Attitude Formation Essay

Introduction:

What are Attitudes? A learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favourable or unfavourable manner with respect to a given object, they are also transferable simplifies the decision making as what has been learnt from one The attitude “object”: It includes specific consumption or marketing concepts such as product, product category, brand, service, possessions, product use, price, package etc. Eg. Consumer attitudes towards online shopping. Attitudes are a learned predisposition that means attitudes are formed as a result of prior direct experience with the object through word of mouth, information acquired from others or from advertising. Attitudes are relatively consistent with the behaviour they reflect. They usually occur within a situation such as an event or circumstance that, at a particular point in time, influence the relationship between attitude and behaviour.

In consumer behaviour attitudes usually relate to consistent purchase, recommendations, top rankings, beliefs, evaluations, intentions.

Body:

Tricomponent model -cognitive- the knowledge and perceptions acquired from direct contact with a product Affective: the emotions and feelings helping to evaluate the product Conative: the tendency to behave or act in a particular way.

Multi attribute model:

Attitude toward object model: Suitable for measuring attitudes towards a brand, product, or service or specific brand.

Presence or evaluation of certain product specific beliefs about the product-Level of positive and negative attributes, favourable or unfavourable attitudes towards the product. Attitude towards behaviour: An individual’s attitude towards behaving or acting to an object rather than an attitude towards the object itself. Eg. Your reaction/action when you are presented with a BMW.

Theory of reasoned action: An integration of attitude components- the affective, the cognitive, conative-has been designed to give market researchers a esearch tool that better predicts and explains consumer behaviour.

Theory of planned: consumers are affected by perceived behavioural control , their skills of resources can influence the outcome, has been used to understand the willingness to engage in a broad range of activities.

How attitudes are learned:

• As attitudes are formed, there is a shift from no attitude to some attitude towards a particular object
• this shift in attitude is a result of learning established brand names are often perceived favourably, as the result of stimulus generalisation (classical conditioning)
• Sometimes attitudes follow the trial purchase of the product (instrumental conditioning).

Attitudes are learned through:

• Classical conditioning: repeated satisfaction with other products from the same organisation
• Instrumental conditioning: a new product is purchased= if it proves satisfactory consumers are likely to develop a favourable attitude towards it
• Cognitive learning: attitudes are formed of the basis of information found and the consumers own beliefs and knowledge.

Sources of influence on formation of attitudes: family, friends, personal experience, promotional activities, mass media, internet.

Personality and Attitude formation:

Personality plays a critical role in attitude formation, those with a high need for cognition are likely to form positive attitudes to promotions that are rich in product related information Those with a low need of cognition have more positive attitudes towards promotions that feature attractive models or well known celebrities.