CHAPTER 3
Consumer Motivation and Personality
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading, studying and analyzing this chapter, students should be able:
3.1 To understand how motives, needs, and goals shape consumer behavior.
3.3 To understand the impact of hidden motives on consumer behavior.
3.5 To understand personality development.
3.7 To understand brand personification.
3.8 To understand the impact of self-image on consumer behavior.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Learning Objective 3.1: To understand how motives, needs, and goals shape consumer
behavior.
Motivation is the driving force that impels people to act. It represents the reasons one has for
acting or behaving in a particular way. Needs are circumstances or things that that are wanted or
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, and achievement.
Goals are the sought-after results of motivated behavior, and all human behavior is goal oriented.
Most of an individual’s needs are dormant much of the time. The arousal of any need at a
specific moment may be caused by biological stimuli, emotional or cognitive processes, or
stimuli in the outside environment. Needs and goals are interdependent; neither exists without
the other. However, people are often not as aware of their needs as they are of their goals.
Learning Objective 3.2: To understand the systems of classifying needs.
Human beings share the same biogenic and similar psychogenic needs. However, different
people assign different priorities to psychogenic needs.
Henry Murray prepared an extensive list of psychogenic needs that represented the first
systematic approach to the understanding of nonbiological human needs. Murray believed that
Learning Objective 3.3: To understand the impact of hidden motives on consumer behavior.
Motivational research—a “term of art” for a consumer behavior research approach conceived by
Ernest Dichter—uses mostly projective techniques. This method is commonly used in qualitative
research to delve below the consumer’s level of conscious awareness to identify underlying
needs and motives.
Learning Objective 3.4: To understand why and how consumers use technology.
Marketers are interested in how technology influences motivations. For example, marketers are
theory tends to emphasize the fundamental role of social relationships in the formation and
development of personality. Trait theory focuses on empirical measures of personality in terms
of specific psychological characteristics, called traits, that set one person apart from another.
Learning Objective 3.6: To understand how personality traits shape consumer behavior.
The premise researching the impact of personality traits on consumer behavior is that people
have varying degrees that can be measured. Several personality traits are strongly correlated with
innovativeness: dogmatism, inner- versus other-directedness, and the need for uniqueness. These
Learning Objective 3.7: To understand brand personification.
Brand personification takes place when consumers assign humanlike qualities to products and
brands. Marketers who study and understand the meaning of such product and brand
personalities can use them to shape consumers’ responses to promotional messages and enhance
Learning Objective 3.8: To understand the impact of self-image on consumer behavior.
People have several forms of perceived self-image expressing their traits, habits, possessions,
and relationships. Consumers frequently attempt to preserve, enhance, alter, or extend their self–
images by purchasing brands that appeal to their self-image(s), and also by shopping at stores
CHAPTER OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION
1. Motivation is the driving force that impels people to act/represents the reasons one has for
acting or behaving in a particular way.
2. Needs are circumstances or things that are wanted or required, and they direct motivational
forces.
*****Use Key Terms motivation and needs Here *****
*****Use Key Terms personality, brand personification and anthropomorphism Here; Use
Figure 3.2 Here*****
The Dynamics of Motivation
***** Use Learning Objective #3.1 Here *****
1. The foundation of marketing is identifying and satisfying needs.
a) Marketers do not create needs but strive to make consumers more keenly aware of
unfelt or dormant needs.
b) A corporate focus on developing products that will satisfy consumers’ needs ensures
***** Use Figure #3.3 Here*****
2. There are two types of human needs: physiological needs and psychological needs.
a) Physiological needs are innate (biogenic, primary) and include the need for food,
3. Need arousal may be caused by internal stimuli, emotional or cognitive processes, or stimuli
in the outside environment.
a) Physiological arousal is often involuntary but arouses needs that cause uncomfortable
tensions.
b) Cognitive arousal leads to cognitive awareness of a need and action that would fulfill it.
