Document Text Contents
Page 1
Consumer Behavior
Buying, Having, and Being
Tenth Edition
Global Edition
Michael R. Solomon
Saint Joseph’s University and
The University of Manchester (U.K.)
PEARSON
Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River
Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montréal Toronto
Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo
Page 2
Editorial Director: Sally Yagan Senior Operations Supervisor: Arnold Vila
Acquisitions Editor: Erin Gardner Operations Specialist: Cathleen Petersen
Senior Acquisitions Editor, Global Edition: Steven Jackson Creative Director: Blair Brown
Senior Editorial Project Manager: Kierra Bloom
Editorial Assistant: Anastasia Greene
Director of Marketing: Maggie Moylan
Executive Marketing Manager: Anne Fahlgren
Marketing Manager, International: Dean Erasmus
Senior Managing Editor: Judy Leale
Production Project Manager: Becca Groves
Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook appear on
the appropriate page within text.
Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow
Essex CM20 2JE
England
and Associated Companies throughout the world
Visit us on the World Wide Web at:
www.pearson. com /uk
© Pearson Education Limited 2013
The right of Michael R. Solomon to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Authorised adaptation from the United States edition, entitled Consumer Behavior, ISBN 978-0-13-267184-2 by Michael R.
Solomon, published by Pearson Education © 2013.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transm itted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, w ithout either the prior written perm ission
of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency
Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any trademark in this text does not vest in
the author or publisher any tradem ark ownership rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any
affiliation with or endorsem ent of this book by such owners.
Microsoft® and Windows® are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.A. and other countries. Screen
shots and icons reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Corporation. This book is not sponsored or endorsed by or
affiliated with the Microsoft Corporation.
ISBN-10: 0-273-76731-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-273-76731-2
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
15 14 13
Typeset in 9.5/12 Utopia by S4Carlisle Publishing Services
Printed and bound by Courier/Kendallville in United States of America
Senior Art Director/Supervisor: Janet Slowik
Interior Designer: Karen Quigley
Cover Designer: Jodi Notowitz
Cover Image: © tarei - Foto
Senior Editorial Media Project Manager: Denise Vaughn
Production Media Project Manager: Lisa Rinaldi
http://www.pearson
Page 303
308 SECTION 3 Consum ers as Decision Makers
The Peripheral Route to Persuasion
In contrast, we take the peripheral route when we're not really motivated to think about
the marketer's arguments. Instead, we're likely to use other cues to decide how to react to
the message. These cues include the product's package, the attractiveness of the source,
or the context in which the message appears. We call sources of information extraneous
to the actual message peripheral cues because they surround the actual message.
The peripheral route to persuasion highlights the paradox of low involvement dis
cussed in Chapter 4: When we don't care about a product, the style in which it's presented
(e.g., who endorses it or the visuals that go with it) increases in importance. The impli
cation here is that we may buy low-involvement products chiefly because the marketer
designs a "sexy" package, chooses a popular spokesperson, or creates a stimulating shop
ping environment. To recap, the basic idea of the ELM is that highly involved consumers
look for the "steak" (e.g., strong, rational arguments). Those who are less involved go for
the "sizzle” (e.g., the colors and images in packaging or famous people's endorsements).
It is important to remember, however, that the same communications variable can be
both a central and a peripheral cue, depending on its relation to the attitude object. The
physical attractiveness of a model might serve as a peripheral cue in a car commercial,
but her beauty might be a central cue for a product such as shampoo where a major prod
uct benefit is to enhance attractiveness.147
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Now that you have finished reading this chapter you should
understand why:
1. It’s important for consumer researchers to understand
the nature and power of attitudes.
An attitude is a predisposition to evaluate an object or
product positively or negatively. We form attitudes to
ward products and services, and these attitudes often de
termine whether we will purchase or not.
2. Attitudes are more complex than they first appear.
Three components make up an attitude: beliefs, affect,
and behavioral intentions.
3. We form attitudes in several ways.
Attitude researchers traditionally assumed that we learn
attitudes in a fixed sequence: First we form beliefs (cog
nitions) about an attitude object, then we evaluate that
object [affect), and then we take some action {behavior).
