MODULE 3- Motivation,
Personality and Perception
BY
DR. REMA GOPALAN
Learning Outcomes
Motivation: Basics of Motivation, Needs, Goals, Positive Perception: Basics of Perception & Marketing implications
& Negative Motivation, and Rational Vs Emotional
motives. Elements of Perception, Dynamics of Perception, Influence
of perception on consumer behavior
Motivation Process, Arousal of motives, Selection of
goals. Consumer Imagery, Perceived price, Perceived quality,
price/quality relationship
Motivation Theories and Marketing Strategy
Perceived Risk, Types of risk, How Do consumers’ handle
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, McGuire’s Psychological risk.
Motives.
Personality: Basics of Personality
Theories of Personality and Marketing Strategy
(Freudian Theory, Neo-Freudian Theory, Trait Theory)
Applications of Personality concepts in Marketing,
Personality and understanding consumer diversity
Brand Personality, Self and Self-Image.
Needs and Motivation
Needs are the essence of the marketing concept.
Marketers do not create needs but can make consumers
aware of needs.
Motivation is the driving force within individuals that
impels them to action.
Copyright 2007 by Prentice Hall
Figure 3.1 Model of the Motivation Process
Copyright 2007 by Prentice Hall
Types Of Needs
Innate Needs
◦ Physiological (or biogenic) needs that are considered primary needs or
motives
Acquired Needs
◦ Learned in response to our culture or environment. Are generally
psychological and considered secondary needs
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Is a body spray
an innate or
acquired
need?
COPYRIGHT 2007 BY PRENTICE HALL
Goals
The sought-after results of motivated behavior
Generic goals are general categories of goals that
consumers see as a way to fulfill their needs.
Product-specific goals are specifically branded
products or services that consumers select as their
goals.
Copyright 2007 by Prentice Hall
Figure 3-2a
Goals Structure for Weight Control
Copyright 2007 by Prentice Hall
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
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Discussion Question
What are three generic goals you have set for yourself in the past
year?
What are three product-specific goals you have set in the past year?
In what situations are these two related?
How were these goals selected? Was it personal experiences,
physical capacity, or prevailing cultural norms and values?
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Positive & Negative Motivation
Positive Negative
Motivation Motivation
◦ A driving force toward some object A driving force away from some object or
or condition condition
Approach Goal Avoidance Goal
◦ A positive goal toward which ◦ A negative goal from which behavior is
behavior is directed directed away
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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.
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Discussion Question
What products might be purchased using rational and emotional
motives?
What marketing strategies are effective when there are combined
motives?
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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
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Substitute Goals
Are used when a consumer cannot attain a specific goal he/she
anticipates will satisfy a need
The substitute goal will dispel tension
Substitute goals may actually replace the primary goal over time
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Frustration
Failure to achieve a goal may result in frustration.
Some adapt; others adopt defense mechanisms to protect
their ego.
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Defense Mechanism
Methods by which people mentally redefine frustrating situations to protect their self-images
and their self-esteem
Copyright 2007 by Prentice Hall
What type of
defense
mechanism is
this
spokesperson
using in this
ad?
COPYRIGHT 2007 BY PRENTICE HALL
Table 3.2
Defense Mechanisms
Aggression: aggressive Projection: Blame object or
behavior to protect his self others
esteem
Repression: repressing the
Rationalization ;Inventing unsatisfied needs
reasons for unable
attaining goals
Regression: childish
behavior
Withdrawal
Copyright 2007 by Prentice Hall
Arousal (Stimulation) of Motives
Physiological arousal: Bodily needs Eg. A drop in blood sugar level or stomach
contractions will trigger awareness of a hunger need
Emotional arousal: Daydreaming results in the arousal or stimulation of latent
needs.
Cognitive arousal: Random thoughts can lead to a cognitive awareness of
needs. For e.g.. Advertising
Environmental arousal: Arousal activated by specific cues in the environment.
For e.g.,the sight or smell of bakery items.
