Chapter 3

Consumer Motivation
and
Personality

Chapter 3 Learning Objectives

To understand the dynamics of motives, needs, and goals and how

they shape consumer behavior.

To understand motivation theories and their applications to

consumer behavior.

To understand how to identify and measure motives.

To understand the scope of personality and theories of its

development

To understand how innovativeness and other personality traits

influence consumer behavior.

To understand the personification of products and brands and its

strategic applications.

To understand self-image and its impact on consumer behavior.

Literacy Rate in India

Year

Male

Female

Total

1981

56.5

29.85

43.67

1991

64.13

39.29

52.21

2001

75.26

53.67

65.38

2011

82.14

65.46

74.04

Brand Personification
Brand personification is
a
form
of
ANTHROPOMORPHISM refers to attributing
human
characteristics
to something that is not
human.
For example, Zoo-Zoo
characters,
introduced
by
Vodafone,
reflect
anthropomorphism
in
the Indian context.

The Motivation Process

Needs and Goals

Needs:
Physiological
Psychological
Goals:
Generic
Product-specific

Motivations: Technology Use

Consumers use Social Media for passing their time
Marketers try to understand the motivations for social media
use

What motivates you to share information on Facebook?

To blog?
Motivations of Bloggers
(1)self-expression
(2)documenting ones life (i.e., keeping a diary)
(3)identifying other influential bloggers

What is Consumer Motivation

An internal state that drives people to identify and buy products
or services that fulfill conscious and unconscious needs or
desires.

A motive is an emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar

impulse that acts as an incitement to action.
A drive is an aroused state of psychological tension that
typically arises from a need.
A desire is a strong feeling, or a sense of longing or craving for a
thing.

Need Arousal and Selecting Goals

Need Arousal
Internal stimuli
Emotional or cognitive
processes
External stimuli

Selecting Goals
Factors
personal experiences
and knowledge
physical capacity
cultural norms and
values
goal accessibility
Approach objects
Avoidance objects

Murrays List of Psychogenic Needs

- First Systematic Approach to the understanding of non-biological human needs

Murray ( 1938) organised his needs into five groups

Ambition
Materialistic
Power
Affection
Information
For more reading please refer to
http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/psychogenic.htm

Psychogenic Needs: Murray and Edwards

Frustration and Defense Mechanisms

Frustration is the feeling that results from

failure

to

achieve

goal,

and

defense

mechanisms are cognitive and behavioral ways to

handle frustration.

Defense Mechanisms

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

To Which of Maslows Needs Does This Ad Appeal?

Trio of Needs

Power

Affiliation
Achievement
Which of the trio of needs does the ad appeal
to?

Cognitive Preservation Motives

Active

Internal

External

Need for
consistency

Need for
Attribution

Passive

Need to
Categorize

Need for
Objectification

Cognitive Growth Motives

Active

Internal

External

Need for
Autonomy

Need for
Stimulation

Passive

Teleological Needs

Utilitarian Need

Affective Preservation Motives

Active

Internal

External

Need for
Tension
Reduction

Need for
Expression

Passive

Need for
Ego Defense

Need for
Reinforcement

Affective Growth Motives

Internal

External

Active

Passive

Need for
Assertion

Need for
Identification

Need for
Affiliation

Need for
Modeling

Motivation Research
Motivation Research is defined as the psychological or
sociological investigation of consumer motives. It is a
research

process

that

taps

into

the

consumer's

subconscious to discover real motivations in buying and

using products by using projective techniques in consumer
research.
Many of our daily decisions are governed by motivations
over which we have no control and of which we are quite
unaware.

-- Ernest Dichter (1957), The Strategy of Desire

Methods Used
Observation
Focus Group
non directive in style and the group must develop spontaneous
interaction
Depth Interview
Lengthy, one-on-one personal interview conducted by a
professionally trained motivational researcher
Projective Techniques
To evoke additional feelings, imagery, and comment from a
respondent in the interview asks the respondent to tell a story,
play a role, draw a picture or associate a words with a stimulus

Types of Purchasing Motives

Manifest Motives Motives that are known and freely
admitted
Motives that conform to society s prevailing value
system are more likely to be manifested
Latent Motives - Motives either unknown or
reluctance to admit
Determining latent motives is more complex in nature

Methods of Discovering Motives

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP): provides a basis for

modelling the way people differentiate multiple criteria

Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET): The process of

analysing brands and products by analysing the consumers
unconscious thoughts through the use of metaphors

Avatar Based Marketing: Many people use avatars to describe

themselves on social media and gaming sites, which help in
discovering real personalities.

Oreo Advertisement

Now
Oreo Advertisement with Confusion

Motivational Conflict
Approach Approach Conflict
When a consumer has two desirable alternatives
Consumer may experience some dissonance

Approach Avoidance Conflict

When a consumer faces both positive and negative consequences

Avoidance Avoidance Conflict

Decision between two or more alternatives that are perceived to be
undesirable

Personality

The

inner

psychological

characteristics

(the

specific

qualities, attributes, traits, factors, and mannerisms that

distinguish one individual from other individuals) that both
determine and reflect how we think and act.

