Video summary

TEORI PERILAKU KONSUMEN : PENDEKATAN KARDINAL - Hukum Gossen I dan Hukum Gossen II

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main Ideas & Concepts Conveyed

Purpose of Consumer Behavior Theory

Consumer behavior theory explains how consumers choose products to achieve maximum satisfaction (utility).

Choice is required because:

  • Human needs are unlimited
  • Resources/income are limited
  • Goods have prices

Core Principle of Consumer Behavior

Consumers generally try to achieve maximum utility from the goods/services they consume.

  • Utility (utility value) is described as a measure of satisfaction received from consumption.
    • Examples mentioned:
      • Feeling satisfied from food (e.g., chicken porridge)
      • Feeling entertained from watching a film
      • Feeling proud of domestic/national products

Two Approaches to Utility

  • Cardinal approach (focus of this video)
  • Ordinal approach (mentioned as the topic for a future video)

Cardinal Approach (with Gossen’s Laws)

Definition of the Cardinal Approach

The cardinal approach assumes utility/satisfaction can be measured numerically in units such as:

  • Money
  • Quantity
  • Fruit (units of consumption/amount)

Implied relationship: The more goods consumed, the greater the satisfaction (at least initially), until diminishing effects appear.

Key Terms Used

  • Total Utility (Total Satisfaction): overall satisfaction gained from consuming a good/service.
  • Marginal Utility: the additional satisfaction gained from consuming one more unit of a good/service.

Gossen’s Law I (Diminishing Marginal Utility)

Statement

When consumption of a good is done continuously, satisfaction:

  • Starts high
  • Then decreases
  • Eventually reaches a saturation point (even approaching zero utility for additional units)

Illustrative Example (Water Glasses / Exercise–Thirst)

After exercise, thirst leads to drinking water:

  • 1st glass: satisfaction increases strongly (marginal utility rises from 0 to a higher value)

  • 2nd glass: total satisfaction increases further, but marginal utility is smaller than before

  • 3rd glass: total satisfaction increases again, marginal utility continues to diminish (still positive)
  • 4th glass: total utility increases only slightly (marginal utility shrinks further)
  • 5th glass: marginal utility becomes zero (consumer feels “enough”)
  • 6th and 7th glasses:
    • total satisfaction starts to fall
    • marginal utility can become negative (forced overconsumption reduces satisfaction)

Numerical Example (Approximate Values)

Total utility values across glasses were referenced approximately as:

  • After 1st glass: 10
  • After 2nd glass: 18 (increase by 8)
  • After 3rd glass: 23 (increase by 5)
  • After 4th glass: 25 (increase by 2)
  • After 5th glass: marginal utility described as 0 (no further increase)

After that, forced additional consumption makes total utility decrease.

Graph Idea

A typical utility-versus-quantity pattern:

  • rises at first,
  • peaks and flattens at saturation,
  • then can decline if consumption continues too far.

Gossen’s Law II (Equimarginal Principle / Allocation Across Needs)

Statement

Consumers allocate spending/consumption so that they distribute resources across different needs.

The video frames it as:

  • Consumers don’t spend all their money on only one need (even if it provides satisfaction),
  • because they consider other needs until satisfaction levels are balanced.

Practical Example (Rp20,000 Pocket Money)

If a student has Rp20,000, they won’t spend it all only for food. Instead, they divide it among needs, for example:

  • Food: Rp10,000
  • Then books or other items: Rp3,000 (e.g., notebook)
  • Then snacks/drinks: remaining amounts

If more income/pocket money arrives, the consumer adjusts purchases to include additional consumption goods.

Conceptual Takeaway of Law II

Humans tend to satisfy various types of needs, not just one, by choosing spending allocations that provide relatively comparable satisfaction across needs, rather than concentrating everything into a single use.

Instruction / Call-to-Action in the Video

After explaining the cardinal approach and its laws, the narrator prompts a quiz:

Audience task: Write your answer in the comments column: “How is the theory of consumer behavior in the ordinal approach?”

The video states the next video will explain the ordinal approach.

Speakers / Sources Featured

  • Narrator / speaker: The course presenter (no name given in the subtitles)
  • Authors/attributed sources: Gossen (Gossen’s Law I and Gossen’s Law II)

Original video