An evaluation of the need hierarchy and its marketing applications

Maslow hierarchy of need theory postulates a five level hierarchy of prepotent

human needs higher order needs become the driving force behind human behavior
as lower level needs are satisfied. The theory says in effect, that dissatisfaction, not
satisfaction, motivates behavior.
The hierarchy has received wide acceptance in many social disciplines because it
appears to reflect the assumed or inferred motivations of many people in our
society. The five level of need are sufficiently generic to encompass most individual
needs. The major problem with the theory is that it cannot be tasted empirically,
there is no way to measure precisely how satisfied one level of need must be before
the next higher need become operative. The need hierarchy also appears to very
closely bound to contemporary American culture.
Despite these limitations the hierarchy offers a highly useful framework for
marketers trying to developed appropriate advertising appleals for their product. It
is adaptable in two ways, first< it anables marketers to focus their advertising
appeals on a need level that is likely tto be shared by a large segment of the target
audience, second it facilitates product positioning or repositioning.

Segmentation and promotional applications

MaslowS need hierarchy is readily adaptable to market segmentation and the
development of advertising appeals because there are consumer good designed to
saisfy each of the need levels and because most need are shared by large segment
of consumers. For example, individuals buy health foods, medicines and low fat
product to satisfy physiological needs. They buy insurance, preventive medical
services and home security system to satisfy safety and security needs. Almost all
personal care and grooming product (cosmetics, mouthwash, shaving cream) as
well as most clothes, are bought to satisfy social needs. A recent study illustrates
the importance of the sociability dimension when designing Web sites for both
hedonic and utilitarian products.
ATrio of Needs
Some psychologis believe in the existence of a trio of basic needs, the needs for
power, for affiliation and for achievement. These needs can each be subsumed
within Maslows need hierarchy, considered individually, however, each has a
unique revelance to consumer motivation
Power
The power need relates to an individuals desire to control environment. It includes
the need to control other persons and various object. This need appears to be

closely relate to the ego need, in that man individuals experience increase selfesteem when they exercise power over objects or people.

Affilition
Affiliation is a well-known and well-researched social motive that has far-reaching
influence on consumer behavior. The affiliation need is very similar to Maslows
social need and suggests that behavior is strongly influenced by the desire for
friendship, for ecceptance and for belonging. People with high affiliation needs tend
to be socially dependent on others. They often select goods they feel will meet with
the approval of friends.
Achievement
Individual with a strong need for achievement often regard personal
accomplishment as an end in itself. The achievement need is closely related to both
the egoistic need and the self-actualization need. People with a high need for
achievement tend to be more self-confident, enjoy taking calculated risks, actively
research their environment and value feedback. Monetary rewards provide an
important type of feedback as to how they are doing. People with high achievement
needs prefer situations in which they can take personal responsibility for finding
solutions. High achievement is a useful promotional strategy for many products and
servuces targeted to educated and affluent consumers.
In summary, individuals with specific heightened psychological needs tend to be
receptive to advertising appelas directed at those needs. They also tend to be
receptive to certain kinds of products. Thus, a knowledge of motivational theory
provides marketers with key bases fpr segmentin markets and developin
promotional strategies.
The measurement of motives
Motives are hypothetical constructs. They cannot be seen or touched, handled,
smelled or otherwise tangibly observed. For this reason no single measurement
method can be considered a reliable index. Instead, researchers usually rely on
combination of research techniques to try to establish the presence and or the the
strength of various motives. By combining a variety of research methods including
responses to questioners or surveys data and insights from focus group sessions
and depth interviews, consumer researches achieve more valid insights into
consumer motivations than they would by using any one technique alone.
Oftentimes respondents may be unaware of their motives or are unwilling to reveal
them when ask directly. In such situations researchers use qualitative research to

