Internal Influences - Lifestyle and Attitude

A. Lifestyle

Lifestyle is a common word to explain complicated consumer behaviors. Lifestyle is a way to segment people into groups based on three things: opinions, attitudes and activities. Lifestyle means the ways groups of consumers spend time and money. Lifestyle can include things like bowling, cooking, car racing, kayaking, attending charity events, having pets, interest in politics, watching sporting events and so on

Everyone has two lifestyles-the one they are currently in and the one they want to be in, which is always better than the current one. Marketers exploit this desire to move into a better lifestyle by showcasing people who are better off than the intended target market in their ads. For example most ads targeting children show children that are almost too old for the product, this appeals to younger children who desire to be like them.

B. Attitude

An attitude is an internal evaluation, expressed outwardly about a person, object or issue. There are three components of attitude -affect, behavior and cognition. This sis sometimes called the ABC's of attitude. These three components work together to form a hierarchy of effects:

Purhase	Hierarchy of effects
High involvement	Belief—affect—behavior
Low involvement	Belief—behavior—affect
Experiential	Affect—behavior—belief
Behavioral Influence	Behavior—belief—affect

In a purchase that requires a high level of involvement, such as a car, consumers will consider various choices and develop beliefsabout each choice; then they develop feelings about the products (affect); and finally they act on the behavior and decide to purchase, or not. Whereas with a behavioral influence, the customer will act first (purchase), then develop beliefs about their purchase and that leads to developing feelings about the product or service.

ELM Model

One theory about attitude change is the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). This model shows how attitudes are changed based on the level of involvement in the purchase. As soon as a message is received a consumer begins to process it, depending on the level of involvement and motivation it will then follow one of two routes—the central route or the peripheral route. See Petty and Cacioppo (1981) and Petty, Ostrom and Brock (1981).(

The central route: If the consumer is highly involved in the purchase, then they will put forth considerable effort toward understanding the marketing messages. They will look for cues in the message that pertain to the product, its attributes, and advantages.

The peripheral route: If the consumer is not highly involved in the purchase, or lacks the motivation to process information, they are more likely to pay attention to the attractiveness of the people in the advertisement, images and music, which are all non-product related information. These cues play a major role in persuading consumers to purchase. This usually leads to a product attitude change that doesn’t last.

Social Judgment Theory Another theory for explaining attitude changes, this theory states that consumers compare incoming information to a frame of reference previously formed; The incoming messages are then filtered down two paths—latitudes of acceptance and latitudes of rejection. If a message is accepted then the filtered information has to be close to the original attitude. This is when messages are considered favorable and consumers agree with the message. A message is rejected when it is seen as too far from, or opposed to the original attitude.

Internal Influences - Personality

Some marketers believe we choose products that express our personalities. Personality is defined as the thoughts, emotions, intentions and behavior that people express as they move through their environment. Personality is unique to individuals, but may be applied to groups, is a combination of characteristics and traits and influences purchasing behaviors. Marketers will use interviews and focus groups to understand personality and how it relates to the purchase of certain products.

The Five Factor Model Approach to personality identifies five core traits and how they manifest into behavior.

TRAIT	MANIFESTATION	PRODUCT / SERVICE
Extroversion	Prefer to be with others, talkative, bold, outgoing	Airline tickets, beer
Stability level	From even tempered to and moody and temperamental	Time share vacation home, fast sports car
Agreeableness	Kind, sympathetic, polite	Products that give money to charity
Openness to Experience	Imaginative, creative, open to new ideas	Art
Conscientiousness	Careful, precise, organized	Washing machine

Other personality traits that translate into consumer behavior purchases:

• Frugality—consumers restrain themselves and think heavily about purchases
• Impulsiveness—purchases are made without much thought beforehand
• Anxiety—a person with lots of anxiety may have more post-purchase dissonance and feel upset about purchases after they get them home
• Bargaining—some consumers prefer to bargain for purchases, it gives them a sense of control over their spending
• Vanity—taking excessive pride in one’s appearance and accomplishments
• Competence—being responsible and dependable
• Excitement—craving daring and spirited purchases
• Ruggedness—craving products that are tough and strong
• Sincerity—honest and genuine
• Sophistication—desiring products that are glamorous and prestigious

Internal Influences - Motivation

Motivation is an internal state that drives us to satisfy needs. Motivation is the energizing force that activates behavior. Once we recognize that we have a need, a state of tension exists that drives the consumer to the goal of reducing this tension and eliminating the need. Consequently, only unmet needs motivate.

