Psychology Today
What Happens in Vegas: The New Psychology of Marketing
Application of intrinsic motivation to marketing
Published on March 22, 2012 by _Steven Reiss, Ph.D._
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/steven-reiss-phd) in _Who We Are_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/who-we-are)
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/pornography)
We set out to construct a scientific model of intrinsic _motivation_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/motivation) . Our model has four unique
features. First, we empirically derived a taxonomy of universal motives and
demonstrated construct validity, measurement reliability, concurrent
validity, and criterion validity. Second, we put forth a conceptual platform
for
connecting universal motives to _personality_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/personality) traits and values. We can
teach people how their
personality is an expression of their moties and values. Third, we
connected universal (intrinsic) motives to dyadic relationships including work
and
romance. Repeated quarrels in a relationship arise from conflicting values
and motives. Fourth, we applied our model broadly to _education_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/education) , business, _sports_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/sport-and-competition) , health care,
counseling,
and relationships. Today more than 1,000 professionals on three continents
work with our model, called the "Reiss Motivation Profile" or RMP.
Historically, much of what psychologists have said about motivation is
invalid. For all practical purposes, _Freud_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/freud) had only one motive. He said
that libido (_sex_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/sex) ) motivates most everything but
virtually
every explanation he gave identified anxiety reduction as the ultimate motive.
Freud's model of motivation was so weak even his followers quickly rejected
it. Maslow developed his famous pyramid by asking his self-actualized
friends what motivates them. He said he would study motivation scientifically
but he didn't know how. To their credit, the Deci-Ryan research is based
on many studies, but when all is said and done, they recognize only two
kinds of motives, which they called intrinsic and extrinsic. The distinction
between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is based on multiple errors in
logic. (See my previous blogs.) In reality all motivation arises from
intrinsic motives, as Harvard's McDougall understood, and extrinsic motivation
doesn't exist. The Deci-Ryan work is more important for what is says about
self-determination than about extrinsic motivation.
Four generations of Harvard psychologists (James, McDougall, Murray,
McClelland) recognized that universal motives are the organizing themes of who
we are. The Harvard psychologists, however, did not put forth a viable model
of what a universal motive is. McDougall thought that emotion is the key to
_understanding_ (http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/empathy) universal
motives, but it is the goal. The Harvard psychologists proposed many lists
of universal motives but did not scientifically validate any list. They did
not construct non-projective measures of which motives are strong or weak
for any individual. They did not figure out how to project universal
motives into practical endeavors such as relationships, education, health
care,
sports, and so on.
When I want to predict what people might do, I ask them what their values,
goals, and purposes are. Incredibly, other psychologists don't do that.
Instead they try to predict how people will behave in natural environments by
asking them about their _childhood_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/child-development) . Such information
predicts very little. If I tell you I
am lonely, you can predict I will seek out company and you would have a
decent chance of being right. If I tell you I still remember when my
_parents_ (http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/parenting) wouldn't let me
stay up
to watch a television program, you can't predict anything about me.
Current motives predict behavior much better than remote childhood events.
A new psychology of intrinsic motivation is emerging and it excels in
predicting how people will behave in natural environments. In recent months
interest has emerged in applying the new motivation to _marketing_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/consumer-behavior) . In the remainder of
my blog
I will outline some general principles I published in my book titled, "Who
am I?"
The new marketing permits us to compare the values expressed by a brand and
those expressed by advertisements. Consider, for example, the
advertisement, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." If you look at the 16
universal
values, you will learn that a weak need for honor motivates expedience.
The value here is not to get caught. Since Vegas is branded as "_sin_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/morality) city" -- sin falls under low
honor -- the advertising slogan is a direct hit on the value of the brand. As
far as I can tell, most memorable advertising slogans are direct hits on the
values of the brand.
My colleagues and I offer a number of training seminars for those
interested in learning more. The next seminar I will give will be held in
Chicago
June 21 and 22. All of my seminars are for small groups. For further
information, contact [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) .
Various Reiss Motivation Profile Institutes -- soon there will be 11 institutes
worldwide -- also offer seminars in Europe and Asia.
==============================
Articles from Psychology Today that are relevant to the above article :
Why We Buy
_Field Guide To The Shopaholic_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201010/field-guide-the-shopaholic)
Observing retail lovers in the wild.
_The Urge to Splurge_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200510/the-urge-splurge)
How retailers nudge you toward the cash register.
_Field Guide to the Materialist: She's Gotta Have It_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200705/field-guide-the-materialist-shes-gotta-have-it)
For some people, stuff reigns and to shop is to be.
_Are Consumers Born or Made? Both._
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/homo-consumericus/200811/are-consumers-born-or-made-both)
Knowing Your Customers. Step 1: Read Charles Darwin!
_The Psychology of Time Pressured Sales_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201011/the-psychology-time-pressured-sales)
Time pressure primes you to act rather than deliberate.
_Retail Therapy Explained_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psyched/200802/retail-therapy-explained)
Retail therapy does not work.
See Also
* _Behavioral Economics_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/behavioral-economics)
* _Decision-Making_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/decision-making)
Advertising and Marketing
_Advertising Is Magic_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psyched/200807/advertising-is-magic)
Advertising is a form of sorcery.
_Hawks in Sheep's Clothing_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/bias-and-its-tinted-lens/200902/hawks-in-sheeps-clothing)
How "informative advertising" sells us a bill of goods.
