Chapter 7
Attitudes
By Michael R. Solomon
Consumer Behavior
Buying, Having, and Being
•
How do Jan and Terri differ in their
attitudes toward soccer?
•
Jan and Nancy are both soccer fans. How
are they different?
•
Which one of the three is the most likely
target for ads promoting soccer?
•
Is Nancy likely to convert to become a
soccer fan?
The Power of Attitudes
•
Attitude:
– A lasting, general evaluation of people (including oneself), objects, advertisements, or issues
– Anything toward which one has an attitude is called an object (Ao).
The Functions of Attitudes
•
Functional Theory of Attitudes:
– Attitudes exist because they serve some function for the person (i.e., they are determined by a
person’s motives)
•
Katz’s Attitude Functions
– Utilitarian function
Addressing Smoking Attitudes
• This Norwegian ad addresses young people’s smoking
The ABC Model of Attitudes
•
Affect:
– The way a consumer feels about an attitude object
•
Behavior:
– Involves the person’s intentions to do something with regard to an attitude object
•
Cognition:
– The beliefs a consumer has about an attitude object
•
Hierarchy of Effects:
Attitude Hierarchies
•
The Standard Learning Hierarchy:
– Consumer approaches a product decision as a problem-solving process
•
The Low-Involvement Hierarchy:
– Consumer does not have strong initial preference – Consumer acts on limited knowledge
– Consumer forms an evaluation only after product trial
•
The Experiential Hierarchy:
Experiential Hierarchy
•
Emotional Contagion:
– Emotions expressed by the communicator of a marketing message affect the attitude toward the product
•
Cognitive-Affective Model:
– Argues that an affective judgment is the last step in a series of cognitive processes
•
Independence Hypothesis:
Smith and Wollensky
• This ad for New York’s
famous Smith &
Wollensky restaurant emphasizes that
marketers and others associated with a
Product Attitudes Don’t
Tell the Whole Story
• Attitude Toward the Advertisement (Aad):
– A predisposition to respond in a favorable or unfavorable
manner to a particular advertising stimulus during a particular exposure occasion
• Ads Have Feelings Too:
– Three emotional dimensions:
• Pleasure, arousal, and intimidation
– Specific types of feelings that can be generated by an ad
• Upbeat feelings: Amused, delighted, playful
• Warm feelings: Affectionate, contemplative, hopeful
• Sexually suggestive scenes like the one depicted in this ad for Union Bay clothing can generate feelings that affect brand attitudes.
• What specific types of feelings or responses can this type of
advertisement elicit? How will this scene affect the attitude toward the ad?
Forming Attitudes
•
Not All Attitudes are Created Equal:
– Levels of Commitment to an Attitude: The degree of commitment is related to the level of involvement with an attitude object
• Compliance • Identification
• Internalization
– The Consistency Principle:
• Principle of Cognitive Consistency: Consumers value
Levels of Attitudinal Commitment
Forming Attitudes (cont.)
• Cognitive Dissonance and Harmony among Attitudes:
– Theory of Cognitive Dissonance: When a person is confronted with inconsistencies among attitudes or
behaviors, he or she will take action to reduce the dissonance by changing an attitude or modifying a behavior.
• Self-Perception Theory:
– People maintain consistency by inferring that they must
maintain a positive attitude toward a product they have bought or consumed
• Foot-in-the-door technique:
– Sales strategy based on the observation that consumers will
Attitudinal Commitment
• This ad for a magazine illustrates that consumers
Social Judgment Theory
•
Social Judgment Theory:
– People assimilate new information about Ao’s based on what they already know or feel.
– Attitudes of Acceptance and Rejection: People differ in the information they find acceptable or unacceptable.
• Assimilation effect: Messages that fall within the
latitude of acceptance tend to be seen as more consistent with one’s position than they actually are
Balance Theory
• Triad:
– An attitude structure consisting of three elements
• (1) A person and his/her perceptions of
• (2) an attitude object, and
• (3) some other person or object
• Unit relation:
– An element is seen as belonging to or being part of the other
• Sentiment relation:
– Two elements are linked because one has expressed a
preference for the other
• Marketing Applications of Balance Theory
Alternative Routes to
[image:20.720.182.564.124.483.2]• Consumer researchers understand that
consumers like to “bask in the reflected glory” of successful college
athletic programs by wearing merchandise adorned with logos like the ones on the right.