Copyright 2007 by Prentice Hall
Motivation Theories and
Marketing Strategy
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
COPYRIGHT 2007 BY PRENTICE HALL
Discussion Question
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 2007 by Prentice Hall
MCGUIRE’S PSYCHOLOGICAL MOTIVES
McGuire first divided the motivation into two main categories using two criteria:
1. Is the mode of motivation cognitive or affective ?
2. Is the motive focused on preservation of the status quo or on growth?
Then for each division in each category he stated there is two more basic
elements.
1. Is this behavior actively initiated or in response to the environment?
2. Does this behavior help the individual achieve a new internal or a new
external relationship to the environment?
MCGUIRE’S PSYCHOLOGICAL MOTIVES
Divisions of categories
[Link] Preservation Motives 3. Affective Preservation Motives
1. Need for Tension Reduction
1. Need for Consistency (active, internal) 2. Need for Expression (active, external)
2. Need for Attribution (active, external) 3. Need for Ego Defense (passive, internal)
3. Need to categorize (passive, internal) 4. Need for Reinforcement (passive,
4. Need for objectification (passive, external) external)
4. Affective Growth Motives
2. Cognitive Growth Motives 1. Need for Assertion (active, internal)
1. Need for Autonomy (active, internal) 2. Need for Affiliation (active, external)
2. Need for Stimulation (active, external) 3. Need for Identification (passive, internal)
3. Teleological Need (passive, internal) 4. Need for Modeling (passive, external)
4. Utilitarian Need (passive, external)
Personality and Consumer
Behaviour
Personality and
The Nature of Personality
Personality is the inner psychological characteristics
that determine and reflect how a person responds to
his or her environment.
The Nature of Personality:
◦ Personality reflects individual differences (marketers can look
for certain similar personality traits in different consumers and
work on them as a segment)
◦ Personality is consistent and enduring (This helps marketers
predict consumer behavior in terms of personality)
◦ Personality can change (your personality now is somewhat
different from when you were 7 years old)
28
Theories of Personality
Freudian theory/Psychoanalytic Theory
◦Unconscious instinctual needs or drives are primarily at
the heart of human motivation and personality in nature.
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
According to
Freud, human
personality
consists of
these three
systems, the
id, super ego
and the ego.
Chapter Five Slide 30
Freudian Theory
Id
◦ The warehouse of primitive or instinctual (physiological) needs or drives such
as hunger, thirst, and sex which are driven by pleasure principle and
immediate gratification (individual seeks immediate satisfaction).
Ego
◦ Individual’s conscious control that balances the demands of the id and
superego (reality principle)
Superego
◦ Individual’s internal expression of society’s moral and ethical codes of
conduct. it drives the individual to fulfill their needs in a socially acceptable
function.
Chapter Five Slide 31
Freudian Theory
the Id is the devil and the SUPEREGO is the "angel." The EGO is
basically the "brain" in between, trying to sort out what each is advocating
and more objectively and logically arrive at a decision.
Chapter Five Slide 10
Marketing and Freudian Theory
There are several themes based on psychoanalytic theory which are sometimes used by
marketers in attempting to influence consumers such as fantasy, wish fulfilment, aggression
and escape from life’s pressures (perfume, hair dye, skincare products, dresses, farm houses
and motorcycles are some examples of product categories).
Neo-Freudian Theory
Social and cultural variables are fundamental to formation and development of personality.
Alfred Adler:
◦ People seek to attain rational goals in life (Style of life) and;
◦ Reduce Feelings of inferiority by striving for superiority.
Harry Stack Sullivan
◦ We continuously establish significant and rewarding relationships with others to reduce
tensions such as anxiety.
Karen Horney’s three personality groups
◦ Compliant: move toward others. A compliant individual desires to be loved, wanted and
appreciated.
◦ Aggressive: move against others. aggressive individual desires to excel and win admirations.
◦ Detached: move away from others. detached person desires independence, self reliance and
freedom from obligation.
Study: highly compliant students prefer name-brand products like Bayer.
