Consumer Behavior

Twelfth Edition, Global Edition

Chapter 3
Consumer Motivation and
Personality

Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 3 Learning
Objectives
3.1 To understand the dynamics of motives,
needs, and goals and how they shape
consumer behavior.
3.2 To understand motivation theories and
their applications to consumer behavior.
3.3 To understand how to identify and
measure motives.
3.4 To understand the scope of personality
and theories of its development.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 2 of 35

Chapter 3 Learning
Objectives
3.5 To understand how innovativeness
and other personality traits influence
consumer behavior.
3.6 To understand the personification of
products and brands and its strategic
applications.
3.7 To understand self-image and its
impact on consumer behavior.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 3 of 35

Opening example: Brand
personification

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 4 of 35

Brand personification

• Brand personification occurs when consumers attribute

human traits or characteristics to a brand. A “brand
personality” provides an emotional identity for a brand,
which produces sentiments and feelings toward the
brand among consumers. Brand personification is a form
of anthropomorphism, which refers to attributing human
characteristics to something that is not human. Mr. Clean
is one of America’s most beloved and instantly
recognized “persons.” .” The brand and mascot are
owned by Procter and Gamble and used for positioning
and marketing cleaning solutions and related items. The
mascot was introduced in the 1950s, quickly became a
best seller, and “his” product line now includes bathroom
cleaners, a magic eraser, multisurface liquids and
sprays, cleaning tools, and “Pro” items for heavy and
outdoor cleaning. Like the products that bear his name,
Mr. Clean is strong, tenacious, competent, durable, and
friendly.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 5 of 35

Example: Brand Personification

Source: Procter & Gamble Co.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 6 of 35

Learning Objective 3.1

3.1 To understand the dynamics of

motives, needs, and goals and how they
shape consumer behavior.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 7 of 35

Motivation

Needs are circumstances or things that that are wanted or required, and they
direct the motivational forces

Motivation: The driving force within individuals that impels them to act.
Motivation drives consumers to buy and is triggered by psychological tension
caused by unfulfilled needs. Motivation represents the reasons one has for acting or
behaving in a particular way.

Goals are the sought-after results of motivated behavior, and all human behavior
is goal oriented.

Unfulfilled needs create psychological tension and drives that make people
take action

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 8 of 35

The Motivation Process

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 9 of 35

The Motivation Process

• Individuals strive both consciously and

subconsciously to reduce tension that is
created by unfulfilled needs through
selecting goals and subsequent
behavior that they anticipate will fulfill
their needs and thus relieve them of the
tension they feel. Whether gratification
is actually achieved depends on the
course of action pursued. Personality
characteristics guide the goals that
people set and the courses of action
they take to attain these goals

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 10 of 35

Needs and Goals
• Needs
– Physiological
– Psychological
Both types of needs affect our buying
decision. People need shelter but the kind
of shelter is affected by psychological needs
• Goals
– Generic
– Product-specific

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 11 of 35

NEEDS

• Biogenic needs are innate or

physiological needs (biogenic, primary),
which sustain our biological existence.
They include the need for food, water, air,
protection of the body from the outside
environment (i.e., clothing and shelter),
and sex.
• Psychogenic needs are learned from our
parents, social environment, and
interactions with others. Among many
others, they include the needs for self-
esteem, prestige, affection, power,
learning, and achievement.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 12 of 35
Goals

• Goals are the sought-after results of motivated

behavior, and all human behavior is goal
oriented. There are two types of goals:
 Generic goals are outcomes that consumers seek
in order to satisfy physiological and psychological
needs.
 Product-specific goals are outcomes that
consumers seek by using a given product or service.
• When a consumer states they want a pair of
jeans, they have stated a generic goal. When
they announce they really want a pair of Calvin
Klein jeans, then they have stated product-
specific goals.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 13 of 35

Application: Goals

Discussion Questions

What is the generic

goal?

What is the product-

specific goal?