According to Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, for each need there are positives gained and negatives that are avoided by meeting that particular set of needs. Products that are purchased because of a need will satisfy a goal and avoid unwanted consequences. For example, people need to feel secure so they purchase smoke detectors, therefore gaining protection and avoiding loss and fear of fire.

Need	Gained	Avoided
Self-Actualization	Creativity, accomplishment	Unfulfilled potential
Esteem	Pride, recognition, prestige	Failure, inadequacy
Social	Acceptance, popularity	Rejection, embarrassment
Security	Safety, protection	Loss, danger, fear
Physiological	Health, comfort	Sickness, discomfort

According to McGuire, there are 12 psychological motives, 12 reasons why consumers are motivated to make purchases.

• 1. Need for consistency
• 2. Need for attribute causation
• 3. Need to categorize
• 4. Need for cues
• 5. Need for independence
• 6. Need for self-expression
• 7. Need for ego-defense
• 8. Need for reinforcement
• 9. Need for affiliation
• 10. Need for modeling
• 11. Need for novelty
• 12 Need for Assertion

1. Need for consistency

• People have a basic desire to have all parts of themselves consistent and they purchase products that fulfill this need. People that listen to country music will purchase products like cowboy boots, heavy duty trucks and pets.

2. Need for attribute causation

• People have the need to determine who or what causes things to happen to them. For example, some people choose to attribute it to themselves, fate or an outside force like God.

3. Need to categorize

• Categories allow people to process a large amount of information. Vehicles are categorized into cars, SUV's, light trucks, heavy duty trucks, van, sporty, mid-size, hybrid, electric and so on. This helps consumers quickly narrow down their choices when purchasing a vehicle.

4. Need for cues

• Most people will view others' behavior and infer what they feel and think. Clothing plays an important role in presenting image of a person. People quickly judge others by the clothing they are wearing and the vehicle they drive.

5. Need for independence

• Americans strive for individuality and self-expression and many products are marketed as "limited edition" or being different and unique
• The Japanese culture discourages individuality and focuses on affiliation, and behavior that enhances family and culture.

6. Need for self-expression

• Americans are known for letting others know who and what they are by their extravagant purchases, especially clothing and cars. Who really needs a $1,200 pen? What is that saying about that person?

7. Need for ego-defense

• The need to defend your identity. An insecure customer will purchase well-known brand names for fear of being labeled socially incorrect.

8. Need for reinforcement

• People are motivated to act because they are rewarded for doing it. For example, showing off a new diamond ring to your friends creates acceptance and approval.

9. Need for affiliation

• Affiliation is the need to develop mutually helpful and satisfying relationships with others, which is a critical part of all people's lives.

10. Need for modeling

• Conformity and the need to base behavior on that of others. This is the major motivation of children, tweens (8-12 year olds), and especially teenagers-and in their social world conformity mean acceptance.

11. Need for novelty

• People have variety seeking-behavior and this may be a reason for brand switching and impulse buys, but that depends on the person. People experiencing rapid life changes will seek stability, while people in stable life situations will seek change. The travel industry uses this by changing up their ads and showing adventure vacations where people are actively having fun and some ads showing relaxing vacations where people are swinging in a hammock.

12. Need for Assertion

• Customer's need to engage in activities that will increase self-esteem and self-esteem in the eyes of others. Most consumers respond positively to ads that appeal to this need. In an advertisement for a ladies razor, it will say "show off your beautiful legs to your man," this will appeal to women by showing that the product increases your self-esteem.