Consumer

Motivation
and Personality

Chapter
Three
 Learning Objectives

-To understand how motives, needs, and goals shape consumer

behavior.
-To understand the systems of classifying needs.
-To understand the impact of hidden motives on consumer
behavior.
-To understand why and how consumers use technology.
-To understand personality development.
-To understand how personality traits shape consumer behavior
-To understand brand personification.
-To understand the impact of self-image on consumer behavior.
 Motivation and Personality

the driving force that impels people to

Motivation act and reflects the reason(s) one has
for behaving in a particular way.

represents inner psychological characteristics

that both determine and reflect how we think
Personality
and act, which together form an individual’s
distinctive character.
 The Dynamics of Motivation

Needs

Biogenic or Example: food,

Essential for physical
Physiological water, air, clothing
existence
Needs etc.

Learned from
Example: self-
parents, social
Psychogenic esteem, power,
environment, and
Needs prestige, affection,
interactions with
achievement etc.
others
 The Dynamics of Motivation
Need Arousal
-In most cases, needs remain dormant for most of the
individuals.
-Usually aroused by-

• Biological stimuli
• Emotional and cognitive processes, or
• Stimuli in the outside environment.

-Marketers must focus on the needs their

products satisfy rather than on the products
they produce and sell.
 The Dynamics of Motivation
Cognitive:

Thoughts leading to cognitive

awareness of a need and action
that would fulfil the need.

Physiological:

• Stomach contractions,

• Decreased body temperature.

 The Dynamics of Motivation
Goals
-Sought after outcomes of motivated behavior.

Outcomes consumers seek to satisfy physiological

Generic Goals and psychological needs.
EG- Buying a heavy coat during winter

Outcomes that consumers seek by using a given

Product-specific product
goals or service
EG- purchasing eco-friendly clothing to practice
sustainability
 The Dynamics of Motivation

-Usually, consumers set purchase-related goals that satisfy more

than one need.

Mobility

Status

Comfort

Security
 The Dynamics of Motivation
⚬ People with different needs may seek fulfilment by
selecting the same goal.

⚬ People with the same needs may seek fulfilment via

different goals.

⚬ For any given need, there are many appropriate goals.

-Personal experiences and knowledge

-Physical capacity
Goals depend on
-Prevailing cultural norms and values
-The goal’s accessibility
 The Dynamics of Motivation
Goals
-Motivation to select goals can be either positive or negative
-Feeling a driving force toward some object or away from
some object.

Approach Objects Avoidance Objects

Negative outcomes we want to

Positive outcomes we seek.
prevent.
Example: Start exercising to
Example: Start exercising to avoid
look fit and attractive
health problems.
 Needs and Goals are Interdependent

-One cannot exist without the other.

-People are usually more aware of their goals, instead of needs.

-When people go for shopping:

-Need can be same i.e., need to buy some items
-Goals can be different
• Seeking specific goods
• Recreational shopping
• Activity-specific shopping
• Demand-specific shopping
 Needs and Goals are Interdependent

Human needs are never fully

or permanently satisfied.
-Higher-order vs. Lower-order
needs.
If a goal is attained, new
goals are developed. - As lower-order needs are fulfilled (e.g.,
food, housing), higher-order needs
emerge(social recognition, reputation),
If a goal is not attained, keep and newer goals are set accordingly.
striving for old goal or develop
substitute goals.
 Needs and Goals are Interdependent

-Failure to achieve primary goals lead to substitute

goals.
Implication for Marketers:

⚬ Ads should not overpromise

⚬ Should not create unrealistic customer expectations

⚬ Should promise something that’s actually possible

⚬ Should minimize the gap between customer expectation

and product performance
 Frustration and Defense Mechanisms

Frustration: The feeling that results from failure to achieve a goal.

Defense mechanisms: Cognitive and behavioral ways of

handling frustration.

