Consumer
Theory
attitudes:
Functional
Attitudes
This theory explains attitudes by positing that all attitudes serve some number of functions. IE.
we don't believe things because they are true, but because believing them is useful to us. Of
course, true beliefs are likely to be more useful than false beliefs. But according to this theory,
function trumps truth
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An utilitarian function which allows one to make sense of the world and interact with it in
useful ways that get us what we want.
A social function which allows ones attitudes to help one bond with others.
A value expressive function that helps one solidify and express those values which are
important to oneself.
An ego defensive function which helps one reduce cognitive dissonance.
UTILITARIAN FUNCTION Utilitarian function is related to the basic principles of
reward and punishment. We develop some attitudes toward products simply on the basis
of whether these products provide pleasure or pain. If a person likes the taste of a
cheeseburger, that person will develop a positive attitude toward cheeseburgers. Ads that
stress straightforward product benefits (e.g., you should drink Diet Coke "just for the
taste of it") appeal to the utilitarian function.
VALUE-EXPRESSIVE FUNCTION Attitudes that perform a value-expressive function
express the consumer's central values or self-concept. A person forms a product attitude
not because of objective product benefits, but rather because of what using the product
says about him or her as a person (e.g., "What sort of man reads Playboy?"). Valueexpressive attitudes are highly relevant to life-style analyses, where consumers cultivate a
cluster of activities, interests, and opinions to express a particular social identity.
EGO-DEFENSIVE FUNCTION Attitudes that are formed to protect the person, either
from external threats or internal feelings of insecurity, perform an ego-defensive
function. An early marketing study indicated that housewives in the 1950s resisted the
use of instant coffee because it threatened their conception of themselves as capable
honiemakers. Products that promise to help a man project a "macho" image (e.g.,
Marlboro cigarettes) may be appealing to his insecurities about his masculinity. Many
deodorant campaigns stress the dire, embarrassing consequences of being caught with
underarm odor in public.
KNOWLEDGE FUNCTION Some attitudes are formed as the result of a need for order,
structure, or meaning. This need is often present when a person is in an ambiguous
situation or is confronted with a new product (e.g., "Bayer wants you to know about pain
relievers").
FUNCTIONAL
THEORY
AND
STRATEGIC
POSITIONING
An attitude can serve more than one function, but in many cases a particular one will be
dominant. Identifying the dominant function served can be helpful to marketers, who can
structure ad copy to emphasize it over another. Ads relevant to the function engaged by a
product prompt more favorable thoughts about what is being marketed and result in a
heightened preference for both the product and the ad.
This theory that i am going to explain here basically tells about the components of attitudes.
How attitudes are formed? and how these components are integrated to form an attitude. I'll
discuss it here majorly in consumer's context. So let's have deep insight of it...
In the under discussion model of attitude, three components of attitudes are identified by
researchers n these are; Cognitive Component, Affective Component, Conative Component.
Three three components are interrelated and integrate to form an attitude of a person toward
any
product
or
service
in
consumer
scenario.
Cognitive Component:
Cognition is basically making decisions going through a thinking process. So this thinking
process can occur on the basis of knowledge and perceptions that are already existing in our
minds. So here i'll say that Cognitive Component of attitude is developing a belief based on
past experience or perception and whenever we are exposed to attitude object (about which
we are to form certain attitude) and our those belief will form our behavior towards that
attitude object, and if its positive our attitude towards it will also be positive or vice versa,
i.e.
Suppose you are to make decision between where to lunch either McDonald's or KFC, now
you will think and extract all the knowledge in your mind that may be due to past experience
or gathered from different sources, you will be having certain beliefs on the basis of these
knowledge bits and bytes and then your behavior will be led by these beliefs and your
attitude
would
be
led
by
you
behavior.
Affective
Component:
This Component of Attitude formation is all about emotional feelings of a consumer about
the particular product or brand. People have certain emotions regarding the attitude objects
either favorable or unfavorable; good or bad, it may be regardless of any quality,
specification, features, utility or brand name. Like i may prefer KFC over McDonald's as
KFC people are more into charitable social work. So my positive emotions would be with
KFC.
Sometimes emotionally charged states can also manifest this affect-laden experiences. For
instance, if you are at best of your mood and you are asked to have an icecream, you
response would most probably be positive, which would be opposite in other cases. So your
mood
at
certain
situation
also
counts.
Conative
Component:
This final component is concerned with the likelihood or tendency that a specific action will
be undertaken by an individual regarding attitude object. It is treated as an expression of
consumer's intention to buy. It may include action itself. Consumers usually make purchases
for positively evaluated brands. Their intentions towards those brands are positive, so their
attitude
towards
those
brand
would
be
positive.
So Tricomponent Attitude Model explains how attitudes are formed towards an object and
what components are involved, i hope its all clear
MULTI-ATTRIBUTE
ATTITUDE
MODEL
These are needed as a simple response does not always provide all the information we need to
know about why a consumer has certain feelings towards a product or about what marketers can
do to change consumers’ attitudes.
Elements
of
 Attributes - characteristics that consumers
multi-attribute
models
consider when evaluating the attitude object.  Beliefs - cognitions about the specific attitude
object.  Importance weights - these reflect the relative priority of an attribute to the consumer.
Attitude-Toward-The-Object
Identifies
three
major
factors
that
Salient Beliefs Strength of the Belief Evaluation
Ao
i =1
=
are
predictive
∑
of
Model
attitudes:
biei
Attitude
Toward-the-Object
Model
where, Attitude o bi ei n = Attitude toward the act of purchasing a particular object =The
strength of person’s belief that the object contains attribute ‘i’ =Person’s evaluation or intensity
