Consumer Psychology Essay

Maslow’s theory of motivation is called the “hierarchy of needs”. Maslow believes that people have five main needs in the following order of importance;

* Physiological needs are so basic that they are all too obvious. They are needs without which a human being cannot survive and include air, water, food, shelter.

Abraham Maslow’s theory, Theory of Hierarchy Needs, is a motivational theory in psychology that has a tier model of the five things a human needs. Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others. The five stages, from bottom to top, include Physiological needs( food, water, warmth, and rest), the second stage: Safety Needs ( security and safety), third stage: Belongingness and love needs ( intimate relationships and friends), the fourth stage: Esteem Needs (prestige and feeling of accomplishment), and finally the last stage: Self-actualization ( achieving one’s full potential, including creative potential). The five stage model can be divided into

As it was mentioned before, the key idea of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory relates to the existence of several sets of motivation and needs that govern human behavior. Hence, the major concepts of this theory include certain needs that are grouped into sets based on their place within the hierarchy of all the needs. The first version of the theory has five needs, which are divided into

Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of Needs model in 1940-50s USA, and the Hierarchy of Needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation, management training, and personal development.

1. What are the types of reference groups? Please share an example of each from your own experience.

Consumer buyer behavior refers to the buying behavior of final consumers-individuals and households that buy goods and services for personal consumption. All of this final consumer combine to make up the consumer market. The American consumer market consist of more than 300 million people who consume more than $13 trillion worth of goods and services each year, making it one of the most attractive consumer markets in the world. The world consumer market consists of more than 6.6 billion people who annually consume an estimated $65 trillion worth of goods and services.

Consumer behavior is defined in a variety of ways such as “the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behavior and environmental events by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives.” by the American Marketing Association. (2008). In a simpler form, consumer behavior can be explained as the actions of consumers and the different approaches a person may take to decide what to buy and the decision making process. The decision making process can be effected by many factors all related to a person or persons lifestyle. Determining that behavior can be confusing and

Consumer psychology examines the consumers influence and their perceptions, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and how these affect their decision of buying products and services. It studies the

Maslow 's Hierarchy of Needs is an important psychological theory originated by the American psychologist Abraham Maslow. Ref: A Theory of Human Motivation (1943).

Studies in consumer behavior focus on consumer psychology to determine how people reason, feel and think; and choose between alternative products, brands and sellers (Gummesson, 2012). While consumers purchasing decisions are often influenced by culture, family and environmental factors, consumer knowledge is of great significance in informing decisions and in making actual purchases (Gummesson, 2015). The Consumer

For companies to be able to market products or services effectively, an understanding of how consumers behave and make decisions is necessary (Poon and Joseph, 2001). There are several theories that relate to this area, including economic theories as well as psychological theories. Earlier studies in theories concerning consumer behavior were developed through economic theory, for example the conception where consumers advance rationally to make best use of their satisfaction in the process of buying. More recent research shows that consumers are influenced by different types of reference groups, such as family, friends, advertisers and role models. Terms like impetuous purchase, mood, situation and emotion are applied more commonly in

Consumer behaviour is the study of how individuals, groups and organizations select, buy, use and dispose of goods, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy their needs and wants. The emerging costumer trends play an important role in analysing the marketing opportunities. A consumer buying behaviour is influenced by cultural, social and personal factors. The consumer passes through five stages of the buying decision process: Problem Recognition, Information Search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase behaviour. This model is important for anyone making marketing decision and customer pass through all stages in every purchase.

Consumption is a process of acquiring, using and disposing of goods and services. Emotions play a very large role in consumer behavior. This behavior and emotions are affected and created by the society and the culture in which the consumer lives. For example, an American may approach the purchase of a costly car with relatively less pressure than a person in a developing country where a car could be a high unaffordable luxury. The customer will comprehend brands, offers and the meaning of the product based on the understanding that he or she has of similar brands and their experience by analogy or by hearsay from peers and form an opinion. For example a new soft drink from Pepsi may not be very informative in its advertisement but that it is from the stable of PepsiCo makes the users of Pepsi brands take it in without much research. Such an opinion is not based mostly on the complete set of facts. Where there are many alternatives or the information is scarce the customer has to make a lot of effort or 'high effort' to reach a decision and such a situation could be a turnoff. On the other hand the customer may not be inclined to devolve deep into facts in case where the brand value is established and may make a decision on little or even sometimes no information. (Hoyer;

The definition of consumer buying behaviour is an individual and households who buy goods for personal consumption. There are four main influencers within the buying behavior of consumers which are the following personal, social, cultural and physiological. All these factors put together will determine whether the consumer purchases your product/service or which product/service is purchased.