Topic 7 - Attitudes and Attitude Change Flashcards
What are attitudes?
can be defined as our evaluations of people, objects, events, and ideas
Are attitudes always positive or negative?
No, in between positives and negatives - there are all sorts of blended and uncertain attitudes
Why are attitudes an important concept and field of study?
because they often have an influence on our behaviours
Attitudes are made up of what 3 components?
Attitudes are made up of 3 components (the ABCs):
Affective: emotional reaction to object
Behavioural: actions or observable behaviour toward object
Cognitive: thoughts and beliefs about the object - information and knowledge
Where do attitudes come from?
Genetic inheritance (or biological component) + social experience = attitudes
Does the role of genetics on influencing attitudes play as a direct or indirect function of genes?
We mean that this genetic origin of attitudes is part of an indirect function of genes.
There is no specific gene for specific attitudes, there is no fashionista gene, but there are genes that contribute to our global temperament or personality. People may inherent a temperament or personality that may predispose them to prefer say jazz music over rock and roll.
What are social factors influencing attitude formation?
past experience (ex. dog barks at us)
social roles and norms (what is expected of us)
classical and operant conditioning
observing people in environment
The increase in smoking from a predominantly male market to one that is more balanced is an example of what?
the role of advertising in attitude formation
What are the types of attitudes?
Though all attitudes have affective, cognitive, and behavioural components, any given attitude can be based MORE on one type of experience than another.
The root or primary base or primary driver of an attitude can be more cognitive, affective, or behavioural.
What are cognitively based attitudes?
Attitude based primarily on people’s beliefs about the properties of an object.
Based off objective understanding of features and functions (ex. coffeemaker)
What are affectively based attitudes?
Attitude based more on people’s feelings and values than on their beliefs about the nature of an object/person/place/event
The liking or preferring of things, despite any sort of evidence of inferiority or negative qualities versus positive objective qualities
The example of Veblen goods fits into what attitude type?
affectively based attitudes
products for which demand increases as the price increases. Because of their exclusive nature, they have great emotional appeal as a status symbol
Do Veblen goods always work? Why or why not?
No, might backfire. Counter-consumer increasingly popular - Veblen goods might backfire (doesn’t always work).
Since affect based attitudes are not necessarily a result of rational examination or governed by logic, where do they come from?
values
sensory reactions
aesthetic reactions
conditioning
How can conditioning be used to create affectively based attitudes?
Attitudes can take on positive or negative emotions through either classical or operant conditioning. You can have your attitude towards a product be associated with a particular emotion over time, because of the way you present it through advertising.
How is classical conditioning used to creative affective based attitudes?
a stimulus that elicits an emotional response is paired with a neutral stimulus. With repeated pairing, neutral stimulus takes on the emotional properties of the first stimulus.
Ex. we associate proposals with love and all sorts of good feelings
Advertisers and media increasingly associate diamond rings with this event of proposing marriage and a life together. We start to associate rings themselves with the pleasurable feeling we get from love and commitment.
How is operant conditioning used to creative affective based attitudes?
freely chosen behaviours increase or decrease when followed by reinforcement or punishment.
Ex. royal twins - mother also loves fame, fashion, and beauty.Can shape how people feel emotionally about things by rewarding or punishing them for things.
Ex. liked by Beyonce - big reward
What company linked a diamond ring with all of these feelings, and used the slogan “a diamond is forever”?
De Beers
What are behaviour based attitudes?
When does this type of attitude mostly occur?
An attitude based on observations of how one behaves toward an object
Mostly occurs when we are uncertain about our attitudes –> Searching within ourselves for some sort of answer - look to our own behaviour to determine how we feel about something
What is the self-perception theory?
sometimes people do not know how they feel until they observe how they behave
form attitudes by observing our own behaviour
when initial attitude is weak or ambiguous; no other plausible explanation for behaviour
Do all attitudes have various components?
Yes, all consist of the ABCs, but can be based on one type of experience more than another
What are implicit vs. explicit attitudes?