• How do the different
attitude theories explain this consumer
phenomenon?
Attitude Models
• Attitude Models:
– Specify the different elements that might work together to
influence people’s evaluations of Ao’s • Multiattribute Models:
– Model that assumes a consumer’s Ao will depend on the
beliefs he or she has about several attributes toward the object
• Multiattribute Models Specify 3 Elements:
– Attributes
– Beliefs
Attitude Models
•
Choosing products:
– We often choose products because of their association with a certain lifestyle.
•
Goal of Lifestyle Marketing:
– To allow consumers to pursue their chosen ways to enjoy life and express their social identities.
•
Adopting Lifestyle Marketing:
The Fishbein Model
•
Measures 3 components of attitude:
– (1) Salient Beliefs
– (2) Object-attribute linkages – (3) Evaluation
•
Assumptions of the Fishbein Model:
– Ability to specify all relevant choice attributes
– Identification, weight, and summing of attributes
•
Affect referral:
The Fishbein Equation
•
The Basic Formula:
A
ijk= Σ
β
ijkI
ik– Where:
• i = attribute • j = brand
• k = consumer
• I = the importance weight given attribute I by consumer k • β = consumer k’s belief regarding the extent to which
brand j possesses attribute I
Strategic Applications of the
Multiattribute Model
•
Capitalize on Relative Advantage
•
Strengthen Perceived Product/Attribute
Linkages
•
Add a New Attribute
Using Attitudes to Predict Behavior
• In many cases, knowledge of a person’s
attitude is not a very good predictor of behavior
• Questionable link between attitude and
behavior
– Consumers love a commercial, but don’t buy the product • The Extended Fishbein Model
– Called the Theory of Reasoned Action
– Contains several important additions to the original, which
The Theory of Reasoned Action
•
Intentions Versus Behavior
•
Social Pressure:
– Subjective Norm (SN)
• Normative Belief (NB): Belief that others believe an action should or should not be taken
• Motivation to Comply (MC): Degree to which
consumers take into account anticipated reactions
•
Attitude Toward Buying:
– Attitude toward the act of buying (Aact):
Obstacles to Predicting Behavior in the
Theory of Reasoned Action
• Model is misapplied • Other obstacles:
– Model deals with actual behavior, not outcomes – Some outcomes are beyond the consumer’s control
– The assumption of behavior as intentional may be invalid in
some cases
– Attitude measures don’t correspond to the behavior they are
supposed to predict
– Too large a time frame between attitude measure and
behavior measure
– Attitude accessibility perspective:
• Behavior is a function of the person’s immediate perceptions of
Cultural Roadblocks to the
Theory of Reasoned Action
•
Roadblocks that diminish the
universality of the theory
– Model was designed to predict voluntary acts
– The relative impact of subject norms varies across cultures
– The model assumes that consumers are actively thinking ahead and planning behaviors
Trying to Consume
• Theory of Trying to Consume
– States that the criterion of behavior in the reasoned action
model should be replaced with trying to reach a goal
• Sample issues that might be addressed:
– Past frequency
– Recency
– Beliefs
– Evaluations of consequences
– The process
– Expectations of success and failure
Tracking Attitudes over Time
•
Attitude-tracking program:
– An single-attitude survey is a snapshot in time – A program allows researchers to analyze attitude
trends during an extended period of time
•
Ongoing Tracking Studies
– Attitude tracking involves administration of a survey at regular intervals (e.g. Gallup Poll, Yankelovich
Monitor)
Attitude Changes over Time
•
Changes to Look for over Time:
– Changes in different age groups:
• Attitudes change with age
• Historical effects
– Scenarios about the future:
• Consumers tracked in terms of future plans,
confidence in economy, and so on
– Identification of change agents:
