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2.1- Concept & Theories of Attitude
2.2- Theories of Attitude Formation

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2.1:-Concepts & Theories of Attitude

2.11-Attitude Defined:- The dictionary meaning of ‘attitude is

settled behavior as indicating opinion’. Thurstone (1928), has defined attitude

as “the sum total of man’s inclination and feelings, prejudice or bias,

preconceived notions, ideas, fears, threats and convictions about any specific

topic”. Attitude is a subjective and personal affair. The term ‘opinion’

symbolizes an attitude. In fact it is the verbal expression of attitude.

Apart from the term attitude has been defined differently by different authors.

A few of these definitions are-

• Attitudes are individual’s mental processes which determine both the

actual and potential responses of each person in a social world. Since an

attitude is always directed towards some object, it may be defined as”

the state of mind of the individual towards a value”.

• Attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness organized through

experience exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the

individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is

related.

• Attitude is the predisposition of the individual to evaluate some symbol

or object or aspect of his world in a favorable manner.

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 • An enduring system of positive or negative evaluations, emotional

feelings, and pro and con action tendencies with respect to a social

object.

• An attitude is the degree of positive or negative affect associated with

some psychological object.

• An attitude, roughly, is a residuum of experience, by which further

activity is conditioned and controlled. We may think of attitudes as

acquired tendencies to act in specific ways towards objects.

Social psychologist, unfortunately, do not agree on the precise definition of

an attitude. However, four definitions are more commonly accepted than

others. One conception is that an attitude is how positive or negative,

favorable or unfavorable, or pro or con a person feels towards an object. This

definition views attitude as a feeling or an evaluative reaction to objects.

A second definition represents the thoughts of All Port, who

views attitude as “learned predisposition to respond to an object or class of

objects (e.g. a product, category, a brand, a service, an advertisement or a

retail establishment) in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way”.

* Beri, G.C., Marketing Research, 4th Ed., 5th Reprint 2009, Tata Mc-Graw Hill, pp.134-151.

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 This definition incorporates the notion of a readiness to respond

toward an object. Thus our orientation towards people, objects, and events is

guided by attitudes. Attitudes are learned from our socialization process. A

large section of Indian population has a negative attitude towards non-

vegetarian dishes. Attitudes may change e.g. we loved savings previously, but

none prefer to splurge our income for a better life style. Canned foods were

frowned upon a few years ago but now we have come to accept them. Attitude

influence purchase decisions e.g. investment in stocks is preferred by risk

taking individuals.

A third definition of attitude popularized by cognitively oriented.

Social psychologists are: “an enduring organization of motivational,

emotional, perceptual and cognitive process with respect to some aspect of the

individual’s world”. Thus views attitude as being made up of three

components, (i) the cognitive or knowledge component - a persons. Belief

about an abject (ii) affective or emotional component - a person’s feeling of

like or dislike concerning or object, and (iii) conative or behavioral tendency

component - action tendencies towards an object. Each of these three

components tends to remain in balance with the other two. That is, if a person

holds a favorable belief towards an object, he will generally behave in

supportive manners towards that involve what people think about, feel about

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and how they would like to behave towards an attitude object. Behavior is not

only determined by what people like to do but also by what they think they

should do.”

2.12-Characteristics of Attitude:-

Attitude have several important characteristics or properties

namely, they (i) have an object; (ii) have direction, intensity, and degree; (iii)

have consistency and (iv) are learned (v) attitudes Occurs Within a Situation.

Attitude Have an Object:-

By definition, attitudes must have an object. That is, they must

have a focal point - whether it be an abstract concept, such as “ethical

behavior”, or a tangible item a such as a motorcycle. The object can be

physical thing, such as a product, or it can be an action, such as buying a

washing machine. In addition, the object can be either one item, such as a

person or a collection of items such as a social group. It also can be either

specific or general.

Thus the word object interpreted broadly include specific

consumption - or marketing - related concepts, such as products, product

category, brand, service, possessions, product use, causes & issues, people

advertisement, price, medium or retailer.

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Attitude has Direction, Degree & Intensity:-

An attitude expresses how a person feels towards an object. It

expresses (i) direction - the person is either favorable or unfavorable toward,

or for or against the object (ii) degree - how much the person either likes or

dislikes the object, and (iii) intensity - the level of sureness or confidence of

expression about the object, or how strongly a person feels about his or her

conviction.

