LESSON 1
UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER MOTIVATION
Motivation as a Psychological Force
Positive and Negative Motivation
Success and Failure Influence Goals
The Trio of Needs
MOTIVATION AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL FORCE
Human needs-consumer needs- are the basis of all modern marketing. Needs
are the essence of marketing concept. The key to a company’s survival, profitability
and satisfy unfulfilled consumer needs better and sooner than the competition.
Marketers do not create needs, though in some instances they make
consumers more keenly aware of unfelt needs. Successful marketers define their
markets in terms of the needs they presume to satisfy, not in terms of the products
they sell. This is a market-oriented, rather than a production-oriented approach to
marketing. A marketing orientation focuses on the needs of the seller.
The marketing concept implies that the manufacturer will make only what it
knows people will buy; a production orientation implies that the manufacturer will try
to sell whatever it decides to make.
Motivation is a driving force within individuals that impels them to action. This
driving force is produced by a state of tension, which exists as the result of an
unfulfilled need.
Individuals strive both consciously and subconsciously to reduce this tension
through behavior that they anticipate will fulfill their needs and thus relieve them of
the stress they feel. The specific goals they select and the pattern of action they
undertake to achieve their goals are the results of individual thinking and learning
Two Types of Human Needs
Every individual has needs: some are innate, others are acquired. Innate
needs are physiological (i.e. biogenic); they include the needs for food, water, air,
clothing shelter, and sex. Because they are needed to sustain biological life, the
biogenic needs are considered primary needs or motives.
Acquired needs are needs that we learn in response to our culture or
environment. These may include needs for self-esteem, prestige, affection, power,
and learning. Because acquired needs are generally psychological (i.e.
psychogenic), they are considered secondary needs or motives. They result from
the individual’s subjective psychological sate and from relationship with others.
Types of Goals
Goals are the sought-after results of motivated behavior. All behavior is goal
oriented. Generic goal is the general classes or categories of goals that consumers
see as means to fulfill their needs. If a student tells his parents that he wants to
become a medical doctor, he has stated a generic goal. If he says he wants to get
an M.D. degree specialist in Internal Medicine, he has expressed a product-
specific-goals, that is, the specifically branded products and services that
consumers select for goal fulfillment. Another types of goals are as follows: Ideals
which represent hopes, wishes, and aspirations while Oughts which represents
duties, obligations, and responsibilities.
The study showed that people concerned with ideals relied more on feelings
and affects in evaluating advertisements, while people more concerned with oughts
relied more heavily on the substantive and factual contents of ads.
Interdependence 0f Needs and Goals
Needs and goals are interdependent; neither exist without the other. However,
people are often not as aware of their needs as they are of their goals.
For, example:
A teenager may not consciously be aware of his social needs but may join a
number of chat groups online to meet new friends.
A person not may not consciously be aware of a power need but may choose to run
for public office when an elective position becomes available.
Individuals are usually somewhat more aware of their physiological needs than
they are of their psychological needs. Most people know when they are hungry,
thirsty, or cold, and they take appropriate steps to satisfy these needs. The same
people may not consciously be aware of their needs for acceptance, self-esteem, or
status. They may, however, subconsciously engage in their behavior that satisfies
their psychological (acquired) needs.
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MOTIVATION
Motivation can be positive and negative in direction. We may feel a driving
force toward (positive) some objects or condition or a driving force away (negative)
from some objects or condition.
For example: a person may be impelled toward a restaurant to fulfill a hunger
need, and away from motorcycle transportation to fulfill a safety need.
Some psychologists refer to positive drives as needs, wants, or desires and to
negative drives as fears or aversions. However, although positive and negative
motivational forces seem to differ dramatically in terms of physical (and sometimes
emotional) activity, they are basically similar in that both serve to initiate and sustain
human behavior.
Rational Versus Emotional Motives
Some consumer behaviorists distinguish between so called- rational motives
and emotional motives.
In a marketing context, the term rationality implies that consumers select
goals based on totally objective criteria such as weight, price, or miles per gallon.
Emotional motives imply the selection of goals according to personal or subjective
criteria (e.g. pride, fear, affection or status).
The Dynamics of Motivation
Motivation is a highly dynamic construct that is constantly changing in
reactions to life experiences. Needs and goals change and grow in response to an
individual’s physical condition, environment, inter-actions with others, and
experiences. Some of the reasons why need-driven human activity never ceases
include the following:
1. Many needs are never fully satisfied; they continually impel actions
designed to attain or maintain satisfaction.
2. As needs become satisfied; new and higher -order needs emerge that
cause tension and induce activity.
3. People who achieve their goals set new and higher goals for themselves.
SUCCESS AND FAILURE INFLUENCE GOALS
Goal selection is often a function of success and failure. Individuals who
successfully achieve their goals usually set new and higher goals for themselves.
People who do not reach their goals sometimes lower their level of aspirations.
When an individual cannot attain a specific goal that he or she anticipates will satisfy
certain needs, behavior may be directed to a substitute goal. Failure to achieve a
goal often results in frustration. Regardless of the cause, individuals react
differently to frustrating situations. Some people manage to cope by finding their
way around the obstacle or if, that fails, by selecting a substitute goal.
Others are less adaptive and may regard their inability to achieve as a
personal failure. Such people are likely to adapt a defense mechanism to protect
their egos from feeling of inadequacy.
A TRIO OF NEEDS
1. Power – it relates to an individual’s desire to control his or her environment. It
includes the need to control other persons and various objects. This need
appears to be closely related to the ego need, in that many individuals
experienced increased self-esteem when they exercise power over objects other
people.
2. Affiliation – is a well-known and well-researched social motive that has far-
reaching influence on consumer behavior. This need suggests that behavior is
strongly influenced by the desire for friendship, for acceptance, for belonging.
People with high affiliation needs tend to be socially dependent on others. They
often select goods they feel will meet with the approval of friends.
3. Achievements – individuals with a strong need for achievement often regard
personal accomplishments as an end in itself. It is closely related to both the
egoistic need and self-actualization need.
