Attitude

Attitude and its component Attitude-Behavior Link Function of Attitude Models of attitude Formation and change of attitude Measurement of attitude

Attitude
Is learned predisposition to respond to an object or class of objects in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way
Cognitive Affective Behavioral

Cognitive Component
Cognitive Component: belief about an object such as Democracy, Coke etc
Has almost no calories Contains caffeine Competitively price

Need not to be correct

Affective Component
Affective component: feelings or emotional reactions to an object
I like Volvo I do not like pepsi

Feeling

Cognition

Behavioral Component
Behavioral Component: ones tendency to respond in a certain manner toward an object or activity Decision to purchase or not purchase a product i.e. Pepsodent

Attitude-Behavior Consistency
It refers to the extent to which attitude leads to behaviour It is influenced by
Individual factors: access to resources, past experiences, orientation (action- or state-oriented personality) Situational factors: time passed, message repetition, social influence Measurement factors: specificity, time of measurement

Characteristics of Attitude
An object: person, situation Direction, intensity, and degree Structure Learned Consistency

Function of Attitude
Adjustment: use to obtain rewards and avoid punishments Ego-defensive:self-protection, e.g., smokers Value-expressive: express identify to others. e.g., t-shirts Knowledge: simplifies decisions, e.g., brand loyalty

Theories of Attitudes
Explicit vs. Implicit Attitudes
Explicit
conscious endorsement of attitudes

Implicit
involuntary, uncontrollable, unconscious measurement of these types of attitudes remains controversial

Theories of Attitudes
Learning Theory (Hovland et al., 1953)
attitudes as habits information/feelings acquired through association reinforcement/punishment learning imitation of attitudes acquisition

Theories of Attitudes
Cognitive Consistency Theories
attitude consistency
Balance Theory Cognitive Dissonance

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Balance Theory (Heider, 1958)
Assumes we are driven to maintain consistency between our sentiment and unit relations
A Related Object, Person, Attribute, or Consequence

The Person

P X
The Attitude Object

Theories of Attitudes
+ P + O + X P X + O P X O + P + X O -

Four Balanced Configurations P + O + X P X + O + P + X + O P X O -

Four Imbalanced Configurations

Main Assumption: we strive to balance imbalanced situations

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Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger, 1957)
the tendency to seek consistency among cognitions (e.g., beliefs, opinions)
inconsistency creates dissonance attempt to eliminate dissonance

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Eliminating Dissonance
1. importance of dissonant beliefs 2. consonant beliefs to outweigh dissonant beliefs 3. change the dissonant beliefs so they are no longer inconsistent

Usually results in attitude change

as opposed to behavior change

Theories of Attitudes
Cognitive Response Theory (Romero, Agnew & Insko,1996)
thoughts generatated in response to a persuasive message determine whether we support the message or not Counterarguing
resisting discrepant communications by actively rebutting the arguments No counterarguments attitude change Lots of counterarguments no attitude change

Theories of Attitudes
Self-Perception Theory (Bem,1967)
we infer our attitudes from our behavior
e.g., Youve noticed you tend to vote for younger candidates in elections so you infer that you have a preference for younger politicians

Although outcomes tend to be the same, the processes described by self-perception theory and cognitive dissonance theory are fundamentally different

Attitude Development
Personal experience
Need Selective perception Personality

Group association Influential others

Structural Models of Attitudes

Tri-component Attitude Model Multi-attribute Attitude Model

Tri-component Attitude Model

Cognitive Component
The knowledge and perceptions that are acquired by a combination of direct experience with the attitude object and related information from various sources. A consumers emotions or feelings about a particular product or brand. The likelihood or tendency that an individual will undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way with regard to the attitude object.

Affective Component

Conative Component

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Cognitive

Affective

Conative

MultiMulti -attribute Attitude Models

Attitude models that examine the composition of attitudes in terms of selected attributes or beliefs. Assume that individuals attitudes depend on the beliefs they hold regarding many attributes of the object, and on how important these attribute are for Individuals (e.g., idea, service, person, etc.).

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The attitude-toward-behavior model
Is the attitude toward behaving or acting with respect to an object, rather than the attitude toward the object itself

Theory-of-reasoned-action model
A comprehensive, integrative model of attitudes

Attitude-Toward-Behavior Model
A model that proposes that a individuals attitude toward a specific behavior is a function of how strongly he or she believes that the action will lead to a specific outcome (either favorable or unfavorable

Theory of Reasoned Action

A comprehensive theory of the interrelationship among attitudes, intentions, and behavior Behavior is a direct result of intention Two factors involved in behavioral intention:
Attitude toward an act Subjective norm

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Beliefs that specific referents think I should or should not perform the behavior

