Chapter 7
Attitudes and Persuasion
CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR, 9e
Michael R. Solomon
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Chapter Objectives
When you finish this chapter, you should
understand why:
• It’s important for consumer researchers to
understand the nature and power of
attitudes.
• Attitudes are more complex than they first
appear.
• We form attitudes in several ways.
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Chapter Objectives (continued)
When you finish this chapter, you should
understand why:
• A need to maintain consistency among all of
our attitudinal components motivates us to
alter one or more of them.
• We use attitude models to identify specific
components and combine them to predict a
consumer’s overall attitude toward a product
or brand.
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Chapter Objectives (continued)
When you finish this chapter, you should
understand why:
• The communications model identifies several
important components for marketers when
they try to change consumers’ attitudes
toward products and services.
• The consumer who processes such a
message is not necessarily the passive
receiver of information marketers once
believed him to be.
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Chapter Objectives (continued)
When you finish this chapter, you should
understand why:
• Several factors influence a message source’s
effectiveness.
• The way a marketer structures his message
determines how persuasive it will be.
• Audience characteristics help to determine
whether the nature of the source or the
message itself will be relatively more
effective.
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The Power of Attitudes
• Attitude: a lasting, general evaluation of
people, objects, advertisements, or issues
• Attitude object (A ): anything toward which
O
one has an attitude
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Functional Theory of Attitudes
UTILITARIAN
FUNCTION:
VALUE-EXPRESSIVE
FUNCTION:
Relates to rewards
and punishments
Expresses consumer’s
values or self-concept
EGO-DEFENSIVE
FUNCTION:
Protect ourselves from
external threats
or internal feelings
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KNOWLEDGE
FUNCTION:
Need for order, structure,
or meaning
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Discussion
• Imagine that you work for the marketing
department of your college or university and
have segmented students into four different
clusters, each representing one of the four
functions identified by Katz.
• Develop a marketing strategy based on each
of the four functions to motivate students to
stay in school and complete their degrees.
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ABC Model of Attitudes
• An attitude has three components:
• Affect: the way a consumer feels about an
•
•
attitude object
Behavior: person’s intentions to do
something with regard to an attitude object
Cognition: beliefs a consumer has about
an attitude object
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Figure 7.1 Hierarchies of Effects
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Attitude Toward the Advertisement
• We form attitudes toward objects other than
the product that can influence our product
selections.
• We often form product attitudes from its ads
• Ad: attitude toward advertiser +
evaluations of ad execution + ad evoked
mood + ad arousal effects on consumer +
viewing context
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Attitude Commitment
INTERNALIZATION
Highest level: deep-seeded attitudes become part
of consumer’s value system
IDENTIFICATION
Mid-level: attitudes formed in order to conform to
another person or group
COMPLIANCE
Lowest level: consumer forms attitude because it
gains rewards or avoids punishments
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Consistency Principle
• We value/seek harmony among thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors
• We will change components to make them
consistent
• Relates to the theory of cognitive dissonance
– we take action to resolve dissonance when
our attitudes and behaviors are inconsistent
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Discussion
• Interview a student next to you about a
behavior that he or she has that is
inconsistent with his or her attitudes (e.g.,
attitudes toward healthy eating or active
lifestyle, attitudes toward materialism, etc.)
• Ask the student to elaborate on why he or
she has the behavior, then try to identify the
way the person has resolved dissonant
elements.
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Self-Perception Theory
FOOT-IN-THE-DOOR TECHNIQUE
Consumer is more likely to comply with a request if he has
first agreed to comply with a smaller request
LOW-BALL TECHNIQUE
Person is asked for a small favor and is informed after
agreeing to it that it will be very costly.
DOOR-IN-THE-FACE TECHNIQUE
Person is first asked to do something extreme (which he
refuses), then asked to do something smaller.
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Social Judgment Theory
• We assimilate new information about attitude
objects in light of what we already know/feel
• Initial attitude = frame of reference
• Latitudes of acceptance and rejection
• Assimilation effects
• Contrast effects
• Example: “Choosy mothers choose Jif
Peanut Butter”
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Balance Theory
• Considers how a person might perceive
relations among different attitude objects
and how he might alter attitudes to maintain
consistency
• Triad attitude structures:
• Person
• Perception of attitude object
• Perception of other person/object
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Figure 7.2 Balance Theory
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Multiattribute Attitude Models
• Consumer’s attitudes toward an attitude
object depend on beliefs she has about
object attributes
• Three elements of multiattribute
• Attributes of Ao
• Beliefs about Ao
• Importance weights
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The Fishbein Model
Salient Beliefs
Object-Attribute Linkages
Evaluation
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Table 7.1 Saundra’s College Decision
Beliefs (β)
Attribute
Import. (I)
Smith
Princeton
Rutgers
Northland
Academic reputation
6
8
9
6
3
All women
7
9
3
3
3
Cost
4
2
2
6
9
Proximity to home
3
2
2
6
9
Athletics
1
1
2
5
1
Party atmosphere
2
1
3
7
9
Library facilities
5
7
9
7
2
163
142
153
131
Attitude Score
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Marketing Applications
of the Multiattribute Model
Capitalize on Relative Advantage
Strengthen Perceived Linkages
Add a New Attribute
Influence Competitor’s Ratings
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The Extended Fishbein Model:
The Theory of Reasoned Action
• Intentions versus behavior: measure
behavioral intentions, not just intentions
• Social pressure: acknowledge the power of
other people in purchasing decision
• Attitude toward buying: measure attitude
toward the act of buying, not just the product
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Figure 7.3 Theory of Trying
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How Do Marketers Change Attitudes?