Depending on the consumer's level of involvement and
the circumstances, though, his attitudes can result from
other hierarchies of effects as well. A key to attitude for
mation is the function the attitude holds for the consumer
(e.g., is it utilitarian or ego defensive?).
4. A need to maintain consistency among all of our
attitudinal components motivates us to alter one or
more of them.
One organizing principle of attitude formation is the impor
tance of consistency among attitudinal components—that
is, we alter some parts of an attitude to be in line with oth
ers. Such theoretical approaches to attitudes as cognitive
dissonance theory, self-perception theory, and balance
theory stress the vital role of our need for consistency.
5. We use attitude models to identify specific components
and combine them to predict a consumer’s overall
attitude toward a product or brand.
Multiattribute attitude models underscore the complexity
of attitudes: They specify that we identify and combine a
set of beliefs and evaluations to predict an overall attitude.
Researchers integrate factors such as subjective norms
and the specificity of attitude scales into attitude measures
to improve predictability.
6. The communications model identifies several important
components for marketers when they try to change
consumers’ attitudes toward products and services.
Persuasion refers to an attempt to change consumers' atti
tudes. The communications model specifies the elements
marketers need to transmit meaning. These include a
source, a message, a medium, a receiver, and feedback.
7. The consumer who processes a message is not
necessarily the passive receiver of information
marketers once believed him or her to be.
The traditional view of communications regards the per-
ceiver as a passive element in the process. New develop
ments in interactive communications highlight the need
to consider the active roles a consumer plays when he or
she obtains product information and builds a relationship
Page 304
CHAPTER 7 Attitudes and Persuasion 309
with a company. Advocates of permission marketing argue
that it's more effective to send messages to consumers who
have already indicated an interest in learning about a prod
uct than trying to hit people “cold" with these solicitations.
8. Several factors influence the effectiveness of a message
source.
Two important characteristics that determine the effec
tiveness of a source are its attractiveness and credibility.
Although celebrities often serve this purpose, their cred
ibility is not always as strong as marketers hope. Market
ing messages that consumers perceive as buzz (those that
are authentic and consumer generated) tend to be more
effective than those they categorize as hype (those that are
inauthentic, biased, and company generated).
9. The way a marketer structures his or her message
determines how persuasive it will be.
Some elements of a message that help to determine its
effectiveness include the following: conveyance of the
message in words or pictures; employment of an emo
tional or a rational appeal; frequency of repetition; conclu
sion drawing; presentation of both sides of the argument;
and inclusion of fear, humor, or sexual references. Adver
tising messages often incorporate elements from art or lit
erature, such as dramas, lectures, metaphors, allegories,
and resonance.
10. Audience characteristics help to determine whether
the nature of the source or the message itself will be
relatively more effective.
The relative influence of the source versus the message
depends on the receiver's level of involvement with the
communication. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM)
specifies that source effects are more likely to sway a less-
involved consumer, whereas a more-involved consumer
will be more likely to attend to and process components
of the actual message.
KEY TERMS
ABC model of attitudes, 274
affect, 274
allegory, 305
alternate reality games (ARGs), 292
attitude, 273
attitude object (v40), 273
attitude toward the act of buying
U**), 286
balance theory, 280
basking in reflected glory, 282
behavior, 274
blogs, 292
cognition, 274
communications model, 289
comparative advertising, 301
compliance, 277
ego-defensive function, 274
elaboration likelihood model (ELM), 307
experiential hierarchy of effects, 276
fear appeals, 304
foot-in-the-door technique, 279
functional theory of attitudes, 273
hierarchy of effects, 275
identification, 277
internalization, 277
knowledge function, 274
latitudes of acceptance
and rejection, 280
low-involvement hierarchy of effects, 275
M-commerce, 291
metaphor, 305
multiattribute attitude models, 282
multiple pathway anchoring and
adjustment (MPAA) model, 287
permission marketing, 290
persuasion, 288
podcasting, 292
principle of cognitive consistency, 278
refutational arguments, 300
resonance, 305
self-perception theory, 279
simile, 305
sleeper effect, 295
social judgment theory, 280
social media, 291
sock puppeting, 294
source attractiveness, 295
source credibility, 293
spokescharacters, 296
standard learning hierarchy, 275
subjective norm (SN), 286
theory of cognitive dissonance, 278
theory of ree.soned action, 284
theory of trying, 287
transmedia formats, 292
transmedia storytelling, 292
Twitter, 292
two-factor theory, 300
utilitarian fu nction, 274
value-expressive function, 274
video blogging (vlogging), 292
virtual worlds, 292
widgets, 292
REVIEW
1 How can an attitude play an ego-defensive function?
2 Describe the ABC model of attitudes.
3 List the three hierarchies of attitudes, and describe the ma
jor differences among them.
