Unit 2: Individual determinants

Motivation is the driving force within individuals that impels them to action, produced by tension from an unfulfilled need. Needs can be innate (physiological) or acquired (esteem, power); goals can be generic or product-specific. Marketers apply Maslow's hierarchy — safety needs (insurance ads), social needs (soft drinks shared with friends), esteem needs (luxury brands).

• Maslow's hierarchy in marketing: food brands (physiological), insurance (safety), social media (belonging), luxury goods (esteem), education and travel (self-actualisation).

Personality is the set of inner psychological characteristics that determine how a person responds to the environment.

• Psychoanalytic (Freudian) theory: behaviour comes from the id (urges), superego (conscience) and ego (balance) — used in motivational research on symbolic product meanings.
• Trait theory: personality is measured by traits such as innovativeness, dogmatism, materialism and need for cognition.
• Self-concept: consumers buy brands that fit their actual self, ideal self or social self. Brand personality gives brands human traits (Royal Enfield — rugged; Apple — creative).
• Neo-Freudian (social) theory: Karen Horney's CAD classification — compliant (move towards others), aggressive (move against others) and detached (move away from others) — linked to product and brand preferences.
• Extended self: possessions become part of identity (a person's car or phone).

Perception is the process by which a person selects, organises and interprets stimuli into a meaningful picture.

Perceived risk is the uncertainty consumers face when they cannot foresee the consequences of a purchase.

• How consumers reduce risk: seek information and reviews, stay brand-loyal, buy well-known brands, buy from reputed stores, look for warranties, money-back guarantees and trials.
• Online purchases raise financial and functional risk — hence cash on delivery, easy returns and ratings.

• Key concepts: stimulus generalisation (look-alike packaging, family branding), stimulus discrimination (positioning), reinforcement (loyalty points), repetition in advertising.
• Involvement theory: high-involvement purchases follow the central route of persuasion (arguments); low-involvement ones the peripheral route (celebrity, music) — elaboration likelihood model.

An attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favourable or unfavourable way towards an object.

• Tricomponent model: cognitive (beliefs), affective (feelings) and conative (intention).
• Multi-attribute (Fishbein) model: attitude = sum of beliefs about attributes weighted by their importance.
• Functions (Katz): utilitarian, ego-defensive, value-expressive and knowledge.
• Changing attitudes: change beliefs about the brand, change the importance of attributes, add new attributes, or change beliefs about competitors. Cognitive dissonance theory explains attitude change after purchase.

• Cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger): after a purchase, consumers seek information that supports their choice; marketers reduce dissonance through follow-up, warranties and reinforcing ads.
• Attribution theory: consumers attribute their own and others' behaviour to internal or external causes — affects how they interpret promotions ("I bought it because it was on sale").