Sigmund Freud’s motivation theory explains how a consumer’s decisions to buy a product or not depends on their unconscious desires and motivators. Observing how the various aspects of a product can trigger emotional response from a consumer can help a marketer identify ways to lead a consumer towards making a purchase decision.
Freud believed that human psyche can be broadly divided into conscious and unconscious mind.
The Ego represents the conscious mind and is composed of perceptions, thoughts, memories and feelings. It gives a sense of identity and continuity to a personality.
The unconscious mind is the Id which includes all the instincts and psychic energies that existed since birth and it is biologically determined. Sometimes customer’s behaviours are driven by unconscious motives and they have difficulty in explaining why exactly have they bought a particular product. So market researchers can make use of certain techniques like the depth interview to understand the unconscious motives behind a purchase decision.
Superego represents the traditional ideas and morals of a society. It acts as a conscience and tries to curb the impulses that arise out of the Id. Also superego forces the ego to do things that are according to the morals of the society. People do not act on every impulse since there is a conscience that supresses certain thoughts. Market researchers can use models such as quick choice model to identify why an impulse to buy does not lead into action.
Hence, this concludes the definition of Freudian Motivation Theory along with its overview.
This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.
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Reviewed by Annapoorna | Updated on Nov 18, 2022
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Freudian motivation theory exhibits unconscious psychological forces mould an individual's behaviour affecting his purchasing patterns. These include hidden desires and motives of such individuals.
Freudian motivation theory is commonly applied to various disciplines to help understand the consumer's motivations towards their purchasing decisions. It explains the sales process in terms of a consumer fulfilling conscious, operative needs as well as unconscious needs.
The theory was conceptualised by Sigmund Freud, who was a doctor and studied psychoanalysis as well.
Understanding Freudian Motivation Theory
Freud claimed that the human psyche could be classified into the conscious and unconscious mind. There are three components - id, ego and the superego.
The ego, which represents the conscious mind, is made up of thoughts, memories, judgments, and feelings. It gives a person their sense of identity and personality. The id, indicating the unconscious mind, is the biologically determined senses that someone holds since birth.
At last, the superego represents the moderating portion of society's traditional morals and taboos, where it is usual that every person does not act on impulse.
These approaches help market researchers determine why a consumer made a particular purchase by centring on their conscious and unconscious motivations, along with the weight of societal expectations.
The Freudian motivation theory describes the sales process regarding three parameters:
- Consumer fulfilling conscious
- Functional needs, such as lock to a house
- Unconscious needs, such as the fear of being intruded despite the security measures
For example, a salesperson trying to sell furniture to a consumer may enquire if it's his first home lived by the consumer on his own. If the consumer replies yes, this may aid the salesperson to insist on which piece of furniture is a comfortable choice and makes it homely.
Application of the Freudian Motivation Theory
When companies want to calculate the success probability for a new product, they will list down the market researchers who can discover the hidden motivations of a sample group of consumers. It will help them to determine what reason triggered a particular buying habit. They may use several techniques to discover such more profound implications, such as role-playing, pictographs, sentence completion, and word association.
Such tasks can help researchers know about how consumers react to products and how to best exploit them as a result. For instance, buying a specific computer brand can make a person feel talented, successful, productive, and reputed. Marketers can utilise this information to redefine brand identity.
What is Freudian Motivation Theory?
Neurologist and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud developed the Freudian theory of motivation. According to the theory, people’s choices are largely based on their unconscious behaviour. This means that people may seek motivation for buying certain goods through their unconscious channel of thinking.
Individuals may not always fully understand why they make certain choices, since these are driven by their unconscious behaviour and not necessarily by wants or needs. This theory is frequently used in understanding consumer behaviour and in analysing the purchasing patterns of individuals.
What are the components of Freudian motivation theory?
According to Freud, the human psyche has two different parts: the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. Both these include three components in total: id, ego and superego.
- Id: According to Sigmund Freud, the id is the biological component of every individual’s thought process. Id includes instinctive senses that everyone holds since birth. It is the unconscious mind.
- Ego: Ego represents the conscious mind, and it is made up of thoughts, memories, feelings that individuals may base their decisions on. The ego gives a sense of personality to an individual.
- Superego: This includes society’s perceptions regarding ethics, values, taboos, etc. It is the moral branch that can influence how humans make decisions. This component shows that humans may not always act on impulse and is the “inner-voice” or conscience of humans.
In some people id may be stronger; however, in others superego may be stronger. The relative strength of id, ego and superego determines how a human being takes decisions.
Why is the Freudian motivation theory important?
Freudian motivation theory can be applied in the fields of sales and marketing. The theory suggests that individuals may decide which products to buy based on their emotions and feelings, without consciously knowing it.
Consider the example of a man who buys a new car given the fact that his old car is in good working condition. It is possible that the man’s decision to purchase a car was motivated by his urge to create a status symbol for himself in society. This decision may not be as conscious as the buyer would think it to be.
To utilise the Freudian motivation theory's emotional standpoint, salespersons can incorporate specific marketing tactics that could trigger an emotional response from the customer, leading him to buy the product. Thus, motivation theory can help sellers achieve the desired response from the customers.
How is the Freudian motivation theory applied?
Corporations may reach out to motivation researchers who collect data from potential customers. The data is collected through interviews to understand the deeper motives behind buying a particular product.
These researchers may use various techniques like word association, picture interpretation, sentence completion, role-playing, etc to understand how individuals make decisions. This information can enable marketing researchers to decide how these unconscious motivations can be best exploited to make the product lucrative to individuals.
Freudian motivation theory states that the sale process has three parameters:
- Consumer satisfaction
- Functional needs satisfaction
- Unconscious needs
What are some other theories of motivation?
Apart from Freud’s theory of motivation, there are two other popular motivation theories. These include:
- Optimal-level Theory: This theory is also referred to as the theory of homeostasis, a term coined by French psychologist Claud Bernard. Homeostasis refers to the state of equilibrium in the body. This ideology belongs to the “hedonistic” theory, which states that happiness is the highest good.
According to the hedonistic theory, there is an optimal level of normal functioning in every individual, allowing him to make the right decisions. However, if the individual were to fluctuate from this position to disequilibrium, he would not find it pleasurable.
Thus, every human being strives to be in a state of equilibrium by maintaining an optimal level of needs like food, water, etc.
- Humanistic Theory: This theory believes in human beings' capacity to realise their own potential, strengthen their self-confidence, and achieve the ideal self. These can include biological factors like hunger, thirst; safety needs; love and belongingness need, esteem needs like respect and approval; self-actualisation motive like attaining maximum level of one’s capacities.