Many applications of psychological profiling techniques or rsychograph ics' to con

imer contexts have komprised the development of custom made instruments

designed to measure consumers' interests in and motivations to obtain specific
products or services. Rather than taking an established per sonality test linked to a
specific perionality theory thar was originally devel- oped outside a consumer
context, marketing researchers have preferred ta utilise psychological techniques to
develop new ciassifications or typalogies of based on their attitudes, beliefs.
perceptions. ind intentions relating to specific tyres commodities. There have also
been attemprs to produce psychographic typaloge thar might be applied within
commodity categories, but these efforts will be discussed in Chapter 1. This chapter
will examine the history of this type of psychological profiling of consumers and its
relative succe ses and fail. ures. It will compare and contrast rypolosi that have tried
to predier and explain domains of imuner behaviour. hopping and retail act product
range typoliieies product-specific Psychological theory has often still played an
important part in encing even the custom-built psychographics approache Thi has
been y true of those measure designed to yield normative t by the tyk, neopic lead or
aspire to adopt and the they to rule they iive. Social model of haman reeds and
values have played a rart in sharing key values and lifestyle concepts und soci ared
that have been applied to onuiters, a Maslow de a hierarchy of human needs model
ansl the research on human values by Rokeach have been influential (Maslow,
1954, 1970. Rokeach, 1973 Maslow odel bottom with biological needs d a itierarchy
of human needs, starting meeds followed by iccurity need then social level of needs
does not become a foca of attention unril eeeds at the lower level have been
satisfied. needs are concerned with survival and drive the human organism to find
food and drink to sitisiy hunger and thirst. Once the individual has taken care of the
meeds, he or she then Consumer typologies c Previous Next View all begins to think
about finding shelter that offers protection and security from environmental dangers.
When no longer preoccupied by hunger and thirst and by personal safety, the next
priority becomes establishing social relationships with others. Such relationships
address the need for compan- ionship and this, in tum, is linked to survival of the
species, which musr procreate. After social needs become satisfied, the individual
turms his or her attention to self identity and personal standing in the conimunity that
emerge from social activities. Finally, once the individual is ao longer driven by the
need to acquire self-exteem, attention might thers be turmed to attain- ing a high
level of excellence in an activiry, which becomes a preoccupation and an end in itself
(Maslow, 19$41 The influence of Maslow's model of human needs is interesting
Riven the dearth of empirical evidence to support it, Althouch it offers an ele anr
description of weeds and how they can emerge that seems ent feasible, at has
proven to be a difficult challenge to demonstrate this model cientifically a consumer
setting Kalle 1983: Kahle, loush 3: Hotter, 19s 9 Evi dence that ts consistent with
Maslow's thinking has emerged from ortanisi- tional contexts where comparisons of
values and needs bave been made a different levels of workforces Moore Weiss,
1955: Vroom, 1964 Th body of research indicated that lower levels in workforces are
von ern d about higher level needs such as sclf esteem attd self.uctualiution they
have not yet satisfied their lower level needs. Not all artempts to find supportive
evidence have sucueeded, One study examined the likelihood that greater success
in achieving the stesfaction lower level needs and valacs would drive more attention
co achievemmt bigh-level aspirations and vice versa The statistival relationships
between these different reed level and sanidaction levels in each were mor signif
icant lAlderfor, 1%9). Even when individuals were deprived o the aN satisfy lower-
level need this did not result in a dramatic loss of imerest in ,need satisfaction, as
Maslow would predi bul -1 71 Even when per gry, it does not n mean that he or she
suddenly loses relationships with others or mainla Homer, O'Brien & Boush. 1997
Rei each developed a values survey that Jommrised in total, measuring two different
types value i Tennial V mental values Terminal values measured Roal, and In
trumental Values measured means prisal Is itemo Examples of Torminal values te
comfortable life world st peace. Frerdom "Hap True Friend hir, wisdom 1maginat
Logical Researchers had more success demonstratine riric ully the u elul ating

ther the efficacy of the Rokeach value measures to differentiate consum ers'
attitudes and behaviours in useful ways lunson & McIntyre 197 1979: Reynolds
1980) Psychographics and Demographics Psychographics is a collective term that
has been used to describe approaches to the understanding of co r behaviour that
examine consumers' stated motives and reasons for exhibiting specific
product/service preferences, con sumers' expectations of products services gained
from personal experience and second-hand feedback from other consumers and
brand image percep tions derived from marketing and promotional campaigns.
Psychographics also places a great deal of attention on lifestyles. Psychographics
comprise descriptive labels of consumers that are dis tinctive from demographic
labels and attempt to go beyond demographics by developing consumer classifiers
that offer explanarions for consumers' commodity preferences and purchase
choices. Because psychographics are measures that are designed to achieve
distinctive outcomes in consumer seg mentation research from those obtained
through demographics, combining the two approaches together was regarded by
some marketing scholars having the potential to provide much richer and more
informative profiles f consumers than demographic alone (Lin, 2002) Demographic
measures such as age, household type, socio-economic class, marital status, family
status, and natiite of occupation can be used to define life stage as a rich and
comprehensive compound variable that reveals a treat deal about the way
consumers live their lives. The concept d life stage by considering mot just f lifestyle
in comparison, goes beyond how individuals live in a physical sense, but also what
they think and feel about their current social status. lifestyle is determined in part by
life stage variables, but is also defined by adherence to certain values that underpin
aspirations and goals. These ideas in turn a linked to rer onal needs which can also
be signalled hy life stage -but more importantly in society that offers many choices,
to personal desires. Hence, psychographics is believed to add richness to
demographics not but also in understanding in terms of describing consumers
consamption patterns and ferences among consumers that underpin their been
debate about commodity choices Demby, 1974). There has, however, been debate
about