Chapter 7 Attitudes and Attitude Change Babin/Harris © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

© 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. Learning Outcomes Define attitudes and describe attitude components. Describe the functions of attitudes. Understand how the hierarchy of effects concept applies to attitude theory. Comprehend the major consumer attitude models. Describe attitude change theories and their role in persuasion. Understand how message and source effects influence persuasion. © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Attitudes and Attitude Components Attitudes – relatively enduring overall evaluations of objects, products, services, issues, or people. Attitude components (ABC approach): Affect Behavior Cognitions (or “beliefs”) LO1 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Functions of Attitudes Functional theory of attitudes – attitudes perform four functions: Utilitarian function – based on the concept of reward and punishment. Knowledge function – allows consumers to simplify decision making processes. Value-expressive function – enables a consumer to express his or her core values, self-concept, and beliefs to others. Ego-defensive function – works as a defense mechanism for consumers. LO2 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Hierarchy of Effects Concept Suggests that affect, behavior, and cognitions may form in one of the following four ways, or “hierarchies”: High involvement (or “standard learning”) hierarchy: belief–affect–behavior. Low involvement hierarchy: belief–behavior–affect. Experiential hierarchy: affect–behavior–belief. Behavioral influence hierarchy: behavior-belief-affect. LO3 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Consumer Attitude Models Attitude-toward-the-object model Behavioral intentions model LO4 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Attitude-Toward-The-Object Model Sometimes referred to as the Fishbein Model Proposes that three key elements must be assessed to understand and predict a consumer’s attitude: Beliefs a consumer has about salient attributes, or features that a product or choice possesses. Strength of the belief that a certain brand does indeed have the feature. Evaluation of the attribute in question. Compensatory model – poor ratings on one attribute are compensated for by higher ratings on another attribute, LO4 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Behavioral Intentions Model Sometimes referred to as the theory of reasoned action. Differs from the attitude-toward-the-object model: Focuses on intentions to act in some way rather than just attitudes. Adds a component assessing consumers’ perceptions of what other people think they should do (subjective norm). Focuses on attitude towards the behavior of buying rather than the attitude towards the object. LO4 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Factors That Weaken Attitude-Behavior Relationship Length of time between attitude measurement and behavior Specificity with which attitudes are measured Environmental pressures Impulse buying situations LO4 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Attitude Change Theories and Persuasion Persuasion – specific attempts to change attitudes. Techniques: ATO approach Behavioral influence approach Elaboration Likelihood Model Balance Theory approach Social Judgment Theory approach LO5 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Attitude-Toward-the-Object Approach Change beliefs Create new beliefs Change evaluations LO5 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Behavioral Influence Approach Directly changing behaviors without first attempting to change either beliefs or attitudes. LO5 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Changing Schema-Based Affect If the affect found in a schema can be changed, then the attitude towards a brand or product will change as well. LO5 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) Illustrates how attitudes are changed based on differing levels of consumer involvement. Level of involvement and motivation to process a message determines which route by which persuasion occurs: High involvement – Central route Low involvement – Peripheral route LO5 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

© 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. Balance Theory Consumers are motivated to maintain perceived consistency in the relations found in mental systems Consistency principle – human beings prefer consistency among their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Focuses on the associations, or relations (referred to either as sentiment relations or unit relations), that are perceived between a person (or observer), another person, and an attitudinal object (triad). Consistency in the triad is maintained when the multiplication of the signs in the sentiment and unit relations result in a positive value. LO5 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Message and Source Effects and Persuasion Message effects – term used to describe how the appeal of a message and its construction affects persuasion. Source effects – refers to the characteristics of the person or character delivering a message that influence persuasion. LO6 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

© 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning. Communication Models Basic approach (one-to-many): Source (encoding) Message Medium Receiver (decoding) Feedback Noise Computer-mediated approach (many-to-many) Both the message and the person delivering the message impact the overall effectiveness. LO6 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.

Message and Source Effects Message appeal Sex Humor Fear Message construction Source effects Credibility Attractiveness Likeability Meaningfulness Match-up hypothesis – a source feature is most effective when it is matched with relevant products. LO6 © 2009 South-Western, a division of Cengage Learning.