What do we know about consumer motives, goals, and desires?

Why do we choose to buy and consume certain products and services from the many available in the marketplace?

Following the pioneering and successful volume, The Why of Consumption (2000), the same editors have brought together an all-new cast of leading scholars to address modern-day issues in consumer motivation. Representing diverse viewpoints and drawing on relevant theories and frameworks grounded in fields such as cognitive, clinical, and social psychology, behavioral decision theory, sociology, semiotics, cultural anthropology, and culture studies the chapters in this volume address a variety of topics.

Topics include:

* The interplay between the heart and the mind in what consumers desire

* Hedonic, utilitarian, and variety-seeking motives

* Implications of a promotion versus prevention focus in consumer decision-making

* Motives for engaging in socially undesirable consumer behaviors

* How individual consumers, communities and cultures come to value brands, fashion goods, and objects of art

* Inter-generational as well as information age influences on the motives underlying consumers' identities, both present and future

This provocative and important book provides insights for students, scholars and practitioners who seek to understand the vital relationship between motivation and consumption.</P>