Beliefs that the behavior leads to certain outcomes

Evaluation of the outcomes

Motivation to comply with the specific referents

Attitude toward the behavior Intention Behavior

Subjective norm

Applying the Theory of Reasoned Action to Change Intentions

It helps to identify those attributes most important in causing individuals to form positive (or negative) attitudes toward an issue, idea or individual
Changing attitude toward environment

It helps to identify and helps to adjust sources of social pressure and their possible role in intention formation
Changing subjective norms

Strategies of Attitude Change

Changing the Basic Motivational Function
The Utilitarian function The ego defensive function The value expressive function The knowledge function

Associating the issues With an Admired Group or Event

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Resolving Two Conflicting Attitudes Altering Components of the Multi-attribute Model
Changing the relative evaluation of attribute Adding attribute

Elaboration Likelihood Model

A theory that suggests that a persons level of involvement during message processing is a critical factor in determining which route to persuasion is likely to be effective
Central route: Information Peripheral route: emotional content, celebrity endorsement

Persuasion
Persuasive messages are part of everyday life The effectiveness of a persuasive message depends on:
the communicator the communication the target

Persuasion
The Communicator
Credibility: high credibility more persuasive Expertise: expert sources more persuasive Trustworthiness
trustworthy sources more persuasive those who seem to be making an argument contrary to self-interest are more persuasive multiple sources of information make a message more trustworthy

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Liking
those we like more persuasive

Reference Groups
groups we like more persuasive

Source Derogation
when faced with a persuasive message inconsistent with our own attitudes, we can call the communicators reliability into question or make negative claims about the person future messages from the same source will carry less weight

Persuasion
The Communication
discrepancy from our own position
low Discrepancy little attitude change high Discrepancy little attitude change moderate Discrepancy most attitude change

greater credibility allows for more discrepancy arguments close to our own are viewed as closer than they actually are (assimilation) and those very discrepant from our own are view as further away than they actually are (contrast)

Persuasion
Strong vs. Weak Arguments
persuasiveness depends on our level of processing

Repetition of Argument
increases persuasiveness up to a point think of an annoying commercial that is always on in general, repetition helps strong arguments but hurts weak arguments

Persuasion
Peripheral cues and message characteristics
we use peripheral cues when:
an issue has little importance to us were uniformed or distracted

source characteristics and the number and length of arguments will increase persuasion if the above conditions are met

Persuasion
Matching the persuasive message to the nature of the attitude
e.g., appealing to anger in an argument when the audience is angry is more likely to be persuasive

Distorting the Message

can achieve cognitive consistency between our own behavior and persuasive messages of others through distortion of the message
Blanket Rejection
dismissing an argument for no apparent reason

Persuasion
The Target
Aggression Arousal
personal frustrations can cause us to advocate aggressive responses

Fear Arousal
increasing fear in the target increases the persuasiveness of a message up to a point moderate levels of fear are most persuasive

Selective attention

Persuasion
Ego Involvement
Attitudes highly relevant to the self are hard to change
commitment to the attitude issue involvement (personal relevance) response involvement individual differences
some people more persuadable than others

Persuasion
The Situation
Distraction
mild amounts enhance persuasion
counterargument process is affected

When Attitude Change Fails

Attitude Innoculation (McGuire, 1964)
being exposed to weak arguments counter to our own attitude makes us more resistant to later exposure to complex counter-attitudinal persuasive arguments

Reactance
A negative reactions to efforts by others to reduce our freedom by getting us to do what they want us to do

Forewarning
knowing that an argument is about to be made reduces persuasion
counterarguments can be made in the intervening period

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Selective avoidance
A tendency to direct our attention away from information that challenges our existing attitude

Biased assimilation
A tendency to evaluate information contrary to our existing views as less convincing and less reliable than information consistent with these views

Attitude polarization
A tendency to evaluate mixed evidence or information in such a way that it strengthened our initial views and makes them more extreme

Measurement of Attitude
Observation Qualitative Investigation
Focus group Depth interview Psychological tests

Attitude scales

Depth Interviews
Interviews with people knowledgeable about the general subject being investigated. Some possibilities:
those who work with it (e.g., employees, consultants) those who study it (e.g., researchers, analysts) those who live it (e.g., Stakeholders)

Focus Group
An interview conducted among a small number of individuals simultaneously; the interview relies more on group discussion than on directed questions to generate data.

Characteristics of Focus Groups

Typically 8 12 people Homogeneous within group 1.5 to 2 hours in length Sessions recorded and transcribed

Advantages of Focus Groups

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Synergism Snowballing Stimulation Security Spontaneity Serendipity Specialization Scientific scrutiny Structure Speed

The Dark Side of Focus Groups

Its easy for researchers see what they expect to see in focus group results. Focus groups are one from of exploratory researchthey should not be expected to deliver final results or answers to decision problemsyet many researchers seem to use them for that purpose.