4. Goals are the sought-after results of motivated behavior, and all human behavior is goal
oriented. There are two types of goals:
a) Generic goals are outcomes that consumers seek in order to satisfy physiological and
5. Consumers set purchase-related goals that satisfy more than one need; people with different
needs may select the same goal; and people with the same needs may seek fulfillment via
different goals.
a) The motivation to select goals can be positive or negative.
b) We may feel a driving force toward or away from an object or condition.
i) Positive outcomes are called approach objects
ii) Negative outcomes are call avoidance objects
6. Needs and goals are interdependent.
a) Neither exists without the other
b) People are less aware of their needs than they are of their goals.
c) Several factors motivate people to go shopping:
i) Seeking specific goods
***** Use Key Terms approach objects and avoidance objects Here *****
7. Human needs are never fully satisfied
a) Needs and goals are constantly growing and changing.
b) As individuals attain their goals, they develop new, higher ones.
c) Regression
d) Withdrawal
e) Projection
***** Use Review and Discussion Questions 3.4 and 3.5 Here; Use Hands-On Assignment 3.1
Systems of Needs
***** Use Learning Objective #3.2 Here *****
1. Although there is little disagreement about specific physiological needs, there is
disagreement about defining and categorizing psychological (i.e., psychogenic) needs.
a) In 1938, the psychologist Henry Murray prepared a detailed list of psychogenic needs
***** Use Table #3.1 Here; Use Figure 3.5 Here*****
c) Dr. Abraham Maslow formulated a widely accepted theory of human motivation.
Maslow’s theory identifies five basic levels of human needs, which rank in order of
importance from low-level (biogenic) needs to higher-level (psychogenic) needs.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory suggests that individuals seek to satisfy lower-
level needs before higher-level needs emerge.
i) Physiological needs are the first and most basic level of human needs.
a) Physiological needs are those things that are required to sustain biological
iii) Social needs relate to such things as love, affection, belonging, and acceptance.
iv) Egoistic needs can take an inward or outward orientation, or both.
a) Inwardly-directed ego needs reflect an individual’s need for self–
acceptance, for self-esteem, for success, for independence, and for personal
satisfaction with a job well done.
b) Outwardly-directed ego needs include the needs for prestige, for reputation,
for status, and for recognition from others.
*****Use Review and Discussion Questions 3.6 and 3.7 Here; Use Key Terms Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs, social needs, egoistic needs and self-actualization need Here; Use
Figures #3.6 and 3.7 Here*****
d) The major problem with Maslow’s theory is that it cannot be tested empirically; there is
no easy way to measure precisely how satisfied one need is before the next higher need
becomes operative.
e) Maslow’s hierarchy offers a useful, comprehensive framework for marketers trying to
develop appropriate advertising appeals for their products.
Hidden Motives
1. Motivational research, which should logically include all types of research into human
2. Building on the contributions of Dr. Dichter and other earlier motivational researchers,
3. Motives are hypothetical constructs — they cannot be seen or touched, handled, smelled, or
otherwise tangibly observed — so no single measurement method can be considered a
reliable index.
a. Because respondents are often unaware of their motives or are unwilling to reveal them
when asked directly, researchers use qualitative research to delve into consumer’s
unconscious or hidden motivations.
*****Use Learning Objective 3.3 Here; Use Review and Discussion Question #3.8 Here; Use
Key Terms motivational research, qualitative research, and projective techniques Here
*****
Motives and Technology
1. Bloggers and individuals who post comments online influence other consumers, who feel
information from other consumers is more credible than information from advertisements.
3. Reasons consumers write product reviews:
a. To be helpful to other consumers (Murray’s Sharing Information Need)
b. To gain prestige (Murray’s Achievement Need)
*****Use Learning Objective 3.4 Here *****
Personality Development
1. Personality is defined as those inner psychological characteristics that both determine and
reflect how a person responds to his or her environment.
a) The emphasis in this definition is on inner characteristics—those specific qualities,
***** Use Learning Objective #3.5 Here; Use Key Term personality Here*****
2. The facets of personality: heredity, early childhood experiences, and broader social and
environment influences are thought to influence personality development.
3. In the study of personality, three distinct properties are of central importance:
a) Personality reflects individual differences.
4. Personality reflects individual differences
a) An individual’s personality is a unique combination of factors; no two individuals are
5. Personality is consistent and enduring.
a) Marketers learn which personality characteristics influence specific consumer responses
6. Personality Can Change
a) An individual’s personality may be altered by major life events, such as the birth of a
child, the death of a loved one, a divorce, or a major career change.
b) An individual’s personality also changes as part of a gradual maturing process.
i) Personality stereotypes may also change over time.
