McGuire’s Psychological Motivations is a classification system that organizes theories of motives into 16 categories. The system helps marketers to isolate motives likely to be involved in various consumption situations.
McGuire first divided the motivation into two main categories using two criteria:
Then for each division in each category he stated there is two more basic elements.
a. Need for Consistency (active, internal)
b. Need for Attribution (active, external)
c. Need to categorize (passive, internal)
d. Need for objectification (passive, external)
a. Need for Autonomy (active, internal)
b. Need for Stimulation (active, external)
c. Teleological Need (passive, internal)
d. Utilitarian Need (passive, external)
a. Need for Tension Reduction
b. Need for Expression (active, external)
c. Need for Ego Defense (passive, internal)
d. Need for Reinforcement (passive, external)
a. Need for Assertion (active, internal)
b. Need for Affiliation (active, external)
c. Need for Identification (passive, internal)
d. Need for Modeling (passive, external)