Limited physical or financial

Personal
resources
Barriers of goal
attainment
Obstacle in the A storm causing
Physical or Social postponement of a long-
Environment awaited vacation
 Frustration and Defense Mechanisms

-People cope with frustrations differently.

Aggression Rationalization

Regression Withdrawal

Projection Daydreaming

Identification
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 Marketing Applications of Maslow’s Theory

Buying foods, clothes, medicines Physiological needs

Insurance, house rent Safety and Security

needs
Personal care products, club membership Social needs

Luxury products Ego Needs

Advanced degrees, adventure trips- Self-

actualization
 System of Needs- Murray’s Psychogenic Needs

Need Brief Explanation Marketing (Promotional) Implications

Accomplish tasks,
succeed, and Messages that encourage and illustrate
Achievement
overcome success (e.g., advertising education).
obstacles.

Shock or thrill others Messages showing attention from others

Exhibition and be the center of when they notice one’s possessions (e.g.,
attention. expensive cars).

Spend time, form

Messages showing people enjoying
strong friendships
Affiliation themselves in large groups (e.g., vacations,
and attachments
shopping situations).
with others
 System of Needs- Murray’s Psychogenic Needs

Need Brief Explanation Marketing (Promotional) Implications

Messages showing actual or symbolic
Control, influence, dominance (e.g., being a chief executive;
Power/Dominance
and lead others. owning a powerful car).

Messages stressing novelty, uniqueness,

Seek new experiences
Change and breaking with routines (e.g.,
and avoid routine
adventure travel).

Promoting devices that save space and

Keeping things neat
Order keep things firmly in place (e.g., dividers
and organized
and organizers for closets).
 Hidden Motives-Motivational Research

-Term coined in the 1950s by Dr. Ernest Dichter

- Goal was to uncover consumers’ subconscious or

hidden motivations

-Based on premise that consumers are not always aware

of their motivations

-Example: A car allows consumers to convert their

subconscious fear of death and their urges to destroy.
 Hidden Motives-Motivational Research

Measuring Motives

• Qualitative research is widely used

• A primary qualitative research tool: projective

techniques

• Projective techniques require respondents to interpret stimuli

that do not have clear meanings.

• Projective techniques are often very successful in identifying

motives.
 Hidden Motives-Motivational Research

• Require customers tell real-life stories regarding

STORYTELLING their use of the product under study

• Role-playing is a form of story-telling;

ROLE-PLAYING respondents are placed within a purchase
situation

• Respondents are presented with words, one at a

time, and asked to say the first word that comes
WORD ASSOCIATION AND to mind.
SENTENCE COMPLETION
• Respondents are asked to complete a sentence
upon hearing an opening phrase
 Hidden Motives-Motivational Research

THEMATIC ⚬Showing pictures to individual

APPERCEPTION respondents and asking them to tell a
TEST story about each picture.

STORYTELLING AND
ROLE-PLAYING
 Motives and Technology

-Online reviewers and Influencer marketing.

-Some motives of consumers to interact with brands online-

￭ Comparing product features
￭ Personalized products
￭ Receiving good customer service
￭ Winning prizes
-Integration of technology into a product can be a motivating
factors. Example: Fitness trackers.
 Personality Development

-Personality: inner psychological characteristics that

both determine and reflect how we think and act. Can
be shaped by-
Heredity and early Social and
childhood experience environmental influence

-Three generally agreed upon facts on personality-

Although
Reflects Is generally enduring,
individual consistent and personality can
differences enduring change (e.g., life
circumstances)
 Personality Reflects Individual Differences

-No two individuals are exactly alike.

⚬ “high” vs. “low” in consumer ethnocentrism

• Example- Americans prefer Harley-Davidson motorcycles

over foreign brands like Kawasaki or Honda

• Example- Bangladeshi’s preferring Saree over other attires.

-Personality traits can be used for segmentation.

 Personality is Consistent and Enduring

-Generally, personality is consistent and enduring.