_Outside In: It's So Loud, I Can't Hear My Budget!_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201010/outside-in-its-so-loud-i-cant-hear-my-budget)
Loud environments encourage spending.
_The Truth About Subliminal Advertising_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/200811/know-me-is-me-iii-subliminal-advertising)
Subliminal advertising is less (read me) interesting than you think.
_New study: TV food ads provoke automatic eating in adults as well as
children _
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-natural-unconscious/200907/new-study-tv-food-ads-provoke-automatic-eating-in-adults-well-ch)
One reason the public needs to know about limits to their free will
_6 Sneaky Ways Sales Spur Spending_
(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-why-behind-the-buy/200906/6-sneaky-ways-sales-spur-spending)
"The song of the Shopping Sirens is a sale."
=================================================
from the site :
Life in Process
Book Review of Steven Reiss' " Who Am I ? "
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ASIN=158542045X&tag=calculushelp-20&lcode=xm2&cID=2025&ccmID=165953&location=/o/ASIN/158542045X%3FSubscriptionI
d=1N9AHEAQ2F6SVD97BE02)
The concept of this book is quite bold: What you know about human
motivation is wrong. There are two very common theories explaining why humans
do
what they do. The first states that anything we do can be boiled down and seen
as fulfilling the two biggest biological objectives: survival and
replication. The second asserts that humans are essentially hedonists - we are
always acting to either obtain pleasure or avoid pain. Both theories have
their
merits, but like the author, I believe they just doesn’t seem to fit.
Enter Who Am I? The 16 Basis Desires That Motivate Our Actions And Define
Our Personalities
So what does actually drive human behavior? Freud thought it was sex, Plato
thought it was truth, and B.F. Skinner said that your drives were private
and scientifically unknowable. Prompted by a life-threatening illness, the
author re-thought the whole paradigm, eventually developing the ideas in
the book. True, he stands on the shoulders of giants (Like William James) and
he acknowledges their work, but no midget himself. The implications of the
book, psychologically speaking, are potent.
With much thought and consideration, Reiss concludes that the following are
the 16 basic desires common to all humans, (all or nearly all are present
in animals as well).
Power, Independence, Curiosity
Acceptance, Order, Saving
Honor, Idealism, Social Contact
Family, Status, Vengeance
Romance, Eating, Physical Activity
Tranquility.
The way he determined whether or not a proposed desire made it to the list
is interesting. He used a mathematical technique called factor analysis to
determine that 16 desires would be unusually representative of the
possibilities (instead of 15,17, or 32). It’s hard to add another desire to the
16
- he gives three criteria for those who want to try.
1. The desire must be valued intrinsically rather than for its for its
effects on something else. It must be sought for its own sake.
2. The desire must have explanatory significance for understanding the
lives of nearly the lives of nearly everyone.
3. The desire must be largely unconnected to the 16 listed.
The Desires
The desires themselves are fairly self explanitory. You have a high desire
for order and you keep your room clean. You have a high desire for eating
and a low desire for physical activity and you’re probably fat. The author
helps develop all 16 them quite well. With the framework of these 16
desires, people become a lot more transparent to the careful observer. When you
map out your desires, you make a desire profile. Your desire profile says a
lot about who you are. The book leads you through the process of making
yours. Looking above, you’ll see the profile I drew for my wife and me. You
measure your desires as having high, average, or less importance to you.
Getting it
The author has a nice section about “Not getting it”. This occurs when
peoples desire profiles are dissimilar and can’t seem to understand why
somebody would do or say what they do. “Why does she see in him?” can be
answered by looking at how the man satisfies her desires - in a more academic
way
of course.
Value Based Happiness
Happiness for me isn’t the same as it is for you. In fact, as mentioned
before, we could be so far off from each other that we couldn’t stand the
same activities. To each their own - and that is the key - you need to do what
makes you happy, but keep in mind your core desires. Switching jobs doesn’t
mean you’ll be happy. The duties change, but is the work tapping into your
desires in a different way? You might want to check on that.
How to use the book
Knowing that human beings are motivated by some distinct criteria isn’t
that enlightening - its all in the application. I liked spending some time
thinking about who in my life valued certain desires very highly and how it
effects their personality. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks listening to
people talk, and hearing beyond what they say to hear their core desires. I
understand where people are coming from a good deal more now than I did
before. Not that I agree with them - I just respect them and see what makes
them happy.
Some Fun Extras
I haven’t listed the chapter names like I usually like to, because they
aren’t that useful without reciting the whole chapter to you.
The book is 280 pages long (with 20 or so pages of notes), clean and has a
easy to read style. You don’t have to read all of it either - you can just
skip to the back and create your personal desire profile.
It is the authors opinion that our desire profile probably does not change
fundamentally over our lives.
As the author says, alike profiles grow together, dissimilar grow apart. I
feel that my wife and I are very compatible, and the profiles back that up
in some degree. You’ll see that we never have a huge mismatch, where she
values something as very important and I value it as less important. We both
have high desires for curiosity (we both love reading and exploring) and
family(we both want to have kids and love hanging out with our folks). We
both have a low desire for vengeance and status. In total, we value 9 out of
the 16 desires the same. I think that’s pretty good, and we’ll grow
together more and more as the years go by.
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