7. There are three major theories of personality: Freudian theory, neo-Freudian theory, and trait
theory.
a) Freudian theory: Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality is one of the
cornerstones of modern psychology.
i) This theory was built on the premise that unconscious needs or drives, especially
biological and sexual drives, are at the heart of human motivation and personality.
ii) Freud proposed that the human personality consists of three interacting systems: the
id, the superego and the ego.
a) The id is the “warehouse” of primitive and impulsive drives, such as: thirst,
hunger, and sex, for which the individual seeks immediate satisfaction
without concern for the specific means of that satisfaction.
b) The superego is the individual’s internal expression of society’s moral and
ethical codes of conduct.
(1) The superego’s role is to see that the individual satisfies needs in a
socially acceptable fashion.
*****Use Key Terms Freudian theory, id, superego, ego Here*****
iii) Freud emphasized that an individual’s personality is formed as he or she passes
through a number of distinct stages of infant and childhood development: oral,
anal, phallic, latent, and genital stages.
*****Use Hands-on Assignment #3.20 Here *****
b) Neo-Freudian personality theories come from Freud’s colleagues, who felt social
relationships play a crucial role in the development of personality and may have
disagreed with his contention that personality is primarily instinctual and sexual in
nature.
i) Alfred Adler viewed human beings as seeking to attain various rational goals,
which he called style of life, placing emphasis on the individual’s efforts to
overcome feelings of inferiority.
ii) Harry Stack Sullivan stressed that people continuously attempt to establish
significant and rewarding relationships with others, placing emphasis on efforts to
reduce tensions.
and tested.
e) It reveals a number of tentative relationships between scores and product
and brand usage patterns.
iv) It is likely that many marketers have used some of these neo-Freudian theories
intuitively.
*****Use Key Terms Neo-Freudian theory and CAD scale Here*****
Personality Traits
1. Personality traits are characteristics that set people apart from one another.
a. Selected single-trait personality tests increasingly are being developed specifically for
use in consumer behavior studies.
b. Types of traits measured include:
i. Innovativeness—how receptive a person is to new experiences
ii. Materialism—the degree of the consumer’s attachment to “worldly
possessions”
iii. Ethnocentrism—the consumer’s likelihood to accept or reject foreign-made
products
c. Researchers have learned to expect personality to be linked to how consumers make
their choices, and to the purchase or consumption of a broad product category rather
than a specific brand.
2. Innovativeness is the degree of a consumer’s willingness to adopt new products and services
shortly after the products are introduced.
a. Motivational factors that inspire consumer innovativeness include:
i. Functional factors – interest in the performance of an innovation
ii. Hedonic factors – feeling gratified by using the innovation
iii. Social factors – desire to be recognized by others because of one’s pursuit of
innovations
iv. Cognitive factors – mental stimulation experience by using an innovation
b. A study identified three levels of innovativeness:
i. Global innovativeness – a personal trait that exists independent of any
context; one that represents the “very nature” of consumers’ innovativeness.
ii. Domain-specific innovativeness – a more narrowly defined activity within a
*****Use Key Term innovativeness Here; Use Table 3.2 Here*****
3. Dogmatism is a personality trait that measures the degree of rigidity an individual displays
toward the unfamiliar and toward information that is contrary to their established beliefs.
a. A person who is highly dogmatic approaches the unfamiliar defensively and with
considerable discomfort and uncertainty.
4. Social character is a personality trait that ranges on a continuum from inner-directed to other-
directed.
a. Inner-directed consumers tend to rely on their own “inner” values or standards in
evaluating new products and are likely to be consumer innovators. They also prefer
ads stressing product features and personal benefits.
b. Other-directed consumers tend to look to others for direction and are not innovators.
They prefer ads that feature social environment and social acceptance.
*****Use Review and Discussion Question #3.12 Here; Use Key Terms inner-directed and
other-directed Here; Use Figure 3.10 Here *****
5. Need for uniqueness is defined as an individual’s pursuit of differentness relative to others
that is achieved through the acquisition of consumer goods in order to enhance one’s
personal and social identity.
