Consumer Behavior Quiz

Consumer Behaviour: Lecture 9 - Attitudes

• Attitudes are lasting evaluations of people, objects, advertisements, or issues.
• The attitude object (AO) is anything towards which someone has an attitude.
• Attitudes are formed in several ways.
• Persuasion is an active attempt to change attitudes.

Functional Theory of Attitudes

• Utilitarian Function: Relates to rewards and punishments; consumer buys product to gain a reward or avoid a punishment.
• Value-Expressive Function: Expresses consumer values or self-concept, e.g., buying a specific brand to show their values.
• Ego-Defensive Function: Protects consumers from external threats or internal feelings.
• Knowledge Function: Consumers need for order, structure, or meaning; trying to understand and categorize.

Discussion Points (Student Motivation)

• Based on the four functions discussed, suggest solutions to motivate students to stay in school and complete their programs.
• Utilitarian: Offer rewards for participation, grades or recognition.
• Value-expressive: Highlight the value of education and its rewards in line with the student's values.
• Ego-Defensive: Help students address any fears that might lead to dropping out.
• Knowledge: Emphasize the structure/meaning/order that learning provides.

The ABC Model of Attitudes

• Attitudes are more complex.
• An attitude has three components:
  • Affect: Consumer's feelings about the object.
  • Behavior: Intentions to do something regarding the object.
  • Cognition: Consumer's beliefs about the object.

Hierarchies of Effects

• High-involvement hierarchy: A problem-solving approach; a consumer carefully considers the product before purchase. Example: Buying a computer.
• Low-involvement hierarchy: The consumer acts on limited knowledge, forming the attitude after the purchase. Example: Purchasing a household item.
• Experiential hierarchy: Consumer acts on the basis of emotional reactions. Product affects emotions, which can influence the purchase. Example: Buying perfume or clothing based on feelings.
• Sensory recognition and retrieval of information affect cognition and affect regarding an object.

Discussion (Decision Making)

• Share a recent decision you made:
• Think-Feel-Do: Reflecting on the cognitive aspects before experiencing the product, leading to the purchase. High Involvement: Evaluating attributes/features to make the final decision.
• Do-Feel-Think: Experience drives attitudes. A product's attributes lead to a feeling, then a purchase decision. Could be low involvement.
• Feel-Do-Think: Emotions precede decisions and evaluations. Experiential: Consumer reacts to feeling or emotion.

Factors Influencing Attitude Formation

• Experience: Learning by using a product and its experience.
• Social Roles & Norms: Following social roles and norms in forming attitudes
• Classical & Operant Conditioning: Forming attitudes through association and reinforcement.
• Observing People in the Environment: Learning by observing others. Important for role modeling and observational learning in developing attitudes.

Attitude Commitment

• Internalization: A deep-seated attitude. Part of the consumer's value system. Strongest and most resistant to change.
• Identification: Mid-level attitude; to conform to another person or group.
• Compliance: Lowest level, based on rewards or to avoid punishment. Least committed and easiest to change.

Consistency Principle

• Values harmony between thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
• Consumers adapt their beliefs/feelings/behaviors to maintain a consistent outlook.
• Related to the theory of cognitive dissonance: We resolve dissonance when attitudes and behaviors are inconsistent.

Self-Perception Theory

• Foot-in-the-door technique: Consumer more likely to comply when a smaller request precedes a larger one.
• Low-ball technique: Initially agreement for a small favour, then disclosed that it's costly.
• Door-in-the-face technique: A large initial request is followed by a smaller/more reasonable request.

Social Judgment Theory

• We assimilate new information about attitude objects in light of what we already know/feel.
• Attitudes are frames of reference (initial attitudes about the object). They include lattitudes of acceptance and rejection.
• Two key parts of the theory are assimilation and contrast effects.

Balance Theory

• Considers perceptions of relationships among different attitude objects.
• Triad attitude structures include:
  • Person
  • Attitude object
  • Other person (or object)
• Consumers try to achieve consistency within the triads. When the triad is unbalanced, pressure arises to establish balance.

Attitude Models

• Attitude models identify and combine specific components to predict consumers' overall attitudes towards a product or brand.

A Multiattribute Attitude Model (Fishbein Model)

• Salient beliefs: Relevant beliefs about the object.
• Object-attribute linkages: The probability a particular object has a particular attribute.
• Evaluation: Evaluating important attributes.

The Extended Fishbein Model (Theory of Reasoned Action)

• Measures behavioral intentions, not just intentions.
• Acknowledge the role of social pressure in decisions.
• Measurement of attitudes towards the act of buying a product.

Marketing Applications of the Multiattribute Model

• Capitalize on relative advantage: Highlight a product benefit.
• Strengthen perceived linkages: Link the product to desirable attributes.
• Add a new attribute: Introduce a new feature to improve the product.
• Influence competitor's ratings: Comparison-based messaging to portray a product favourably.