Consumer Behavior

MOTIVATION
 Learning Concepts
 Concept of Motivation  Opponent-process
 Consumer needs theory
 Structure of emotions
 Optimum-stimulation
level theory
 Maslow’s Need
Hierarchy theory
 Motivation for Hedonic
Experience
 Murray’s List of Human
Needs
 Reactance theory
 McClleland Theory of
 Perceived risk
Learned Needs  Consumer attributions
 What is Motivation?
 Motivation refers to an activated state within a
person that leads to goal-directed behavior.
 It consists of the drives, urges, wishes, or desires
that initiate the sequence of events leading to a
behavior.
 The Concept of Affect
 Affect or feelings, can be defined as a “ class of
mental phenomena uniquely characterized by a
consciously experienced, subjective feeling state,
commonly accompanying emotions and moods”
 Emotions are distinguished from moods by their
greater intensity and their greater psychological
urgency.
 When goals are satisfied, people experience positive
feelings. In contrast, when events thwart the
achievement of their goals, people experience
negative feelings
 The Concept of Affect
Experiential Perspective Considers role of affect in motivating C.B. Areas of
interest: Leisure pursuits, affective impact ads. Role of affect in purchase
of high Involvement products
Attitude formation A component of attitude regarding products, ads
Information Processing Influences memory, cognitive capacity, attention
Choice Behavior Selecting an option that may feel best
Post purchase processes Post purchase satisfaction, brand loyalty
Communication Process Messages could be created that focus on eliciting
emotions
Situational influences Mood states result in part from the consumer
situation
Ten Fundamental Emotions People
Experience:

Disgust Anger
Fear
Interest Contempt
Joy Shame
Surprise Guilt
Sadness
 The Structure of Emotions

Aroused

Joy
Anger

Unpleas
Pleasant ant

contentment
Sadness

Passive
 Structure of Emotions
1. Do consumers experience strong Emotions?
2. Do consumers experience full range of Emotions?
Findings suggest that the response to advertisement has two
emotional dimensions, one consists of positive effective states, the
other negative states. The implication of this finding is that a single
message or event can simultaneously create both good and bad
feelings in consumers
3. Do consumers differ in intensity of Emotions?
It has been shown that affect intensity differs with different people.
People who are high on affect intensity respond more strongly to
advertisement than people with low affect intensity.
High affect intensity people react with greater empathy and feelings
of pain and fear appeals than do low affect intensity people
High affect intensity shows more positive attitude toward the object
of advertisement
Model of the Motivation Process

Learning

Needs Goal or
wants, need
Tension Drive Behavior
and fulfill-
desires ment

Cognitive
processes

Tension
reduction
 Motivation

 Motivation begins with the presence of a stimulus

that spurs the recognition of a need.
 Need recognition occurs when a perceived
discrepancy exists between an actual and a desired
state of being
 Needs can be either innate or learned.
 Needs are never fully satisfied.
 Feelings and emotions (i.e., affect) accompany needs
 Motivation
 Expressive needs involve desires by
consumers to fulfill social and/or aesthetic
requirements.
 Utilitarian needs involve desires by consumers
to solve basic problems (e.g. filling a car’s gas
tank).
 Goals

 Generic Goals
 the general categories of goals that consumers
see as a way to fulfill their needs
 e.g., “I want to get a graduate degree.”
 Product-Specific Goals
 the specifically branded products or services
that consumers select as their goals
 e.g., “I want to get an MBA in Marketing from
Iqra University.”
 The Selection of Goals
 The goals selected by an individual depend on
their:
 Personal experiences
 Physical capacity
 Prevailing cultural norms and values
 Goal’s accessibility in the physical and social
environment
 Achieving
Goals by
Subscribing
to a
Magazine
Different Appeals for Same Goal Object
 Motivations and Goals
 Positive Motivation  Negative Motivation
 A driving force toward  A driving force away
some object or from some object or
condition condition
 Approach Goal  Avoidance Goal
 A positive goal toward  A negative goal from
which behavior is directed which behavior is directed
away
Motive
 Avoidance-Avoidance
Conflict:
Conflicts
 Occurs when the subject is
Approach-
undecided while trying to
Approach
choose between two equally
Conflict:
undesirable motives
Occurs when the  Approach-Avoidance Conflict:
subject is
undecided while
 Occurs when the subject is
choosing between undecided between one
two equally desirable and one undesirable
desirable motives motive
 Rational Versus Emotional Motives
 Rationality implies that consumers select goals
based on totally objective criteria such as size,
weight, price, or miles per gallon
 Emotional motives imply the selection of goals
according to personal or subjective criteria
 Rational and Emotional motives in purchase situation

Rational Motives Consumption Emotional Motives

Behavior
A large car is It will demonstrate
more that I am
comfortable Successful