4 How do levels of commitment to an attitude influence
the likelihood that it will become part of the way we think
about a product in the long term?
Page 606
612 G lossary
Social object theory proposes that social
networks will be more powerful com
munities if there is a way to activate re
lationships among people and objects
within them
Social power the capacity of one person to
alter the actions or outcome of another
Social stratification the process in a social
system by which scarce and valuable
resources are distributed unequally to
status positions that become more or
less permanently ranked in terms of
the share of valuable resources each
receives
Sociometric methods the techniques for
measuring group dynamics that involve
tracing communication patterns in and
among groups
Sock puppeting a company executive or
other biased source poses as someone
else to tout his organization in social
media
Sound symbolism the process by which the
way a word sounds influences our as
sumptions about what it describes and
attributes such as size
Source attractiveness the dimensions of a
communicator that increase his or her
persuasiveness; these include expertise
and attractiveness
Source c re d ib ility a communications
source's perceived expertise, objectiv
ity, or trustworthiness
Spacing effect the tendency to recall
printed material to a greater extent
when the advertiser repeats the target
item periodically rather than presenting
it over and over at the same time
Spectacles a marketing message that takes
the form of a public performance
Spendthrifts consumers who derive plea
sure from large-scale purchasing
Spiritual-therapeutic model organizations
that encourage behavioral changes
such as weight loss that are loosely
based on religious principles
Spokescharacters the use of animated char
acters or fictional mascots as product
representatives
Spontaneous recovery ability of a stimulus
to evoke a weakened response even
years after the person initially per
ceived it
Spreading activation meanings in memory
are activated indirectly; as a node is
activated, other nodes linked to it are
also activated so that meanings spread
across the network
Stage of cognitive development the ability
to comprehend concepts of increasing
complexity as a person matures
Standard learning hierarchy the traditional
process of attitude formation that starts
with the formation of beliefs about an
attitude object
State-dependent retrieval people are better
able to access information if their inter
nal state is the same at the time of recall
as when they learned the information
Status crystallization the extent to which
different indicators of a person's sta
tus (income, ethnicity, occupation) are
consistent with one another
Status hierarchy a ranking of social desir
ability in terms of consumers' access to
resources such as money, education,
and luxury goods
Status symbols products whose primary
function is to communicate one's social
standing to others
Stimulus discrimination the process that
occurs when behaviors caused by two
stimuli are different, as when consum
ers learn to differentiate a brand from
its competitors
Stimulus generalization the process that
occurs when the behavior caused by a
reaction to one stimulus occurs in the
presence of other, similar stimuli
Storage the process that occurs when
knowledge in long-term memory is in
tegrated with what is already in mem
ory and "warehoused" until needed
Store image a store's "personality," com
posed of such attributes as location,
m erchandise suitability, and the
knowledge and congeniality of the
sales staff
Straight rebuy in the context of the buyclass
framework, the type of buying decision
that is virtually automatic and requires
little deliberation
Subculture a group whose members share
beliefs and common experiences that
set them apart from other members of
a culture
Subjective norm an additional component
to the multiattribute attitude model that
accounts for the effects of what we be
lieve other people think we should do
Subliminal perception the processing of
stimuli presented below the level of the
consumer's awareness
Superego the system that internalizes soci
ety's rules and that works to prevent the
id from seeking selfish gratification
Superstitions beliefs that run counter to ra
tional thought or are inconsistent with
known laws of nature
Surrogate consumer a professional who is
retained to evaluate and/or make pur
chases on behalf of a consumer
Symbol a sign that is related to a product
through either conventional or agreed-
on associations
Symbolic interactionism a sociological ap
proach stressing that relationships with
other people play a large part in forming
the self; people live in a symbolic envi
ronment, and the meaning attached to
any situation or object is determined by a
person's interpretation of these symbols
Symbolic self-completion theory the perspec
tive that people who have an incom
plete self-definition in some context
will compensate by acquiring symbols
associated with a desired social identity
Synchronous interactions a conversation
that requires participants to respond in
real-time
Syncretic decision purchase decision that is
