Abraham Mallows, hierarchy of needs on theory of human motivation is one of the most popular approaches to understand consumer motivations .According to the theory ,there are five basic levels of human needs, arranged in a hierarchy, and based on relative importance of need level. These are psychological, safety, love and belonging, esteem and self actualization.

According to Maslow, the lower order physiological and safety needs must be satisfied first before higher order needs become meaningful. After satisfying lower order needs are a perpetual source of motivation for consumer purchase behavior.

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theory had a strong influence on the development of modern psychology and on explanations of motivation and personality and has been used to study consumer behavior.

According to psychoanalytical theory, consumers` motivation for purchasing products or services is often complex, not only to casual observers but also to the consumers` but it also to the consumer themselves.

Purchase or consumption related behavior may be driven by deep motives and can be determined by expert probing of the subconscious mind. Earnest Ditcher and Vicary were among the first to use psychoanalytic techniques to uncover consumers` behavior. Some of the methods used to probe the subconscious mind are as follows:

In-depth interviews: The researcher also asks a consumer to talk freely, using specific questions designed to gain an insight into the consumer’s motive, opinions and ideas.

Projective techniques: Pictures or designs are used to have an insight into consumer’s, value, attitudes, or needs, which are hard to express. Respondents project these internal states on these pictures, designs or some other external objects.

Association tests: The respondent is presented is presented with a stimulus such as a word, picture, or some other thing and asked to respond with the first thing that comes to mind.

Focus Groups: A small group of individuals from the target market are brought together to discuss a particular product, service, issue or idea.

Information Search: After the consumer perceives a need or a problem of sufficient intensity and realizes that it can be solved with the purchase of, a product or service, he begins to look for new information needed to make a purchase decision. Internal search is considered with the attempt to retrieve information stored in consumer’s memory to recall past experiences or information regarding purchase alternatives.

External research is concerned with the collection of additional information from external sources such as friends, relatives advertisements, salespeople, POP displays, magazines, newspaper and TV reports, or by examining or product trial.

Perception: Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world. Stimuli may include products, packages, brand names, advertisements and commercials etc. Perception is an individual process and depends on internal factors such as individual beliefs, experiences, needs, moods and experiences. Perception is also influenced by the characteristics of stimuli such as size, color and intensity and the context in which it is seen and heard.