Topic 7 - Attitudes and Attitude Change

Question 1

What are attitudes?

Answer 1

can be defined as our evaluations of people, objects, events, and ideas

Question 2

Are attitudes always positive or negative?

Answer 2

No, in between positives and negatives - there are all sorts of blended and uncertain attitudes

Question 3

Why are attitudes an important concept and field of study?

Answer 3

because they often have an influence on our behaviours

Question 4

Attitudes are made up of what 3 components?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Where do attitudes come from?

Answer 5

Genetic inheritance (or biological component) + social experience = attitudes

Question 6

Does the role of genetics on influencing attitudes play as a direct or indirect function of genes?

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

What are social factors influencing attitude formation?

Answer 7

past experience (ex. dog barks at us)

social roles and norms (what is expected of us)

classical and operant conditioning

observing people in environment

Question 8

The increase in smoking from a predominantly male market to one that is more balanced is an example of what?

Answer 8

the role of advertising in attitude formation

Question 9

What are the types of attitudes?

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

What are cognitively based attitudes?

Answer 10

Attitude based primarily on people’s beliefs about the properties of an object.

Based off objective understanding of features and functions (ex. coffeemaker)

Question 11

What are affectively based attitudes?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

The example of Veblen goods fits into what attitude type?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Do Veblen goods always work? Why or why not?

Answer 13

No, might backfire. Counter-consumer increasingly popular - Veblen goods might backfire (doesn’t always work).

Question 14

Since affect based attitudes are not necessarily a result of rational examination or governed by logic, where do they come from?

Answer 14

values
sensory reactions
aesthetic reactions
conditioning

Question 15

How can conditioning be used to create affectively based attitudes?

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

How is classical conditioning used to creative affective based attitudes?

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

How is operant conditioning used to creative affective based attitudes?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

What company linked a diamond ring with all of these feelings, and used the slogan “a diamond is forever”?

Answer 18

De Beers

Question 19

What are behaviour based attitudes?
When does this type of attitude mostly occur?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

What is the self-perception theory?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Do all attitudes have various components?

Answer 21

Yes, all consist of the ABCs, but can be based on one type of experience more than another

Question 22

What are implicit vs. explicit attitudes?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

What are implicit associations tests?

Answer 23

detect the strength of a person’s subconscious associations between mental representations of concepts or objects

assess implicit stereotypes (beyond conscious awareness)

Question 24

When do attitudes predict spontaneous behaviours?

Answer 24

only when they are highly accessible to people

Question 25

What is attitude accessibility?

Answer 25

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

Question 26

What type of attitudes are more predictive of real behaviour?

Answer 26

attitudes that are more specific = more predictive of real behaviour

Question 27

what is the theory of planned behaviour?
What is the best predictor of deliberate behaviours?

Answer 27

people’s intentions are the best predictors of deliberate behaviours

Question 28

Behavioural intentions are determined by what 3 things?

Answer 28

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)

Question 29

When attitudes change, it is often due to what?

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Why do attitudes sometimes change by changing behaviour?

Answer 30

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

Question 31

How does persuasive communications impact attitudes?

Answer 31

they advocate a particular attitude toward a person, object, or idea, or promote a certain side of an issue

Question 32

What is the Yale Attitude Change Approach?

Answer 32

who said what to whom?

Ex. Martin Luther King Jr. – I have a dream

Question 33

What is the elaboration likelihood model?

Answer 33

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)

Question 34

When are the central and peripheral routes to persuasion active?

Answer 34

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

Question 35

What is the result of the central and peripheral routes to persuasion active?

Answer 35

for both - results in attitude change

Question 36

How is audience, processing, and persuasion different between central route and peripheral route persuasion?

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Important decisions are ideally made using what path of elaboration likelihood model?

Answer 37

central route, active logical route of infliuence

Question 38

Advertisers try to take advantage of what path of elaboration likelihood model?

Answer 38

try to take advantage of peripheral route - lazy and less conscious path

Question 39

How do advertisers appeal to use of central routes?

Answer 39

they use appeals to research - tries to get us to use logic to use their products

Question 40

How do advertisers appeal to use of peripheral routes?

Answer 40

celebrity endorsements

Question 41

The central route requires close attention to the arguments. What are motivation factors in attention?

Answer 41

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

Question 42

Explain how media consumption styles can function as an informal index of need for cognition.

Answer 42

ex. Atlantic City - The Band song

and Parasite movie: class conflict and wealth inequality in South Korea

Question 43

Is a high need for cognition of a lower need for cognition better than the other?

