BIOLOGICAL NEEDS AGAINST LEARNED NEEDS PDF

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The process of motivation, motivational force, biological needs versus learned needs, impulse theory, expectation theory, motivational direction, needs versus desires, types of needs, motivational conflicts, approach-approach conflict, approach-avoidance conflict, avoidance conflict- avoidance, clas...

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BIOLOGICAL NEEDS AGAINST LEARNED NEEDS

Early work on motivation attributed behavior to instincts, which are innate patterns of behavior and which are universal in a species. Today this perspective is very discredited. For starters, the existence of an instinct is difficult to prove or dismiss. Instinct is inferred from the behavior it supposedly explains (this type of circular explanation is known as tautology). It is up to saying that a consumer buys products that are status symbols because they are motivated to achieve a status, which will hardly be a satisfactory explanation. Impulse theory Impulse theory focuses on biological needs that produce unpleasant activation states (for example, your stomach growls during a morning class). We are motivated to reduce the tension caused by this activation. Researchers have proposed stress reduction as a basic mechanism that governs human behavior. In a marketing context, tension refers to the unpleasant state that exists if an individual's consumption needs are not met. An individual will be grumpy if they haven't eaten, or feel sad or uncomfortable if they can't afford the new car they want. This state activates goal-oriented behavior, which attempts to reduce or eliminate such an unpleasant state and return to a state of balance called homeostasis. Behaviors that serve to reduce the drive to meet the underlying need are strengthened and tend to be repeated. Your motivation to leave class early and go for a snack would be greater if you hadn't eaten in 24 hours, than if you had done it only two hours earlier. If, say, you leave class and then have indigestion from quickly eating a pack of Twinkie cupcakes, you'll be less likely to repeat that behavior the next time you're willing to eat a snack. Therefore, our degree of motivation depends on the distance between the present state and the goal. Impulse theory has problems when it tries to explain some facets of human behavior that go against its predictions. People often do things that increase a state of momentum rather than decrease it. For example, when people postpone a gratification. If you know you're going out for a hearty dinner, you may decide to avoid a snack during the day, even if you're hungry at that time. Expectations theory To understand what drives behavior, most current explanations about motivation focus on cognitive factors, not biological factors. Expectation theory suggests that behavior arises largely from expectations of achieving desirable results—positive incentives—rather than being driven from within. We choose one product over another because we expect that choice to have more positive consequences for

us. Thus, the term impulse is used here with greater flexibility to refer to both physical and cognitive processes. Motivational direction The motives have both direction and strength; are goal-oriented, as they lead us to meet a specific need. Most goals are achieved through various routes, and a company's goal is to convince consumers that the alternative it offers will give them the best opportunity to reach the goal. For example, a consumer who decides she needs jeans to achieve her goal of being admired by others will choose from Levi's, Wranglers, Jnco, Diesel, Seven and many other options, each of which promises her certain benefits. Needs against desires The specific way the need is met depends on the individual's unique history, learning experiences, and cultural environment. A desire is the particular form of consumption that is used to meet a need. For example, two classmates might be hungry during class that they take at mealtime. If neither person has eaten since the night before, the strength of their respective needs (hunger) would be about the same. However, the way each individual meets this need could be very different. The first student could be a vegetarian like Paula and would long to gobble up a mixture of nuts and dried fruits; while the latter might be carnivorous like Basil, and get excited at the idea of a greasy cheeseburger and fries. TYPES OF NEEDS Humans are born with the need for certain indispensable elements to conserve life, such as food, water, air and shelter, known as biogenic needs. However, people have many other needs that are not innate. By becoming members of a specific culture we acquire psychogenic needs, such as the needs of status, power and affiliation (belonging). Psychogenic needs reflect the priorities of a culture, and its effects on behavior vary from environment to environment. For example, a U.S. consumer may be encouraged to spend a good portion of their income on purchasing products that allow them to showcase their individuality; while a Japanese consumer could make the same effort to make sure they don't excel within their group. Consumers may also be motivated to meet utilitarian or hedonistic needs. Meeting utilitarian needs means that consumers highlight the objective and tangible attributes of products, such as the miles traveled by a car with one liter of gasoline; the amount of fat, calories and protein contained in a cheeseburger; as well as the durability of blue jeans. Hedonistic needs are subjective and depend on experience; consumers could turn to a product to meet their needs for fun, selfconfidence or fantasy, perhaps to escape the mundane or routine aspects of life. Of course, consumers may be motivated to buy a product because it provides them

with both types of benefits. For example, someone might buy a mink coat because of the luxurious image it conveys, and also because it keeps the person warm over a cold, long winter. MOTIVATIONAL CONFLICTS A goal has valence, that is, it can be positive or negative. A positively valued goal is one to which consumers direct their behavior; they are motivated to reach the goal, and will look for products to help them do so. However, not all behavior is motivated by a desire to achieve a goal. For example, many consumers work hard to avoid rejection of their peers, a negative goal. In addition, they stay away from products they associate with social disapproval. Products such as deodorants and mouthwashes are often based on the negative motivation of consumers to avoid the annoying social consequences of smelling sweat or having bad breath. Because a purchase decision can include more than one source of motivation, consumers often experience situations where there are conflicts between different reasons, both positive and negative. Since marketers try to meet the needs of consumers, they could also offer possible solutions to such dilemmas. Rapprochement-approach conflict In a conflict approach-approach the person must choose between two desirable alternatives. Maybe a student is hesitant about spending the holidays at home or going skiing with his friends. Or, maybe I'd have to choose between two CDs in the store. The theory of cognitive dissonance is based on the premise that people need to experience order and consistency in their lives, and that a state of tension is created when beliefs or behaviors have conflicts with each other. The conflict that arises when choosing between two alternatives can be resolved through a process of reducing cognitive dissonance, where individuals are motivated to reduce this inconsistency (or dissonance), and thus eliminate unpleasant tension. When there is a psychological inconsistency between two or more beliefs or behaviors, a state of dissonance arises. It often occurs when a consumer must choose between two products, which generally have good and bad characteristics. When choosing one product and not the other, the person gets the bad characteristics of the chosen product and loses the good characteristics of the unelected. This loss creates an unpleasant state of dissonance, which people are motivated to reduce. After the fact, the individual tends to convince himself that the choice he made was the best, by finding additional reasons that support the chosen alternative, or perhaps by "discovering" flaws in the option they did not choose. A marketer resolves a rapprochement-approach conflict by offering several benefits altogether. For example, Miller Lite's claim that it "fills less" and "tastes great" allows the consumer to "have their beer and also drink it."

Rapprochement-avoidance conflict Many of the products and services we want also have negative consequences. We get to feel guilty or ostentatious when we buy an expensive product like a thinskinned coat, or feel gluttonous when we crave a tempting pack of Twinkie cupcakes. When we want a goal, but at the same time we want to avoid it, an approach-avoidance conflict arises. Some solutions to these conflicts include the spread of imitation skins, which eliminate the blame for damaging animals because they are fashionable; and the success of dietary foods, such as those sold by Weight Watchers, that promise good foods without their calories (weight-watchers.com). Many merchants try to overcome guilt by convincing consumers that they deserve luxuries (for example, when the L'Oréal cosmetics model exclaims, "Because I'm worth it!"). Avoidance-avoidance conflict Sometimes consumers feel "trapped between the sword and the wall" when faced with two undesirable alternatives; for example, the option to spend more money on a new car or buy a used one. Merchants often face a avoidance-avoidance conflict with messages highlighting the unexpected benefits of choosing an option (for example, highlighting special credit plans to facilitate the burden of a car's payments). CLASSIFICATION OF CONSUMER NEEDS Much research has been done on the classification of human needs. On the one hand, some psychologists have tried to define a universal inventory of needs, which can be systematically plotted to explain virtually any behavior. One of these inventories, created by Henry Murray, includes a set of 20 psychogenic needs that (sometimes in combination) result in specific behaviors. These needs include dimensions such as autonomy (being independent), defense (defending the self against criticism), and even playing (participating in pleasurable activities). Murray's needs structure serves as the basis for a variety of widely used personality tests, such as Thematic Apperception Technique (TAT), which shows subjects between four and six ambiguous images, and they are asked to write down answers to four direct questions about them. The questions are:    

What's going on? What caused this situation? What are you thinking? What's going to happen?

