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160 PART 3 CONNECTING WITH CUSTOMERS

Key Psychological Processes

The starting point for understanding consumer behavior is the stimulus-response model shown
in Figure 6.1. Marketing and environmental stimuli enter the consumer’s consciousness, and
a set of psychological processes combine with certain consumer characteristics to result in deci-
sion processes and purchase decisions. The marketer’s task is to understand what happens in the
consumer’s consciousness between the arrival of the outside marketing stimuli and the ultimate
purchase decisions. Four key psychological processes—motivation, perception, learning, and
memory—fundamentally influence consumer responses. 31

Motivation: Freud, Maslow, Herzberg
We all have many needs at any given time. Some needs are biogenic; they arise from physiological
states of tension such as hunger, thirst, or discomfort. Other needs are psychogenic; they arise from
psychological states of tension such as the need for recognition, esteem, or belonging. A need
becomes a motive when it is aroused to a sufficient level of intensity to drive us to act. Motivation
has both direction—we select one goal over another—and intensity—we pursue the goal with
more or less vigor.
Three of the best-known theories of human motivation—those of Sigmund Freud, Abraham
Maslow, and Frederick Herzberg—carry quite different implications for consumer analysis and
marketing strategy.
FREUD’S THEORY Sigmund Freud assumed the psychological forces shaping people’s
behavior are largely unconscious, and that a person cannot fully understand his or her own
motivations. Someone who examines specific brands will react not only to their stated
capabilities, but also to other, less conscious cues such as shape, size, weight, material, color, and
brand name. A technique called laddering lets us trace a person’s motivations from the stated
instrumental ones to the more terminal ones. Then the marketer can decide at what level to
develop the message and appeal. 32
Motivation researchers often collect in-depth interviews with a few dozen consumers to uncover
deeper motives triggered by a product. They use various projective techniques such as word associa-
tion, sentence completion, picture interpretation, and role playing, many pioneered by Ernest
Dichter, a Viennese psychologist who settled in the United States. 33
Today, motivational researchers continue the tradition of Freudian interpretation. Jan Callebaut
identifies different motives a product can satisfy. For example, whiskey can meet the need for social
relaxation, status, or fun. Different whiskey brands need to be motivationally positioned in one of
these three appeals. 34 Another motivation researcher, Clotaire Rapaille, works on breaking the
“code” behind product behavior. 35

Chrysler When Chrysler decided to offer a new sedan, it had already done a great
Chrysler deal of traditional market research that suggested U.S. consumers wanted excellent gas
mileage, safety, and prices. However, it was only through qualitative research that Chrysler
discovered what cultural anthropologist Clotaire Rapaille calls “the code”—the unconscious
meaning people give to a particular market offering. First, interviewers took on the role of “a
visitor from another planet,” asking participants to help them understand the product in question. Then,
participants told stories about the product, and finally, after a relaxation exercise, they wrote about their first
experiences with it. In this way, Chrysler learned that “cookie-cutter” sedans were “off-code,” and it used
information from the sessions to create the PT Cruiser.With its highly distinctive retro design, this sedan was
one of the most successful U.S. car launches in recent history. 36

MASLOW’S THEORY Abraham Maslow sought to explain why people are driven by particular
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needs at particular times. His answer is that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy from most to
least pressing—physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization