Freudian Motivation Theory

Sometimes it’s really easy to understand why we make certain purchases or investment decisions. Why did we contribute the max amount to our IRA this year? Because it’s financially responsible. Why did we sell those shares? Because our research indicated the stock price wasn’t going to increase any further. Why did we buy those nachos? Because we were hungry. It all makes perfect sense.

But what about those other financial decisions? Like, why did we absolutely have to have those purple tennis shoes with the unicorns on the heels? What compelled us to donate half our paycheck to a GoFundMe for a person we don’t even know? Why on earth did we hold onto that stock when every analyst on the planet predicted that it was about to tank?

Well, if we were to ask psychologist Sigmund Freud (which we can’t, because he’s dead, FYI), he’d tell us the Id did it. The Id represents all the unconscious parts of our brains...the emotions and memories and other non-data-driven stuff that guides our decisions. Maybe we bought the unicorn shoes because they subconsciously remind us of our childhood and happier times. Maybe we donated to that random stranger’s GoFundMe because their story impacted us on an emotional level. Maybe we held onto that stock because we feel some sort of attachment to the company’s vision. These unconscious urges are the foundation of Freudian motivation theory, which says that our decisions are often motivated by things that are sense-and-memory-driven, highly personal, and may or may not be entirely logical.

And organizations know this. They tailor their advertising efforts accordingly. When cologne commercials display beautiful, half-naked people diving off their private yacht into pristine Caribbean waters, they’re appealing to a certain emotion and feeling of status. When smartphone ads feature a bunch of bright colors and trendy music, they’re appealing to our desire to be fun and hip and current. These things aren’t a tangible part of our purchase—there’s no way to guarantee that the newest android phone will make us any cooler than we are currently—but they’re a motivating factor nonetheless.