Each response is then analyzed against certain needs and graded whenever that need is mentioned. The theory behind the test proposes that people freely project their own subconscious needs on stimuli. By getting answers to the images, the

analyst actually gets the true needs for achievement or affiliation, or any other need that is dominant. Murray believed that we all have the same basic set of needs; but that each individual gives a different priority to each of them. Specific needs and purchasing behavior Other motivational perspectives have focused on specific needs and their ramifications for behavior. For example, individuals with a high need for achievement assign great value to personal successes. They attach great importance to premium products and services, as they provide feedback on achieving their goals. These consumers are good prospects for products that provide evidence of their achievements. A study of working women found that those who had a high motivation for achievement were more likely to choose business clothes, let alone to take an interest in dresses that accentuated their femininity. Other important needs for consumer behavior include: 

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Need for membership (being in the company of others): This need is relevant for products and services that are "consumed" in groups, and that mitigate loneliness such as team sports, bars and shopping malls. Need for power (to control the environment itself): Many products and services allow consumers to feel they have mastery of their environment, from powerful "arranged" cars and noisy gadgets (large portable radios), which impose their own musical tastes on others, to luxurious resorts that promise to fulfill any whim of their pampered guests. Need for uniqueness (to affirm the identity of the individual): Products can meet this need by promising to increase a consumer's distinctive qualities. For example, Cachet perfume claims to be "as individual as you are"

Maslow Needs Hierarchy Psychologist Abraham Maslow raised an influential theory of motivation. He originally developed this approach to understanding personal growth and achieving "summit experiences"; later, the marketers adopted it to explain consumer motivations. Maslow formulated a hierarchy of biogenic and psychogenic needs that specifies certain levels of motives. This hierarchical structure implies that the order of development is fixed, that is, that a certain level must first be reached before the next, higher order, is activated. The marketers adopted this perspective because (indirectly) it specifies certain types of benefits that people could look for in the products, depending on the different stages of their development or their environmental conditions. At each level there are different priorities in terms of the benefits a consumer seeks in a product. Ideally, an individual advances in the hierarchy until their dominant motivation focuses on "last" goals, such as justice or beauty. Unfortunately, it is difficult to achieve this state (at least on a regular basis); most of us should be satisfied with occasional glances or summit experiences.

The basic lesson of Maslow's hierarchy is that one must first meet basic needs before climbing the steps (a hungry man is not interested in status symbols, friendship, or self-realization). This implies that consumers value different attributes of the products, depending on what they have at their disposal at that time. For example, consumers in Eastern Europe's former socialist bloc are now being bombarded with images of luxurious items, even though many still have trouble meeting their basic needs. In an investigation Romanian students named the products they wished to purchase, and their list included not only the expected items such as sports cars and the most modern televisions, but also basic items such as water, soap, furniture and food. Marketers have applied this hierarchy in a rather simplistic way, especially since the same product or activity can meet various needs. For example, one study found that gardening could meet needs at different levels of the hierarchy:     

Physiological: "I like to work on earth." Security: "I feel safe in the garden." Social: "I can share my groceries with others." He says: "I'm able to create something beautiful." Self-realization: "My garden gives me a sense of peace."

Another problem that arises when interpreting Maslow's hierarchy in an overly literal way is its relationship to culture; their assumptions only apply to Western culture. People from other cultures (or, in that case, even western culture) would question the order of the levels. A religious person who has made a vow of celibacy would not necessarily agree that physiological needs must be met before achieving (spiritual) self-realization....