It is a high quality Purchase of

car that performs Mercedes Car
well

It is a powerful, sexy car

and it will make me
A number of my friends powerful and sexy
drive Mercedes
 The Dynamic Nature of Motivation
 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
New and Higher Goals Motivate
Behavior
Changing
Consumer
Needs
 Failure to achieve
a goal may result
in frustration.
Some adapt;
Frustration others adopt
defense
mechanisms to
protect their ego.
 Methods by which
people mentally
redefine
Defense frustrating
Mechanism situations to
protect their self-
images and their
self-esteem.
 Defense Mechanisms

 Aggression  Projection
 Rationalization  Autism
 Regression  Identification
 Withdrawal  Repression
 Defense Mechanisms
 Aggression:
Frustrated consumers boycotted manufacturers /
Retailers to reduce prices
 Rationalization:
Inventing plausible reasons for being unable to
attain their goals or the goal is not worth pursuing
 Regression:
React to frustrating situation with childish or
immature behavior. A shopper attending a bargain
sale may fight over merchandize rather than other
person have it
 Defense Mechanism
 Withdrawal:
Simply withdrawing from the situation
A person having difficulty achieving higher position in
an organization may quit
 Projection:
Blaming ones own failures and abilities on other objects
or persons
A driver who has an accident may blame the other
driver
 Autism:
Refers to thinking that is almost completely dominated
by needs and emotions, with little effort made to relate
to reality
 Defense Mechanism
 Identification:
Subconsciously identifying with other persons or
situations they consider relevant
marketers frequently use it as basis for advertising
appeal
slice of life advertisements showing an individual
experiences a frustration and then overcomes by
using advertised product
 Repression:
Individuals may forget a need .Some times
repressed needs manifest themselves indirectly
 Arousal of Motives
 Physiological arousal
 Emotional arousal
 Cognitive arousal
 Environmental arousal
Cognitive
Need
Arousal
Philosophies Concerned With Arousal
of Motives
 Behaviorist School
 Behavior is response to stimulus
 Elements of conscious thoughts are to be ignored
 Consumer does not act, but reacts
 Cognitive School
 Behavior is directed at goal achievement
 Need to consider needs, attitudes, beliefs, etc. in
understanding consumer behavior
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Self-Actualization
(Self-fulfillment)

Ego Needs
(Prestige, status, self esteem)

Social Needs
(affection, friendship, belonging)

Safety and Security Needs

(Protection, order, stability)

Physiological Needs
(Food, water, air, shelter, sex)
 Hierarchy Dynamics
 Research shows that contrary to what Maslow
suggested, the position of an individual within
the hierarchy is not stationery
 Consumers can and do move thru different
levels of the hierarchy by the purchase,
consumption and acquisition of one and the
same product
 Murray’s List of
Psychogenic Needs

Needs Associated with Inanimate Objects:

Acquisition, Conservancy, Order, Retention, Construction

Needs Reflecting Ambition, Power,

Accomplishment, and Prestige:
Superiority, Achievement, Recognition, Exhibition, Infavoidance

Needs Connected with Human Power:

Dominance, Deference, Autonomy, Contrariance
 Murray’s List of
Psychogenic Needs

Sado-Masochistic Needs :
Aggression, Abasement

Needs Concerned with Affection between People:

Affiliation, Rejection, Nurturance, Play

Needs Concerned with Social Intercourse:

Cognizance, Exposition
Appeal to Egoistic Needs
 Appeal to
Self-
Actualization
Appeal to Sado-masochistic needs
 A Trio of Needs
 Power
 individual’s desire to control environment
 Affiliation
 need for friendship, acceptance, and belonging
 Achievement
 need for personal accomplishment
 closely related to egoistic and self-actualization
needs
Appeal
to
Power
Needs
Appeal to Power Needs
Appeal to Power Needs
Appeal to
Affiliation
Needs
 Appeal to
Achievement
Needs
Midrange Theories of Motivation
 Opponent-Process Theory
 Optimum Stimulation Levels
 The Motivation for Hedonic Experience
 The Desire to Maintain Behavioral Freedom
 The Motivation to Avoid Risk
 The Motivation to Attribute Causality
 Opponent-Process Theory
. . . explains that two things occur when a person receives a
stimulus that elicits an immediate positive or negative
emotional reaction:
 The immediate positive or negative emotional reaction is

felt.
 A second emotional reaction occurs that has a feeling

opposite to that initially experienced.

 The combination of the two emotional reactions results in

the overall feeling experienced by the consumer.