Implicit attitudes: involuntary, uncontrollable and at time unconscious
- Rooted largely in childhood experiences
- Attitudes that can take shape without us really realizing - can be difficult to report or we might report that we don’t hold those attitudes
Explicit attitudes: consciously endorse and can easily report
- Rooted largely in recent experiences
- Something you know how you feel and can report easily
What are implicit associations tests?
detect the strength of a person’s subconscious associations between mental representations of concepts or objects
assess implicit stereotypes (beyond conscious awareness)
When do attitudes predict spontaneous behaviours?
only when they are highly accessible to people
What is attitude accessibility?
the strength of the association between an attitude object and a person’s evaluation of that object, measured by the speed with which people can report how they feel about the object
What type of attitudes are more predictive of real behaviour?
attitudes that are more specific = more predictive of real behaviour
what is the theory of planned behaviour?
What is the best predictor of deliberate behaviours?
people’s intentions are the best predictors of deliberate behaviours
Behavioural intentions are determined by what 3 things?
1- attitudes toward specific behaviours
2- subjective norms (beliefs about how other people they care about will view the behaviour in question)
3- perceived behavioural control (ease with which people believe they can perform the behaviour)
When attitudes change, it is often due to what?
often due to social influence
- what other people do or say
- imagined or actual behaviour of other people
- entire premise of advertising: your attitudes toward consumer products can be influenced by publicity
Why do attitudes sometimes change by changing behaviour?
People experience cognitive dissonance when their behaviour and attitudes are at odds and they cannot fully account for behaviour with external justifications – this leads to finding internal justification for behaviour
related to hypocrisy induction
How does persuasive communications impact attitudes?
they advocate a particular attitude toward a person, object, or idea, or promote a certain side of an issue
What is the Yale Attitude Change Approach?
who said what to whom?
Ex. Martin Luther King Jr. – I have a dream
What is the elaboration likelihood model?
explains the 2 ways in which persuasive communications can cause attitude change: central and peripheral routes
Central - person is influenced by what the communication says - persuaded by logic of the arguments
Peripheral - people are influenced by superficial characteristics of the communication, like who delivers the message, how long it is, how it makes them feel (affective significance)
When are the central and peripheral routes to persuasion active?
central route: focus on the message itself
- when people are motivated and have the ability to pay attention to the arguments in the communication
peripheral route: the context and superficial characteristic of delivery
- when people lack the motivation or ability to pay attention to the arguments - instead swayed by surface characteristics and peripheral cues
What is the result of the central and peripheral routes to persuasion active?
for both - results in attitude change
How is audience, processing, and persuasion different between central route and peripheral route persuasion?
Central:
audience - analytical and motivated
processing - high effort, elaborate, agree, or counter-argue
persuasion - cogent arguments evoke enduring agreement
Peripheral:
audience - not analytical or involved
processing - use peripheral cues, rule-of-thumb heuristics
persuasion - cues trigger liking and acceptance, often only temporarily
Important decisions are ideally made using what path of elaboration likelihood model?
central route, active logical route of infliuence
Advertisers try to take advantage of what path of elaboration likelihood model?
try to take advantage of peripheral route - lazy and less conscious path
How do advertisers appeal to use of central routes?
they use appeals to research - tries to get us to use logic to use their products
How do advertisers appeal to use of peripheral routes?
celebrity endorsements
The central route requires close attention to the arguments. What are motivation factors in attention?
personal relevance: more personally relevant topics increase attention and improve the likelihood of the central route
need for cognition: personality variable reflecting the extent to which people engage in/enjoy effortful thinking
Explain how media consumption styles can function as an informal index of need for cognition.
ex. Atlantic City - The Band song
and Parasite movie: class conflict and wealth inequality in South Korea
Is a high need for cognition of a lower need for cognition better than the other?
No, not necessarily. Too high of cognition, can be bad at going with the flow.
What are ability factors in attention? How does that impact central vs. peripheral route cues?
when people are unable to pay close attention to the arguments, they are swayed more by peripheral cues (status, likeability, trustworthiness of communicator)
Might be tired, burnt out, or difficulty understanding the arguments.
Can be motivated but lack the ability to think through arguments in a logical manner.
