Every individual has needs; some are innate, others are acquired. Innate needs are physiological (i.e., biogenic); they include the needs for food, for water, for air, for clothing, for shelter, and for sex. Because they are needed to sustain biological life, the biogenic needs are considered primary needs or motives.
Acquired needs are needs that we learn in response to our culture or environment. These may include needs for esteem, for prestige, for affection, for power, and for learning. Because acquired needs are generally psychological (i.e., psychogenic), they are considered secondary
needs or motives. They result from the individual's subjective psychological state and from relationships with others. For example, all individuals need shelter from the elements; thus, finding a place to live fulfills an important primary need for a newly transferred executive.
However, the kind of house she buys may be the result of secondary needs. She may seek a house in which she can entertain large groups of people (and fulfill her social needs); she may also want to buy a house in an exclusive community in order to impress her friends and family (and fulfill her ego needs). The house an individual ultimately purchases thus may serve to fulfill both primary and secondary needs.
Motivation can be described as the driving force within individuals that impels them to action. This driving force is produced by a state of tension, which exists as the result of an unfilled need. Individuals strive— both consciously and subconsciously— to reduce this tension through behavior that they anticipate will fulfill their needs and thus relieve them of the stress they feel. The specific goals they select and the patterns of action they undertake to achieve their goals are the results of individual thinking and learning. Figure 3.1 presents a model of the motivational process. It portrays motivation as a state of need-induced tension, which exerts a
"push" on the individual to engage in behavior that he or she expects will gratify needs and thus reduce tension.
The specific course of action that consumers pursue and their specific goals are selected on the basis of their thinking processes (i.e., cognition) and previous learning. For that reason, marketers who understand motivational theory attempt to influence the consumer's cognitive processes.
Figure 3.1 Model of the motivational process
Positive and negative motivation— Motivation can be positive or negative in direction. We may feel a driving force toward some object or condition, or a driving force away from some object or condition. For example, a person may be impelled toward a restaurant to fulfill a hunger need and away from motorcycle transportation to fulfill a safety need. Some psychologists refer to positive drives as needs, wants, or
Unified needs, wants,
and desires Tension Drive Behavior Goal or need fulfillment Learning
Cognitive processes
Tension reduction
desires, and to negative drives as fears or aversions. However, though negative and positive motivational forces seem to differ dramatically in terms of physical (and sometimes emotional) activity, they are basically similar in that both serve to initiate and sustain human behavior. For this reason, researchers often refer to both kinds of drives or motives as needs, wants, and desires.
Rational versus emotional motives— Some consumer behaviorists distinguish between so-called rational motives and emotional (or non- rational) motives. They use the term rationality in the traditional economic sense, which assumes that consumers behave rationally when they carefully consider all alternatives and choose those that give them the greatest utility (i.e., satisfaction). In a marketing context, the term 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 (e.g., the desire for individuality, pride, fear, affection, status).
The assumption underlying this distinction is that subjective or emotional criteria do not maximize utility or satisfaction. However, it is reasonable to assume that consumers always attempt to select alternatives that, in their view, serve to maximize satisfaction. Obviously, the assessment of satisfaction is a very personal process, based on the individual's own need structure as well as on past behavioral, and social
or learned experiences. What may appear irrational to an outside observer may be perfectly rational in the context of the consumer's own psychological field. For example, a product purchased to enhance self- image (such as a fragrance) is a perfectly rational form of consumer behavior.