitive awareness of needs o When people live in a complex and highly varied environment, they experience many opportunities for need arousal o Two opposing philosophies concerned with the arousal of human motives o Behaviourist school considers motivation to be a mechanical process o Cognitive school believes that all behaviour is direct at goal achievement TYPES AND SYSTEMS OF NEEDS • 1938 the psychologist Henry Murray prepared a detailed list of 28 psychogenic needs • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs o Five basic levels of human needs o Theory postulates that individuals seek to satisfy lower level needs before higher levels needs emerge o Physiological Needs: in the hierarchy of needs theory, physiological needs are the first and most basic level of human needs Physiological needs are dominant when they are chronically unsatisfied o Safety Needs: after the first level of needs is satisfied, safety and security needs become the driving force beind behaviour o Social Needs o Egoistic needs o Need for self-actualization • An Evaluation of the Need Hierarchy and its Marketing Applications o Maslow's hierarchy postulates a five level hierarchy of prepotent human needs o Need hierarchy has received wide acceptance in many social disciplines because it appears to reflect the assumed or inferred motivations of many people in our society o Major problem with the theory is that it cannot be tested empirically, there is no way to measure precisely how satisfied one level of need must be before hte next higher need becomes operative o Segmentation and Promotional Applications Msalow's need hierarchy is readily adaptable to market segmentation and the development of advertising appeals because there are consumer goods designed to satisfy each of the need levels and because most needs are shared A TRIO OF NEEDS • Existence of a trio of needs: needs for power, affiliation and achievement • Power: relates to an individuals desire to control his or her environment o Includes need to control other persons and objects • Affiliation: well-known and well-reasearched social motive that has far-reaching influence on consumer behaviour o Suggests behaviour is strongly influence by the desire for friendships • Achievement: individuals with a strong need for achievement often regards personal accomplishment is an end to itself o
People with a high need for ahcievement tend to be more self-confident, enjoy taking calculated risks, actively research their environments, and value feedback THE MEASUREMENT OF MOTIVES • Motives are hard to qualify so researchers use qualitative research to delve into the consumers unconscious of hidden motivations • Projective techniques require respondents to interpret stimuli that do not have clear meanings, with the assumption that the subjects will reveal or project their subconscious • Motivational Research o Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality provided the foundation for the development of motivational research o This theory was built on the premise that unconscious needs or drives are at the heart of human motivation and personality o Motivational research has become a term of art o It was first used by Dr. Dichter to refer to qualitative research conducted in the 1950s and 1960s designed to uncover consumers subconscious or hidden motivations o
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Needs and goals change and grow in response to an individuals physical condition, environment, interactions and experiences • Some of the reasons why need-driven human activity never ceases includes: many needs are never fully satisfied, new needs emerge as old needs are satisfied, people who achieve their goals set new and higher goals for themselves • NEEDS ARE NEVERFULLY SATISFIED o Most human needs are never fully or permanently satisfied o Even more complex psychological needs are rarely fully satisfied • NEW NEEDS EMERGE AS OLD NEEDS ARE SATISFIED o Some motivational theorists believe that a hierarchy of needs exists and that new, higher-order needs emerge as lower-order needs are fulfilled • SUCCESS AND FAILURE INFLUENCE GOALS o A number of researchers have exploredthe nature of the goals that individuals set for themselves o Concluded that individuals who successfully achieve their goals usually set new and higher goals for themselves, they raise their levels of inspiration o Nature and persistence of an individual's behaviouyr are often influenced by expectations of success or failuyre in reaching certain goals o Substitute Goals: when an individual cannot attain a specific goal or type of goals that he or she anticipates will satisfy certain needs Although the substitute goal may not be as satisfactory as the primary goal, it may be sufficient to dispel uncomfortable tension o Frustration: failure to achieve a goal often results in feelings of frustration Products may represent creative responses to the concept of frustration o Defense Mechanisms: people who cannot cope with frustration often mentally redefine their frustrating situations in order to protect their self-images and selfesteem Coping individual may select a less expensive vacation trip or react with anger Last two possibilities are respectively aggression and rationalization MULTIPLICITY OF NEEDS AND VARIATION OF GOALS • A consumers behaviour often fulfills more than one need • One cannot accurately infer motives from behaviour AROUSAL OF MOTIVES • Most of an individuals specific needs are dormant much of the time • The arousal of any particular set of needs at a specific moment in time may be cause by internal stimuli found in the idnivisuals physiological condition • Physiological Arousal o Bodily needs at any one specific moment in time are based on the individuals physiological condition at that moment o Most of these physiological cues are involuntary yet they arouse relatred needs that cause uncomfortable tensions • Emotional Arousal o Sometimes daydreaming results in the arousal or stimulation of latent needs
People who are bored or who are frustrated in trying to achieve their goals often engage in daydreaming • Cognitive Arousal o Sometimes random thoughts can lead to a cognitive awareness of needs o When people live in a complex and highly varied environment, they experience many opportunities for need arousal o Two opposing philosophies concerned with the arousal of human motives o Behaviourist school considers motivation to be a mechanical process o Cognitive school believes that all behaviour is direct at goal achievement TYPES AND SYSTEMS OF NEEDS • 1938 the psychologist Henry Murray prepared a detailed list of 28 psychogenic needs • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs o Five basic levels of human needs o Theory postulates that individuals seek to satisfy lower level needs before higher levels needs emerge o Physiological Needs: in the hierarchy of needs theory, physiological needs are the first and most basic level of human needs Physiological needs are dominant when they are chronically unsatisfied o Safety Needs: after the first level of needs is satisfied, safety and security needs become the driving force beind behaviour o Social Needs o Egoistic needs o Need for self-actualization • An Evaluation of the Need Hierarchy and its Marketing Applications o Maslow's hierarchy postulates a five level hierarchy of prepotent human needs o Need hierarchy has received wide acceptance in many social disciplines because it appears to reflect the assumed or inferred motivations of many people in our society o Major problem with the theory is that it cannot be tested empirically, there is no way to measure precisely how satisfied one level of need must be before hte next higher need becomes operative o Segmentation and Promotional Applications Msalow's need hierarchy is readily adaptable to market segmentation and the development of advertising appeals because there are consumer goods designed to satisfy each of the need levels and because most needs are shared A TRIO OF NEEDS • Existence of a trio of needs: needs for power, affiliation and achievement • Power: relates to an individuals desire to control his or her environment o Includes need to control other persons and objects • Affiliation: well-known and well-reasearched social motive that has far-reaching influence on consumer behaviour o Suggests behaviour is strongly influence by the desire for friendships • Achievement: individuals with a strong need for achievement often regards personal accomplishment is an end to itself o
People with a high need for ahcievement tend to be more self-confident, enjoy taking calculated risks, actively research their environments, and value feedback THE MEASUREMENT OF MOTIVES • Motives are hard to qualify so researchers use qualitative research to delve into the consumers unconscious of hidden motivations • Projective techniques require respondents to interpret stimuli that do not have clear meanings, with the assumption that the subjects will reveal or project their subconscious • Motivational Research o Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality provided the foundation for the development of motivational research o This theory was built on the premise that unconscious needs or drives are at the heart of human motivation and personality o Motivational research has become a term of art o It was first used by Dr. Dichter to refer to qualitative research conducted in the 1950s and 1960s designed to uncover consumers subconscious or hidden motivations o