What is the implication of ability factors in attention?
someone with a weak argument can still be persuasive if they distract or confuse the audience
What is the implication of ability factors and attention for juries?
juries are expected to use central routes to make important decisions - brings real concerns about motivation and ability
could fall into attitudes and ultimately decisions based on peripheral features if ability and motivation are compromised
What role do emotions play in attitude change?
increasing attention to persuasive communications
shaping our attitudes as heuristics (mental shortcuts)
influencing how we react to persuasion attempts - mood can influence how we react as an audience
What is ‘shockvertising’?
use of graphic imagery and blunt slogans to highlight public issues or promote goods and services; designed to break through the advertising “clutter”
Why is shock and fear used in advertising?
Because of oversaturation of advertising, there is a need to break through the advertising clutter and stand out. If you want people to pay attention to your advertisement and consider your message. Need to grab people’s attention.
One tactic - use shock and fear to grab attention.
Do fear-arousing communications work?
they must increase people’s ability to attend to and process arguments
moderate amount of fear works best - motivated to analyze the message and their own attitudes through central route
must provide information on how to reduce fear
How do strong amounts of fear impact communications / advertising?
they fail because they overwhelm people
Wait makes fear-arousing advertising work? What things are needed?
has to increase people’s ability to attend to and process arguments
has to provide information on HOW to REDUCE fear
What is the the heuristic-systematic model of persuasion?
using emotions as attitude heuristics
Peripheral route - often uses mental shortcuts (judgement heuristics) to make judgements quickly and efficiently.
Can also use our own emotions or moods. to determine our attitude towards this object, person, place, or event - by noting how we feel about it.
What is affective conditioning?
the transfer of our feelings from one set of items to another
When is affective conditioning effective?
useful when little difference between brands
often used to associate a product that is being advertised with positive feelings/states
What is “sadvertising”?
Many brands today are engaging in what is called “sadvertising” - tugging at the consumer’s heart strings with the goal of eliciting some authentic emotional response, actual tears in some cases is the goal.
Can use societal issues to build an emotional bond with consumers. Take a stand on issues you know that your audience supports.
How is disgust and anger used in persuasive communications?
creates negative attitudes
induces avoidance - adding disgust to fear appeals and enhances message persuasion and compliance
induces anger to solidify shared values and create a sense of urgency for action
How is nostalgia used in persuasive communications?
appeals to the past - building brand connections through nostalgia
connect with pleasant childhood memories or a narrative of a ‘simpler’ time
What are the problems with emotion used as a heuristic?
we can make mistakes about what is causing our mood
can lead to misattributing feelings created by one source to another; make a bad decision
How do emotions and moods shape how we process persuasive messaging?
good mood: relaxed; assume the world is a safe place
- more content with using heuristic cues
- more open to weak messaging / peripheral cues
bad mood: alert; defensive
- more skeptical; attentive to arguments and message quality (central route)
- less open to weak/peripheral messaging
What is advertising?
a concentrated effort to change the way that consumers think about, and act toward, a certain product
Are people generally more or less influenced by advertising than they think?
more influenced than they think
What are Robert Cialdini’s 6 categories of common and effective influence techniques?
Each are governed by a psychological principles and used to encourage automatic, mindless compliance.
1- reciprocation (try to repay what another provides)
2- commitment and consistency
3- social proof (rely on others to help determine what is correct in ambiguous situations)
4- liking (yes to things/ppl we know and like)
5- authority
6- scarcity (takes advantage of loss orientation principle)
What are the historical to contemporary shifts in advertising?
IN PAST: relied on COGNITIVE attitude formation; central route - confidence in the notion of active, effortful, rational human decision-making
- promoting the properties, features, benefits of the product
- often talk or text heavy ads
CURRENT: relies more on unreflective, emotion-based decision making
- peripheral route - aesthetics, design, endorsements, humour
Why are current advertisements more focused on peripheral route influences?
Increasingly psychologists realize how often we are in this autopilot mode. We are not thinking as much through logic, will-power and critical analysis. We are not making most of our decisions there.
Often making decisions of everyday life based on habits, addictions, intuitions, values, or beliefs.
Functionality is of little relevance - beyond the basic necessities, brands need to stand out in other non-functional ways. So, how do you influence the buyer when there are thousands of jean companies and they are frankly all pretty similar - have to make an emotional connection of some sort.
Because there are so many companies producing the same sort of things, what do advertisers have to focus on?
