Psychology of consumer behavior

Psychology of the Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior is a complex phenomenon to study and analyze. When it comes to the psychology of the consumer behavior, it is even complicated. Since the individual differences affect the biasness of the people towards certain brands therefore generalizing the things is much difficult. Consumer goods can share a same apparent purpose but the real meaning can be different for different people. Psychology of the consumer behavior is actually the study of all such things in a broader perspective and there are specifications to it.

Functional-instrumental and symbolic-expressive functions of material possessions

Material possessions have got different functions to follow. They can be varied for each human. From functional-instrumental function we basically mean that the basic purpose a commodity/material is fulfilling. It is not necessary that a particular object will hold a particular or specific meaning. It can be possible that object holds a varied number of meanings. The creation of meaning is neither deterministic nor unidirectional. Each individual is likely to ascribe inconsistent and varied cultural meanings of an object/commodity which depend on the extent of their 'collective imagination' (Appadurai, 1986). Consumption basically provides us the symbolic meaning to create the identity and self. Symbolic-expressive functions of them come right after. Any object expresses a certain meanings for instance status, state of mind, emotional health, biasness and attraction, taste and much more. All of these things are served collectively by the objects which consumer chooses to buy or purchase.

Material possessions play a fundamental role in human psychology. They are capable of satisfying it and sometimes destroying it as well. There is an urge or craving to have well in order to show well. When a person gets all that, he is either satisfied or he craves for more but better. Material possessions can satisfy your conscience, ego and cognition. For, the common logic says that whatever belongs to you is yours and it depicts your abstract personality features.

Fundamental Importance of material possessions

Nobody can deny the importance of material possessions in daily life. They enslave us in a way or the other. We all are dependent on them and they control us. The worst thing is we need them for self-satisfaction and self-actualization. They are a part of our everyday life, its activities, conversation etc. They fulfill a broad range of psychological needs. They can also be regarded as the bonding factors in any relationship. Since life is an ease with the presence of luxuries and human entity shares a same genome which resists hard works and appeals for comfort, material possessions are even important for the apparent and psychological attributes. (Belk, 1988).

If you have a car, that would depict your status, your choice of color, your taste of such machinery and internal functions preferences etc. This is the symbolic-expressive function the car is performing. On the other hand it is for your mental satisfaction that you possess a car in this mechanical era. This is a need of the hour and you have it. This can also be for your independence and a help for spending your life whichever way you want. Now this would be the functional-instrumental function this car is performing for you. A part from the car, there are so many other things which we can consider in this category and can evaluate the functions they perform for us owing to the apparent depiction and fulfillment of psychological needs. Same is the case with the house or the place of asylum. You ought to reside in the developed, top rated; clean, sophisticated area or else you are likely to have inferiority complexes. People who do not have this status of the residence are normally under social pressure, stress and in complex for not having the same status. Their peers, social circle and life style would be like wise.

These were the things which are the ultimate needs of the life and without them survival is almost not possible or extremely difficult. 21st century has introduced a new set of mind in the people and that has shattering consequences in the form of psychological complexes aka disorders. The common one is dissatisfaction. You will easily find the people who would be urging for the things they do not need, or without which a nice survival is possible. Being a part of the society, you have a natural urge to being on the equal status of your peeps hence if you can get all that, you will be psychologically vulnerable. Thus the importance of material possessions has greatly been increased due to the IT revolution and technological advancement (Steven, 1995) and this is the very reason why rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer. The examples can be mobile phone, Mp3/mp4 players, laptop, iPhones, iPods, tablets, own car, and things of this sort. Every young mind is inclined towards getting them regardless of the resources they have. There is a psychological push. Or else they will keep feeling guilty and hiding the low profiles.

Apart from all that, material possessions also depict social values and cultural norms. An individual normally go for the things which have the social approval or cultural support. They also reveal about the personality to some extent. They are also responsible for the healthy or rough relationships. So all these things collectively put the psychological pressure on the human mind and the only way to get the satisfaction is to get them. (Appadurai, 1986)

Now going to the consequences of 'if not'; the individual after trying his best to get moves to the illegal ways which are not socially accepted. But in order to satisfy his conscience he does it. Another factor can be suicide. Since it is now the third major reason of death worldwide, the reasons can be the high rate of anxiety and depressions particularly due to these aspects. As a result the crime rate has greatly been increased by now and it is till increasing. The unequal distribution of the wealth and psychological urge of material possessions has pushed the poor or low profile people off their thresholds.