Definition of motivation theory

psychological discipline that attempts to describe why people or animals behave as they do solely in terms of internal needs that drive behavior, rather than attributing any influence to external stimuli. For example, someone may choose to dine in an elegant restaurant because of an internal drive such as hunger or the need for self-esteem, but not because he saw a neon sign saying "Eat here." Marketers study motivation theory so that their promotions can be designed to appeal to the internal forces that presumably are a powerful influence on buying behavior-more powerful than external stimuli. For example, you wouldn't see an advertisement that says "Buy this perfume and smell good." You do see advertisements that say "Buy this perfume and have all your needs for love, sex, and romance [social interaction] fulfilled. depth interviews are used in marketing research to probe into the hidden motivations behind people's behavior as consumers.