Consumer Behavior,

& Attitude

Asst.Prof.R.Gayathri
Gnanam School of
Business

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 Attitude

A state of mind or feeling with regard to

some matter

2
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 A learned
predisposition to
behave in a
consistently
Attitudes
favorable or
unfavorable manner
with respect to a
given object.

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 What are Attitudes?
• The attitude “object”
• Attitudes are a learned predisposition
• Attitudes have consistency
• Attitudes occur within a situation

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 HOW MUCH DO YOU SEE OF AN 
ICEBERG?
Only 10 % of
the Iceberg is
seen above the
surface
90% of an
iceberg is
below sea
level

Any Guesses?

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 HOW MUCH DO YOU SEE OF AN 
NEGATIVE ATTITUDE?
Only 10 % of your negativity is seen above
the surface—Your attitude is this 10 %
90% of an negativity is below the surface…

But no one knows what is under the surface

but you…All they see is your attitude

“Positive impressions are like seeds. You

plant them, nurture them…And below the
surface they grow and expand…Breaking
through the surface often exponentially”
Linda Kaplan and Robin Koval—The Power
of Nice

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The Iceberg phenomenon applied to us…or the
human condition
ATTITUDE
10% Knowledge
and
Skills Known to others
Unknown to others Behavior
Motives and Standards

Ethics and Beliefs

Values and Judgments

90%
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 Characteristics of Attitude
• Formed largely from the continuous process of
socialization
• Positive or negative
• Once formed not easily changed
– Takes a SEE, new conditions, new experience, and new
information
– Attitudes may be affected by age, position, and
education

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 Consumer Attitudes
• Attitude is the amount of affect or feeling for or against a stimulus
• Attitudes are stored in long-term memory
• Beliefs are the cognitive knowledge about an object
• In high involvement situations, beliefs predict attitudes.

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 Hierarchies of Beliefs,
Attitudes, and Behaviors

• Decision-Making
Hierarchies

• Experiential Hierarchy

• Behavioral Influence
Hierarchy

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 When Do Attitudes Predict Behavior?
• When consumer involvement is high.
• measurement must at proper level of abstraction. Cannot
predict whether someone will go to church on Sunday by
asking them about overall attitude toward church.
• Must consider subjective norms
• Situational factors
• Other brands/objects
• Attitude strength
• Mere measurement effect: just asking intention to buy
increases likelihood of buying.
• When measured close in hierarchy to behavior. Surface
traits are much like global attitude measures.

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 Example of the Process
• SFC Jones is unhappy that women are now assigned
to his unit because he feels that females cannot handle
stressful emergency situations. Then during a
situation one female functions well during an
emergency.

• SFC Jones experiences cognitive dissonance.

• How does Jones reduce this?

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 Example of the Process
• Avoidance- SFC Jones delegates responsibilities
so he doesn’t have to come in contact with
females, or asks for a transfer.
• Denial- SFC Jones passes this off as an exception
to the rule
• Change- SFC Jones thought females could not
perform under stress, but he was wrong.
• Have you experienced this? Now you know the
big words for what happened to you.

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 Figure 8.1
Wendy’s
Offers Salads
To
Differentiate
Itself

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 Structural Models of Attitudes
• Tricomponent Attitude Model
• Muliattribute Attitude Model
• The Trying-to-Consume Model
• Attitude-toward-the-Ad Model

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 Figure 8.2 A Simple Representation of
the Tricomponent Attitude Model

Conation

Affect
Cognition

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 The Tricomponent 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.
• Affective Component
– A consumer’s emotions or feelings about a particular
product or brand.
• Conative Component
– The likelihood or tendency that an individual will
undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way
with regard to the attitude object.

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 Attitude models that
examine the
Multiattribute composition of
Attitude consumer attitudes
Models in terms of selected
product attributes or
beliefs.

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 Multiattribute Attitude Models
• The attitude-toward-object model
– Attitude is function of evaluation of product-
specific beliefs and evaluations
• 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

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 A model that proposes
that a consumer’s
attitude toward a
specific behavior is a
Attitude-
function of how
Toward-
strongly he or she
Behavior
believes that the action
Model
will lead to a specific
outcome (either
favorable or
unfavorable).
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 A comprehensive theory
Theory of of the interrelationship
Reasoned among
Action attitudes,intentions, and
behavior.

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 Figure 8.4 A Simplified Version of the
Theory of Reasoned Action
Beliefs
Beliefsthat
that
specific
specific
Beliefs
Beliefsthat
that Motivation
Motivation
referents
referents
the
thebehavior
behavior Evaluation
Evaluation totocomply
comply
think
thinkII
leads
leadstoto ofofthe
the with
withthe
the
should
shouldor or
certain
certain outcomes
outcomes specific
specific
should
shouldnotnot
outcomes
outcomes referents
referents
perform
performthe the
behavior
behavior

Attitude
Attitudetoward
toward Subjective
Subjective
the
thebehavior
behavior norm
norm

Intention
Intention

Behavior
Behavior

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 An attitude theory
designed to account
for the many cases
Theory of where the action or
Trying to outcome is not certain
Consume but instead reflects
the consumer’s
attempt to consume
(or purchase).