The direction, degree and intensity of a person’s attitude toward

a product have said to provide marketers with an estimate of his or her

readiness to act toward, or purchase the product. However, a marketers must -

also understand how important the consumer’s attitude is vis-a-vis other

attitudes and the situational constraints, such as ability to pay, that might

inhabit the consumer from making a purchase decision.

Attitudes have consistency:-

Another characteristic of attitudes is that they are relatively

consistent - with the behavior they reflect however, despite their consistency,

attitudes are not necessarily permanent; they do change.

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 Normally, we expect consumer’s behavior to correspond with

their attitudes. In other words, when consumers are free to act as they wish,

we anticipate that their actions will be consistent with their attitudes.

However, circumstances often preclude consistency between attitude &

behavior, e.g. if a Dutch consumer reported preferring Garman over Japanese

automobiles, we would expect that the individual would be more likely to buy

a German Car when next in the market for a new car. But, the matter of

affordability may intervene, and the consumer would find a particular

Japanese car to be a more realistic choice than the German car. Therefore we

must consider possible situational influences on consumer attitudes &

behavior.

Attitudes are a Learned Predisposition

Just as a golf swing, a tennis stroke, and tastes are learned, so are

attitudes. Attitudes develop from our personal experiences with reality, as well

as from information from friends, sales people & news media. They are also

derived from both direct and indirect experiences in life. Thus it is important

to recognize that learning precedes attitude formation and change.

This means that attitudes relevant to purchase behavior are

formed as a result of direct experiences with the products, information

acquired from others, or exposure to mass media advertising various forms of

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direct marketing (e.g., a retailer’s catalog). As ‘learned predisposition,

attitudes have a motivational quality, that is, they might propel a consumer

toward a particular behavior or repel the consumer away from a particular

behavior.

Attitudes Occur Within a Situation:-

Attitudes occur within and are affected by the situation. By

situation, we mean events or circumstances that at a particular point in time

influence the relationship between an attitude and consumers to behave in

ways seemingly inconsistent with their attitudes.

Indeed, individuals can have a variety of attitude toward a

particular behavior, each corresponding to a particular situation. Thus, when

measuring attitudes, it is important to consider the situation in which the

behavior takes place or we can misinterpret the relationship between attitudes

and behavior. Further specific situations might influence consumer attitude

toward specific brands of products or services.

Learning Produces Attitudes & Interests:-

An attitude is our occurred mutual predisposition on regarding

some idea or object. It is the positive or negative evaluations, feelings or

action tendencies that we learn through socialization. To advertises, gaining

positive consumes attitudes is critical but rewarding to their efforts made.

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 Attitudes must be either capitalized on or changed. Therefore, it is of

immense importance to the advertiser to understand consumer learning of

attitudes because attitude influences purchase decision. The brand interest is

even more critical for motivating action for frequently purchase products.

Brand interest is an individual’s openness of curiosity about a brand. An

effective, informative and entertaining advertising can enhance interest is

the brand reduces the variety seeking tendency of consumers who become

bored with using the same old brand.

An advertisement by its function makes the potential consumers

aware of the product and persuades them to buy the product. The advertisers

can do it effectively thereby motivating the consumers to buy the product by

offering special incentives and schemes. Thus an advertisement by its virtue

plays a vital role in changing consumer attitude positively towards a brand.

2.13-Theories of Attitude

Classical Conditioning:

Consumers often purchase new products that are associated with

a favourably viewed brand name. Their favourable attitude towards the brand

name is frequently the result of repeated satisfaction with other products

produced by the same company. The brand name is the unconditioned

stimulus that, through repetition and positive reinforcement results in a

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favourable attitude (the unconditioned response). The idea of family branding

is based on this form of attitude learning.

Instrumental Conditionings-

Sometimes, attitudes follow the purchase & consumption of a

product. A consumer may purchase a brand name product without having a

prior attitude toward it because it is the only product of its kind available.

Further consumers also make trial purchases of new brands from product

categories in which they have little personal involvement. If they find the

purchased brand to be satisfactory they are likely to develop a favourable

attitude towards it.

Cognitive Learning Theory:-

The Situations in which consumers seeks to solve a problem or

satisfy a need, they are likely to form attitudes (either positive or negative)

about products on the basis of information exposure & their own cognition

(knowledge & benefits).

