Consumer Behavior: A Framework

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Chapter 5 Consumer Motivation

• Consumer Behavior A Framework
• John C. MowenMichael S. Minor

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Ten Key Concepts

• Concept of Motivation
• Consumer needs
• Operant conditioning
• Classical conditioning
• Vicarious learning

• Opponent-process theory
• Optimum-stimulation level theory
• Reactance theory
• Perceived risk
• Consumer attributions

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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.

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• Motivation begins with the presence of a stimulus
  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 needs involve desires by consumers to
  solve basic problems (e.g. filling a cars gas
  tank).

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The Structure of Emotions

• Ten Fundamental Emotions People Experience
• Disgust Interest
• Joy Surprise
• Sadness Anger
• Fear Contempt
• Shame Guilt

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Some General Theories of Motivation

• Maslow hierarchy physical, safety,
  belongingness, ego, and self-actualiation
• McClellands 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.

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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.

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• 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.

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

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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 may elicit spending responses

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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.

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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 stimulus.

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Secondary reinforcers . . .

• . . . are a previously neutral stimulus that
  acquires reinforcing properties through its
  association with a primary reinforcer.
• Over a period of time, previously neutral stimuli
  can become secondary reinforcers.
• In marketing, most reinforcers are secondary
  (e.g. a product performing well, a reduction in
  price)

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A Punisher . . .

• . . . is any stimulus whose presence after a
  behavior decreases the likelihood of the behavior
  reoccurring.

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Extinction Eliminating Behaviors

• Extinction is the disappearance of a response due
  to lack of reinforcement.

• Once an operant response is conditioned, it will
  persist as long as it is periodically reinforced.

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Schedules of Reinforcement . . .

• . . . determine if a behavior is reinforced after
  a certain number of repetitions or after a
  certain length of time has passed.
• Example. Slot machines use a variable schedule
  based upon number of pulls of handle.

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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.
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Stimulus Discrimination and Generalization

• Stimulus discrimination occurs when an organism
  behaves differently depending on the presence of
  one of two stimuli. Goal of differentiation is
  to cause stimulus discrimination.
• Stimulus generalization occurs when an organism
  reacts similarly to two or more distinct stimuli.
  Goal of knock-off brands is to use stimulus
  generalization.

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Shaping Consumer Responses . . .

• . . . is creating totally new operant behaviors
  by selectively reinforcing behaviors that
  successively approximate the desired instrumental
  response.

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Vicarious Learning . . .

• . . . is the phenomenon where people observe the
  actions of others to develop patterns of
  behavior.

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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.

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Factors Increasing a Models Effectiveness

• The model is physically attractive.
• The model is credible.
• The model is successful.
• The model is similar to the observer.
• The model is shown overcoming difficulties and
  then succeeding.

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Three Major Uses of Social-Learning Theory

• A models actions can be used to create entirely
  new types of behaviors
• A model can be used to decrease the likelihood
  that an undesired behavior will occur
• The model can be used to facilitate the
  occurrence of a previously learned behavior

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Midrange Theories of Motivation

• Opponent-Process Theory
• Optimum Stimulation Levels
• The Desire to Maintain Behavioral Freedom
• The Motivation to Avoid Risk
• The Motivation to Attribute Causality

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Opponent-Process Theory

• . . . explains that two things occur when a
  person receives a stimulus that elicits an
  immediate positive or negative emotional
  reaction
• The immediate positive or negative emotional
  reaction is felt.
• A second emotional reaction occurs that has a
  feeling opposite to that initially experienced.
• The combination of the two emotional reactions
  results in the overall feeling experienced by the
  consumer.
• Explains addictive behaviors
• Explains primingthe effects of a small exposure
  to a stimulus.

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Optimum Stimulation Level

• . . . is a persons preferred amount of
  physiological activation or arousal.
• Activation may vary from very low levels (e.g.
  sleep) to very high levels (e.g. severe panic).
• Individuals are motivated to maintain an optimum
  level of stimulation and will take action to
  correct the level when it becomes to high or too
  low.
• Accounts for high vs. low sensation seeking
  people.
• Accounts for variety seeking
• Accounts for hedonic consumptionI.e., the need
  of people to create fantasies, gain feelings
  through the senses, and obtain emotional arousal.

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The Desire to Maintain Behavioral Freedom

• Psychological reactance is the motivational state
  resulting from the response to threats to
  behavioral freedom.
• Two types of threats can lead to reactance
• Social threats involve external pressure from
  other people to induce a consumer to do something
• Impersonal threats are barriers that restrict the
  ability to buy a particular product or service
• Frequent in marketing e.g., pushy salesperson
• Scarcity effects scarce products are valued
  more. Limited time offer, limited supply.

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The Motivation to Avoid Risk

• Perceived risk is a consumers perception of the
  overall negativity of a course of action based
  upon as assessment of the possible negative
  outcomes and of the likelihood that these
  outcomes will occur.
• Perceived risk consists of two major concepts -
  the negative outcomes of a decision and the
  probability these outcomes will occur.

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7 Types of Consumer Risks.

• Financial
• Performance
• Physical
• Psychological
• Social
• Time
• Opportunity Loss

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Factors Influencing Risk Perception

• Characteristics of the persone.g., need for
  stimulation
• Nature of the task
• Voluntary risks are perceived as less risky than
  involuntary tasks.
• Characteristics of the productprice
• Salience of negative outcomes

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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.

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The Motivation to Attribute Causality

• Attribution theory describes the processes
  through which people make determinations of the
  causality of action.
• Internal attribution is when a consumer decides
  that an endorser recommended the product because
  he or she actually liked the product.
• External attribution is when a consumer decides
  that an endorser recommended the product because
  he or she was paid for endorsing it.

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Augmentation-Discounting Model

• Discounting occurs if external pressures exist
  that could provoke someone to act in a particular
  way - so actions would be expected given the
  circumstances.
• The augmenting principle states that when a
  person moves against the forces of the
  environment to do something unexpected, the
  belief that the action represents the persons
  actual opinions, feelings, and desires is
  increased.
• Fundamental Attribution error One consistent
  finding is that people are biased to make
  internal attributions to others.

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Applications of attribution theory

• endorsers seek to get consumers to perceive
  internal motives for making endorsement.
• satisfaction seek to get consumers to perceive
  external reasons for product problem.
• sales promotion find ways to avoid consumers
  attributing the cause of the purchase to the sale
  rather than to the excellence of the product.

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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., McClellands 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.