Attitudes

An attitude is a predisposition to act or feel a certain way towards a person or thing.

Attitudes • have an emotional

charge + or –• occur within a situation• can not be measured

directly– self reporting or inference

• are learned• not temporary - more or

less enduring

Situation

Attitude

Attitudes are learned

• In the absence of existing attitude we are open to suggestion

Something(object of attitude) Positive result

Goal achievement

Formation of a + attitude

Communicator effect • highly respected source

helps formation of an attitude

• an inept attempt to teach an attitude can lead to a negative reaction eg. anti drug ads

Attitude stability depends on

• how closely it's linked with other attitudes

• knowledge - cognitive aspect

• degree of liking/disliking - affective aspect

Peanut butter example

• Cognitive (Knowledge)– larger jar for the money – less oil on top– creamier and easier to spread

• Affective (Emotional)– pretty label– I like those teddy bear presenters

• 2 component model: sum of cognitive X affective leading to a goal

Attitudes can be formed to preserve balance in our self image

• Have to fit with other attitudes, values, information accepted, what we do

• Changes in these may cause a readjustment of an attitude– eg. Johnny Cash for

Ripple Wine– Billy Jean King for

sports clothes

Knowledge

Opinion

Attitudes

Values

Attitude to object vs attitude to a behaviour

• 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

• Object: Rolls Royce car• Behaviour: purchasing a Rolls Royce

Tricomponent Attitude Model (ABC)

– Affect (How I feel about it)plus

– Behavioural tendency (Conative), plus

– Cognitions (what I think or know) about likely consequences of behaviour

AFFECTIVE (Feeling)

BehaviourCONATIVE

COGNITIVEKnowledge

Measurement

• Observation - difficult & time consuming • Qualitative

– pinpoint importnat attributes & issues– provide direction for further research

• Self reporting scales– Likert - degree of agreement with a statement– Semantic differential - opposite adjectives– Rank order scale– Constant sum scale

Attitude Profiling

• Single component– One dimensional based on feelings– Healthy vs unhealthy breakfast– Popular in commercial market research– Could be a lot more specific

• Multi attribute methods– What are key ATTRIBUTES used to judge

something– Rate the brands on these attributes– How important is each attribute?

Multiattribute modelThis college has great facilitiesDisagree |__|__|__|__|__|__|__| Agreestrongly 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 strongly

Teachers at this college are highly professionalDisagree |__|__|__|__|__|__|__| Agreestrongly 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 strongly

Courses are recognised by employersDisagree |__|__|__|__|__|__|__| Agreestrongly 1 2 4 5 6 7 strongly

College is easy to get toDisagree |__|__|__|__|__|__|__| AgreeStrongly 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 strongly

Snake diagrams

Fishbein type models SUM of Score X Importance on all attributes

Full time Marketing students' evaluation of subjects Sem 2/04

Questionnaire item

BSBSLS306ABSBMKG604ABSBMKG404ABSBMKG406A BSBADV605ABSBCMN310ABSBCMN310ABSBMGT608A

Attitude change strategies

• 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

Four Basic Attitude Functions• utilitarian

– what it will do for you• ego defensive function

– helps protect customer self image• value expressive

– reflects customers general values, lifestyle or attitude

• knowledge – cater to customer need to know

Associate with a special group, event or cause

• eg. famous people who attended TAFE• associate with Football, Olympics, etc.

Relating two conflicting attitudes• eg. Do you want a status course or a job

Alter components of the multi attribute model • change the evaluation of attributes

• eg. you'll get a job with TAFE• changing broad beliefs

• eg. TAFE is more than this is how we hold the drill• adding a new attribute

• eg. social activities• change the overall brand rating

• eg. the one personnel companies go to first• change beliefs about competing brands