made jointly by both spouses
Synoptic ideal a model of spousal decision
making in which the husband and wife
take a common view and act as joint
decision makers, assigning each other
well-defined roles and making mutu
ally beneficial decisions to maximize
the couple's joint utility
Taste cultu re a group of consumers
who share aesthetic and intellectual
preferences
Terminal values end states desired by mem
bers of a culture
The Values and Lifestyles System (VALS2™ )
a psychographic segmentation system
Theory of cognitive dissonance theory based
on the premise that a state of tension is
created when beliefs or behaviors conflict
with one another; people are motivated to
reduce this inconsistency (or dissonance)
and thus eliminate unpleasant tension
Theory of reasoned action an updated ver
sion of the Fishbein multiattribute atti
tude theory that considers factors such
as social pressure and Aact (the attitude
toward the act of buying a product),
rather than simply attitudes toward the
product itself
Theory of trying states that the criterion of
behavior in the reasoned action model
of attitude measurement should be re
placed with trying to reach a goal
Tie strength the nature and potency of the
bond between members of a social
network
Ties connections between members of a
social network
Tightwads consumers who experience emo
tional pain when they make purchases
Time poverty a feeling of having less time
available than is required to meet the
demands of everyday living
Page 607
Glossary 613
Timestyle an individual's priorities regard
ing how or she spends time as influ
enced by personal and cultural factors
Tipping point moment of critical mass
Torn self a condition where immigrants
struggle to reconcile their native identi
ties with their new cultures
Total quality management (TQM) manage
ment and engineering procedures
aimed at reducing errors and increas
ing quality; based on Japanese practices
Trade dress color combinations that
become strongly associated with a
corporation
Transactional advertising an advertising
message in a social game that trans
actional advertising rewards players if
they respond to a request
Transform ative Consumer Research (TCR)
promotes research projects that include
the goal of helping people or bringing
about social change
Transitional economies a country that is
adapting from a controlled, centralized
economy to a free-market system
Transmedia formats social media platforms
such as alternative reality games that
allow consumers to participate in an
advertising campaign
Transmedia storytelling the use of a mix of
social media platforms to create a plot
that involves consumers who try to solve
puzzles or mysteries in the narrative
Trialability in the context of diffusion of in
novations, the extent to which a new
product or service can be sampled prior
to adoption
Tribal marketing strategy linking a product's
identity to an activity-based "tribe"
such as basketball players
Trickle-down theory the perspective that
fashions spread as the result of sta
tus symbols associated with the upper
classes "trickling down" to other social
classes as these consumers try to emu
late those with greater status
Tweens a marketing term used to describe
children aged 8 to 14
Twitter a popular social media platform that
restricts the poster to a 140 word entry
Two-factor theory the perspective that two
separate psychological processes are
operating when a person is repeatedly
exposed to an ad: repetition increases
familiarity and thus reduces uncer
tainty about the product but over time
boredom increases with each expo
sure, and at some point the amount of
boredom incurred begins to exceed the
amount of uncertainty reduced, result
ing in wear-out
Two step flow model of influence proposes
that a small group of influencers dis
seminate information since they can
modify the opinions of a large number
of other people
Uncertainty avoidance one of Hofstede's cul
tural dimensions: The degree to which
people feel threatened by ambiguous sit
uations and have beliefs and institutions
that help them to avoid this uncertainty
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) a stimulus
that is naturally capable of causing a
response
Underground economy secondary markets
(such as flea markets) where transac
tions are not officially recorded
Unipolar emotions emotional reactions that
are either wholly positive or wholly
negative
Unplanned buying when a shopper buys
merchandise she did not intend to pur
chase, often because she recognizes a
new need while in the store
Urban myth an unsubstantiated "fact" that
many people accept as true
User the person who actually consumes a
product or service
User-generated content consumers voice
their opinions about products, brands,
and companies on blogs, podcasts, and
social networking sites such as Face-
book and Twitter, and film their own
commercials that they post on sites
such as YouTube
Utilitarian function states that we develop
some attitudes toward products simply
because they provide pleasure or pain
Value a belief that some condition is prefer
able to its opposite
Value-expressive function states we develop
attitudes toward products because of
