ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the personal and social forces that compel and influence shopping, eating behavior, and conspicuous consumption, impulse control, with an eye to marketing strategy and implementation. Derived from the Latin term movere, motivation is a psychological construct that refers to the processes that move a person to behave. Consumer behavior typically is stimulated by an internal deficiency resulting from an imbalance or disequilibrium between one's current condition and some ideal state. A simple way of looking at the energizing forces behind behavior is to consider the degree of harmony or balance that exists between existing and desired situations. Motivated behavior is directed towards certain end states or outcomes that the individual anticipates will satisfy extant needs, reduce the inner state of tension, and thereby restore the system to a state of balance. From a psychological perspective, a sense of achievement is only one possible outcome that emerges from feelings of pride; another is that pride instead promotes self-awareness.