Aggressive students prefer masculine appeal brands like Old Spice.. Whereas
detached proved to be heavy tea drinkers as a sign of difference.
Why Is Appealing to an Aggressive Consumer a Logical Position for This
Product?
Because its
Consumer Seeks
to Excel and
Achieve
Recognition
35 Chapter Five Slide
Trait Theory
Unlike Freudian and Neo-Freudian theories, trait theory is less
qualitative and more focused on measurement of personality in terms
of traits.
A trait is any distinguishing, relatively enduring way in which one
individual differs from another.
Tests can be done to measure single traits in consumers such as how
receptive they are to new experiences (innovativeness), their
attachment to worldly possessions (materialism), and their likelihood
to accept or reject foreign-made products (ethnocentrism).
A study: Soup and Soup Lover’s Traits
Chicken Noodle Soup Lovers
◦ Watch a lot of TV Vegetable Soup Lovers
◦ Are family oriented ◦ Enjoy the outdoors
◦ Have a great sense of humor ◦ Usually game for trying new things
◦ Are outgoing and loyal ◦ Spend more money than any other group
◦ Like daytime talk shows dining in fancy restaurants
◦ Most likely to go to church ◦ Likely to be physically fit
Tomato Soup Lovers ◦ Gardening is often a favorite hobby
◦ Passionate about reading
◦ Love pets
◦ Like meeting people for coffee
◦ Aren’t usually the life of the party
Research result: Personality traits are linked to broad product
categories and NOT specific brands
Snack Foods and Personality Traits
(study on 19000 consumers)
Snack Foods Personality Traits
Potato chips Ambitious, successful, high achiever, impatient with
less than the best.
Tortilla chips Perfectionist, high expectations, punctual,
conservative, responsible.
Pretzels Lively, easily bored with same old routine, flirtatious,
intuitive, may over commit to projects.
Snack crackers Rational, logical, contemplative, shy, prefers time
alone.
Cheese curls Conscientious, principled, proper, fair, may appear rigid
but has great integrity, plans ahead, loves order.
Chapter Five Slide 38
Trait Theory
Personality traits and
consumer behavior
Marketers are very interested in the link
between personality traits and consumer
behavior.
39 Chapter Five Slide
Personality Traits and Consumer Behavior
Consumer Social
Dogmatism
innovativeness character
Optimum
Need for Sensation
stimulation
uniqueness seeking
level
Variety-
novelty
seeking
Consumer Innovativeness
•Consumer innovativeness is the tendency to try new products
•Companies consider consumer innovativeness very important when
introducing new products or brand extensions.
• For hi-tech products, innovativeness can be at three levels:
– Global (General) innovativeness (overall consumer innovative level of
willingness to buy new and different products or brands at any
category).
– Domain-specific innovativeness (when consumer deals with particular
product category such as computers, cameras, fashion, or watches).
– Innovative behavior (actual responses indicating early acceptance of
change and adoption, being among the first to buy new and different
products).
Consumer adoption categories
based on adoption time
Mass Market/
Followers
Number
of 34 % 34 %
customers End of Life
2.5 %
13.5 % 16 %
Innovators Laggards
Early Early Late Time
Adopters/ Majority Majority
Pioneers
introduction maturity decline
growth
Dogmatism
A personality trait that reflects the degree of
rigidity a person displays toward the unfamiliar
things and information that is contrary to his or
her own established beliefs.
Dogmatism describes to which extent a person is rigid or
open to new and unfamiliar ideas and products. A person
who is highly dogmatic will rarely consider the unfamiliar
and tend to be very close minded. Marketers have realized
this type of customer appreciates advertising appeals with
celebrities and other experts.
43 Chapter Five Slide
Social Character
Ranges on a continuum for inner-directedness to other-directedness
Inner-directedness
◦ rely on own values when evaluating products
◦ Innovators
Other-directedness
◦ look to others’ guidance
◦ less likely to be innovators
Social character is of great interest to marketers because it differentiates the
type of advertising that influences these customers. Inner-directed people
prefer ads that stress product features. Other-directed individuals gravitate
to ads that show approving social environment rather than product
information – they want to look to others to understand how to act or be
accepted, and the ads give an example of this.
