McGuire Psychological Motives

McGuire Psychological Motives
McGuire’s Psychological Motives
• McGuire developed a classification system that organizes these various theories

into 16 categories.
• McGuire first divides motivation into four main categories using two criteria:
1. Is the mode of motivation cognitive or affective?
2. Is the motive focused on preservation of the status quo or on growth?

• Cognitive motives focus on the person’s need for being adaptively oriented
toward the environment and achieving a sense of meaning.
• Affective motives deal with the need to reach satisfying feeling states and to
obtain personal goals.
• Preservation oriented motives emphasize the individual as striving to maintain

equilibrium, while growth motives emphasize development.
These four main categories are then further subdivided on the bases of source
and objective of the motive.
3. Is this behaviour actively initiated or in response to the environment?
4. Does this behaviour help the individual achieve a new internal or a new external
relationship to the environment?
• The third criterion distinguishes between motives that are actively or internally
aroused versus those that are a more passive response to circumstances. The
final criterion is used to categorize outcomes that are internal to the individual
and those focused on a relationship with the environment.
• McGuire’s 16 motives and their implications for marketing are briefly described
in the following sections.
Cognitive Preservation
Motives
Need for Consistency (active, internal)
• A basic desire is to have all facets of oneself consistent with each other.
• attitudes, behaviours, opinions, self-images, views of others.
• Cognitive dissonance is a common motive of this type. For example, making a
major purchase is not consistent with the need to save money. This inconsistency
motivates the individual to reduce it.
• Understanding the need for consistency is important for structuring advertising
messages relating to attitude change.
• Consumers are reluctant to accept information that disagrees with existing
beliefs. Thus, marketers wishing to change attitudes must use highly credible
sources or other techniques to overcome this.
Need for Attribution (active, external)
• Deals with our need to determine who or what causes the things that happen to us.
• Do we attribute the cause of a favourable or unfavourable outcome to ourselves or to

some outside force?
• Need for attribution is extremely relevant to consumer reactions to promotional

messages (in terms of credibility). Because consumers do not passively receive
messages but rather attribute “selling” motives and tactics to ads and the advice of
sales personnel, they do not believe or they discount many sales messages.
• To overcome this, one approach is to use a credible spokesperson.

Need to Categorize (passive, internal)
• People have a need to categorize and organize the vast array of information and
experiences they encounter in a meaningful yet manageable way, so they
establish categories or mental partitions to help them do so.
• Prices are often categorized such that different prices connote different
categories of goods.
• Automobiles over $20,000 and automobiles under $20,000 may elicit two
different meanings because of information categorized on the basis of price level.
• Many firms price items at $9.95, $19.95, $49.95, and so forth. One reason is to
avoid being categorized in the over $10, $20, or $50 group.
Need for Objectification (passive, external)
• Reflects needs for observable cues or symbols that enable people to infer what
they feel and know.
• Impressions, feelings, and attitudes are subtly established by viewing one’s own
behaviour and that of others and drawing inferences as to what one feels and
thinks.
• In many instances, clothing plays an important role in presenting the subtle

meaning of a desired image and consumer lifestyle.
Cognitive Growth Motives
Need for Autonomy (active, internal)
• The need for independence and individuality is a characteristic of the American
culture.
• All individuals in all cultures have this need at some level. Americans are taught
that it is proper and even essential to express and fulfill this need (in contrast to
Eastern countries such as Japan, which value affiliation).
• Owning or using products and services that are unique is one way consumers
express their autonomy.
• Marketers have responded to this motive by developing limited editions of
products and providing wide variety and customization options.
• In addition, many products are advertised and positioned with independence,
uniqueness, or individuality themes.
Need for Stimulation (active, external)
• People often seek variety and difference out of a need for stimulation.
• Such variety-seeking behaviour may be a prime reason for brand switching and
some so-called impulse purchasing.
• Individuals experiencing rapid change generally become satiated and desire

stability, whereas individuals in stable environments become bored and desire
change.
Teleological Need (passive, internal)
• Consumers are pattern matchers who have images of desired outcomes or end
states with which they compare their current situation.
• Behaviours are changed and the results are monitored in terms of movement
toward the desired end state.
• This motive propels people to prefer mass media such as movies, television pro-
grams, and books with outcomes that match their view of how the world should
work (e.g., the good guys win).
• This has obvious implications for advertising messages.

Utilitarian Need (passive, external)
• These theories view the consumer as a problem solver who approaches

situations as opportunities to acquire useful information or new skills.
• A consumer watching a situation comedy on television not only is being

entertained but is learning clothing styles, lifestyle options, and so forth.
• Likewise, consumers may approach ads and salespeople as a source of learning

for future decisions as well as for the current one.

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McGuire Psychological Motives

McGuire’s Psychological Motives

• McGuire developed a classification system that organizes these various theories

1. Is the mode of motivation cognitive or affective?

2. Is the motive focused on preservation of the status quo or on growth?

• Preservation oriented motives emphasize the individual as striving to maintain

• Do we attribute the cause of a favourable or unfavourable outcome to ourselves or to

• Need for attribution is extremely relevant to consumer reactions to promotional

• To overcome this, one approach is to use a credible spokesperson.

• In many instances, clothing plays an important role in presenting the subtle

• Individuals experiencing rapid change generally become satiated and desire

• This has obvious implications for advertising messages.

• These theories view the consumer as a problem solver who approaches

• A consumer watching a situation comedy on television not only is being

• Likewise, consumers may approach ads and salespeople as a source of learning

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