Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and

Being
Thirteenth Edition, Global Edition

Chapter 8

Attitudes and Persuasive

Communications

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Learning Objectives
8.1 It is important for consumer researchers to understand
the nature and power of attitudes.
8.2 We form attitudes in several ways.
8.3 Persuasion involves an active attempt to change
attitudes.

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Learning Objective 8.1
It is important for consumer researchers to understand the
nature and power of attitudes.

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The Power of Attitudes
• Attitude: a lasting, general evaluation of people, objects,
advertisements, or issues
• Attitude object (AO): anything toward which one has an
attitude

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Functional Theory of Attitudes
• Utilitarian Function:
– Relates to rewards and punishments
• Value-Expressive Function:
– Expresses consumer’s values or self-concept
• EGO-Defensive Function:
– Protect ourselves from external threats or internal
feelings
• Knowledge Function:
– Need for order, structure, or meaning

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For Reflection (1 of 10)
• 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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The ABC Model of Attitudes
Attitudes are more complex than they first appear.

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Hierarchies of Effects
• High-involvement hierarchy
• Low-involvement hierarchy
• Experiential hierarchy of effects
• Cognitive-affective model
• Independence hypothesis

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Figure 8.1: Three Hierarchies of Effects

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For Reflection (2 of 10)
• Share a decision you made following the three learning
hierarchies:
– Think Feel Do
– Do Feel Think
– Feel Do Think

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Learning Objective 8.2
We form attitudes in several ways.

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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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For Reflection (3 of 10)
• Share a commitment you’ve made at each of the three
levels of commitment:
– Internalization
– Identification
– Compliance
• Can you feel the variations in commitment for the three
types? Explain.

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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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Self-Perception Theory (1 of 2)
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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Self-Perception Theory (2 of 2)
Figure 8.2 Balance Theory

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For Reflection (4 of 10)
• 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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Attitude Models
Attitude models identify specific components and combine
them to predict a consumer’s overall attitude toward a
product or brand.

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A Multiattribute Attitude Model: The
Fishbein Model
• Salient Beliefs
• Object-Attribute Linkages
• Evaluation

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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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Marketing Applications of the
Multiattribute Model (1 of 2)
Table 8.1 The Basic Multiattribute Model: Saundra’s College Decision
Beliefs (B)

Attribute (i) Importance (I) Smith Princeton Rutgers Northland

Academic 6 8 9 6 3
reputation
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
Attitude score Blank 163 142 153 131

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Marketing Applications of the
Multiattribute Model (2 of 2)
• Capitalize on Relative Advantage
• Strengthen Perceived Linkages
• Add a New Attribute
• Influence Competitor’s Ratings

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Learning Objective 8.3
Persuasion involves an active attempt to change attitudes.

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How Do Marketers Change Attitudes?
• Reciprocity
• Scarcity
• Authority
• Consistency
• Liking
• Consensus

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For Reflection (5 of 10)
• Can you think of a time that you were persuaded by
marketing? Which of the persuasion tactics were used
and in what way?

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Elements of Communication
The communications model identifies several important
components for marketers when they try to change
consumers’ attitudes toward products and services.

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An Updated View: Interactive
Communications
Figure 8.3 The Traditional Communications Model

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For Reflection (6 of 10)
• In what kinds of situations would the traditional
communications model work less effectively?

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The Source (1 of 2)
The consumer who processes a message is not necessarily
the passive receiver of information marketers once believed
him or her to be.

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Figure 8.4 Updated Communications
Model

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The Source (2 of 2)
• Source credibility • Reporting bias
• Disclaimers • Source attractiveness
• Sleeper effect • Shared endorsements
• Native advertising • Halo effect
• Knowledge bias • Spokecharacters

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New Message Formats (1 of 2)
M-commerce - marketers promote goods and services via
wireless devices.
New social media platforms:
• Blogs and video blogs
• Podcasts
• Twitter
• Virtual worlds
• Widgets

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For Reflection (7 of 10)
• To what extent have mobile messages changed your
behavior as a buyer? Have you acted on a mobile coupon
or message?

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The Message and Source
Several factors influence the effectiveness of a message
source.

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For Reflection (8 of 10)
• Think of a celebrity endorser that you find to lack
persuasive ability.
• What is it about the person, product, or endorser-product
fit that fails to persuade you?

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The Message (1 of 2)
The way a marketer structures his or her message
determines how persuasive it will be.

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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 (2 of 2)
Characteristics of Good and Bad Messages
Positive effects Negative effects
Showing convenience of use Extensive information on components,
ingredients, or nutrition
Showing new product or improved Outdoor setting (message gets lost)
features
Casting background (i.e., people are Large number of on-screen characters
incidental to message)

Indirect comparison to other products Graphic displays

Source: Adapted from David W. Stewart and David H. Furse, “The Effects of Television
Advertising Execution on Recall, Comprehension, and Persuasion,” Psychology &
Marketing 2 (Fall 1985): 135–60. Copyright © 1985 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reprinted
by permission.

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Repeating the Message
Figure 8.5 Two -Factor Theory of Message Repetition

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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-yet-loyal
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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New Message Formats (2 of 2)
• Martyrdom effect
• M-commerce
• Transmedia storytelling
• Reality engineering
• Guerrilla marketing

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Product Placement and Branded
Entertainment
• Insertion of specific products and use of brand names in
movie/TV scripts
• Directors incorporate branded props for realism
• Is product placement a positive or negative when it comes
to consumer decision-making?

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Advergaming
• Advergaming refers to
online games merged with
interactive advertisements
• Advertisers gain many
benefits with advergames
• Plinking is the act of
embedding a product in a
video

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Types of Message Appeals
• Emotional versus Rational Appeals
• Sex Appeals
• Humorous Appeals
• Fear Appeals

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For Reflection (9 of 10)
• Old Spice used a sex/humor appeal in its campaign, The
Man Your Man Could Smell Like.
• What benefits were communicated in the ad?
• Is the message implicit or explicit? Explain.

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ELM
Figure 8.6 The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of Persuasion

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For Reflection (10 of 10)
• As people become more accustomed to short messages
like “tweets,” will we be less likely to elaborate on
communications? Explain.

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Chapter Summary
• It is important for consumer researchers to understand the
nature and power of attitudes.
• We form attitudes in several ways.
• Persuasion involves an active attempt to change attitudes.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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