Lecture 3: How do consumers form attitudes? Flashcards
definition of attitudes based on coursebook?
- evaluative responses
- directed towards attitude object
- based on three classes of information
the point of this is not that it is necessarily true, but more of a demarcation of what we are trying to study.
two main theories on how attitudes are formed
- attitudes are (stable) predispositions = psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor.
- attitudes are (context-dependent) evaluative responses = the categorization of a stimulus object along an evaluative dimension
difference in explanation for behavior by personality or social psychologists?
- personality = traits explain behavior
- social = attitudes explain behavior
problem with attitudes defined as responses explaining behavior
if attitudes are defined as an evaluative response how can they explain behavior?
- reason that people often explain behavior with stable underlying dispositions
problem with attitudes defined as predispositions explaining behavior
attitudes can change quickly, so how can they be stable predispositions
both theories put together?
to say that attitudes are evaluative responses we must mean a mental response and not a physical, because then we can’t use it to explain behavior.
so a psychological evaluation that leads to behavior.
Functional theory of Katz (1960)
What are attitudes for?
- adjustment to punishment and reward
- value expression
- ego-defense
- knowledge
adjustment to punishment and reward
attitudes reflect past perception of utility of object for individual; sort of summary of past experiences
value expression
form/maintain relationships; wearing a football shirt to a game
ego-defense
protect self-image/esteem
knowledge
provide frame of reference for representing environment. navigation in new environments.
functions of consumer goods
- utalitarian goals
- self-expression goals = clothes
- identity building goals = buying running shoes when you want to start running
- hedonic goals
implication of the function of consumer goods (why people buy specific products)?
that the persuasion of a consumer is more effective if the message matches te consumer goal.
-> when tested turned out to be true
hierarchy of fundamental motives
another perspective of function of consumer goods
two models for attitude forming
- file drawer model
- attitudes as constructions model
people use both
the only question left is when people use what model?
file drawer model
an attitude is a learnt structure in long term memory that is activated when percieving attitude objects. files with evaluative information in mental database
attitudes as constructions model
responses people make up on given moment. depend on what think or feel on the go. evaluation is made on salient or accesible information.
3 components of attitudes
- affect
- behavior
- cognitive
what do we use for cognitive information?
if-then heuristics.
“if price is high then the quality would be high.”
What do we use for affective information?
how we feel about things
- mere exposure (hedonic fluency)
- evaluative conditioning (learning associations/pavlov)
- affect as information = if something smells bad you don’t eat it
missatribution of heuristics
how you feel is not an optimal heuristic
How do people combine information?
to answer this we can use expected value/utility model.
expected value model
attitude towards an object is expectancy X Value.
this was tested with attitudes and outcome beliefs about drugs and alcohol.
was the expected value model significant?
no, attitudes are not significantly related to expected value.