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 14 of 35

 Motivations: Technology Use

Motivations of Bloggers
(1)self-expression
(2)documenting one’s
life (i.e., keeping a diary)
(3)identifying other
influential bloggers

What motivates you to share information on

Facebook? To blog?
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 15 of 35
Need Arousal and Selecting
Goals
Need Arousal Selecting Goals
• Internal stimuli • People select goals that
satisfy more than one
• Emotional or cognitive need .For any need there
are different goals. The
processes goal that a person select
• External stimuli depends on
• Factors
– personal experiences and
knowledge
– physical capacity
– cultural norms and values
– goal accessibility
• Approach objects
• Avoidance objects

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 16 of 35

 Need Arousal and Selecting
Goals
Needs Goal
• Needs can be aroused by • The goal then becomes
internal stimuli found in the
individual’s physiological to act on the desire, and
condition, emotional or reduce the felt
cognitive processes, or imbalance by buying
stimuli in the outside
environment. Many
products.
promotional messages are • Purchase-related goals
cues designed to arouse usually satisfy more
consumer needs. Creative
marketing messages arouse than one need. And, for
needs by any given need, there
stimulating a psychological are many different and
desire or imbalance in appropriate goals.
consumers’ minds

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 17 of 35

• The goals that individuals • The motivation to select goals
select depend on those can be either positive or
individuals’ personal negative. We may feel a
driving force toward some
experiences and object or condition or a
knowledge, physical driving force away from some
capacity, prevailing object or condition. Positive
cultural norms and values, outcomes that we seek are
and the goal’s called approach objects
accessibility in the (college for a high school
individuals’ physical and student who seek high
social environments. The education); negative
outcomes that we want to
goal object has to be both prevent are called avoidance
socially acceptable and objects(go to college to avoid
physically accessible parents critics)

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 18 of 35

Need Arousal
• Physiological arousal
• Cognitive arousal:
mental stimulation:
we are exploring,
learning,discovering

Source: The Kraft Heinz Company

Needs and Goals

• Needs and goals are interdependent.

Neither exist without the other
• Needs are never fully or permanently
satisfied
• New needs emerge as old ones are satisfied
• Success and failure influence goals(goals
should be reasonably attainable and
advertisement should not promise more
than it can deliver).
• When people cannot attain their primary
goals, they set “substitute goals”(with lower
aspiration)

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 20 of 35

• However, people are often not as aware of their needs
as they are of their goals. A teenager may not be
consciously aware of his social needs but may join a
number of chat groups

• As individuals attain their goals, they develop new

ones. If they do not attain their goals, they continue to
strive for old goals or they develop substitute goals.
• Some motivational theorists believe that a hierarchy of
needs exists and that new, higher-order needs emerge
as lower-order needs are fulfilled.

• Individuals who achieve their goals usually set new and

higher goals for themselves. Conversely, those who do
not reach their goals sometimes lower their aspirations.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 21 of 35

Factors That Motivate Shopping

• Seeking specific goods: going to supermarket to buy

food
• Recreational shopping:(a leisure time activity:
enjoyment).Consumers do not have an urgent
product need in mind but go shopping for the
personal enjoyment of shopping
• Activity-specific shopping: include motivations such
as sensory stimulation, gift shopping
• Demand-specific shopping: what motivate shoppers
are service convenience, store atmosphere

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 22 of 35

Cannot Attain Goals?

• Substitute goals: can be used to get rid of tension when a primary goal cannot be
attained. Over time, a substitute goal may become a primary goal.

• Frustration: is the feeling that results from failing to achieve a goal.

• Defense mechanisms: are cognitive and behavioral ways to handle frustration

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 23 of 35

 d
ne
efi
D Frustration and Defense
Mechanisms

Frustration is the feeling that

results from failure to achieve a
goal, and defense mechanisms
are cognitive and behavioral ways
to handle frustration. They are used
when people cannot cope with
frustration
Individuals react differently to
frustrations
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 24 of 35
 d
ne
efi
D

What prevent the attainment of

a goal may be:
•Personal: limited physical of
financial resource
•An obstacle in the physical or
social environment: a storm

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 25 of 35

Defense Mechanisms

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 26 of 35

Defense Mechanisms

• Aggression: to protect their self esteem(slam tennis

racket when disappointed with the game)
• Rationalization: inventing plausible solutions for being
unable to attain their goals(no enough time to practice,
goal not worth pursuing
• Regression: childish, immature behavior
• Projection: projecting blame for his failure on others
• Daydreaming: fantasizing, imagining…
• Identification: subconsciously identifying with other
people
• Withdrawal: quitting jobs
• Repression: repress the unsatisfied need

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 27 of 35

Which Defense Mechanism is
used?

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 28 of 35

Learning Objective 3.2

3.2 To understand motivation theories

and their applications to consumer
behavior.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 29 of 35

Motivation theories
There is no single, comprehensive,
and commonly accepted list of human
needs. Psychologists seem to agree
about physiological needs, but they
do not agree about how to define and
categorize psychological (or
psychogenic) needs (needs with
nonphysical origins).

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 30 of 35

 1. Henry Murray prepared an extensive list of
psychogenic needs in 1938, which represented the
first systematic approach to the understanding of
non biological human needs. Murray believed that
needs can be interrelated, can support other
needs, and can conflict with other needs. He also
believed that environmental circumstances
strongly influence how psychogenic needs are
displayed in behavior. Murray organized his needs
into five groups: ambition, materialistic, power,
affection, and information needs.
Later, psychologist Allen Edwards developed a self-
administered personality inventory that became
one of the most widely used tools in the study of
personality traits. Table 3.3 lists the definition and
illustrative characteristics of several needs
researched by Murray and Edwards that are most
relevant to consumer behavior.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 31 of 35
Psychogenic Needs: Murray and
Edwards

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 32 of 35

Murray’s Psychogenic Needs
Table 3.1 Strategic Applications Of Murray’s List

Need Illustrative Characteristics Promotional Applications

Achievement: Do the best and work hard in any Messages that encourage and illustrate success(e.g.,
accomplish tasks, succeed, and undertaking. Be able to do things better advertising education).
overcome obstacles. than others.
Exhibition: Tell amusing jokes at parties. Say things that Messages showing attention from others when they
shock or thrill others and be the others regard as witty and clever. notice one’s possessions (e.g.,expensive cars).
center of attention.
Affiliation: Be loyal to and share things with friends. Messages showing people enjoying themselves in
spend time, form strong friendships Help friends in trouble. Be confided in by large groups (e.g., vacations, shopping situations).
and attachments with others. others and told about their troubles.
Power/Dominance: Seek leadership in groups. Supervise and Messages showing actual or symbolic dominance
control, influence, and lead others. direct the actions of others. (e.g., being a chief executive; owninga powerful car).
Change: Doing new and different activities, like Messages stressing novelty, uniqueness, and
seek new experiences and avoid eating in new restaurants, going on trips, breaking with routines (e.g., adventure travel and
routine. and avoiding conventional situations. active vacations).
Order: Planning and organizing the details in any Promoting devices that save space and keep things
keeping things neat and organized. undertaking. Setting definite times for firmly in place (e.g., dividers and organizers for
activities. closets, drawers, and garages).

Source: Data based on the works of Henry Murray

Appeal to Which Need? (1 of 2)

Source: Photo courtesy of The Container Store

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 34 of 35

Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 35 of 35

Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs
• Psychologist Abraham Maslow formulated a theory of human motivation based
on the notion that there is a hierarchy of human needs which rank 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.
The needs appear to be mutually exclusive, but there is some overlap.

• Maslow maintained that physiological needs (primary needs which are

required to sustain biological life, including food, water, air, shelter, clothing,
and sex—all biogenic needs) are the first and most basic level of human needs.
After physiological needs have been satisfied, safety and security needs
(physical safety, order, stability, routine, familiarity, and control over one’s life
and environment) become the driving force behind an individual’s behavior. The
third level of Maslow’s hierarchy consists of social needs, such as love,
affection, belonging, and acceptance. When social needs are more or less
satisfied, egoistic needs (inwardly directed: needs for self-acceptance, self-
esteem, success, independence, and personal satisfaction; outwardly directed:
needs for prestige, reputation, status, and recognition from others) become
operative. The fifth level, self-actualization need, refers to an individual’s
desire to fulfill his or her potential—to become everything that he or she is
capable of becoming.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 36 of 35

To Which of Maslow’s Needs Does This Ad
Appeal?