Reciprocity
Scarcity
Authority
Consistency
Liking
Consensus
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Tactical Communications Options
• Who will be source of
message?
• How should message be
constructed?
• What media will transmit
message?
• What target market
characteristics will
influence ad’s
acceptance?
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Figure 7.4
The Traditional Communications Model
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Figure 7.5
An Updated Communications Model
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New Message Formats
• M-commerce - marketers promote goods and
services via wireless devices
• New social media platforms
• Blogging
• Video blogging (vlogging)
• Podcasting
• Tweeting
• Virtual worlds
• Widgets
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The Source
• Source effects mean the same words by
different people can have very different
meanings
• A “source” may be chosen due to expertise,
fame, attractiveness, or similarity
• What makes a good source?
• Source credibility: a source’s perceived
•
expertise, objectivity, or trustworthiness
Source attractiveness: social value
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Star Power
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Nonhuman Endorsers
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Decisions to Make About the Message
•
•
•
•
•
Should we use pictures or words?
How often should message be repeated?
Should it draw an explicit conclusion?
Should it show both sides of argument?
Should it explicitly compare product to
competitors?
• Should it arouse emotions?
• Should it be concrete or based on imagery?
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The Message
Table 7.2 Characteristics of Good and Bad Messages
Positive Effects
Negative Effects
Showing convenience of use
Extensive information on
components, ingredients, nutrition
Showing new product/improved
features
Outdoor setting (message gets
lost)
Casting background (i.e., people
are incidental to message)
Large number of onscreen
characters
Indirect comparison to other
products
Graphic displays
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Figure 7.6 Two-Factor Theory
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How Do We Structure Arguments?
• One-sided: supportive arguments
• Two-sided: both positive and negative
information
• Refutational argument: negative issue is
raised, then dismissed
• Positive attributes should refute presented
negative attributes
• Effective with well-educated and not-yetloyal audiences
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Comparative Advertising
• Comparative advertising: message compares
two+ recognizable brands on specific
attributes
• “Unlike McDonalds, all of Arby's chicken
sandwiches are made with 100% all-natural
chicken”
• Negative outcomes include source
derogation
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Types of Message Appeals
Emotional versus Rational Appeals
Sex Appeals
Humorous Appeals
Fear Appeals
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Discussion
• Name ads that rely on sex appeal to sell
products.
• What benefits are communicated in the ad?
• Is the message implicit or explicit? How?
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Message As Art Form
• Advertisers use literary elements to
communicate benefits and meaning
• Allegory: story about an abstract concept
personified in a fictional character
• Metaphor: two dissimilar objects in a close
relationship (“A is B”)
• Simile: compares two objects (“A is like B”)
• Resonance: play on words with pictures
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Table 7.3 Examples of Advertising Resonance
Product
Headline
Visual
Embassy Suites
“This Year, We’re Unwrapping
Suites by the Dozen”
Chocolate kisses with hotel
names underneath each
Toyota auto parts
“Out Lifetime Guarantee May
Come as a Shock”
Man holding a shock absorber
Bucks filter
cigarettes
“Herd of These?”
Cigarette pack with a picture
of a stag
Bounce fabric
softener
“Is There Something Creeping Woman’s dress bunched up on
Up Behind You?”
her back due to static
Pepsi
“This Year, Hit the Beach
Topless”
Pepsi bottle cap lying on the
sand
ASICS athletic
shoes
“We Believe Women Should
Be Running the Country”
Woman jogging in a rural
setting
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Forms of Story Presentation
• Lecture: speech in
• Drama: story that
which the source
speaks directly to
the audience
• Attempts to
•
persuade
Cognitive responses
may occur
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draws viewers into
the action
• Characters indirectly
•
address the
audience
Interact with each
other in an imaginary
setting
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Discussion
• Sell the steak or the sizzle?
• What’s more important in an advertisement:
• What is said? or
• Who says it?
• Give examples of ads that use one strategy
versus the other. What types of ads are more
effective for each strategy?
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Figure 7.7 Elaboration Likelihood Model
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Chapter Summary
• Attitudes are very powerful, and they are
formed in several ways.
• People try to maintain consistency among
their attitudinal components and their
attitudes and behaviors.
• The communications model includes several
important components which can be
influenced by marketers to enhance the
persuasiveness of the message.
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