of feeling toward attribute ‘i’ (importance of attribute) = The number of relevant belief of person
about object
The Ideal-Point Multi-attribute Attitude Model
AP
=
ei
Ao
=
Σ
bi
Ii
Σ)
i
=1i
=1
Ao = Attitude toward the object bi = The strength of person’s belief that the object contains
attribute ‘i’ Ii = ideal point of performance on attribute i ei = Person’s evaluation of feeling
toward attribute i (importance of attribute) n = The number of relevant belief of person about
object
Multi-Attribute Model The Fishbein’s Attitude toward Behavior Model
AB
=∑iei
b
i=
1
Where: AB= the individual’s overall attitude towards performing the specified behavior bi = the
person’s belief that performing the behavior results in consequence 1 ei = Person’s evaluation of
consequence 1 n = The number of relevant behavioral belief.
The theory of reasoned action (TRA), developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen (1975,
1980), derived from previous research that started out as the theory of attitude, which led to the
study of attitude and behavior. The theory was, “born largely out of frustration with traditional
attitude-behavior research, much of which found weak correlations between attitude measures
and performance of volitional behaviors” (Hale, Householder, & Greene, 2003, p. 259). The key
application of the theory of reasoned action is prediction of behavioral intention, spanning
predictions of attitude and predictions of behavior. The subsequent separation of behavioral
intention from behavior allows for explanation of limiting factors on attitudinal influence (Ajzen,
1980).
Definition and Example
Derived from the social psychology setting, the theory of reasoned action (TRA) was proposed
by Ajzen and Fishbein (1975 & 1980). The components of TRA are three general constructs:
behavioral intention (BI), attitude (A), and subjective norm (SN). TRA suggests that a person's
behavioral intention depends on the person's attitude about the behavior and subjective norms
(BI = A + SN). If a person intends to do a behavior then it is likely that the person will do it.
Furthermore a person's intentions are themselves guided by two things: the person's attitude
towards the behavior and the subjective norm. Behavioral intention measures a person's relative
strength of intention to perform a behavior. Attitude consists of beliefs about the consequences
of performing the behavior multiplied by his or her valuation of these consequences. Subjective
norm is seen as a combination of perceived expectations from relevant individuals or groups
along with intentions to comply with these expectations. In other words, "the person's perception
that most people who are important to him or her think he should or should not perform the
behavior in question" (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1975).
To put the definition into simple terms: a person's volitional (voluntary) behavior is predicted by
his/her attitude toward that behavior and how he/she thinks other people would view them if they
performed the behavior. A person’s attitude, combined with subjective norms, forms his/her
behavioral intention.
Fishbein and Ajzen say, though, that attitudes and norms are not weighted equally in predicting
behavior. “Indeed, depending on the individual and the situation, these factors might be very
different effects on behavioral intention; thus a weight is associated with each of these factors in
the predictive formula of the theory. For example, you might be the kind of person who cares
little for what others think. If this is the case, the subjective norms would carry little weight in
predicting your behavior” (Miller, 2005, p. 127).
Miller defines each of the three components of the theory as follows and uses the example of
embarking on a new exercise program to illustrate the theory:
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Attitudes: the sum of beliefs about a particular behavior weighted by evaluations of these
beliefs
o You might have the beliefs that exercise is good for your health, that exercise makes you
look good, that exercise takes too much time, and that exercise is uncomfortable. Each
of these beliefs can be weighted (e.g., health issues might be more important to you
than issues of time and comfort).
Subjective norms: looks at the influence of people in one’s social environment on his/her
behavioral intentions; the beliefs of people, weighted by the importance one attributes to each
of their opinions, will influence one’s behavioral intention
o You might have some friends who are avid exercisers and constantly encourage you to
join them. However, your spouse might prefer a more sedentary lifestyle and scoff at
those who work out. The beliefs of these people, weighted by the importance you
attribute to each of their opinions, will influence your behavioral intention to exercise,
which will lead to your behavior to exercise or not exercise.
Behavioral intention: a function of both attitudes toward a behavior and subjective norms
toward that behavior, which has been found to predict actual behavior.
o Your attitudes about exercise combined with the subjective norms about exercise, each
with their own weight, will lead you to your intention to exercise (or not), which will
then lead to your actual behavior.
The theory of reasoned action has “received considerable and, for the most part, justifiable
attention within the field of consumer behavior…not only does the model appear to predict
consumer intentions and behavior quite well, it also provides a relatively simple basis for
identifying where and how to target consumers’ behavioral change attempts” (Sheppard,
Hartwick, & Warshaw, 1988, p. 325).
Hale et al. (2003) say the TRA has been tested in numerous studies across many areas including
dieting (Sejwacz, Ajzen, & Fishbein, 1980), using condoms (Greene, Hale, & Rubin, 1997),
consuming genetically engineered foods (Sparks, Shepherd, & Frewer, 1995), and limiting sun
exposure (Hoffman, 1999).
Formula
In its simplest form, the TRA can be expressed as the following mathematical problems:
BI = (AB)W1 + (SN) W2
BI = behavioral intention
(AB) = one’s attitude toward performing the behavior
W = empirically derived weights
SN = one’s subjective norm related to performing the behavior
(Source: Hale, 2003)
Process
As a behavioral process, an expanded TRA flow model can be expressed as follows:
Belief toward an outcome
Evaluation of the outcome
Attitude
Beliefs of what others think
Attitude Behavior
What experts think
Subjective norm
Motivation to comply with others
Theory
of
 The “theory of reasoned action” cannot be
Trying
Model
used to predict behavior in situations in which consumption takes place over an extended period
of time  The “theory of trying” explores consumption behavior rather than buying behavior
Theory


