ABSTRACT
No act of consumption takes place without some form of stimulation. Thismay be the result of a basic biological need, such as the pangs of hungerwhich stimulate the urge to eat, the stimulation of a utility need, such as a washing machine breaking down, or the stimulation of an aspirational need, as in the case of the desire for designer clothing or luxury brands. Most textbooks tend to locate the stimulation of needs within the framework of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which proposes that we satisfy needs at different levels. At the lowest level are physiological needs such as the need for food, which must be satisfied before
we can think about moving on towards more sophisticated needs. The second level deals with basic safety or security needs, while the third is concerned with love and belongingness. Moving higher up, the fourth level focuses on issues of esteem and respect, while the pinnacle, ‘self-actualization’, is the attainment of total self-fulfilment. However, this is a rather simplistic analysis of human motivation, and while it offers a basic framework, it has attracted a number of criticisms and so should be looked at in conjunction with other models and theories of motivation. Bernard Weiner (1992) suggests that at the very minimum a general theory of motivation should include the following:
● A theory of motivation must be based on general laws rather than individual differences
affiliative goals ● A theory of motivation must consider some additional common-sense
concepts.