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 Table 8.6 Selected Examples of Potential
Impediments That Might Impact Trying
POTENTIAL PERSONAL IMPEDIMENTS
“I wonder whether my fingernails will be longer by the time of my wedding.”
“I want to try to lose fifteen pounds by next summer.”
“I’m going to try to get tickets for a Broadway show for your birthday.”
“I’m going to attempt to give up smoking by my birthday.”
“I am going to increase how often I go to the gym from two to four times a
week.”
“Tonight, I’m not going to have dessert at the restaurant.”
POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPEDIMENTS
“The first ten people to call in will receive a free T-shirt.”
“Sorry, the shoes didn’t come in this shipment from Italy.”
“There are only three bottles of champagne in our stockroom. You better
come in sometime today.”
“I am sorry. We cannot serve you. We are closing the restaurant because of a
problem with the oven.”

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 A model that proposes
that a consumer forms
various feelings (affects)
Attitude- and judgments
Toward- (cognitions) as the result
the-Ad of exposure to an
Model advertisement, which, in
turn, affect the consumer’s
attitude toward the ad and
attitude toward the brand.

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 Figure 8.6 A Conception of the
Relationship among Elements in an
Attitude-Toward-the-Ad Model

Exposure to an Ad

Judgments about Feelings from the

the Ad (Cognition) Ad (Affect)

Beliefs about the Attitude toward

Brand the Ad

Attitude toward
the Brand
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 Issues in Attitude Formation
• How attitudes are learned
• Sources of influence on attitude formation
• Personality factors

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 Figure 8.8
Encouraging
Trial

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 Strategies of Attitude Change
• Changing the Basic Motivational Function
• Associating the Product With an Admired
Group or Event
• Resolving Two Conflicting Attitudes
• Altering Components of the Multiattribute
Model
• Changing Beliefs About Competitors’
Brands
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 Four Basic Attitude Functions

• The Utilitarian Function

• The Ego-defensive
Function
• The Value-expressive
Function
• The Knowledge Function

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 Figure 8.9
Clorox Uses A
Utilitarian
Appeal

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 Figure 8.10
Suave Uses
Ego Defensive
Appeal

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 Figure 8.11
AC Delco Uses
a Value-
Expressive
Appeal

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 Figure 8.12
A Knowledge
Appeal

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 A theory that suggests
that a person’s level
Elaboration of involvement during
Likelihood message processing is
Model a critical factor in
(ELM) determining which
route to persuasion is
likely to be effective.

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 Why Might Behavior Precede
Attitude Formation?
• Cognitive Dissonance Behave (Purchase)
Theory
• Attribution Theory

Form Attitude Form Attitude

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 Holds that discomfort or
dissonance occurs when
Cognitive
a consumer holds
Dissonance
conflicting thoughts
Theory
about a belief or an
attitude object.

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 Figure 8.17
Reducing
Cognitive
Dissonance

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 Cognitive dissonance
that occurs after a
consumer has made a
purchase
commitment.
Postpurchase
Consumers resolve
Dissonance
this dissonance
through a variety of
strategies designed to
confirm the wisdom
of their choice.
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 A theory concerned
with how people assign
casualty to events and
Attribution form or alter their
Theory attitudes as an outcome
of assessing their own
or other people’s
behavior.

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 Issues in Attribution Theory
• Self-perception Theory
– Foot-In-The-Door Technique
• Attributions Toward Others
• Attributions Toward Things
• How We Test Our Attributions

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 A theory that suggests
Self- that consumers
Perception develop attitudes by
Theory reflecting on their own
behavior.

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 A theory that suggests
consumers are likely
to accept credit for
successful outcomes
Defensive
(internal attribution)
Attribution
and to blame other
persons or products for
failure (external
attribution).

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 Some Managerial Implications
• Positioning/differentiation: position brands based upon
key attributes.
• Environmental analysis: assess and manipulate environment to
implement behavioral influence approach.
• Market research: employ to identify salient attributes and key
benefits, measure attitudes, and predict behavioral intentions
• Marketing mix: identify benefits sought by consumers and
develop products to provide them. Develop promotions to
communicate to consumers key attributes, to influence beliefs,
attitudes, and behaviors.
• Segmentation: Employ benefit segmentation by identifying
target markets desiring specific product benefits.

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 Criteria for Causal Attributions
• Distinctiveness
• Consistency Over Time
• Consistency Over Modality
• Consensus

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