Attitudes

Chapter 7
 THE POWER OF
ATTITUDES
• An attitude is lasting, general evaluation
of people (including oneself), objects,
advertisements, or issues. Anything toward
which one has an attitude is called an
attitude object.
• An attitude is lasting because it tends to
endure over time. It is general because it
applies to more than a momentary event
such as hearing a loud noise, though you
might over time develop a negative attitude
toward all loud noises.
 THE FUNCTIONS OF
ATTITUDES
• The functional theory of attitudes. According to this
pragmatic approach, attitudes exist because they serve some
function for the person. That is, they are determined by a
person's motives.
• Utilitarian function: the utilitarian function is
related to the basic principles of reward and
punishment. We develop some attitudes toward
products simply on the basis of whether these
products provide pleasure or pain.
• Value-expressive function: Attitudes that
perform a value-expressive function express the
consumer's central values or self-concept. A
person forms a product attitude not because of
its objective benefits, but because of what the
product says about him or her as a person.
• Ego-defensive function: Attitudes that are
formed to protect the person, either from
external threats or internal feelings,
perform an ego-defensive function.
• Knowledge function: Some attitudes are
formed as the result of a need for order,
structure, or meaning. This need is often
present when a person is in an ambiguous
situation or is confronted with a new
product.
 THE ABC MODEL OF
ATTITUDES
• Most researchers agree that an attitude has
three components: affect, behavior, and cognition.
Affect refers to the way a consumer feels about an
attitude object. Behavior involves the person's
intentions to do something with regard to an
attitude object (but an intention does not always
result in an actual behavior). Cognition refers to
the beliefs a consumer has about an attitude
object. These three components of an attitude can
be remembered as the ABC model of attitudes.
• This model emphasizes the interrelationships
among knowing, feeling, and doing.
HIERARCHIES OF
EFFECTS
 Attitudes Toward The
Advertisement
• ADS HAVE FEELINGS, TOO…
• At least three emotional dimensions have been
identified in commercials: pleasure, arousal,
and intimidation. Specific types of feelings
that can be generated by an ad include the
following:
• Upbeat feelings: amused, delighted, playful
• Warm feelings: affectionate, contemplative,
hopeful
• Negative feelings: critical, defiant, offended.
 LEVELS OF COMMITMENT
TO AN ATTITUDE
• Consumers vary in their commitment to an attitude; the degree
of commitment is related to their level of involvement with the
attitude object.
• Compliance: at the lowest level of involvement, compliance, an
attitude is formed because it helps in gaining rewards or
avoiding punishments from others. This attitude is very
superficial; it is likely to change when the person's behavior is
no longer monitored by others or when another option becomes
available.
• Identification: a process of identification occurs when attitudes
are formed in order to conform with another person or group.
• Internalization: at a high level of involvement, deep-seated
attitudes are internalized and become part of the person's value
system. These attitudes are very difficult to change because they
are so important to the individual. For example, many
consumers had strong attitudes toward Coca-Cola and reacted
quite negatively when the company attempted to switch to the
New Coke formula.
 THE CONSISTENCY
PRINCIPLE
• According to the principle of cognitive
consistency, consumers value harmony
among their thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors, and they are motivated to
maintain uniformity among these elements.
This desire means that, if necessary,
consumers will change their thoughts,
feelings, or behaviors to make them
consistent with their other experiences.
{Husband/Wife model, on the korniche}
 Cognitive dissonance and
harmony among attitudes
• The theory of cognitive dissonance states that when a person is
confronted with inconsistencies among attitudes of behaviors, he or
she will take some action to resolve this "dissonance," perhaps by
changing an attitude or modifying a behavior. The theory has
important ramifications for attitudes, because people are often
confronted with situations where there is some conflict between their
attitudes and behaviors.
• According to the theory, people are motivated to reduce the
negative feelings caused by dissonance by somehow making things fit
with one another. The theory focuses on situations in which two
cognitive elements are inconsistent with one another. A cognitive
element can be something a person believes about himself, a
behavior he performs, or an observation about his surroundings. For
example, the two cognitive elements, "I know smoking cigarettes
causes cancer" and "I smoke cigarettes" are dissonant with one
another. This psychological inconsistency creates a feeling of
discomfort that the smoker is motivated to reduce. The magnitude of
dissonance depends on both the importance and number of
dissonant elements.
 SELF-PERCEPTION
THEORY
• It assumes that people use observations of their
own behavior to determine what their attitudes are,
just as we assume that we know the attitudes of
others by watching what they do. The theory states
that we maintain consistency by inferring that we
must have a positive attitude toward an object if we
have bought or consumed it (assuming that we
freely made this choice).
• Self-perception theory helps to explain the
effectiveness of a sales strategy called the foot-in-
the-door technique, which is based on the
observation that a consumer is more likely to
comply with a request if he or she has first agreed
to comply with a smaller request.
 SOCIAL JUDGMENT
THEORY
• Social judgment theory also assumes that people
assimilate new information about attitude objects in light of
what they already know or feel. The initial attitude acts as a
frame of reference, and new information is categorized in
terms of this existing standard. Just as our decision that a
box is heavy depends in part on the weight of other boxes we
have lifted, we develop a subjective standard when making
judgments about attitude objects.
• One important aspect of the theory is the notion that
people differ in terms of the information they will find
acceptable or unacceptable. They form latitudes of
acceptance and rejection around an attitude standard. Ideas
that fall within a latitude will be favorably received, but those
falling outside of this zone will not.
 BALANCE THEORY
• Balance theory considers relations among elements a person
might perceive as belonging together. This perspective involves
relations (always from the perceiver's subjective point of view) among
three elements, so the resulting attitude structures are called triads.
Each triad contains (1) a person and his or her perception of (2) an
attitude object and (3) some other person or object.
• The theory specifies that people desire relations among
elements in a triad to be harmonious, or balanced. If they are not, a
state of tension will result until somehow perceptions are changed
and balance is restored.
• Elements can be perceived as going together in one of two
ways: they can have either a unit relation, in which one element is
seen as somehow belonging to or being a part of the other
(something like a belief) or a sentiment relation, in which the two
elements are linked because one has expressed a preference (or
dislike) for the other.
• Example: 2 lovers and the waiter discussions/orange shirt
 Balance
Balance Theory
Theory

Alternative routes to restoring balance in a triad

The Movie