Need for Uniqueness
Consumers who avoid conforming to expectations or standards of
others, either in appearance or possessions.
You may be able to identify friends with greater need for uniqueness.
You can see it in their clothes and hairstyles.
there is a measurement scale that researchers use to quantify an
individual’s need for uniqueness.
45 Chapter Five Slide
Optimum Stimulation Level
A personality trait that measures to which extent the consumer
tends to like or dislike new (novel) and unusual experiences and
products
High OSL consumers tend to accept risky and new products more
readily than low OSL consumers.
High OSL consumers are important to marketers of new products.
Sensation Seeking
• The need for varied, novel, and complex
sensations and experience. And the
willingness to take social and physical risks for
the sensations.
• Much research has been tied to the study of
teenage males who often engage in this
behavior.
Variety or Novelty Seeking
Measures a consumer’s degree of variety seeking
Types of variety seekers include:
◦ Exploratory Purchase Behavior (consumers often switch brands to
experience new products).
◦ Use Innovativeness (consumers display variety by use innovativeness,
using an existing product in a new way).
◦ Vicarious Exploration (which often does not involve actual purchase
about the product, but as a result of watching, listening to, or reading
about it of other people).
48
Brand personality
Personality-like traits associated with brands
Examples
◦ Perdue chickens (freshness)
◦ Nike (athlete)
◦ BMW is performance driven
◦ Mr. Coffee is seen as dependable, friendly, efficient, intelligent and
smart.
Brand personality which is strong and favorable will strengthen a brand
and lead to a more favorable attitude, brand preference, higher purchase
intention, and brand loyalty
Self and self
image
50 Chapter Five Slide
Self and Self-Image
Consumers have a variety of enduring images of
themselves
Individuals tend to buy products and services and
patronize retailers whose images or personalities
relate to their own self images.
51
Different Self-Images
Actual
• How consumers see themselves
Self-Image
Ideal Self- • How consumer would like to see
themselves
Image
Many consumers will purchase products to meet the gap
between their actual and ideal selves.
Perception and Consumer
Behaviour
What colour comes to mind?
RED
What’s in the picture?
What’s in the picture?
What’s in the picture?
So….what then is perception?
➢ The process by which an individual selects, organizes,
and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent
picture of the world
➢ How we see the world around us
Sensation and Perception
➢ Sensation is the immediate response of our
sensory receptors (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and
fingers) to basic stimuli (light, color, sound,
odor, and texture).
➢Perception can be defined as the active
process of selecting, organizing, and
interpreting the information brought to the
brain by the senses (Solomon, 2006)
2-60
The Process of Perception
We receive external
stimuli through
our five senses
Figure 2.1 2-61
Sensory Systems
Our world is a symphony of colors,
sounds, odors, tastes, etc.
Marketers contribute to the commotion
Advertisements, product packages, radio
and TV commercials, billboards provide
sensations
2-62
Elements of Perception
➢ Sensation
➢ Absolute threshold
➢ Differential threshold
➢Subliminal perception
The immediate and direct response of
the sensory organs to stimuli.
A perfectly unchanging environment
Sensation provides little to no sensation at all!
As sensory input decreases, our ability to
detect changes in input or intensity
increases.
Vision
Color plays a dominant role in Web page design.
Saturated colors (green, yellow, orange, and cyan) are
considered the best to capture attention.
◦ Don’t overdo it. Extensive use of saturated colors can
overwhelm people and cause visual fatigue.
2-65
Vision (Cont’d)
Size
We tend to eat more:
◦ When food container is larger
◦ When our plate still contains food
◦ When we see assortment of foods
◦ We focus on height rather than width when pouring liquid into a
glass
2-66
Sensory Adaptation
As our exposure to stimulus increases, we notice it less.
