ABSTRACT
This chapter offers some biographical information on Ernest Dichter, and discusses Dichter's The Strategy of Desire. Ernest Dichter was a consulting psychologist for the Columbia Broadcasting System from 1943-1946 and president of the Institute for Motivational Research starting in 1946. In 1956 he formed Ernest Dichter Associates International. Dr. Ernest Dichter is Chairman of the Board of Ernest Dichter Associates International Ltd., a research organization that specializes in applying the social sciences to a variety of problems. Dichter offers a fairly precise definition of a motivation. "A motivation is a composite of factors which result in a specific action intended to change existing situation into a future one". To more fully understand human motivation, Dichter considers cultural matters, human aspirations, and the need to probe hidden, irrational motivations, which people are not aware of in themselves, but which can be uncovered if the correct approach is used.
