Arnould

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Chapter
13
Attitude Models and Consumer Decision-Making
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Overview

• Consumers make many choices every day.
• Some brand choices consumers make are relatively
  simple in other situations, consumers make brand
  choices that require extensive information search
  and difficult choices.

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Consumer Attitudes and Attitude Models

• Attitude
• a way to summarize consumers thoughts, feelings,
  and actions.
• Attitude models
• provide a description of how consumer information
  processing, including cognitions and emotions,
  influence consumer choice processes.

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Attitudes

• Attitudes reflect what consumers think and feel
  and can be used to explain what consumers intend
  to do.
• Attitude models help to describe how consumers
  make choices.
• Attitude is a consumers overall, enduring
  evaluation of a concept or object, such as a
  person, a brand, a service.

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Why are Attitudes Formed?

• Four major functions of attitudes include
  utilitarian, value-expressive, ego defensive, and
  knowledge.
• Utilitarian function is based on rewards and
  punishments.
• Value-expressive function refers to a consumers
  central values or self-concept.
• Ego-defensive function serves to protect the
  person from threats or internal feelings of
  threat.
• Knowledge function refers to the need for order,
  meaning, and structure.

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Cognition, Affect, and Behavior

• Cognition
• the beliefs a consumer has about an attitude
  object
• Affect
• the way a consumer feels about an attitude object
• Behavior
• the persons intentions to do something with
  regard to an attitude object

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Three Hierarchy of Effects Models
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The Standard Hierarchy

• emphasizes a problem-solving process
• order of consumer responses
• cognition, affect, then behavior (learn-feel-do)
• components of cognition awareness and knowledge
• components of affect liking and preference
• behavior intention to buy and actual behavior

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The Low-Involvement Hierarchy

• applies to low-involvement purchase situations
  were both motivation and received risk are low
• order of consumer responses
• cognition, behavior, then affect (learn-do-feel)
• most common when the product is inexpensive
• Quick-Choice Model
• No role for emotion or affect
• Impulse purchases

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The Experiential Hierarchy

• stresses the importance of consumers emotions
• applies to situations in which consumer are often
  highly involved in decision making
• order of consumer responses
• Behavior, affect, then cognition (do-feel-learn)

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How Attitudes are Formed and Learned

• Attitudes are formed through one of three related
  processes
• Compliance
• Attitudes are formed to gain reward or avoid
  punishment
• Identification
• Attitudes are formed so as to allow the person to
  fit in or to be similar to others
• Internalization
• Attitudes become part of a persons value system
• Attitudes are strongly held and difficult to
  change

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Consistency and Cognitive Dissonance

• Cognitive consistency
• consumers strive to maintain harmony between
  their thoughts and behaviors.
• Cognitive dissonance
• results when there is a discrepancy between
  behavior and attitude.
• Self-perception theory
• people observe their own behavior and use these
  observations to shape their own attitudes.
• Social judgment theory
• people understand the world by matching up new
  stimuli with information that is already stored
  in memory.

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Consistency and Cognitive Dissonance

• Balance theory
• describes how consumers evaluate elements that
  belong together.
• consumer perceptions are classified as either
  positive or negative.
• perceptions are altered to make them consistent.
• Element triad
• a consumer and her perceptions
• an attitude object
• some other person

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Balance Theory and Attitude Change
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MultiAttribute Attitude Models

• MultiAttribute Attitude Models
• consumers attitudes about brands depend on the
  beliefs they have about a group of brand
  attributes.
• Three important elements
• attributes, characteristics of the attitude
  object
• beliefs, cognition about the specific object
• importance weights, reflecting the priority
  consumers place on the object.

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The Basic Fishbein Model

• The Basic Fishbein Model of Consumer Choice
• The model measures
• salient beliefs
• object-attitude linkages
• evaluations of each of the important attributes.
• Attitudes are a sum of beliefs and their
  evaluations.
• Strategic applications
• promotions
• communications
• influencing competitors belief ratings

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Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion