a lasting, general evaluation of 

people, objects, advertisements, or issues

 anything toward which 

one has an attitude

An attitude has three components: 

• Affect: the way a consumer feels about an 

attitude object 

• Behavior: person’s intentions to do 

something with regard to an attitude object 

• Cognition: beliefs a consumer has about 

an attitude object

• Standard Learning Hierarchy: Think-Feel-Do  (CAB) 

• Low-Involvement Hierarchy: Do-Feel-Think  (BAC) 

• Experiential Hierarchy: Feel-Think-Do  (ACB)

Standard Learning Hierarchy: 

Approaching a decision as a problem solving process.

THINK-FEEL-DO

C-A-B

Low-Involvement Hierarchy:

Forming an evaluation AFER you buy the product. Consumer doesn't have a strong preference for one brand over another.

DO- FEEL- THINK

B-A-C

Acting on the basis of our emotional reactions. The mood a person is in affects how a marketing msg influences how a person processes an ad, remembers info, etc.

FEEL-THINK-DO

ACB

1. Compliance

2. Identification

3. Internalization

Lowest level of involvement. We form an attitude b/c it helps us gain reward or avoid punishments. this attitude is likely to change if another option comes up.

Ex: drinking Pepsi b/c it's available in the cafeteria and you don't want to go somewhere else

Highest level of involvement. Deep-seated attitudes become part of our value system.

 We value/seek harmony among thoughts,

feelings, and behaviors 

• We will change components to make them 

consistent

• Foot in the Door technique
• low ball 
• door in the face 

Assimilation Effects.

Contrast Effects. 

 Assimilation effects = msgs that fall within the 

latitudes are deemed consistent even if they are not.  

• Contrast effects = Messages that fall outside our latitude of acceptance (fall in our latitude of rejection) are rejected even if they are not 

that different

Considers how a person might perceive 

relations among different attitude objects 

and how he might alter attitudes to maintain 

consistency 

• Triad attitude structures: 

• Person and perceptions 

• Perception of attitude object 

• Perception of other person/object

EX: you like John. You find out that John has a tattoo. You don't like dudes with tats.

 Consumer’s attitudes toward an attitude 

object depend on beliefs she has about 

object attribute

1. Salient Beliefs: the beliefs a person has about an object during evaluation

2. Object-attribute linkages: the probability that an object has an important attribute

3. Evaluation

1. Capitalize on Relative Advantage: if consumers view one choice as better than the other b/c of a particular attribute, a marketer should convince consumers that that attribute is important

2. Strengthen Perceived Product/Attribute Linkages: A marketer tries to focus on specific attributes & qualities (little known facts, new & improved)

3. Add a new attribute

4. Influence competitors' ratings: comparative advertising. Show that your college has lower rates than others.

No. A person's attitude doesn't predict behavior. "Do as I say, not as I do".

EX: consumers can like a certain commercial but still won't buy the product

Focuses on predictive ability.

AKA Theory of reasoned action.

Intention vs Behavior: Measure behavioral intentions like past purchase behavior b/c we can't predict the future b/c of uncontrollable factors

Social Pressure: Other ppl influence what they do. (subjective norm = normative belief + motivation to comply)

Attitude Toward Buying: measuring the attitude toward the act of buying & not the product itself

SN =

the intensity of a normative belief that others believe we should take/not take some action

+

the motivation to comply with that belief

How do Marketers change attitudes?

Persuasion: an active attempt to change attitudes.

1. reciprocity: we give if we first receive.

2. Scarcity: we like "limited edition" stuff

3. Authority

4. Consistency

5. Liking: we agree with ppl we like

6. Consensus: we consider what others do before we decide what to do

SCREM:

Source

Channel: which medium?

Recepient

Environment: how a person interprets the msg in light of their own experiences

Message

More interactive.

People can opt-out or in (permission marketing).

ppl CHOOSE to get the info they want or don't want. (DVRs, caller id, internet, not just broadcast like the traditional model focuses on)

M-commerce: marketers use mobile commerce: promoting their goods & services on wireless devices, PDAs, cell phones,etc

• blogs
• video blogging
• podcasting
• virtual worlds
• twitter
• widgets

Source effects mean the same message by 

different people can have very different 

meanings 

• A “source” may be chosen due to expertise, 

likeability, attractiveness, or similarity

Def: a source’s perceived 

expertise, objectivity, or trustworthiness.

Ppl appear to forget about the negative source and change their attitudes anyways.

The differences in attitude change btwn Positive sources & less positive sources become erased over time.

Knowlegdge bias: a source's knowledge about a topic is not accurate

Reporting bias: a source has the knowledge but we question his willingness to convey it accurately

we assume that persons who rank high on one dimensions excel on others as well

(we think cute ppl are also smart, etc)

Star Power.

Nonhuman Endorsers.

star power works b/c celebs embody cultural meanings: they symbolize categories like status and social class.

Nonhuman endorsers are cartoon characters & mascots or avatars & they cost less & can handle several customers at a time in any location.

This theory explains the line btwn familiarity & boredom. 2 separate psychological processes operate when we repeatedly show an ad to a viewer.

Positive side: it increases familiarity & reduces uncertainity.

Negative side: over time, boredom increases with each exposure

One sided: supportive argument: a msg talks about the positive attributes of a product.

Two sided: negatives AND positives. refutational argument: negative issues raised and then dismissed.

Helps to have a more balanced argument about a product.

a msg compares 2+ recognizable brands & weighs them in terms of 1+ specific attributes.

EX: Arby's chicken vs McDonald's chicken

Source derogation: the consumer may doubt the credibility of a biased presentation from a company

Emotional vs Rational

Sex

Humor

Fear

Allegory: telling a story about an abstract trait or concept that advertisers tell in the context of a person, animal, veggie, or object

Metaphor: places 2 dissimilar objects into a close relationship (A is B)

Simile: compares 2 objects (A is like B)

Resonance: a play on words with pictures

Lecture: speech in which the source speaks directly to the audience 

• Attempts to 

persuade 

• Cognitive responses 

may occur 

• Drama: story that draws viewers into the action 

• Characters indirectly 

address the audience 

• Interact with each 

other in an imaginary 

setting

Under high involvement, we take the central route to persuasion where we pay attn to a msg & we generate cognitive responses.

Low involvement takes a more peripheral route instead where we're really not motivated to think about the marketer's arguments. We just use peripheral cues b/c they surround the actual msg

1. problem recognition

2. information search

3. evaluation of alternatives

4. product choice

5. outcome

1. Rational: making a logical decision

2. Purchase momentum: our initial impulse purchases increase the likelihood that we will buy

3. Cognitive processing style:  Rational – process info analytically & sequentially 

(rules of logic) 

• Experiential – process more holistically & in 

parallel

1. extended problem solving: when we make an important decision that will affect our self concept we collect as much info as  possible

2. Limited problem solving: we use simple decision rules & cognitive shortcuts

3. Habitual decision making: making choices with NO conscious effort

Occurs when consumer sees difference 

between current state and ideal state 

• Need recognition: the quality of your actual state declines 

• Opportunity recognition: ideal state moves 

upward

The process of surveying the environment 

for appropriate data to make a reasonable 

decision 

types of information search

Prepurchase: you recognize a need so you search for info

ongoing search: shopaholics are always looking

• Internal or external search: scanning our own memory VS using info from friends & ads

• Online search: advertisers try to reach us when we look online for product info

• incidental searches: everyday we passively receive info about products from ads & stuff
• directed learning: we have existing knowledge from previous searches and purchases or experiences

NO. Some consumers avoid external search, 

especially with minimal time to do so 

• Symbolic items like clothes require more external search 

• Brand switching: we select familiar brands 

when decision situation is ambiguous 

• Variety seeking: desire to choose new 

alternatives over more familiar ones 

 Mental accounting: framing a problem in 

terms of gains/losses influences our 

decisions 

• 

Sunk-cost fallacy: reluctant to waste 

something we have paid for 

• 

ppl are so obsessed with preparing for the future that they can't enjoy the future

(college students wish they were studying more or working but asked later, they wished they had had more fun)

• Prospect theory: risk differs when we face 

gains versus losse

Loss aversion: emphasize losses more than 

gains 

There's a inverted-U relationship btwn knowledge and external search effort.

Consumers who are moderately knowledgable search for info the most.

Experts don't search & ppl with very limited expertise feel like there's no reason to search either

monetary risk

functional risk

physical risk: health

social risk: esteem & confidence

psychological risk: status & attractiveness to peers

Evoked Set: all the alternatives a consumer knows about

Consideration Set: the alternatives a consumer acutally considers

Basic level: used to classify products (stuff in common but a broad range of stuff)

Superordinate category: more abstract

Suboridnate category: individual brands

1. position a product within a given category

2. identify competitors

3. create an exemplar product (the brands that everyone knows gets to call the shots & set the criteria for the other category members)

4. locate products in a store

•  point out the significant differences among brands on the attribute 
• • supply the consumer with a decision-making rule, such as if you're deciding among brands x y & z, then use this attribute as a criterion

• convey a rule that is consistent with how the 

person made the decision on prior occasion

•  Uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a brain-scanning device that tracks blood flow as we perform mental tasks 

• Marketers measure consumers’ reactions to 

movie trailers, choices about automobiles, 

the appeal of a pretty face, and loyalty to 

specific brands

Product signals: using visible elements to communicate some underlying quality

Market beliefs: assumptions about companies, products, and stores

country of origin: some products are strongly associated with specific countries

zipf's law: prefering a number one brand to the competition

consumer inertia: we buy a name brand out of habit b/c it requires less effort

brand loyalty: a consumer has a positive attitude toward a product so they repeatedly buy the product

Definition: when we feel that a product with a low standing on one attribute can't compensate for this flaw even if it performs better on another attribute

takes into account the 

relative importance of positively rated 

attributes 

• (essentially multiplying brand ratings by 

importance weights)