Answer 43

No, not necessarily. Too high of cognition, can be bad at going with the flow.

Question 44

What are ability factors in attention? How does that impact central vs. peripheral route cues?

Answer 44

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.

Question 45

What is the implication of ability factors in attention?

Answer 45

someone with a weak argument can still be persuasive if they distract or confuse the audience

Question 46

What is the implication of ability factors and attention for juries?

Answer 46

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

Question 47

What role do emotions play in attitude change?

Answer 47

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

Question 48

What is ‘shockvertising’?

Answer 48

use of graphic imagery and blunt slogans to highlight public issues or promote goods and services; designed to break through the advertising “clutter”

Question 49

Why is shock and fear used in advertising?

Answer 49

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.

Question 50

Do fear-arousing communications work?

Answer 50

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

Question 51

How do strong amounts of fear impact communications / advertising?

Answer 51

they fail because they overwhelm people

Question 52

Wait makes fear-arousing advertising work? What things are needed?

Answer 52

has to increase people’s ability to attend to and process arguments

has to provide information on HOW to REDUCE fear

Question 53

What is the the heuristic-systematic model of persuasion?

Answer 53

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.

Question 54

What is affective conditioning?

Answer 54

the transfer of our feelings from one set of items to another

Question 55

When is affective conditioning effective?

Answer 55

useful when little difference between brands

often used to associate a product that is being advertised with positive feelings/states

Question 56

What is “sadvertising”?

Answer 56

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.

Question 57

How is disgust and anger used in persuasive communications?

Answer 57

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

Question 58

How is nostalgia used in persuasive communications?

Answer 58

appeals to the past - building brand connections through nostalgia
connect with pleasant childhood memories or a narrative of a ‘simpler’ time

Question 59

What are the problems with emotion used as a heuristic?

Answer 59

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

Question 60

How do emotions and moods shape how we process persuasive messaging?

Answer 60

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

Question 61

What is advertising?

Answer 61

a concentrated effort to change the way that consumers think about, and act toward, a certain product

Question 62

Are people generally more or less influenced by advertising than they think?

Answer 62

more influenced than they think

Question 63

What are Robert Cialdini’s 6 categories of common and effective influence techniques?

Answer 63

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)

Question 64

What are the historical to contemporary shifts in advertising?

Answer 64

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

Question 65

Why are current advertisements more focused on peripheral route influences?

Answer 65

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.

Question 66

Because there are so many companies producing the same sort of things, what do advertisers have to focus on?

Answer 66

Better to focus on EMOTIONS AND VALUES.

Question 67

What are subliminal messages?

Answer 67

Words or pictures that are not consciously perceived but nevertheless influencing people’s judgements, attitudes, and behaviours embedded within marketing strategies.

Question 68

Do subliminal messages encountered in everyday life influence behaviour?

Answer 68

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.

Question 69

Explain how ads are more persuasive when they match the thinking styles of the target audience.

Answer 69

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.

Question 70

Is emotional or non-emotional marketing more effective?

Answer 70

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

Question 71

Does an online advertisement that includes a lot of emotions of happiness create more shares or clicks on social media?

Answer 71

happiness = more shares
sadness = more views, higher click rate

video content that causes strong emotional responses are 2x more likely to be shared

Question 72

If you have a product that has an absent or weak emotional connection, what should you do?

Answer 72

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.

Question 73

For attitudes that are more cognitively based, how can attention be increased?

Answer 73

can increase attention by making sure they are personally relevant

Question 74

How do you change an attitude when it is cognitively vs affectively based?

Answer 74

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

Question 75

How do you know if an attitude is cognitively or affectively/emotionally based?

Answer 75

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

Question 76

What is the bad side of Dove Real Beauty Campaigns?

Answer 76

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

Question 77

Why does basically anything that calls our attention to beauty ideals makes us feel bad about ourselves?

Answer 77

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.

Question 78

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?

Answer 78

more likely to maintain this attitude over time

behave consistently with this attitude

resist counter-persuasion

Question 79

What is attitude inoculation?

Answer 79

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.

Question 80

What makes people particularly susceptible to changing attacks of atittudes?

Answer 80

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.

Question 80

What is product placement?

Why can product placement be particularly useful in advertising?

Answer 80

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

Question 80

Is product placement increasing or decreasing?

Answer 80

increasing

Creating ads that don’t look like ads

Products entered into scripts of movies

Having celebrities endorse them through social media

Question 81

What is the reactance theory?

Answer 81

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

Question 82

Why is it that the more obvious advertising is, the less likely we are to buy into it?

Answer 82

central route persuasion will make us defensive