Factors leading to adaptation:
◦ Intensity, duration, discrimination, exposure, relevance
Promotional methods aimed at increasing sensory input:
◦ Experiential marketing, Sophisticated scented ads, inserts and
pop-ups, ambush advertising, Product placement
Increased Sensory Input increased intensity
Increased Sensory Input
3D/digital billboard
Stimulus Factors
Size Isolation
Intensity Format
Attractive visuals Contrast & expectations
Color and movement Remarkability
Position Information Quantity
Examples of Absolute & Differential
Threshold
Absolute Threshold: Think of a lipstick. A girl can choose a dark ruby red and outline
full. Or she can choose a pale pale pink, nearly the colour of her own skin, so pale that
you are barely aware that she's wearing lipstick. Here's where the term absolute
threshold comes in. If she's not wearing any lipstick at all, she has pale lips. If she's
wearing just a touch of lipstick, you can tell she's got some colour, but it looks just about
natural. This lower limit of how little lipstick, how pale a lipstick a girl can wear, is an
example of the absolute threshold. If she wore any less, or a colour any paler, you would
not be able to tell she was wearing lipstick.
Differential Threshold- The differential threshold for the lipstick could be the difference
between the palest of pinks and the deepest of reds. Or it could be the just noticeable
difference between palest pink and pale pink. Differential threshold would also be
involved in determining the coverage of two different brands of lipstick. Say you had one
brand that gave you a full rich pink colour and another that gave you just a pale thin pink
wash; that's a differential threshold between two brands of lipstick.
Absolute Threshold - another example, using the BMW, a high performance car. Let's
consider a guy who buys a BMW, a guy who really loves his car for the sheer feel of
power as it moves out onto the highway. His absolute threshold involves the fact that he
won't buy a car that isn't known as a "performance car," that doesn't at least have the
reputation of being a performance car.
Differential Threshold- Let's say he's considering two different cars to buy. If you offer
him a nice family sedan with enough power to move along the highway carrying four kids
and a dog, he's not interested. Let's say you even offer him another performance car, but
not the BMW. He's still not interested. Compared to the BMW, these other cars have
different levels of performance. He wants a minimum level of performance, yes, and
that's his absolute threshold, but beyond that, he wants what the BMW has to offer, not
lower levels of performance. That's differential thresholds.
Perception of very weak or
Subliminal rapid stimuli received below
Perception the level of conscious
awareness.
Many ads use hidden messages, most of them
harmless. Can you find the hidden message in
this company logo?
Process of Perception
INFLUENCE OF PERCEPTION ON CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR
Selective perception:
The consumer’s “selection” of stimuli from the environment is based on the
interactions of expectations and motives with the stimulus itself. These
factors give rise to four important concepts concerning perception:
• Selective Exposure
• Selective Attention
• Perceptual Defense
• Perceptual Blocking
Selective Perception
• Selective Exposure • Perceptual Defense
Threatening or otherwise damaging
Consumers actively seek out messages that
stimuli are less likely to be
they find pleasant or with which they are consciously perceived than are
sympathetic, reassure them of the wisdom of neutral stimuli at the same level of
their purchase decisions exposure.
• Selective Attention • Perceptual Blocking
Consumers protect themselves from
Consumers are likely to note ads for products that
being bombarded with stimuli by
would satisfy their needs and disregard those in
simply “tuning out” – blocking such
which they have no interest. stimuli from conscious awareness
Perceptual Defense
Perceptual Organization
People do not experience numerous stimuli they select from the environment as separate
and discrete sensations rather they tend to organize them into groups and perceive them as
unified wholes.
❑Figure and Grounds:
People have a tendency to organize their perceptions into figure and ground relationships.
How a figure-ground pattern is perceived can be influenced by prior pleasant or painful
associations with one or the other element in isolation.
Perceptual Organization
❑ Grouping:
Individuals tend to group stimuli so that they form a unified picture or impression. The perception of stimuli as
groups or chunks of information, rather than as discrete bits of information, facilitates their memory and recall.
