Chapter 5
Attitudes and
Persuasion
Learning Objectives
1. Explain the key functions and
characteristics of attitudes.
2. Discuss how marketers can apply various
affective and cognitive models to
understand and influence consumers’
attitudes.
3. Describe how marketers can use affective
models to change consumers’ attitudes and
behaviours.
4. Outline some issues marketers face in trying to
predict consumers’ attitudes.
5. Explain how marketers can change
consumers’ attitudes and the relevance
of motivation, ability and opportunity in
attitude change.
Attitude Formation and
Change: high
consumer effort
What Are Attitudes?
'…a relatively global and enduring
evaluation of an
object, issue, person or action'
Guide our Influence Affect our
thoughts our feelings behaviour
What Are Attitudes?
What is your attitude
towards luxury watches?
Is it positive or negative?
Will your attitude
lead to actual behaviour?
What Are Attitudes?
• The structure of Characteristics of
attitudes: attitudes:
– Based on cognitions – Favorability
– Based on emotions – Accessibility
– Attitudes involve – Confidence
action – Persistence
– ABC Model – Resistance
– Ambivalence
• The functions of
attitudes:
- Utilitarian
- Knowledge
- Value-expressive
- Ego-defensive
The Structure of Attitudes
The Function of Attitudes
The • Utilitarian
• Knowledge
functions of • Value-expressive
attitudes: • Ego-defensive
The Function of Attitudes
• Utilitarian
• Helps in achieving rewards and avoiding punishment
• Knowledge
• Providing belief and facts for a meaningful and structured environment
• Value Expressive
• Allows individual to express their individuality and personality
• Ego Defensive
• Protect self esteem
The Characteristics of
Attitudes
• Favourability – like or dislike something
• Accessibility – ease of storing attitude
Characteristics • Confidence – strong grasp towards an attitude
of attitudes: • Persistence – how long it last
• Resistance – how difficult to change
• Ambivalence – mix evaluation towards a brand
The Affective (emotional)
Foundations of
Attitudes
• Engagement – emotion connection towards a brand/ads
• Emotional receptivity – receptive level towards a
brand/ads
• Affective responses – feelings or response generated
• Emotional appeal – message that trigger emotional
response
Are certain industries more prone to benefit from emotional
appeals in their advertising and marketing communications?
Emotional Appeal
[Link]
[Link]
How Affectively-Based
Attitudes are Influenced
• The Source
• Attractiveness
• Match-up hypothesis
Source match the
products
The Source
How Affectively-Based
Attitudes are Influenced
• The Message
• Humour
• Sex
• How do consumer reactions to sexual messages vary
from culture to culture?
• Fear appeals
• Terror Management Theory (TMT) – a theory which
stress on the threats of death.
Humour
Would humour be better
suited to low-involvement
or high-involvement
products?
How Affectively-Based
Attitudes are Influenced
The Mere Exposure Effect
• Familiarity breeds attraction
• Buying something because Im familiar with the ads
• Ordering the same food from the menu because Im
familiar with it.
• Attracted to a person because of repeated encounter.
The Cognitive
Foundations of
Attitudes
Direct or imagined experience
Reasoning by analogy or category
Values-driven attitudes
Social identity-based attitude generation
Expectancy-value models
Theory of Reasoned Action
Theory of Planned Behaviour
Values-Driven Ads
Social Identity
• A person attitude are shaped upon their belongings in
different social groups.
• How a person think of themselves or as a collective group.
[Link]
Expectancy Value Model
• Also known as Brand Evaluation Model.
• Attributes of brands are weighted
• The attributes are multiplied by individuals weightage and put into
ranking.
Compare between Vios vs City vs Myvi
Which one would you rank best for a fresh graduates.
Theory of Reasoned Action
(TORA)
Theory of Planned Behaviour
(Ajzen 1985, 1991)
Theory of Planned Behaviour
(Ajzen 1985, 1991)
Sum beliefs Global variable
Outcome Attitude to
beliefs behaviour
AB w1
Referent Subjectiv w2 w4
Intentio Behavio
beliefs e norm
n ur
(SN) w3
Control Perceived w5
beliefs control
(PC)
[Link]
Theory of Planned Behaviour:
Example of Playing the Lottery
Belief examples Global variables
Dreams of wealth, R AB to playing
cost, excitement 1 the Nat. lottery
w1
Friends, parents, R SN about w2 Intention to w Playing
religious bodies 2 playing lottery play lottery 4
lottery
w3
Access to sales R PC about w5
point, money 3 playing lottery
The Cognitive
Foundations of
Attitudes
• Change beliefs
Using TORA to • Change evaluations
change • Add a new belief
consumers’ • Encourage attitude formation based
attitudes on imagined experience
• Target normative beliefs
How Cognitively-Based
Attitudes are
Influenced
COMMUNICATION SOURCE
• Source credibility
• Advertising with endorsements
• Company reputation
Can you think of a brand that uses ordinary
people as credible endorsers?
How Cognitively-Based
Attitudes are
Influenced
The MESSAGE
• Argument quality
• Comparative messages
Argument Quality
Comparative
Messages
Indirect vs direct
Can you think of a
brand that uses
direct comparative
advertising?
Changing Attitudes: the role
of motivation, ability and
• opportunity
The Elaboration
Likelihood Model
(ELM)
Peripheral-
Central-route
route
processing
processing
• Peripheral
cues
ELM
When do Attitudes Predict
Behaviour?
• Level of • Specificity of
involvement/ attitudes
elaboration • Attitude-behaviour
• Knowledge and relationship over
experience time
• Analysis of • Emotional
reasons attachment
• Accessibility of • Situational factors
attitudes • Normative factors
• Attitude • Personality
confidence variables
ABC Model