-Both are important qualities to predict consumer behavior.

-Marketers cannot “change” personalities

-However, marketers can appeal to the relevant personality traits

Example: a) Extreme sports gear: targeting risk takers

b) Tour planners: targeting people with openness to
new experience
 Theories of Personality

• Freudian theory
Unconscious needs or drives are at the heart of human
motivation

• Neo-Freudian personality theory

Social relationships are fundamental to the formation and
development of personality

• Trait theory
Quantitative approach to personality as a set of
psychological traits
 Freudian Theory
• Id
⚬ Warehouse of primitive or instinctual
needs for which individual seeks
immediate satisfaction

• Superego
⚬ Individual’s internal expression of
society’s moral and ethical
codes of conduct

• Ego
⚬ Individual’s conscious control that
balances the demands of the id and https://youtu.be/7vFf5CS27-Y?si=XZ-K-Iad3JH_D7FK

superego
 Neo-Freudian Personality Theory
• In addition to Freud’s concepts, social relationships are
fundamental to personality

• Alfred Adler:
–Style of life -Feelings of inferiority

• Harry Stack Sullivan

–We establish rewarding relationships with others

• Karen Horney’s three personality groups-

–Compliant : move toward others and wish to be
loved
–Aggressive : move against others and desire to
excel and feel superior
 Neo-Freudian Personality Theory

Aggressive individuals: Nike’s “Run for

Your Life” campaign

Detached individuals: Apple’s "Think

Different" Campaign (1997)
 Personality Traits

Measuring Distinct Traits

Personality Traits: inner psychological characteristics that
distinguish one individual from other individuals.
-Measured through self-administered questionnaires
⚬ High vs. Low scores on specific traits

-Personality traits:
⚬ Reflected in consumers’ shopping patterns
⚬ Rarely influences brand selection
EG- an introverted person is more likely to shop online whereas an extroverted
person would like to visit a physical store to explore more
 Personality Traits

-Personality traits:
⚬ Reflected in consumers’ shopping patterns
⚬ Rarely influences brand selection

Example:
an introverted person is more likely to shop online
whereas an extroverted person would like to visit a
physical store to explore more
 Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior

Consumer Dogmatism Materialism Need for

innovativeness uniqueness

Need for Compulsions Novelty seeking Ethnocentrism

Cognition and Fixations

Color Written vs
Association Visual
 Consumer Innovativeness: Innovators vs. Laggards

-Innovators: the first to try new products; open to new ideas.

-Laggards: very last consumers to adopt a new product.

Innovativeness: Four motivational drivers-

Functional Hedonic Social Cognitive

Three levels of innovativeness-

Global Domain-specific Innovative

Innovativeness innovativeness behavior
 Dogmatism: Open vs. Closed-Minded

Dogmatism: Degree of cognitive rigidity toward information and

opinions contradictory to one’s own.

• Highly dogmatic- Faces uncertainty/unfamiliarity with discomfort

• Less/no dogmatic- Considers unfamiliar or opposing beliefs

• Less dogmatism = higher preference for innovative products

• High vs. Low Dogmatism: Marketing Implications

 Need for Uniqueness

-An individual’s pursuit of differentness relative to others that is

achieved through the acquisition of consumer goods.
• Inner-directed
-rely on own values when evaluating new products

• Other-directed
-look to others for guidance

• Highly pertinent to the fashion industry.

 Optimum Simulation Level (OSL)

-Measures the level or amount of novelty, complexity, or unusual

experience (i.e., high OSL) that individuals seek.

-High OSL consumers tend to accept risky and novel products more
readily than low OSL consumers.

-Closely related concepts: Sensation Seeking and Novelty

Seeking

-Sensation Seeking:
• The need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and
experience and the willingness to take risks for such experiences.

Example: Mountain biking, skateboarding, surfing etc.