Grouping can be used advantageously by marketers to simply certain desired meanings in connection with their
products.
❑ Closure:
Individuals have a need for closure. They express this need by organizing their perceptions so that they form a
complete picture. If the pattern of stimuli to which they are exposed is incomplete, they tend to perceive it,
nevertheless, as complete; that is, they consciously or subconsciously fill in the missing pieces.
Principle of Closure
This Land Rover ad illustrates the use of the principle of closure, in which
people participate in the ad by mentally filling in the gaps in the sentence.
2-85
86
Figure-ground Principle
This billboard for Wrangler jeans makes creative use of the
figure-ground principle.
2-87
Perceptual distortion
Individuals are subject to a number of influences that tend to
distort their perceptions, such as physical appearances,
stereotypes, first impressions, jumping to conclusions and
the halo effect.
Perceptual Interpretation
Stimuli are often highly ambiguous. Some stimuli are weak
because of such factors as poor visibility, brief exposure,
high noise level or constant fluctuations. Even the stimuli
that are strong tend to fluctuate dramatically because of such
factors as different angles of viewing, varying distances, and
changing levels of illumination.
Interpretation
• People hold meanings related to stimuli.
Stereotypes
• Perceptual interpretation occurs because
Physical Appearances
Stereotypes consumers have unique motives, interests,
and experiences.
Descriptive
Physical Terms
Appearances
First Impressions • How people interpret often reveals a lot
about themselves. For instance, individuals
Halo Effect tend to have stereotypes due to physical
appearances, descriptive terms, first
impressions, and the halo effect.
Interpretation
Stereotypes Positive attributes of people they
Stereotypes know to those who resemble them
Physical Appearances
Important for model selection
Physical Appearances ◦ A beautiful spokesperson might be
Descriptive Terms
perceived as possessing expertise for
First Impressions beauty products. A certain color to a
First Impressions
food might make us think it is healthier.
Halo Effect
Halo Effect
91
92
Interpretation
Stereotypes First impressions are lasting
Stereotypes
The perceiver is trying to
Physical Appearances determine which stimuli are
Physical Appearances relevant, important, or
Descriptive Terms
predictive
First Impressions
First Impressions
Halo Effect
Halo Effect
Chapter Six Slide 93
Interpretation
• Consumers perceive and evaluate multiple
Stereotypes objects based on just one dimension.
Stereotypes – For instance, a consumer might consider a clean
Physical Appearances waiting room as an indication of a good dentist.
Physical Appearances
Descriptive Terms
First Impressions •For this reason, marketers use the halo effect
First Impressions
when licensing names of products or choosing
Halo Effect
Halo Effect spokespeople.
“Safed Teeka”
Use of cultural habits to formulate imagery involving
stereotypes associated with product category
CONSUMER IMAGERY
Consumers have a number of enduring perceptions, or images, that are
particularly relevant to the study of consumer behavior.
Product Positioning
The essence of successful marketing is the image that a product/service has in
the mind of the consumer-that is positioning.
Product Repositioning
Regardless of how well-positioned a product appears to be, the marketers may
be forced to reposition it in response to market events.
A research technique
that enables
marketers to plot
graphically
Perceptual
consumers’
Mapping
perceptions
concerning product
attributes of specific
brands.
Perceptual Mapping
Perceptual Mapping
The perception of
price as an indicator
of product quality
Price/Quality
(e.g., the higher the
Relationship
price, the higher the
perceived quality of
the product).
Perceived Risk
Types
The degree of
❑ Functional Risk
uncertainty
perceived by the ❑ Physical Risk
consumer as to the ❑ Financial Risk
consequences ❑ Psychological Risk
(outcome) ❑ Time Risk
of a specific ❑ Social Risk
purchase decision.
How Consumers Handle Risk
❑ Seek Information
❑ Stay Brand Loyal
❑ Select by Brand Image
❑ Rely on Store Image
❑ Buy the Most Expensive Model
❑ Seek Reassurance