Marketing communication: principles and practice

Behavioural processes
These are situationally specific ‘tools’ used by people in recognizing their
feelings, gathering and utilizing information, and formulating thoughts and
opinions in order to interact with the world. Marketers are particularly
interested in these because they appear to offer opportunities to exert
influence over buying and consumption behaviour.
Motivation
Motivation can be thought of as the recognition of a need that is followed
by action-taking to satisfy it.
A need is a drive to realize an ideal state (goal) by shifting from a non-
ideal state. The term 
innate need
refers to biological conditions for staying
alive, while the term 
acquired need
refers to social and psychological needs.
A person does not recognize a need for which there is no attainable goal,
while a goal does not motivate action unless a need to achieve it is seen. A
product can satisfy a need (i.e. it has value) when it offers a benefit or outcome
from its use. A core benefit is basic to a particular product or class of products
and is expected by every buyer. These are not motivators, but their absence
demotivates. Motivators are specific to a person (see Figure 3.3) and are
attended to by marketers in segmenting and targeting groups of buyers and
consumers (see chapter fourteen).
The driving force in recognizing needs and electing goals to satisfy them
is motivation. We prioritize the effort we make towards satisfying out 
needs, generally giving more time and effort to those needs that have 
higher costs and benefits and that are more important, interesting, and
relevant to us.
Our level of involvement reflects the benefits and costs we expect to receive
from buying a product to satisfy a need in a situation. Factors that affect our
level of involvement are those background characteristics that we saw 
in Figure 3.3, as well as characteristics of the product (such as attributes
and benefits, costs, and perceived risks of purchase, ownership, and use), 
and situational effects (such as purchase and use occasion, and competing
needs).
We judge things in terms of importance and relevance to us in a given
situation or context. Involvement is a judgement relating to a feeling of risk
of negative outcome, social sanction, and ego. For example, will buying that
jacket be a mistake (poor value for money, say), will it make me look out of