Maslow s Hierarchy Of Needs - 1690 Words

1. What is motivation, and why is it important in the study of consumer behavior? Can motives be measured, and if so, how? Motivation is made of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that drive people to act and behave. This is very important to consumer behavior because unlocking what motivates people will help marketers be able to more efficiently assess the needs of their consumers and to better reach them through messages. Unfortunately, there is not just one thing that influences a person’s motivation, but rather a series of theorized needs. There are many studies and theories on what motivates people, but the lists are often disagreed about and disputed; however, the most recognized theory about motivation is Maslow’s hierarchy of†¦show more content†¦Self-reporting is usually done through questionnaire administered by a researcher, often employing the Likert scale. People are asked how they feel about a statement by responding â€Å"strongly agree† to à ¢â‚¬Å"strongly disagree.† If the person taking the questionnaire to too aware of the goal of the question, they may respond differently than how they actually feel. That said, when the self-report is able to gather honest answers, it can be quite useful. The other way to measure consumers’ motives is through qualitative research. Qualitative research is similar, in a way, to a Rorschach test; both are projective techniques. Similar to an analyst looking for subconscious meaning in a patient’s identification of an inkblot, qualitative researchers look for meaning in the test taker’s response to a stimuli with an unclear message. By doing this, the researcher hopes to find a subconscious motivation within the consumer. This method seems to have the least objective results and often the data can be misread to fit the researcher’s hypothesis. The next way to measure consumer motivation is through motivational research. Motivational research is based of f of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality which believes that unconscious desires, like sex, are behind a person’s motivation. Motivational research looks at a consumer’s choice in product and searches for the underlying and/or hidden meaning. An example given in the textbook is that women like to bake cakes in order to fulfill