Chapter 5: Consumer Motivation

1. Chapter 5: Consumer Motivation

2. 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.

3. Motivation begins with the presence of a stimulus (psychology) 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 • Expressive needs involve desires by consumers to fulfill social and/or aesthetic requirements. • Utilitarian(in the interest of utility) needs involve desires by consumers to solve basic problems (e.g. filling a car’s gas tank).

4. The Structure of Emotions • Ten Fundamental Emotions People Experience: • Disgust Interest • Joy Surprise • Sadness Anger • Fear Contempt • Shame Guilt

5. Some General Theories of Motivation • Maslow hierarchy: physical, safety, belongingness, ego, and self-actualiation • McClelland’s Theory of Learned Needs • Achievement motivation is seeking to get ahead, to strive for success, and to take responsibility for solving problems. • Need for affiliation motivates people to make friends, to become members of groups, and to associate with others. • Need for power refers to the desire to obtain and exercise control over others. • Need for uniqueness refers to desires to perceive ourselves as original and different.

6. Classical Conditioning • A neutral stimulus, such as a brand name, is paired with a stimulus that elicits a response. • Through a repetition of the pairing, the neutral stimulus takes on the ability to elicit the response.

7. The conditioned stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus which is repeatedly paired with the eliciting stimulus. • The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is an eliciting stimulus. • The conditioned response (CR) is the response elicited by the CS. • The unconditioned response (UCR) is the reflexive response elicited by the unconditioned stimulus.

8. Classical Conditioning Relations Unconditioned Response Unconditioned/Secondary Stimulus Flag Emotions Pairing Political candidate Emotions Conditioned Stimulus Conditioned Response

9. Requirements for Effective Conditioning • The neutral stimulus should precede in time the appearance of the unconditioned stimulus. • The product is paired consistently with the unconditioned stimulus. • Both the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus are highly salient to the consumer.

10. Applications of Classical Conditioning • Applications: communications--advertising, public relations, personal selling. • Goal: identify powerful positive stimulus and associate brand with it. • Examples of powerful, emotion causing stimuli: • beautiful, sexy people • patriotic themes, religious symbols • Music, beautiful scenes • Also, negative stimuli can be associated with competitors. • Credit card insignia (membership) may elicit spending responses

11. Operant Conditioning . . . . . . is the process in which the frequency of occurrence of a bit of behavior is modified by the consequences of the behavior. • If positively reinforced, the likelihood of the behavior being repeated increases. • If punished, the likelihood of the behavior being repeated decreases.

12. Reinforcement & Influencing Behavior • A reinforcer is anything that occurs after a behavior and changes the likelihood that it will be emitted again. • Positive reinforcers are positive rewards that follow immediately after a behavior occurs. • Negative reinforcers are the removal of an aversive(avoiding) stimulus.

13. A Punisher . . . . . . is any stimulus whose presence after a behavior decreases the likelihood of the behavior reoccurring.

14. Discriminative Stimuli . . . . . . are those stimuli that occur in the presence of a reinforcer and do not occur in its absence. Example: point of purchase display is a discriminative stimulus.

15. Vicarious Learning . . . . . . is the phenomenon where people observe the actions of others to develop “patterns of behavior.”

16. Three important ideas: • People are viewed as symbolic beings who foresee the probable consequences of their behavior. • People learn by watching the actions of others and the consequences of these actions (i.e. vicarious learning). • People have the ability to regulate their own behavior.

17. 7 Types of Consumer Risks. • Financial • Performance • Physical • Psychological • Social • Time • Opportunity Loss

18. Factors Influencing Risk Perception • Characteristics of the person—e.g., need for stimulation • Nature of the task • Characteristics of the product—price • Salience of negative outcomes

19. Six risk-reduction strategies • Be brand loyal and consistently purchase the same brand. • Buy through brand image and purchase a quality national brand. • Buy through store image from a retailer that you trust. • Seek out information in order to make a well informed decision. • Buy the most expensive brand, which is likely to have high quality. • Buy the least expensive brand in order to reduce financial risk.

20. Managerial Applications of Motivation • Positioning/differentiation: use discriminative stimuli distinguish one brand from another. • Environmental analysis: identify the reinforcers and punishers that impact consumers; identify factors that influence risk perception. • Market research: measure motivational needs (e.g., McClelland’s needs and need for arousal), measure risk perception. • Marketing mix: use motivational needs to design products (e.g., safe cars) and to develop promotional strategy that meets needs. Develop messages to influence consumer attributions. Use in-store promotions to prime consumers. • Segmentation: Segment market based upon motivational needs.