6. Persons with high optimum stimulation levels (OSLs) are willing to take risks, to try new
products, to be innovative, to seek purchase-related information, and to accept new retail
facilities.
a. High OSL people prefer an environment crammed with novel, complex, and unusual
experiences
b. OSL scores also reflect a person’s desired level of lifestyle stimulation.
i. Consumers whose actual lifestyles are equivalent to their OSL scores appear
to be quite satisfied.
ii. Those whose lifestyles are understimulated are likely to be bored.
iii. Those whose lifestyles are overstimulated are likely to seek rest or relief.
*****Use Key Term optimum stimulation level (OSL) Here*****
7. Sensation seeking (SS) is closely related to OSL and defined as “a trait characterized by the
8. Variety and novelty seeking is also related to OSL.
a. Different types of variety seeking include:
i. Exploratory purchase behavior (e.g., switching brands to experience new and
possibly better alternatives)
ii. Vicarious exploration (e.g., where the consumer secures information about a
new or different alternative and then contemplates or even daydreams about
the option)
iii. Use innovativeness (e.g., where the consumer uses an already adopted product
in a new or novel way).
b. High variety-seeking consumers are likely to purchase the latest smartphones/
technological products with functions.
*****Use Key Term novelty seeking Here *****
9. Need for cognition (NFC) is the measurement of a person’s craving for or enjoyment of
thinking.
a. Consumers who are high in NFC are more likely to be responsive to the part of an
advertisement that is rich in product-related information of description.
10. Some people prefer written information, while others are influenced by images.
a. Visualizers are consumers who prefer visual information and products that stress the
visual. There are two distinctly different types of visualizers.
i. Object visualizers encode and process images as a single perceptual unit.
ii. Spatial visualizers process images piece by piece.
b. Verbalizers are consumers who prefer written or verbal information and products
that stress the verbal.
c. This distinction helps marketers know whether to stress visual or written elements in
their ads.
*****Use Review and Discussion Question #3.13 Here; Use Key Terms verbalizers,
visualizers Here; Use Figure 3.7 Here*****
11. Materialism is a trait of people who feel their possessions are essential to their identity.
a. They value acquiring and showing off possessions
b. They are self-centered and selfish
c. They seek lifestyles full of possessions
d. Their possessions do not give them greater happiness.
*****Use Key Term materialism Here; Use Table 3.4 Here*****
12. Compulsive consumption is in the realm of abnormal behavior and describes addictive and
13. Fixated consumption behavior is in the realm of normal and socially acceptable behavior
and refers to collectors’ and hobbyists’ tendency to accumulate items that are related to their
interest and show them off to friends and others with similar interests. Fixated consumers’
characteristics:
a. A passion for and interest in the category of what they collect
b. A willingness to invest a lot of effort in adding to their collections
*****Use Key Terms compulsive consumers and fixated consumers Here; Use Table #3.5
Here*****
14. Ethnocentrism is the consumer’s willingness to buy (or not buy) foreign-made products
a. Nonethnocentric consumers evaluate foreign products for extrinsic characteristics
b. Ethnocentric consumers feel it is inappropriate or wrong to purchase foreign-made
*****Use Review and Discussion Question #3.14 Here; Use Key Term ethnocentrism Here
*****
15. Consumers also tend to associate personality factors with specific colors.
Anthropomorphism
1. Anthropomorphism is loosely defined as attributing human characteristics to something that
is not human.
2. Brand personification occurs when consumers attribute human traits or characteristics—the
ingredients of brand personalities—to different brands in a wide variety of product
categories.
a) A brand personality provides an emotional identity for a brand and encourages
consumers to respond with feelings and emotions toward the brand.
b) A brand’s personality can either be functional (“dependable and rugged”) or symbolic
*****Use Learning Objective #3.7 Here; Use Key Terms brand personification and
anthropomorphism Here *****
3. Individuals who are preoccupied with their self-worth and have a negative view of others
4. A study of dimensions of brand personality for product marketed by 64 American
multinational corporations identified five underlying dimensions of brand personality:
5. Consumers sometimes develop a relationship with a brand that is similar to the relationships
they have with other humans.
7. Consumers associate some brands with geographic locations.
Self-Perception
1. Self-image represents the way a person views him or herself.
a) Consumers select products that are consistent with their self-images and enhance them
b) One’s self–image originates in a person’s background and experience
c) Four aspects of self-image are:
i) Actual self-image—how consumers see themselves
ii) Ideal self-image—how consumers would like to see themselves
***** Use Learning Objective #3.8 Here; Use Key Term self-image Here*****