Better to focus on EMOTIONS AND VALUES.
What are subliminal messages?
Words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but nevertheless influencing people’s judgements, attitudes, and behaviours embedded within marketing strategies.
Do subliminal messages encountered in everyday life influence behaviour?
NO evidence that the types of subliminal messages encountered in everyday life influence behaviour.
- Any subliminal effects that we are able to get require a controlled environment. Has to be so dialed in (correct illumination, no distractions, specific distance from screen), that it won’t really work in everyday life.
Explain how ads are more persuasive when they match the thinking styles of the target audience.
Western cultures: tend to base attitudes more on individuality and self-improvement (advertisements stress independence)
Eastern cultures: tend to based attitudes more on standing in social group - stress interdependence
- Eastern cultures are world leaders in that “sadvertising” because of the importance of social connections and obligations within more holistic or sociocentric cultural groups.
Is emotional or non-emotional marketing more effective?
Emotional marketing out performs at almost every level, with better results on profit, share-gain, revenue
70% of viewers who experience an emotional response to a campaign are more likely to buy the product
Does an online advertisement that includes a lot of emotions of happiness create more shares or clicks on social media?
happiness = more shares
sadness = more views, higher click rate
video content that causes strong emotional responses are 2x more likely to be shared
If you have a product that has an absent or weak emotional connection, what should you do?
create one!
ex. Listerine bad breath campaign - Ads were effective because they focused on the relationships of consumers - not the customer-consumer product relationship itself.
For attitudes that are more cognitively based, how can attention be increased?
can increase attention by making sure they are personally relevant
How do you change an attitude when it is cognitively vs affectively based?
fight fire with fire
Cognitively based: change it with rational arguments, focus on merits, use central route
Affectively based: change it with emotional appeals, using peripheral path
How do you know if an attitude is cognitively or affectively/emotionally based?
Utilitarian products - more cognitively based - focused on functional attributes
Social identity products (purse, motorcycle, home) - more affectively based - reflect a concern for how we appear to others
What is the bad side of Dove Real Beauty Campaigns?
Many self-esteem advertising initiatives leave young girls vulnerable to making comparisons with real women now.
Compare then to women that are supposed to be real - now supposed to be a realistic standard to meet.
None of these ladies are aesthetically challenged in our opinion!
In fact, when dove was casting for these ads, their very own casting call read: “no tattoos, no scars, flawless/beautiful skin, and bodies that will fall between not too curvy and not too athletic”
Each of these violate only one beauty norm at once
Why does basically anything that calls our attention to beauty ideals makes us feel bad about ourselves?
Research has found that basically anything that calls our attention to beauty ideals makes us feel bad about ourselves. Anything that invites comparison makes us feel bad about our appearance and our bodies. Best way to engage in advertising without harming girls’ self-esteem would be to not used bodies at all - but that wouldn’t sell.
people who base their attitudes on a careful analysis of the arguments (central route) as opposed to peripheral factors will be more likely to do what?
more likely to maintain this attitude over time
behave consistently with this attitude
resist counter-persuasion
What is attitude inoculation?
If we challenge people a little here and there they will start to solidify their attitudes and those attitudes will become more resilient.
Builds up immunity for example.
What makes people particularly susceptible to changing attacks of atittudes?
If you haven’t been challenged on why you hold those attitudes and hold them via a peripheral route, they are particularly susceptible to changing attacks on that attitude or attempts to change that.
What is product placement?
Why can product placement be particularly useful in advertising?
a form of advertising in which branded goods and services are featured in a production that targets a large audience
can be very effective because the reduced defensiveness allows for peripheral route to function
Is product placement increasing or decreasing?
increasing
Creating ads that don’t look like ads
Products entered into scripts of movies
Having celebrities endorse them through social media
What is the reactance theory?
When people feel their freedom to do or think whatever they want is threatened by persuasion attempts, an unpleasant state or reactance is aroused, which can be reduced by performing the threatened behaviour.
The ‘don’t tell me what to do!” effect
Ex. Important not to overdo it - prohibitions that are too strong can INCREASE interest in the prohibited activity
Why is it that the more obvious advertising is, the less likely we are to buy into it?
central route persuasion will make us defensive