 Optimum Simulation Level (OSL)

Novelty Seeking:

• A consumer’s degree of variety seeking

• e.g., Exploration of new brands and novel ways of doing things

• Novelty seeking consists of:

Exploratory Use Vicarious

Purchase Behavior Innovativeness Exploration
 Need for Cognition (NFC)

-A person’s craving for or enjoyment of thinking.

-Individual with high NFC more likely to respond to ads rich in

product information.

.
 Preference for Written or Visual

-Verbalizers: prefer promotional messages containing a lot of

written, textual, and verbal information.

-Visualizers: prefer visual and pictorial messages.

NVidia GeForce graphics card ad

https://youtu.be/fj245xMr-BM?si=g7YLjhJGGyinR4Ru

-EG- Apple Vision Pro ad

https://youtu.be/IY4x85zqoJM?si=qt7EIqNWj9cq7PfT
 Materialism

Acquire and show Self centered and

off possessions selfish

Materialistic
People

Seek lifestyle full Do not get personal

of possessions satisfaction from
possessions alone
 Compulsions and Fixations
• -“Addictive” or “out-of-control” consumers

• Example: Uncontrollable shopping, Gambling

• Fixated consumption behavior: Consumers fixated

on certain products. Collectors and Hobbyists.

-Characteristics:
-Passionate interest in a product category
-Willingness to go to great lengths to secure objects
-Dedication of time and money to collecting
-Aggressive competitiveness at auctions
 Ethnocentrism
- Personality trait representing one’s tendency toward
buying or not buying foreign-made products.

-Ethnocentric consumers feel it is wrong to purchase

foreign-made products because of the impact on the
economy

- Can be targeted by stressing nationalistic themes.

⚬ Amader phone
⚬ Amader ponno
 Personality and Color
Associate personality characteristics and genders with specific
colors.
• Red = Excitement. Example: Coca-Cola
• Brown and Green = Ruggedness. Example: Jeep
• Blue = Communication. Example: Facebook
• Black = Sophistication. Example: Gucci

• More colors and lighter tones = feminine

• Fewer color and darker tones = masculine
 Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism: Attributing human characteristics to
objects

Example: Tony the Tiger and Mr. Muscle

 Anthropomorphism
Brand Personification: Communicating human features of
a brand in advertising.

Example: Coca-Cola = friendly

Toyota = reliability

Brand
Personality

Excitement Sophistication Affection Popularity Competence

 Product Personality: Gender and
Geography
Gender
Some products perceived as masculine (coffee and
toothpaste) while others as feminine (bath soap and
shampoo).

Geography

-Actual locations (Muktagachhar Monda, Kumilla’r

Roshmalai)

-Fictitious names are also used

 Self-Perception
-Self-image: how people perceive themselves.

-Consumers have multiple “selves” because people act

differently in different situations (e.g., at school, at work,
with friends).

- Four components of self-image:

Components
of Self-Image

Ideal
Actual Ideal Social
Social
 The Extended Self
-Consumers’ Possessions can
extend self-images.

Example: A person who consider Actuall

y Symbolical
himself successful may own a Rolex
ly
watch

Four ways possessions extend self-

Feelings of
images:
immortality Conferring
status or
rank
 Altering The Self
- Sometimes consumers wish to change or improve their selves.

- Clothing, grooming aids or cosmetics, accessories help to alter.

- Digital means of altering the self.

Example: Snapchat filters

- Physical Vanity vs. Achievement Vanity.

(example given in the next slide)
 Altering The Self: Vanity
Vanity reflects one’s self-image, and often originates in acting self-
important, being self-centred, and admiring one’s own appearance
and achievements.

Achievement
Physical Vanity
Vanity

A person buying expensive skincare Someone purchasing a luxury car like a

products or designer clothing from brands Mercedes-Benz or an expensive watch like
like L'Oréal or Gucci to improve their a Rolex to symbolize their career success
appearance. and display their status.