Frequency

of
Intention
of
trying
Social
to
norms
toward
trying
Trying—Application
try
Attitude
toward
trying
Attitude toward success together with the expectations of success Attitude toward failure
together with expectation of failure Attitude toward the process Beliefs about consequences
Evaluation of consequences

Attitude

toward
consumption:
 Frequency of past trying  Recency of past trying
Applying
the
Theory
of
Trying
to
 Understanding consumption behavior is necessary in
Change
Consumption
Behavior
order to establish long-term relationships with customers  Marketers must encourage, support,
and
reward
the
consumption
act

It
helps
marketers
understand:
How people consume products and services Why they consume them or not What will make
them consume products in the future If they will consume product in the future What they need
to stimulate long-term consumption
Theory
∑
i =1 n
of
Trying
Model
biei
Attitude towards success (AB) Expectation of success (ES) Frequency of Past Trying Intention
to Try
Recency of Past Trying
∑
j =1
BjEj
Attitude towards Failure (Af) Expectation of Failure (Ef)
Attitude towards Trying
Trying
Social Norms towards Trying
∑
k =1
BkEl
Attitude towards Process
Attitude-Behavior
It refers to the extent to which attitude leads
to
purchase
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Consistency
It
is
influenced
by
Consumer factors: access to resources, past experiences with a brand, orientation (action- or
state-oriented consumers) Situational factors: time passed, message repetition, social influence
Measurement factors: specificity, time of measurement