Consumer Attitude Formation and Change
What are Attitudes?
• The attitude “object”
• Attitudes are a learned predisposition
• Attitudes have consistency
• Attitudes occur within a situation
The Tricomponent Model
• Cognitive Component
l The knowledge and perceptions that are acquired by a combination of direct experience with the attitude object and related information from various sources.
• Affective Component
l A consumer’s emotions or feelings about a particular product or brand.
• Conative Component
l The likelihood or tendency that an individual will undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way with regard to the attitude object.
Multiattribute Attitude Models
• The attitude-toward-object model
l Attitude is function of evaluation of product-specific beliefs and evaluations
• The attitude-toward-behavior model
l Is the attitude toward behaving or acting with respect to an object, rather than the attitude toward the object itself
• Theory-of-reasoned-action model
l A comprehensive, integrative model of attitudes
Issues in Attitude Formation
• How attitudes are learned
• Sources of influence on attitude formation
• Personality factors
Strategies of Attitude Change
• Changing the Basic Motivational Function
• Associating the Product With an Admired Group or Event
• Resolving Two Conflicting Attitudes
• Altering Components of the Multiattribute Model
– changing the relative evaluation attributes
– changing brand beliefs
– adding an attributes
– changing the overall brand rating
• Changing Beliefs About Competitors’ Brands
Four Basic Attitude Functions
• The Utilitarian Function
• The Ego-defensive Function
• The Value-expressive Function
• The Knowledge Function
Clorox Uses A
Utilitarian Appeal
Suave Uses Ego Defensive Appeal
AC Delco Uses a Value-Expressive Appeal
A Knowledge Appeal
Why Might Behavior Precede Attitude Formation?
• Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• Attribution Theory
Reducing Cognitive Dissonance