Attitude

• Learning outcomes
• Define attitude and its components
• Describe how attitudes are formed and the influence on
Consumers and Marketers
• Outline cognitive dissonance theory and know its
importance to marketers
• Outline methods for measuring attitudes
 Definition of Attitude

• An attitude is a lasting, general evaluation of people

(including oneself), objects, advertisement, or issues
• Any thing that has an attitude towards it is called an
attitude object (Ao)
• Attitude are lasting because they tend to endure overtime
• Attitudes help us to make all forms of choices (important
& minor)
 The Functions of Attitudes

• Functional Theory of Attitudes

• Attitudes exist because they serve some function for the
person (i.e. they determine the person’s motives)
• Daniel Katz 4 Attitude Functions
-Utilitarian
-Knowledge function
-Value-Expressive
function -Ego defensive
function
 The ABC (Tricomponent) Model of Attitudes
• Affect
- the way a consumer feels about an attitude object
• Behaviour
– involves the person’s intentions to do something with
regard to an attitude object
• Cognition
-the beliefs a consumer has about an attitude objectt
someone believes
• Hierarchy of Effects
– a fixed sequence of steps that occur en route to an
attitude
 Three Hierarchies of Effects

Standard Learning
Hierarchy ATTITUDE
Based on
Beliefs Cognitive
Affect Behaviour
Information
processes

Low-involvement
Hierarchy
ATTITUDE
Beliefs Affect Based on
Behaviour
Behavioural
Learning
processes

Experiential Hierarchy

ATTITUDE
Affect Behaviour Beliefs Based on
Hedonic
Consumption
 Attitude Hierarchies

• The Standard Learning Hierarchy

-Consumer approach decision as 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
(based on good or bad experience)
• The Experiential Hierarchy
- Consumer act on the basis of their emotional reaction
 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 effective judgement is the last step in a
series of cognitive processes
• Independent hypothesis
- suggest that affect and cognition are separate, partially
independent systems
 Attitudes and Advertisements

• Attitude towards the advertisement (Aad)

• Three emotional dimensions that have been identified in
commercials
- Pleasure
-Arousal
- Intimidation
• Special feelings that can be generated include:
-Upbeat feelings - amused, delighted, or playful
-Warm feelings - affectionate, contemplative, or hopeful
-Negative feelings - critical, defiant, or offended
 Forming Attitudes

• Attitudes can form through:

- Classical conditioning - using a jingle
-Instrumental conditioning - the attitude object
is reinforced
-Learning through complex cognitive processes -
learning what to do in social situation
• Key factors in Attitude formation
-Information exposure
-Group membership
-Environment/experience
-Want satisfaction
 Unequal Attitudes

• Consumers vary in their commitment to an attitude.

• Degree of commitment related to commitment with the
attitude object.
- Compliance - formed to gain reward or avoid
punishment -Identification - formed to be similar to others
- Internalisation - has to become part of a
person’s value system (hard to change once formed)
 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
and express their social identity
• Adopting Lifestyle Marketing
- Implies that we must look at patterns of behaviour to
understand consumers
 Cognitive Dissonance

• Cognitive dissonance is a psychologically uncomfortable

condition brought about by an imbalance in thoughts,
beliefs, attitudes, or behaviour.
• According to Cognitive Dissonance Theory, a discomfort
or dissonance occurs when consumer holds confusing
thoughts about a belief or an attitude object (either before
or after purchase)
 Post-Purchase Dissonance

• Post-purchase dissonance occurs after the purchase

-the consumer is not happy with the purchase - so they
adjust their attitudes to conform to their behaviour
- Post-purchase dissonance is quite normal
- attitude change is frequently an outcome of an action
or behaviour
-dissonance propels consumers to reduce the unpleasant
feelings created by the rival thoughts
 Cognitive Dissonance

• Degree of dissonance is dependent on the following factors

-Significance of the decision
-Number of alternatives
–Attractiveness of rejected
alternative –Number of negative
characteristics of chosen object
 Reducing Dissonance
• Tactics consumers use to reduce dissonance
-rationalising the decision as being wise
- seeking out advertisements that support
the original reason for choosing the product
-by trying to “sell” friends on
the positive features of the brand
-By looking to known owners for
reassurance
• Tactics used by Marketers
-reduce post-purchase uncertainty by aiming specific
messages at reinforcing consumer decisions
-developing relationship programmes
designed to reward good customers and to build customer
loyalty and satisfaction
 Strategies of Attitude Change

• Marketers have several attitude-change strategies

-Changing the consumer’s basic motivational
function -Associating the product with an
admired group or event -Resolving two
conflicting attitudes
-Changing consumer’s beliefs about competitor’s brands!)
 Changing the basic motivational function
• Altering attitudes is a key strategy for marketers, especially
when taking aim at market leaders.
• Strategies include functional approach (4 functions)
• Utilitarian function - changing attitudes by showing that the product
serves a useful purpose that the consumer did not previously consider
• Ego-Defensive function - offers reassurance to the consumer’s self-
concept
• Value-Expresses function - anticipate and appeal to the consumer’s
values, lifestyle, and outlook
• The Knowledge function - individuals generally have a strong need to
know and understand the people and things with whom they come in
contact
-Most product & brand positioning are attempts to satisfy the customer’s needs to know
and to improve the consumer attitudes towards the brand by emphasising its advantages
over competitive brands
 Resolving Two Conflicting Attitudes
• If consumers can be made to see that their attitude toward a brand is in
conflict with another attitude, they may be induced to change their
evaluation of the brand
• Altering Components of the Multi-Attribute Model
-Multi-attribute models provide marketers with insights as to
how to bring about attitude change
• Changing the Relative Evaluation of Attributes
-the market for many product categories is structured so that
different consumer segments are attracted to brands that offer different
features or beliefs
- in these situations, marketers have an opportunity
to persuade consumer’s to “crossover,” to shift their favourable
attitude toward another version of the product
-it serves to upgrade
consumer beliefs about one product although downgrading another
 Changing Attitudes to Brands
• Changing Brand Beliefs
• Most common form of advertising appeal
• Advertisers constantly remind us that their product
has “more” or is “better” in terms of some
important product attributes
• Within the context of brand beliefs - forces
working to stop or slow down attitude change
-need compelling & repeat to overcome natural
resistance
• Changing the overall Brand Rating
• Another cognitive-oriented strategy is
altering overall assessment of the brand
by using global statements (making
claims that set the product above all
competitors)
• Adding an Attribute
• This is a cognitive strategy that means
adding a previously ignored attribute,or
adding an attribute that reflects an
actual product or technological
innovation
• Changing Beliefs about Competitors
Brands
• One tool is comparative advertising
• Caution! Comparative advertising can
boomerang by giving visibility to
competing brands
 Some methods of Measuring Attitude

• One-Item Rating Scale • Semantic Differential Scale

.Compared to other brands how do you .Rate how we feel about this product on
like this product each of the scale below:
Dislike it Like it very .high price-----------------------low
very much------------------much price .good value---------------------poor
value .dislike it-----------------------like it

• Likert Scale
1.This product is highly priced 2. This product is good value for money
-strongly agree -strongly agree
-agree -agree
-neutral -neutral
-disagree -disagree
-strongly disagree -strongly disagree