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 37 of 35

Appeal to Which Need? (2 of 2)

Source: BlueFox.io

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 38 of 35

Discussion Questions

• What are three types of products

related to more then one level of
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?
• For each type of product, consider
two brands. How do marketers
attempt to differentiate their product
from the competition?

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 39 of 35

• The power need is 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 experience increased self-
esteem when they exercise power over objects or
people
• The affiliation need is very similar to Maslow’s
social need and suggests that behavior is strongly
influenced by the desire for friendship, acceptance,
and belonging. Individuals with a strong
achievement need often regard personal
accomplishment as an end in itself. They are self-
confident, enjoy taking calculated risks, actively
research their environments, and value feedback,
often in the form of monetary rewards.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 40 of 35
Trio of Needs

• Power
• Affiliation
• Achievement

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

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 41 of 35

Motives for Online Interactions

Several studies investigated the motivations of consumers to interact

with brands on the Internet.

•Interest in buying and comparing products’ features

•Personalizing products is fun
•Desire for good customer service
•Win prizes and receive free samples

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 42 of 35

Learning Objective 3.5

3.5 To understand how innovativeness

and other personality traits influence
consumer behavior.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 43 of 35

 Personality traits and consumer behavior

1. Innovators are the first one to try a

new product because they are open
to new ideas and practices. Their
response to newly introduced
products is critical to the success or
failure of new products.
2. Innovativeness is the degree of a
consumer’s willingness to adopt new
products and services after the
product is introduced
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 44 of 35
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

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 45 of 35

Dogmatism

• Dogmatism: is one’s degree of

rigidity(the opposite of being open
minded)toward information and opinion
contradictory to one’s beliefs and views.
The person who is highly dogmatic
approaches the unfamiliar defensively
and with uncertainty.
• Highly dogmatic consumers tend to be
more receptive to ads that contain
appeals from authoritative figures such
as celebrities and experts
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 46 of 35
Social character: inner vs other -
directed
• Inner directed consumers rely on their own
inner values and standards in evaluating
products and are likely to be consumer
innovators. Conversely other- directed
consumers look for others for guidance
(what is appropriate or inappropriate)and
are unlikely to be innovators. Inner- directed
prefer ads that stress product features and
benefits whereas other -directed prefers ad
that features social acceptance

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 47 of 35

Need for uniqueness

• It is defined as an individual’s pursuit

of differentness relative to others that
is achieved through the acquisition of
a consumer good in order to enhance
one’s personal and social identity.
People with high need of uniqueness
adopt new brands quicker than
others. They prefer creative products
and they like to stand out in a crowd

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 48 of 35

Optimum stimulation level

• It is the degree to which people like

novel, complex and unusual
experiences (high OSL) or prefer a
simple and calm existence(low
OSL).Researchers with high OSL are
more willing to take risks, more likely
to try new products and be
innovative

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 49 of 35

Sensation seeking

• One’s need for varied, novel and

complex sensations and experiences
and the willingness to take
risks .Teenagers engage in extreme
sports forms of bikings,skateboard
…

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 50 of 35

Variety and novel seeking

• 1- Exploratory purchase behavior

includes switching brands to experience
new different possibilities and better
alternatives
• 2-Vicarious explorations: gathering
information about new and different
products alternatives
• 3-use innovativeness: means using an
already adopted product in a new or
novel way
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 51 of 35
 Need for cognition

• A personality trait that reflects a person’s

craving for enjoyment of thinking.
• Consumers who are high in NFC respond
to ad that contain a lot of product-related
information and descriptions whereas
consumers low in NFC are attracted to
the background or peripheral aspect of an
ad such as an attractive model or a well
known celebrity

