LESSON 1 Types of Goals
Goals are the sought-after results of
UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER MOTIVATION
 Motivation as a Psychological Force
 Positive and Negative Motivation
 Success and Failure Influence Goals
 The Trio of Needs
MOTIVATION AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL FORCE
Human needs-consumer needs- are the
basis of all modern marketing. Needs are the
essence of marketing concept. The key to a
company’s survival, profitability and satisfy
unfulfilled consumer needs better and sooner
than the competition.
Marketers do not create needs, though in
some instances they make consumers more
keenly aware of unfelt needs. Successful
marketers define their markets in terms of the
needs they presume to satisfy, not in terms of the
products they sell. This is a market-oriented,
rather than a production-oriented approach to
marketing. A marketing orientation focuses on the
needs of the seller.
The marketing concept implies that the
manufacturer will make only what it knows people
will buy; a production orientation implies that the
manufacturer will try to sell whatever it decides to
make.
Motivation is a 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 unfulfilled 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 pattern of action
they undertake to achieve their goals are the
results of individual thinking and learning
Two Types of Human Needs
Every individual has needs: some are
innate, others are acquired. Innate needs are
physiological (i.e. biogenic); they include the
needs for food, water, air, clothing shelter, and
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 self-esteem, prestige,
affection, power, and 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 sate and
from relationship with others.
motivated behavior. All behavior is goal oriented.
Generic goal is the general classes or categories
of goals that consumers see as means to fulfill
their needs. If a student tells his parents that he
wants to become a medical doctor, he has stated
a generic goal. If he says he wants to get an M.D.
degree specialist in Internal Medicine, he has
expressed a product-specific-goals, that is, the
specifically branded products and services that
consumers select for goal fulfillment. Another
types of goals are as follows: Ideals which
represent hopes, wishes, and aspirations while
Oughts which represents duties, obligations, and
responsibilities.
The study showed that people concerned
with ideals relied more on feelings and affects in
evaluating advertisements, while people more
concerned with oughts relied more heavily on the
substantive and factual contents of ads.
Interdependence 0f Needs and Goals
Needs and goals are interdependent;
neither exist without the other. However, people
are often not as aware of their needs as they are
of their goals.
For, example:
A teenager may not consciously be aware
of his social needs but may join a number of chat
groups online to meet new friends.
A person not may not consciously be aware of a
power need but may choose to run for public
office when an elective position becomes
available.
Individuals are usually somewhat more
aware of their physiological needs than they are
of their psychological needs. Most people know
when they are hungry, thirsty, or cold, and they
take appropriate steps to satisfy these needs. The
same people may not consciously be aware of
their needs for acceptance, self-esteem, or
status. They may, however, subconsciously
engage in their behavior that satisfies their
psychological (acquired) needs.
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MOTIVATION
Motivation can be positive and negative in
direction. We may feel a driving force toward
(positive) some objects or condition or a driving
force away (negative) from some objects 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 desires and to negative drives
as fears or aversions. However, although positive
and negative 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.
Rational Versus Emotional Motives
Some consumer behaviorists distinguish
between so called- rational motives and
emotional motives.
In a marketing context, the term
rationality implies that consumers select goals
based on totally objective criteria such as weight,
price, or miles per gallon. Emotional motives
imply the selection of goals according to personal
or subjective criteria (e.g. pride, fear, affection or
status).
The Dynamics of Motivation
Motivation is a highly dynamic construct
that is constantly changing in reactions to life
experiences. Needs and goals change and grow
in response to an individual’s physical condition,
environment, inter-actions with others, and
experiences. Some of the reasons why need-
driven human activity never ceases include the
following:
1. Many needs are never fully satisfied;
they continually impel actions
designed to attain or maintain
satisfaction.
2. As needs become satisfied; new and
higher -order needs emerge that
cause tension and induce activity.
3. People who achieve their goals set
new and higher goals for themselves.
A TRIO OF NEEDS
1. Power – it relates to an individual’s desire to
control his or her environment. It includes the
need to control other persons and various
objects. This need appears to be closely
related to the ego need, in that many
individuals experienced increased self-esteem
when they exercise power over objects other
people.
2. Affiliation – is a well-known and well-
researched social motive that has far-reaching
influence on consumer behavior. This need
suggests that behavior is strongly influenced
by the desire for friendship, for acceptance,
for belonging. People with high affiliation
needs tend to be socially dependent on
others. They often select goods they feel will
meet with the approval of friends.
3. Achievements – individuals with a strong
need for achievement often regard personal
accomplishments as an end in itself. It is
closely related to both the egoistic need and
self-actualization need.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE INFLUENCE GOALS

Goal selection is often a function of
success and failure. Individuals who successfully
achieve their goals usually set new and higher
goals for themselves. People who do not reach
their goals sometimes lower their level of
aspirations. When an individual cannot attain a
specific goal that he or she anticipates will satisfy
certain needs, behavior may be directed to a
substitute goal. Failure to achieve a goal often
results in frustration. Regardless of the cause,
individuals react differently to frustrating
situations. Some people manage to cope by
finding their way around the obstacle or if, that
fails, by selecting a substitute goal.

Others are less adaptive and may regard

their inability to achieve as a personal failure.
Such people are likely to adapt a defense
mechanism to protect their egos from feeling of
inadequacy.