Theories of Personality

Freudian theory
Neo-Freudian
Personality theory
Trait theory

These are the three major theories of personalities. There are

many more but these three have been chosen because they are
important

to

the

Consumer Behavior.

relationship

between

Personality

and

How Does This Marketing Message Apply the Notion of the Id?

Freudian theory suggests unconscious needs or drives are at the heart of

human motivation. Neo-Freudian theory suggests social relationships are
fundamental to the formation and development of personality.
Trait theory takes a quantitative approach to personality as a set of
psychological traits. A trait is any distinguishing, relatively enduring
way in which one individual differs from another.
According to Freud, human personality consists of these three systems,
the id, super ego and the ego. The Id is the warehouse of primitive
drives, basic physiological needs such as hunger, thirst, and sex. The
superego drives the individual to fulfill their needs in a socially acceptable
function. Finally, the ego is the internal monitor that balances the needs
of the id and the superego.
Neo-Fruedians believe social relationships are fundamental to personality
(vs. Freuds theories, which were based heavily on development). These
relationships are formed to reduce feelings of inferiority (Adler) or tension
(Sullivan). Furthermore, people can be classified as to how they interact
with others Are they compliant, aggressive, or detached ? (Horney). A
compliant individual desires attention, an aggressive desires admirations,
and a detached person desires independence and freedom from obligation.
What is particularly interesting is how research has shown that these
different personality groups differ in their brand usage.

What should the marketers do ?

The marketers should consider
Ad theme
Message Frame
Advertising Context

Knowledge Content & Structure

Content: information already known

Structure: way information is organized or categorized

Categorization: process of labeling an external stimulus

based on its similarity to ones knowledge content

Comprehension: using knowledge content to understand

what has been categorized

Knowledge Content

Facts about prior knowledge is linked or associated with a

concept

The set of associations linked to a concept is known as SCHEMA

Associations can be described along the following dimensions:

Types of associations

Favorability

Uniqueness

Salience

Scripts

A special kind of a schema representing knowledge

of a sequence of actions

Helps in accomplishing tasks quickly and easily

Absence of a script extends the time of performing a

task

Innovativeness
Motivational factors
Levels of innovativeness
Personality
Dogmatism
Social character
Need for uniqueness
Optimum stimulation level (OSL)
Sensation-seeking
Variety and novelty-seeking
Need for Cognition

Other Personality Factors

Verbalizers prefer promotional messages containing a lot of
written, textual, and verbal information.
Visualizers are more receptive to pictorial images, and include:
1.Object visualizers, who encode and process images as a single
perceptual unit.
2.Spatial visualizers, who process images piece by piece.
Materialism gauges the extent to which an individual is
preoccupied with purchasing and showing off physical possessions
that are mostly nonessential and often conspicuous luxury goods.
Ethnocentrism is the consumers willingness to buy or not buy
foreign-made products.

Are the ads trying to appeal to

Visualisers

or

Explain.

Verbalizers ?

Brand Personality Framework

Self and Self Image

Consumer Behaviour Researchers identified 4 types of Self Image
Actual Self-Image Consumers see themselves
Ideal Self image How Consumers would like to see themselves
Social Self Image How Consumers feel others to see them
Ideal Social Self Image How Consumers would like others to see
them

Extended Self
Actually
Symbolically
Conferring Status / Rank
Feelings of Immortality

Altering the Self

Physical Vanity
Achievement Vanity

Knowledge Structure are of 2 (two) types :

Taxonomic categories broken down into particular levels ( next

slide)

Goal derived categories having some unique characteristics

which often do not coincide with nominal product categories for
which both consumers and marketers have well-established labels
or names

Objects can be a part of a taxonomic and goal derived category

Knowledge Structure: Taxonomic Categories

Hierarchical
structures:
Superordinate,
Basic,
and
Subordinate
levels

Why Consumers Differ in Knowledge

Cultural System

Level of Expertise

Why Consumers Differ in Knowledge : Culture

Culture may influence associations not found in other

cultures
( A traditional Hindu bride wearing Banarasi while a
Christian Lady wearing a gown)

Category members vary across cultures

( Idly in South, Puri Sabzi in North, Puffed Rice/
Rice in East for breakfast foods, for

Perched

example)

Why Consumers Differ in Knowledge: Expertise

Experts have better defined category structures

Experts have more categories and more associations with

concepts within a category

Experts have more subordinate level categories thereby

enabling finer distinctions

Experts are better at understanding negative disconfirmation

than non-experts

Discussion Question
How is Fixated Consumption different from Compulsive Consumption?
Fixated Consumption refers to collectors and hobbyists tendency to
accumulate items that are related to their interests and show them off to
friends and others with similar interests.
Fixated Consumers share the following characteristics:
1. A passion for and interest in the category of what they collect.
2. Willingness to invest a lot of effort in adding to their collections.
3. Spending a lot of time and discretionary income searching and buying
more items for their collections.
4.

Aggressively competing in auctions.

Compulsive Consumption is addictive and out-of-control buying that often

has damaging consequences for both the compulsive shopper and those
around him or her. Examples - Uncontrollable shopping, gambling, drug
addiction, alcoholism, and even eating disorders.