Week 7 - Attitude and Attitude Change (Chap.7) Flashcards
Define Attitude?
A general evaluation of people (including oneself), objects, advertisements or issues.
What is an attitude object?
Anything toward which one has an attitude
What does attitude strength determine?
Attitude strength determines whether an attitude is enduring or situational. Strong attitudes are resistant to change.
What are the functions of attitudes? (4)
(Functional Theory of Attitudes: attitudes exist because they serve some function for the person.)
- Utilitarian Function
- Ego-defensive Function
- Value-expressive Function
- Knowledge Function
- Utilitarian Function (Expand)
Focused on reward and punishment
- Also known as instrumental
- Consumers can develop favourable attitude towards products/behaviours that rewards us (or the opposite)
- Points out that individuals are focused on maximising rewards and minimising penalties
- Individuals will change attitudes if doing so allows them to fulfil the goal and avoid undesirable consequences
- Value-expressive Function
Attitudes which express the consumer’s central values or self-concept
- This can be to express basic values or reinforce values
- Here consumers would buy a product not for simply what it does, but for what it means
- Ego-defensive Function
Attitudes that are formed to protect the person from external threats or internal feelings
- Products could be marketed to assist with consumers feelings of inferiority or to develop feeling of superiorty
- Knowledge Function
Some attitudes are formed as the result of a need for order, structure or meaning
- Attitudes used to provide meaningful, understandable and structured environment
- Can help individuals created standards of evaluation for different situations and scenarios
- Attitudes can be used in this instance to create mental short cuts to help make decisions
How to change consumer’s attitudes?
The use of humour or fear advertising to change attitudes towards products and social/health behaviours
What is Comparative Advertising?
Strategy in which a message features two or more specifically named or recognisably presented brands and compares them in terms of one or more specific attributes.
3 levels of Commitment to Attitude?
- Compliance
- Lowest level of involvement
- Formed based upon rewards and punishment from others
- Attitude can be deemed ‘superficial’ as it can change when behaviours are not monitored or visible - Identification
- Attitude formed in order to conform to the behaviour of another person or group
- Advertising may depict the social consequences of choosing some products over another - Internalisation
- Highest level of involvement
- Attitudes are internalised and become a part of an individuals value system
- Can lead to consumers becoming extremely loyal to brands/products/behaviours
Three hierarchies of effect
- Standard learning hierarchy:
Learn(cognition) > Feel(affect) > Do(behaviour) = Attitude (Based on cognitive information processing) - Low-Involvement Hierarchy: Learn(cognition) > Do(behaviour) > Feel(affect) = Attitude (Based on behavioural learning processes)
- Experiential hierarchy: Feel(affect) > Do(behaviour) > Learn(cognition) = Attitude (Based on hedonic consumption)
What are the 5 attitude models?
- Fishbein Model
- Theory of Reasoned Action
- Theory of Planned Behaviour
- Model of Goal Directed Behaviour
- Theory of Trying
What are the three common factors of attitude models?
- Attributes (characteristics of the attitude object)
- Beliefs (cognitions about the specific attitude object)
- Importance Weights (the relative priority of an attribute to the consumer)
Explain the Fishbein Model
This model measure three components of attitude: (1) Overall attitude, (2) Salient beliefs, (3) Evaluation.
Assumptions of the model: Ability to identify relevant choice attributes, weigh them and sum. This may not always be true.
