Consumer Motivation & Personality 1

Question 1

Motivation

Answer 1

The driving force within individuals that impels them to act

Unfulfilled needs create psychological tensions that drive people to take action

Ex. A person NEEDS social connection
They are MOTIVATED to get a product that other people would approve

Question 2

Can Marketers Create A Need?

Answer 2

Marketers cannot create needs because they are universal and everyone share the same physiological needs to sustain our biological existence.

However, marketers can identify and make consumers more aware of dormant needs.

Question 3

Types of Needs

Answer 3

Universal and shared by all human beings

Biogenic Needs:
Physiological needs which sustain our biological existence
- Food, Water, Air, Protection, Shelter

Psychogenic Needs:
Learned from parents, social environment, interactions
- Self-Esteem, Prestige, Affection, Power, Achievement

Question 4

Types of Goals

Answer 4

All human behavior is goal oriented

Generic Goals:
Outcomes that consumers seek to satisfy physiological and psychological needs
- Pair of shoes

Product-Specific Goals:
Outcomes that consumers seek by using a product
- Air Jordans

Question 5

Need Arousal

Answer 5

Internal Stimuli: an individual’s physiological condition, emotional or cognitive processes

External Stimuli: outside environment

Promotional messages arouse needs by stimulating a psychological desire so that people buy products to satisfy those desires

Question 6

Goal Selection

Answer 6

Goals depends on a variety of factors:
- personal experiences
- knowledge
- physical capacity
- cultural norms
- values
- goal accessibility

Motivation to select goals can be positive or negative:
- Approach objects: positive outcomes that we seek
- Avoidance objects: negative outcomes that we avoid

Question 7

Needs & Goals Coexist

Answer 7

Consumers are less aware of their needs than their goals

Human needs are never fully satisfied

Individuals who reach their goals, set new, higher goals for themselves

Question 8

Unobtainable Goals

Answer 8

Substitute Goals:
Eliminate tension when a primary goal cannot be attained

Frustration:
Feeling that results from failing to achieve a goal

Defense Mechanism:
- Cognitive and behavioral ways to handle frustration
Protect one’s ego from feelings of failure:
- Aggression
- Rationalization
- Regression
- Projection
- Daydreaming
- Identification
- Withdrawal

Question 9

Henry Murray’s Psychogenic Needs

Answer 9

Needs can be interrelated, can support other needs, and can conflict with other needs

• Ambition
• Materialistic
• Power
• Affection
• Information Needs

Question 10

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Answer 10

Human needs are ranked in order of importance from lower-level (biogenic) needs to higher-level (psychogenic) needs
- Individuals seek to satisfy lower-level needs before higher-level needs

• Psychogenic Needs/Self-Actualization
• Ego Needs/Self-Esteem
• Social Needs/Love & Belonging
• Safety Needs/Security
• Physiological Needs/Biogenic

Question 11

Motivational Research

Answer 11

Tries to uncover consumers’ hidden motivations based on consumption

Relies on a combination of techniques to establish the presence and strength of various motives
- responses to questionnaires or survey data (self-reports of opinions and behaviors)
- insights from focus group sessions and depth interviews