Editing Consumer behaviour (section)

====Motivations and emotions====
[[File:Vegetarian diet.jpg|thumb|left|Maslow's hierarchy suggests that people seek to satisfy basic needs such as food and shelter before higher order needs become meaningful.]]

The consumer's underlying motivation drives consumer action, including the information search and purchase decision. The consumer's attitude to a brand (or brand preference) is described as a link between the brand and a purchase motivation.<ref>Rossiter, J and Bellman, S., ''Marketing Communications: Theory and Applications,'' Pearson Australia, 2005, pp 103-120</ref> These motivations may be negative (to avoid pain or unpleasantness) or positive (to achieve some type of reward such as sensory gratification).<ref name="acrwebsite.org">Rossiter, J.R. and Percy, L., "[http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/7146/volumes/v18/NA-18 Emotions and Motivations in Advertising]", in ''Advances in Consumer Research,'' Vol. 18, Rebecca H. Holman and Michael R. Solomon (eds), Provo, UT, Association for Consumer Research, 1991, pp 100-110</ref>

One approach to understanding motivations was developed by [[Abraham Maslow]]. [[Maslow's hierarchy of needs]] is based on five levels of needs, organised accordingly to the level of importance.

Maslow's five needs are:<ref name=":1" />
;Physiological: basic levels of needs such as food, water, and sleep
;Safety:  the need for physical safety, shelter, and security
;Belonging: the need for love, friendship, and also a desire for group acceptance
;Esteem: The need for status, recognition, and self-respect
;Self-actualisation: The desire for self-fulfillment (e.g. personal growth, artistic expression)

Physiological needs and safety needs are the so-called lower order needs. Consumers typically use most of their resources (time, energy, and finances) attempting to satisfy these lower order needs before the higher order needs of belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation become meaningful. Part of any marketing program requires an understanding of which motives drive given product choices. Marketing communications can illustrate how a product or brand fulfills these needs.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Consumer Behaviour: Implications for marketing strategy |author=Quester, P. G. |author2=Neal, C. M. |author3=Pettigrew, S. |display-authors=etal |publisher=McGraw-Hill Irwin|year=2008|location=Sydney}}</ref> Maslow's approach is a generalised model for understanding human motivations in a wide variety of contexts, but is not specific to purchasing decisions.

[[File:Pain Relievers at Kroger.JPG|thumb|A decision to purchase an analgesic preparation is motivated by the desire to avoid pain (negative motivation).]]

[[File:Dairy Queen Blizzard.jpg|thumb|A decision to buy an ice-cream sundae is motivated by the desire for sensory gratification (positive motivation).]]

Another approach proposes eight ''purchase'' motivations, five negative motives and three positive motives, which energise purchase decisions as illustrated in the table below.<ref name="acrwebsite.org"/> These motivations are believed to provide positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement.<ref>Pham, M. T. and Higgins, E.T., "Promotion and Prevention in Consumer
Decision Making: The State of the Art and Theoretical Propositions", in S. Ratneshwar and [[David Glen Mick]], (eds), ''Inside Consumption: Consumer Motives, Goals, and Desires'', London: Routledge, 2005, pp 8-43.
</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ style="text-align: left;" | Rossiter and Percy's Purchase Motivations & Emotions
|-
! Motivation
! Emotional Sequence
|-
| '''NEGATIVE'''
|
|-
| Problem removal
| Annoyance → Relief
|-
| Problem avoidance
| Fear → Relaxation
|-
| Incomplete satisfaction
| Disappointment → Optimism
|-
| Mixed approach avoidance
| Conflict → Peace-of-mind
|-
| Normal depletion
| Mild annoyance → Convenience
|-
| '''POSITIVE'''
|
|-
| Sensory gratification
| Dull (or neutral) → Sensory anticipation
|-
| Intellectual simulation
| Bored (or neutral) → Excited
|-
| Social approval/conformity
| Apprehensive (or ashamed) → Flattered/proud
|}

In the marketing literature, the consumer's motivation to search for information and engage in the purchase decision process is sometimes known as ''involvement''.<ref>Clarke, K. and Belk. R.W., "The Effects of Product Involvement and Task Definition on Anticipated Consumer Effort", in ''Advances in Consumer Research,'' Vol. 06, William L. Wilkie (ed.), Ann Abor, MI: Association for Consumer Research, pp 313–318, Online: http://acrwebsite.org/volumes/9220/volumes/v06/NA-06</ref> Consumer involvement has been defined as "the personal relevance or importance of a message [or a decision]".<ref>McInnis, D.J. and Jaworski, B.J., "Two Routes to Persuasion Models in Advertising: Review, Critique and Research Directions", in Valarie A. Zeithaml (ed), ''Review of Marketing 1990'', Marketing Classics Press (AMA), 2011, pp 3-42</ref> Purchase decisions are classified as '''low involvement''' when consumers experience only a small psycho-social loss in the event that they make a poor decision. On the other hand, a purchase decision is classified as '''high involvement''' when psycho-social risks are perceived to be relatively high.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Percy |first1=Larry |last2=Rossiter |first2=John R. |title=A model of brand awareness and brand attitude advertising strategies |journal=Psychology and Marketing |date=July 1992 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=263–274 |doi=10.1002/mar.4220090402 }}</ref> The consumer's level of involvement is dependent on a number of factors including perceived risk of negative consequences in the event of a poor decision, the social visibility of the product, and the consumer's prior experience with the product category.<ref>Lamb, C.W., Hair, J.F. and McDaniel, C.,  ''Essentials of Marketing,'' Mason, Ohio, South-Western Cengage, 2009, p. 174</ref>