Personality, Self, and Motivation

This chapter focuses on personality, self, and motivation. It begins by outlining the main psychological and socially oriented perspectives on personality and self. The chapter explains the meaning of the multiplicity of self and discusses the relevance of different aspects of self to consumer behaviour. It then identifies the links between personality and self in marketing practice, including the mechanisms of symbolic consumption and the association between personality, values, and lifestyles. The chapter also highlights the relevance of psychographics to marketing practice before defining the key concepts of motivation, differentiating between needs, wants, and desires. Finally, it analyses the usefulness of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, as well as the main approaches to researching motivation.