In general, the more information consumers have about a product

or services the more likely they are to form attitudes about it, either positive or

negative. However, regardless of available information, consumers are not

always ready or willing to process product related information. Furthermore,

consumers often use a limited amount of the information available to them.

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Consumers usually absorb only three or four bits of information at one time.

Research suggest that only two or three important beliefs about a product

dominate in the formation of attitudes and that less important beliefs provide

little additional input. This finding suggest that marketers should fight off the

impulse to include all the features of their products and services in their

advertisements, rather they should focus on the few key points that are at the

heart of what distinguishes their product from that of competitors.

2.2-Attitude Formation

2.21 -Sources of Influence on Attitude Formation:-

The formation of consumer attitude is strongly influenced by

personal experience, the influence of family & friends, direct marketing &

mass media.

• Direct Experience:- The primary means by which attitude towards

goods & services are formed is through the consumer’s direct

experience in trying & evaluating them. Recognizing the importance of

direct experience, marketers frequently attempt to stimulate trial of new

products by offering cuts-off coupons or even free samples. The

marketer’s prime objective is to get consumers to try the new product

and then to evaluate it. If the product proves rates factory, then it is

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 likely that consumers will form positive attitudes and repurchase the

product. This is what the advertisers and companies strive for.

Influence of Family and Friends:- As we come into contact with

others, especially family, close friends & admired individuals (e.g. a

respective teacher), we form attitude that influence our lives. The

family is an extremely important source of influence on the formation

of attitudes for it is the family that provides us with many of our basic

values and a wide range of less central beliefs. The reason is family

bonds are quite stronger than other groups.

Direct Marketing:- Marketers very carefully target customers on the

basis of their demographic, psychographic or geo-demographic profiles

with toughly personalized product offerings and messages that show

this understand their special needs & desires.

Direct marketing efforts have an excellent chance of favourably influencing

target consumers attitude, because the products & services offered and the

promotional messages conveyed are very carefully designed to address the

individual segment’s needs & concerns & thus, are able to achieve a higher

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“hit rate” than mass marketing. For instance direct marketing is very

popular in IIS.

Exposure to Mass Media:- In countries where people have easy

access to newspapers and a variety of general & special interest

magazines and television channels, consumers are constantly exposed

to new ideas, products, opinions & advertisements. These mass media

communications provide an important source of information that

influences the formation of consumer attitudes.

Personality Factors:- Personality plays a crucial role in attitude

formation. The individuals with a high need for cognition (i.e. those

who crave information & enjoy thinking) are likely to form positive

attitudes in response to ads or direct mail that is rich in product related

information. On the other hand, consumers who are relatively low in

need for cognition are more likely to form positive attitudes in response

to ads that feature an attractive model or well-known celebrity. In a

similar fashion, attitudes towards new products and new consumption

situations are strongly influenced by specific personality characteristics

of consumers.

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 Further-more, it is important to recognize that much that has

been said about attitude formation is also basically true of attitude change.

That is, attitude changes are learned, they are influenced by personal

experience and other sources of information and personality affects both the

receptivity and the speed with which attitudes are likely to be altered.

Thus, attitude is an important characteristic of a consumer that

influences his purchase behavior. It is, therefore, necessary for the marketers

to have a understanding of customer’s attitude before designing and

advertising campaign, slogan or ad message. The effectiveness of ad is

characterized by how easy it is digested by the consumers and positively

reflected through his attitude toward product/ brand/ This will in real help the

marketer to get consumes aware about the product, build the product image &

finally the company image finally the marketer can get positive reinforcement

and brand name rehearsal to the consumes through repetitive advertisement.

2.22-Attitude towards the Advertisement:-

The attitude towards the advertisement is defined “as a predisposition to

respond in a favorable or unfavorable manner to a particular advertising

stimulus during a particular exposure occasion. Determinants of attitude

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towards the advertisement include attitude towards the advertiser, evaluation

of the ad, execution itself, the evoked by the ad, and the degree to which the

ad affects viewer’s arousal levels. A veiwer’s feeling about the context in

which an ad appears can also influnence brand attitudes. If consumers are not

able to view an ad again, both belief & attitude confidence about that ad

rapidly diminsh. Hence favors repetition of ad in the media.