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 52 of 35

• Verbalizers prefer • Materialism gauges the
promotional messages extent to which an
containing a lot of individual is preoccupied
with purchasing and
written, textual, and showing off physical
verbal information and possessions that are mostly
pay less attention to nonessential and often
visuals. Visualizers conspicuous (clearly
are more receptive to visible )luxury goods.
Chinese are more
pictorial images, and materialistic than American
include:
– 1. Object visualizers,
who encode and process • Ethnocentrism is the
images as a single consumer’s willingness to
perceptual unit. buy or not buy foreign-
– 2. Spatial visualizers, made products. Chinese are
less ethnocentric than
who process images American
piece by piece.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 53 of 35

• Consumer • Personality and
ethnocentrism:
color:
Is the consumer
willingness to buy or Consumers associate
not to buy foreign cola with red which
made products connotes
High ethnocentrism:
inappropriate or wrong
excitement.
to buy foreign made Yellow: the color of
products happiness and
Mexican are more optimism
ethnocentric than
American

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 54 of 35

 Other Personality Factors

• Visualizers vs.
Verbalizers
• Materialism
• Ethnocentrism

Is the ad trying to
appeal to
visualizers or
verbalizers?
Explain.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 55 of 35
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 56 of 35
Discussion Question

What is the difference between fixated

consumption and compulsive
consumption?

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 57 of 35

• Fixated consumption • Compulsive
refers to collectors’ and consumption is
hobbyists’ tendency to
accumulate items that are addictive and out-of-
related to their interests and control buying that often
show them off to friends and
others with similar interests. has damaging
Fixated consumers share the consequences for both
following characteristics: the compulsive shopper
• 1. A passion for and interest in
the category of what they and those around him or
collect. her. Examples of
• 2. Willingness to invest a lot of compulsive consumption
effort in adding to their
collections. 3. Spending a lot of problems are
time and discretionary income uncontrollable shopping,
searching and buying more gambling, drug addiction,
items for their collections.
• 4. Aggressively competing in alcoholism, and even
auctions. eating disorders.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 58 of 35

Brand Personality
Framework

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 59 of 35

Learning Objective 3.7

3.7 To understand self-image and its

impact on consumer behavior.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 60 of 35

SELF IMAGE
Consumer behavior researchers
identified four components of self-image:
1. Actual self-image is the way
consumers see themselves
2. Ideal self-image is how consumers
would like to see themselves
3. Social self-image is how consumers
feel others see them
4. Ideal social self-image is how
consumers would like others to see them.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 61 of 35

Discussion Questions

• How are possessions an extension of

the self?
• How do consumers use self-altering
products?
• What are the two types of vanity?
How does vanity shape consumption
behavior?

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 62 of 35

• Possessions represent an extension of the self:
• 1. Actually, by allowing the person to do
things that otherwise would be very difficult or
impossible to accomplish (e.g., problem
solving by using a computer).
• 2. Symbolically, by making the person feel
better (e.g., being considered the “best
dressed” at work).
• 3. Conferring status or rank,( for example,
among collectors of rare works of art because
of the ownership of a particular masterpiece).
• 4. Feelings of immortality because of leaving
valuable bequests after death.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 63 of 35

VANITY

• Vanity(excessive pride) reflects one’s self-image. Physical

vanity is an excessive concern with or an inflated view of
one’s physical appearance. Achievement vanity is an
excessive concern with or inflated view of one’s personal
achievements.

• Researchers discovered two types of vanity:

• (1) physical vanity, which is excessive concern with or
inflated view of one’s physical appearance; and
• (2) achievement vanity, which is excessive concern with or
inflated view of one’s personal achievements.

• Vain consumers: (1) are a lucrative market for personal care

and beauty products; (2) welcome promotional messages
showing that they attract others’ attention; and (3) are
receptive to promotional messages featuring personal
achievement

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 64 of 35

Altering the Self

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 65 of 35

 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education Slide 66 of 35