Chapter 11: Attitudes and Influencing Attitudes

Definition of Attitudes

  • Attitude: An enduring organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive processes regarding an aspect of our environment.

Components of Attitudes

  • Three Components of Attitudes:
    • Cognitive Component: Information, beliefs, or thoughts related to an object.
    • Affective Component: Emotional reactions or feelings towards an object.
    • Behavioral Component: Actions or intentions towards an object.

Attitude Change Strategies

  • Strategies for Changing Attitudes:

    • Changing the Cognitive Component:

    • Focus on altering beliefs, adding new ones, or changing the importance of existing beliefs.

    • Example: Beyond Meat ad emphasizes the product's taste to shift cognitive beliefs about plant-based products.

    • Changing the Affective Component:

    • Increase liking of a brand without altering beliefs directly.

    • Example: Ads with appealing imagery and emotional content (e.g., Sherwin-Williams).

    • Changing the Behavioral Component:

    • Directly influencing actions to create new parallels in attitudes.

Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion (ELM)

  • Overview of ELM:

    • Central Route: Involves high involvement; attitudes formed are stronger, more resistant to persuasion, and predictive of behaviors.
    • Peripheral Route: Involves low involvement; persuasion occurs through superficial cues.

  • Core Tenets of ELM:

    • Central cues are more influential in high-involvement contexts, while peripheral cues are more effective in low involvement.
    • Competitive situations can elevate the influence of peripheral cues even with high involvement consumers.

Factors Affecting Attitude Consistency

  • Inconsistencies in Attitudes Can Arise Due To:
    • Lack of need or ability.
    • Relative attitudes and ambivalence.
    • Weak beliefs or affect.
    • Interpersonal and situational influences.

Consumer Resistance to Persuasion

  • Consumers often resist attempts to alter their beliefs due to skepticism, leading to strategies like:
    • Discrediting: Dismissing the source or message.
    • Discounting: Minimizing the importance of the message.
    • Containment: Restricting influence from the message.

Communication Characteristics Influencing Attitudes

  • Three Types of Communication Characteristics:
    1. Source Characteristics:
      • Who delivers the message (credibility, celebrity endorsements).
      • Diverse representation in ads for targeting specific demographics.
    2. Appeal Characteristics:
      • How the message is communicated (humor, emotional, fear appeals).
      • The effectiveness of emotional or humorous ads.
    3. Message Structure Characteristics:
      • How the message is constructed (one-sided vs two-sided messages, framing).
      • Importance of positive framing vs negative framing in message delivery.

Appeal Types in Advertising

  • Types of Appeals:

    1. Fear Appeals
    2. Humorous Appeals
    3. Comparative Ads
    4. Emotional Appeals
    5. Value-Expressive vs Utilitarian Appeals

  • Humor in Advertising:

    • Can increase attention and liking, but must relate to the product appropriately (e.g., Kraft ad).

Message Framing Characteristics

  • Positive vs. Negative Framing:

    • Focus on either benefits (positive) or risks (negative) of actions.
    • Attribute Framing: Single attribute focus leads to framing products positively or negatively.

  • Nonverbal Elements in Communication:

    • Influences attitudes through images, music, and emotional responses, particularly in emotional ads.