delve into the consumers unconscious or hidden motivations. Many qualitative

methods also are termed projective techniques because they require respondents to
interpret stimuli that do not have clear meanings with the assumption that the
subject will reveal or project their subconscious, hidden motives into the ambiguous
stimuli. As discussed in chapter 2, the findings of qualitatives research methods are
highly dependent on the training and experience of the analyst, the findings
represent not only the data themselves but also what the analyst thinks they imply.
Though some marketers are concerned that qualitative research does not produce
studies are more revealing than quantitative studies. Qualitative methods were
used in the studies described in the following section.
Motivational Research
Sigmund Freuds psychoanalytic theory of personality provided the foundation for
the development of motivational research. This theory was built on the premise that
unconscious needs or drives -especially biological- and sexual drives are at the
heart of human motivation and personality. Freud constructed his theory from
patients recollections of early childhood experiences, analysis of their dream, and
the specific nature of their mental and physical adjustment problems.
The term motivational research, which should logicallyinclude all types of research
into human motives has become a term of art. It was first used by Dr.Ernest
Dichter to refer to qualitative research conducted in the 1950s and 1960s designed
to uncover consumers subconscious or hiden motivations. Based on the premise
that consumers are ot alaways aware of the reasons of their actions, motivational
research attempts to discover underlying feelings, attitudes, and emotions
concerning product, service or brand use. When Dr.Ernest Dichter, trained as a
clinical psychoanalyst in Vienna, arrived in the United States in the late 1930s, he
sought a position with a major New York advertising agency, rather than
establishing a clinical practice of psychotherapy. Up to this time, the little marketing
research that was being conducted focused on what consumers did. Dr Dichter
adapted Freuds psychoanalytical techniques to the study of consuer buying habits.
He used qualitative research methods to find out why consumers did what they did.
Marketers were quickly fascinated by the glib, entertaining and usually surprising
explanations offered for consumer behavior especially since many of these
explanations were grounded in sex.
Building on the contributions of Dr. Dichter and other motivational researchers,
qualitative consumer research expanded from its focus on Freudian and neo
Freudian concepts to broader perspective that embraced not only other scholls of
psychology. The Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA) was
established with the objective of applying an interdisciplinary orientation to
research on consumer motivation. The membership of QRCA consist of qualitative
researchers who regularly conduct focus groups and one to one or depth interviews
for client marketing companies who seek to identify the underlying needs and

motives of their customers. Through its publications and cobferences, QRCA has
done much to expand the methodologies aimed at the understanding of consumers
motives and other aspects of their consumer behavior.
EVALUATION OF MOTIVATIONAL RESEARCH
Today, the evolution of early motivational research, with its broadened qualitative
orientation, not only embraces aspects of its Freudian origin, but also incorporates a
largely expanded range of qualitative methods and procedures that made it a well
established part of everyday consumer research. Qualitative consumer research
methods, consisting of focus group sessions and depth interviews and a wide range
of lines of questioning and probing are routinely used by large and small
businesses seeking to gain deeper insights into the whys of consumer behavior.
Qualitative research also enables marketers to explore consumer reactions to ideas
and advertising copy at an early stage and avoid the costly errors resulting from
placing inefektive and untested ads. Furtheremore, as with all qualitative research
techniques, motivational research findings provide consumer researchers with
insights that serve as the foundations of structured, quantitative marketing research
studies conducted on larger, more representative sample of consumers.

SUMMARY
Motivation is the driving force within individuals that impels them to avction. This
driving force is produced by state of uncomfortable tension, which exist as the
result of an unsatisfied need. All individuals have needs, wants and desires. The
individuals subconscious drive to reduce need-induced tensions results in behavior
that he or she anticipates will satisfy needs and thus bring about a more
comfortable internal state. Motivation can be either positive or nrgative.
Innate needs those an individual is born with are physiological (biogenic) in
nature, they include all the factors required to sustain physical life (food, water,
clothing, shelter, sex, and physical safety). Acquired needs those an individual
develops after birth are primarily psychological, they include love, acceptance,
esteem, and self fulfillment.
All behavior is goal oriented. Goals are the sought after results of motivated
behavior. The form or direction that behavior takes-the goal that is selected-is a
result of thinkin processes (cognition) and previous learning. There are two types of
goals, generic product specific goals. A generic goals is one that may fulfill a certain
need, a product specific goal is a specifically branded or labeled product that the
individual sees as a way to fulfill a need. Product specific needs are sometimes
referred to as wants. For any innate or acquired need, there are many different and
appropriate goals. The specific goal selected depends on the individuals

experiences, physical capacity, prevailing cultural norms and value and the goals
accessibility in the physical condition, environment, interaction with other people
and experiences. As needs become satisfied, new, higher order needs emerge that
must be fulfilled.
Motives cannot easily be inferred from consumer behavior. People with different
needs may seek fulfillment through selection of the same goals. Although some
psychologist have suggested that individual have different need priorities, others
believe that most human beings experience the same basic needs to which they
assign similar priority rankings. Maslows hierarchy of needs theory proposes five
levels of human needs, physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, egoistic
needs, and self actualization needs. Other needs widely integrated into consumer
advertising include the needs for power, affiliation and achievement.
There are self reported and qualitative methods for identifying and measuring
human motives, and researchers use these technique in tandem to assess the
presence or strength of consumer motives. Motivational research and its current
extended form, seeks to delve below the consumers level of conscious awareness
and to identify underlying needs and motives. Moreover quantitative research has
proved to be of value to marketers in developing new ideas nd advertising copy
appeals.