Abstract

The field of human behavior and its various subsets, especially consumer behavior, is fully as complex and as confusing as the jargon with which we attempt to describe it. A possible approach to understanding and predicting consumer behavior might be to look at the various needs, motivations, and goals underlying pertinent behavioral patterns. Among the underlying needs which may have a substantial effect on a consumer's acts and decisions is the need for cognitive consistency. Although the human organism is continually receiving stimulus information through its perceptual apparatus, the individual tends to interpret it in a meaningful manner to reduce the ambiguity and uncertainty that would result from either an absence of relevant information or a jumble of unassociated or conflicting information. This cognitive reinterpreting process and its search for consistency deserve further analysis, since the individual is often faced with inconsistencies in everyday life. A social psychologist Leon Festinger has developed a theory that may hold a solution to questions regarding consumer behavior. This theory should have broad application in the field of consumer behavior and may make important contributions in communications and advertising.