It has broad explanatory power. It can be used to account for
variety of consumer behaviors, such as drug addiction,
cigarette smoking, jogging, video game playing and
dysfunctional behaviors sinking into debt through overusing
credit cards.
 Opponent-Process Theory
 Explains priming—the effects of a small exposure to
a stimulus.
When the person begins to consume the reinforcing
stimulus, opposite motivation has not yet the chance
to start build up. Without counter acting motivation
the experience is intensely pleasurable, resulting in a
strong drive to consuming. Marketers institutively use
this principle by providing samples in super markets.
 Optimum Stimulation Level
. . . is a person’s preferred amount of physiological
activation or arousal.
 Activation may vary from very low levels (e.g. sleep) to
very high levels (e.g. severe panic).
 Individuals are motivated to maintain an optimum level of
stimulation and will take action to correct the level when it
becomes to high or too low.
 Accounts for high vs. low sensation seeking people.
 Accounts for variety seeking
 Accounts for hedonic consumption—i.e., the need of
people to create fantasies, gain feelings through the senses,
and obtain emotional arousal.
 Maintaining Optimum Stimulation Levels
Marketing Implications
i. Various types of medicines
ii. Popular leisure activities
iii. Amusement parks, sports
iv. Spontaneous brand switching
v. Research study has shown that people with high
stimulation level:
a. Engage in greater amounts of information seeking
b. Feel boredom with repetitive ads
c. Reveal higher levels of variety seeking when choosing
fast food
d. Exhibit greater tendencies to gamble and seek risk
 Motivation for Hedonic Experiences
 Hedonic consumption refers to the needs of consumers to use
products and services to create fantasies, to feel new sensations to
obtain emotional arousal
1. Desire to experience emotions:
 The term hedonism generally refers to gaining pleasure through
senses. In consumer behavior context, it means the feelings that
consumers seek may not be uniformly pleasurable.
 People seek to experience a variety of emotions, including love,
hate, fear, grief, anger, and disgust
 Emotional desire sometimes dominate utilitarian motives when
consumers are choosing products
 The type of products and services that hedonic consumption
researchers investigate are found within the “ Experiential
research perspective” and concentrate on products like movies,
rock concerts, theater, dance and sporting events which are
intrinsically more emotionally involving.
 Motivation for Hedonic Experiences
Desire for Leisure Activities
 Those activities pursued in free time or non-work time.
 Leisure is personal experience and is multidimensional.
 People seek satisfaction of number of different needs:
i. Desire for intrinsic satisfaction
Activity is seen by the consumer rewarding in and of
itself.
ii. Involvement in the activity
activity is so absorbing that the person forgets all about
everyday life ( playing games)
 Motivation for Hedonic Experiences
iii. Perceived freedom
Activity is utterly without coercion. The person has
the perceived freedom to engage or not to engage
in
iv. Mastery of the environment or of oneself
the person attempts to learn something well or to
overcome some obstacle. The idea is to test oneself
or to conquer the environment
v. Arousal
The need for arousal is a major motivator of leisure
activities
 The Desire to Maintain
Behavioral Freedom
 Psychological reactance is the motivational state resulting
from the response to threats to behavioral freedom.
 Two types of threats can lead to reactance:

 Social threats involve external pressure from other people to

induce a consumer to do something
 Impersonal threats are barriers that restrict the ability to buy a
particular product or service
 Frequently found in marketing: e.g., pushy salesperson
 Scarcity effects: scarce products are valued more. Limited
time offer, limited supply etc.
 The Desire to Maintain Behavioral
Freedom
 For consumer to experience reactance three
requirements must be met
i. Consumer must believe he/she has the
freedom to make an unhindered choice in
given situation
ii. The consumer must feel his/her personal
freedom is threatened
iii. The buying decision must be one that is of
some importance to the consumer
The Motivation to Avoid Risk
 Perceived risk is a consumer’s perception of the
overall negativity of a course of action based upon
as assessment of the possible negative outcomes
and of the likelihood that these outcomes will
occur.
 Perceived risk consists of two major concepts - the
negative outcomes of a decision and the
probability that these outcomes will occur.
 7 Types of Consumer Risks.
 Financial
 Performance
 Physical
 Psychological
 Social
 Time
 Opportunity Loss
 Factors Influencing Risk Perception

 Characteristics of the person—e.g., need for

stimulation
 Nature of the task
 Voluntary risks are perceived as less risky than
involuntary tasks.
 Characteristics of the product—price
 Salience of negative outcomes
 Six risk-reduction strategies
 Be brand loyal and  Seek out information in
consistently purchase the order to make a well
same brand. informed decision.
 Buy through brand image  Buy the most expensive
and purchase a quality brand, which is likely to
national brand. have high quality.
 Buy the least expensive
 Buy through store image brand in order to reduce
from a retailer that you trust. financial risk.
The Motivation to Attribute
Causality
Attribution theory describes the processes through
which people make determinations of the causality
of action.
 Internal attribution is when a consumer decides

that an endorser recommended the product because

he or she actually liked the product.
 External attribution is when a consumer decides

that an endorser recommended the product because

he or she was paid for endorsing it.
 Marketing Application Of Attribution
A. Develop believable advertisement:
Use strategies that enhance message augmentation by
influencing consumers to perceive the endorsement was made
for internally caused, rather than externally caused, reasons
Develop messages that give both sides of arguments.
Particularly include messages that would be unexpected from
the organization
B. Resolve the product problem
Respond quickly and proactively to product problems to
enhance consumer beliefs that cause of the problem should be
attributed to bad luck rather than to the intentions or
negligence of the firm
C. Assess sales promotion
Use sales promotion cautiously to avoid having consumer
attribute the cause of their purchase to the incentive rather
than to the product’s quality