The consumer forms various feelings (affects) and judgements (cognitions)

as a result of exposure to an ad. These feelings ans judgements in turn affect

the consumer’s attitude towards the advertisements & beliefs about the brand

acquired from exposure to the ad. The feelings conveyed by an advertisement

not only influence the attitude towards the ad but also affect the consumer

evaluations of the brand & attitude towards the brand. Research among Asian,

Indian, US immigrants has explored attitutde towards 12 ads & purchase

intention of 6 dofferent products that the ad features. The study found a

positive relationship between attitude towards the' advertisement & purchase

intention for each of the advertised product, that is , if consunmers “like” the

ad, they are more likely to purchase the product. Another study has found that

parential communication, peer communication, social utility of advertising,

amount of television watched, gender and race were all associated attitude

towards advertising. It was found that Africans, Americans & women have

more positive attitude towards advertising.

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Attitudes Towards Internet Advertising:-

Ducoffe (1996) found respondents rated Internet advertising as fairly

informative but less entertaining. Gordon and De Lima-Tumer (1997)

examined consumer attitudes towards Internet advertising in a social-contract

perspective. They found that web advertising is more effective for developing

a favourable brand attitude than it is for actually selling something.

Respondents did not object to Internet advertisements as long as they were

clearly identified.

A number of authors have found that the more experience the consumer has

online, the less accepting he/she is of Internet advertising, (Bruner and Kumar,

2000; Flores, 2000).

Schlosser, Shavitt and Kanfer (1999) conducted a study of Internet advertising

attitudes using the same questionnaire as Shavitt, Lowrey, Haefner, (1998)

and comparing Internet attitudes with a demographically matched sample

from this earlier survey of general advertising attitudes. They found that

respondents were approximately equally divided between liking, disliking and

feeling neutral about Internet advertising. Only 38% of respondents liked

Internet advertising compared to 46% for general advertising, but fewer were

offended by Internet advertising than by general advertising (29% versus

48%). Their study also analysed overall attitude to Internet advertising in

terms of five components: utility, indignity, trust, price-effect and regulation.

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2.23-Relationship Between Attitude & Behaviour:-

An attitude is a predisposition to oneself, other persons, objetcs or tissues in a

consistently favoarble or unfavorable way. Because an attitude is a

predisposition, it would seem that the more favorable one’s attitude is towards

a product or service, the more likely that the product or service will be

purchased.*

The attitude -behavior relationship is not straight forward, although there may

be close linkages. Attitude and behavioral imntentions do not always lead to

actual behavior & while attitudes and behaviors are expected to be consistent

with each other, that is not always the case. Moreover behavior can influence

attitudes. Here we can quote an example, that marketers know that a positive

experience with the product or service reinforce a positive attitude or makes a

customer question a negative attitude.

Business researcher treat attitudes as hypothetical constructs because of their

complexity & the fact that they are inferred from the measurement data, not

actually observed. These qualifications cause reseracher to be cautious about

the ways certain aspects of measured attitudes predict behaviour. Several

factors have an effect on the applicability of attitudinal research:

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• Specific attitudes are better j

• Strong attitudes ( strength k

object is remembered and brought to conciousness, how extreme the

attitude is, or the degree of confidence in it) are better predictors of

behaviour than weak attitudes composed of little intensity or topical

interest.

• Direct experiences with the attutide object (when the attitude is formed,

during repeated exposure or through reminders) produce behaviour

more reliably.

• Cognitive based attitudes influence behaviours better than affective

based attitudes.

• Affective-based attitude are often better predictors of consumption

behaviour.

• Using multiple measurements of attitude or several behavioural

assessments across time & environments improves prediction.

• The influence of reference groups (interpersonal support, urges of

compliance, peers pressure) & the individual’s inclination to conform to

these influences improves the attitude-based linkage.

Researcher measure and analyse attitudes because attitudes offer insights

about behaviour. Neither the attitude nor the behavioral intent instrument,

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 alone or together is effective in predicting the person’s actual behaviour if,

it has not been designed carefully. Attitude is important because attitudes

reflect past experience and shape future behaviour.

*Cooper, R. Donald and Schindler, Pamela., Business Research Methods, Ed. 2006 (Twelfth Reprint2010),

TMH. pp. 330.

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