The Psychology of Consumer Behavior

7 Motivation

Motivation refers to a state of tension within the individual that arouses, maintains, and directs behavior toward some goal. It is usually assumed that attaining the goal reduces the tension instilled by the motivation. In the context of consumer behavior, the result of motivation is a desire or need for the product. Our major concern in this chapter is to try to understand how the product becomes a goal. That is, how does a product acquire the capacity, or the appearance of the capacity, to reduce the tension instilled by the motivation?

First, we review some approaches to the measurement of needs. Then we consider two underlying currents in the research and rhetoric directed toward motivation in consumer behavior. The first approach ...