Consumer behaviour and self-concept

Drive Theory 4 2. Expectancy Theory 4 2. Cognitive Appraisal Theory 5 2. Motivational conflict 5 2. Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Theory 6 2. It involves the in-depth study of how consumers make decisions on why they want to purchase certain products and services. Understanding consumer behaviour is important to all companies and marketers since they will know how consumers will handle and respond to new services and products the company introduces in the industry. It helps companies to have a clear view of the opportunities and threats that the company is likely to face in marketing and selling new services and products. Consumers make decisions regarding the kind of products and services they want to purchase based on their needs and wants. Consumer purchasing power is influenced by emotions, motivation, personality, and lifestyle.

Self-concept refers to the consumers’ beliefs, opinions, attitudes and preferences. Consumers tend to purchase products and services that meet their set preferences, attitudes and opinions. Self-concept develops through social interactions. Self-concept comprises of the emotions, feelings and ideas that an individual has concerning their capability and identity (Edbring, 2016). The objective of this paper is to apply learned consumer behaviour patterns and factors that influence consumer purchasing power and related theories to real-life examples. There are primary and secondary drives. Primary drives are important since they are related to procreation and basic survival. Secondary drives are related to social life. Individuals are motivated to buy certain goods and services in order to reduce the pressure they have caused by unsatisfied needs. Individuals are motivated to eat or drink something so as to satisfy the needs of hunger and thirst (Peters.

Expectancy is the conviction that one’s effort will result in the achievement of the desired performance (parijat, 2014). Every time I go shopping in the grocery I have to buy fresh broccoli and spinach. My daily diet is composed of either broccoli or spinach. This is because I believe that if I eat healthy foods I will have a strong immune system and will have a healthy life. I believe that broccoli has nutrients that fight cancer cells in the body that why I opt to take broccoli. Approach-Approach motivational conflicts arise when the consumers have to make two choices on the products and services and the products can serve the same purpose and have the same attractiveness but the consumer has to choose one product or service.

Last year I had gone to the electronics shop and I wanted to buy a new television. I wanted to buy either Samsung or Sony brands. I wanted 32’ inches and all the brands that I wanted were of the same prices and their quality was the same. I took me like an hour to make the best decisions on the kind of television that I was going to purchase. The needs from the lower level to the high level are physiological needs, security needs, social needs, esteem needs and self- actualization. The physiological needs are the basic necessities such as shelter, food and clothing. Consumers should satisfy the basic necessities because they are essential to every human being before satisfying the needs at the next level.

Security needs comprise of protection, stability and physical safety. The safety of an individual is important because it makes the individual live peacefully with no fears of any attacks or injuries that are intentionally caused by humans. After arranging the house well I went to the mall and bought foodstuffs. The extra cash that I had I bought some clothes and shops so that I could be neat while attending my lectures. The place where I live is safe there’s maximum security. There are CCTV cameras all over and thus I am well assured of my safety here. When I went to campus attending my lectures I met new friends and now I have a lot of friends whom we study together, hold discussions together and go for an outing together.

Need for affiliation is achieved through minding the wellbeing of other people in society through taking care of them and playing with other people and having fun with them (Cherry, 2016). Currently, I am a student I really want to get good grades and complete my studies. In order to achieve all this, I buy articles, books and journals that will help me in my studies. During holidays and my free days I do visit all people, spend time with them and on my way to this places, I do purchase certain stuff that can be used by the old people such as warm blanket and healthy fruits such oranges and apples. Consumer Involvement Consumer involvement refers to the internal mind-set of a consumer which plays a key role in influencing consumer’s experiences.

During the day of purchase, I had to check if the laptop was original, whether all the parts were available and if the specifications of the laptop match the specifications of the laptop and if the laptop was of the correct brand that I wanted. I had to do all those things since a laptop is expensive and I needed a laptop that could give me long term service. PERSONALITY, LIFESTYLE AND SELF-CONCEPT Personality refers to the internal characteristics of an individual. The characteristics give a clear understanding of how an individual responds to the environment. Personality influences the purchasing power of consumers. Trait theory is founded on the norms that certain traits are common in most of the people. According to trait theory identification of personal traits is very important.

Traits can be identified in large varieties and they can also be identified based on limited traits. Trait theory is used to measure personality because of its quantitative approach. Traits that are important in marketing are needed for recognition, innovation, materialism and self- consciousness. Ego is the self-concept of an individual. It is based on reality as it arises from an individual’s interactions with the world. Ego controls the individual’s behaviour since it is conscious control of a person. Ego tends to control the impulse buying of consumers. Id is based on the fact that the current arising needs should be fulfilled. It is not that I needed the shoes but because I had seen an advert of the shoes on the television.

I just wanted to have a pair of those shoes. The urge to buy the shoes was greatly influenced by the advertisement that saw in the media. I just wanted to have them though I had not budgeted for them. Neo-Freudian Theory This is a theory of a group of psychologists. Their main desire is independence, personal freedom and self-sufficiency (Corr, 2013). One of our course mates is likes bragging and showing concerning his social class since he is a bit of wealth and of a higher social class. He likes getting attention from others and likes it when he gets comments and admiration from other people. All his attires are branded and printed his names. All his attires are designer and the watches are also designer watches.

Lifestyle refers to the day to day life of an individual. Lifestyle refers to the way an individual lives in society and how they spend their money and time. The theories that explain the degree of personality and lifestyle on consumer behaviour are the traits theory, Psychoanalytic theory of feud and Neo-Freudian Theory 5. REFERENCES Edbring, E. G. DeYoung, C. G. McNaughton, N. Motivation and personality: A neuropsychological perspective. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(3), 158-175. Gao, J. H. Maslow and the motivation hierarchy: Measuring satisfaction of the needs. The American journal of psychology, 126(2), 155-177. Cherry, K.