Marketing has developed into a large framework of different tools and concepts that define consumer behavior. Moreover, consumer decision-making affects marketing as well since companies seek the right customer that will be able to buy a certain product or service. The starting point of consumer behavior is the way of life. The consumer buys goods to maintain or improve one’s lifestyle, while being impacted by several factors. The consumer has a dual nature. On the one hand, he or she is a member of several social groups and therefore is subject to the influence of social or external factors. On the other hand, the consumer is an individual, which is why his or her lifestyle is affected by a number of internal psychological factors. Hence, developing a consumer self-portrait allows gaining an invaluable insight into personal consumer behavior and all external and internal factors that impact personal decision-making relating to making purchases of products and services. In cooperation with montclair state university essay we discovered consumer behavior and wrote about it. External Factors Factors of consumer behavior are divided into external or social, representing mainly external impact on the consumer and internal or psychological influences. External factors of consumer behavior include marketing activity, as well as influences formed by the social environment, culture, values, social status, reference groups, and family. The culture of the UAE has the most common and indirect influence on consumer behavior. Marketing activity is influenced by high social standards of the country in which consumers operate on the global market since all international companies have been present there for decades. Thus, economic resources of the market depend on the ability to buy and can be measured by income per capita. The purchasing power of the UAE population, the state of demand for certain goods, and a specific behavior of consumers constitute the indicator of the consumer power. Another important role is played by country`s values like collectivism, which manifests itself in conformity and collective activity of the family. Hierarchy should be mentioned as well since people are influenced by vertical relations in the society. This leads to the gap in the levels of rights, responsibility, authority, and awareness, which also affect purchasing power Consequently, I must be viewed not only as a person whose actions are based solely on the rational aspect of life, but also with a dependence on institutional regulations. In this case, consumption not only acquires a rational side, but also reflects the social function of honor and hierarchical distribution. Moreover, this is largely influenced by a special attitude towards women who appear to be more consumerist. Another important aspect is partnership and submission expressed in reference groups. The normative influence of the group is manifested in the pliability of people who regulate their behavior to comply with group norms and to be accepted by the group, gain its support, and avoid ostracism. Therefore, the UAE advertising plots often include approval by a group of those consumers who have bought the right product and, on the contrary, predict social exclusion if the consumer does not make the necessary purchase. Leadership as one of the concepts of modern management of postindustrial societies implies influence on people outside the framework of formal authority or outside coercion. In the UAE, my informal authority and reputation of the leader are no less significant than a formal position in the hierarchy of the community. This means that the consumer process in the UAE culture should rely on public support, public opinion, and independent media. In the Eastern cultures that are traditionally more hierarchical, auto-pressure and pressure are more acceptable than in the Western cultures. I am frequently in contact with brands, which influences a demonstrative and luxurious way of living. This fact correlates with another concept of values oriented on the environment, including status and traditions. It is not surprising that economic development and modern business and marketing practices are often not welcome in Muslim cultures. The traditionally-oriented culture of England or the USA is manifested in loyalty to famous brands by the population. Such status-oriented society as the one in the UAE is more inclined to prefer quality or well-known trademarks and high-priced items functionally equivalent to items by unknown brands or with a lower price. Internal Factors Internal factors of consumer behavior affect the behavior of the buyer as an individual, while external factors concern an individual as a member of a social group. Internal factors relate mainly to psychological aspects of behavior, which largely affect decision-making of consumers. Controlling the behavior of the consumer as an individual presupposes knowledge and use of psychological mechanisms for the formation of consumer solutions. These are the processes of perception and processing of information used for making purchasing decisions, ensuring motivation, engaging personality and emotions, as well as relating to the lifestyle of the consumer. Since I am a young female who is fashion oriented, I pay attention primarily to messages relating to fashion and make-up. As a consumer, I spend the most on shoes, in particular high-heeled shoes, and make-up. Since I like showing off and checking out all new places in town in new trendy clothes, I spend the most on brands that target my consumer group, which consists of young fashion-conscious people who like going out and spending money on trendy items and experiences. Another internal factor is attention, which arises when stimuli activate one or more receptors of sensory nerves and the resulting sensation goes to the brain. The individual is constantly exposed to the number of stimuli, thousands of times greater than one can process. For example, the typical UAE supermarket has 18-20 thousand individual items. I will need hours to pay my attention to each of these objects. It is impossible to handle all the incentives available for processing at once. Therefore, I am selective in turning attention to messages. However, considering the concept of addictive buying by Schiffman, this can negatively influence my behavior since the buyer with a high purchasing power can be interested in buying as many things as possible to satisfy internal desires. The consumer behavior also depends on my motivation. The nature of actions depends on how the person perceives the situation. Two different people, being equally motivated, can act in different ways in the same objective situation because they perceive the situation differently. The buyer can perceive a talkative seller of cameras as an aggressive and insincere person. For me, the same seller may seem to be smart and helpful. Learning function can occur both in situations of high involvement and in situations of low involvement. The situation of high involvement learning is the one in which the consumer is motivated to learn the material. For example, an individual reading reviews before buying a personal computer may be highly motivated to study the material relating to various computer brands. I lean towards the low involvement learning because I am not motivated to study the material. For example, I am watching a TV program, which is interrupted by an advertisement of a product. I do not need it now and I as a consumer is little motivated to react to the material presented in the advertisement. Thus, engagement of learning function is assessed by the degree of motivation. Conclusion To conclude, the study of consumer behavior divides factors that influence it into internal and external. External factors include influences on the consumer from the outside, for instance, culture, values, demography, social status, reference groups, family, and household. These factors are, in fact, a diverse influence of groups of different scales on the consumer. The larger the group, the more indirectly they affect the consumer. Internal factors affecting consumer decisions include learning, motivation, attention, and exposure. They include processes that describe how an individual reacts to the influence of groups, environmental changes, and marketing efforts. Summing up, the most significant factor and the central component of the consumer portrait is the person’s lifestyle.