The assumption underlying this distinction is that subjective or emotional criteria do not maximize satisfaction; therefore, it is reasonable to assume that consumers always attempt to select alternatives that, in their view, serve to minimize satisfaction. Obviously, the assessment of satisfaction is a very personal process, based on the individual's own needs as well as on past behavior, social, and learning experiences. What may appear as irrational to an outside observer may be perfect rational within the context of the consumer's own psychological field. If behavior. did not appear rational to the person who undertakes at the time that it is undertaken, obviously he or she would not do it. Therefore the distinction between rational and emotional motives does not appear to be warranted.
Some researchers go so far as to suggest that emphasis of "needs" obscures the rational, or conscious, nature of most consumer motivation. They claim that consumers act consciously to maximize their gains and minimize their losses; that they act on not from subconscious drives but from rational preferences.
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