what they say about him or her as a
person
Value system a culture's ranking of the rela
tive importance of values
Variable-interval reinforcem ent the time
that must pass before an organism's
response is reinforced varies based on
some average
Variable-ratio reinforcement you get rein
forced after a certain number of re
sponses, but you don't know how many
responses are required
Variety amnesia a condition where people
consume products to the point where
they no longer enjoy them
Variety seeking the desire to choose new al
ternatives over more familiar ones
Video blogging (vlogging) posting video dia
ries on sites such as YouTube or photos
on Flickr
Viral marketing the strategy of getting cus
tomers to sell a product on behalf of the
company that creates it
Virtual goods digital items that people buy
and sell online
Virtual identity the appearance and person
ality a person takes on as an avatar in a
computer mediated environment like
Second Life
Virtual worlds immersive 3D virtual envi
ronments such as Second Life
Voluntary simplifiers people who believe
that once basic material needs are sat
isfied, additional income does not lead
to happiness
Von Restorff effect techniques like distinc
tive packaging that increase the novelty
of a stimulus also improve recall
Want the particular form of consumption
chosen to satisfy a need
W arm ing process of transforming new
objects and places into those that feel
cozy, hospitable, and authentic
Web 2.0 the current version of the Inter
net as a social, interactive medium
from its original roots as a form of one
way transmission from producers to
consumers
W eber’s Law the principle that the stron
ger the initial stimulus, the greater its
change mast be for it to be noticed
W idgets small programs that users can
download onto their desktops, or em
bed in their blogs or profile pages, that
import some form of live content
Wiki online program that lets several peo
ple change a document on a Web page
and then irack those changes
Wisdom of crowds a perspective that argues
under the right circumstances, groups
are smarter than the smartest people in
them; implies that large numbers of con
sumers can predict successful products
Word of mouth (WOM) product information
transmitted by individual consumers
on an informal basis
Word-phrase dictionary in sentiment analy
sis, a libra ry that codes data so that the
program can scan the text to identify
whether the words in the dictionary
appear
W orldview a perspective on social norms
and behaviors that tends to differ
among social classes
Z ip f s Law pattern that describes the ten
dency for the most robust effect to be
far more powerful than others in its
class; applies to consumer behavior in
terms of buyers' overwhelming prefer
ences for die market leader in a product
category
Consumer Behavior
Buying, Having, and Being
Tenth Edition
Global Edition
Michael R. Solomon
Saint Joseph’s University and
The University of Manchester (U.K.)
PEARSON
Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River
Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montréal Toronto
Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo
Page 2
Editorial Director: Sally Yagan Senior Operations Supervisor: Arnold Vila
Acquisitions Editor: Erin Gardner Operations Specialist: Cathleen Petersen
Senior Acquisitions Editor, Global Edition: Steven Jackson Creative Director: Blair Brown
Senior Editorial Project Manager: Kierra Bloom
Editorial Assistant: Anastasia Greene
Director of Marketing: Maggie Moylan
Executive Marketing Manager: Anne Fahlgren
Marketing Manager, International: Dean Erasmus
Senior Managing Editor: Judy Leale
Production Project Manager: Becca Groves
Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook appear on
the appropriate page within text.
Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow
Essex CM20 2JE
England
and Associated Companies throughout the world
Visit us on the World Wide Web at:
www.pearson. com /uk
© Pearson Education Limited 2013
The right of Michael R. Solomon to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Authorised adaptation from the United States edition, entitled Consumer Behavior, ISBN 978-0-13-267184-2 by Michael R.
Solomon, published by Pearson Education © 2013.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transm itted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, w ithout either the prior written perm ission
of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency
Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any trademark in this text does not vest in
the author or publisher any tradem ark ownership rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any
affiliation with or endorsem ent of this book by such owners.
Microsoft® and Windows® are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.A. and other countries. Screen
shots and icons reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Corporation. This book is not sponsored or endorsed by or
affiliated with the Microsoft Corporation.
ISBN-10: 0-273-76731-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-273-76731-2
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
15 14 13
Typeset in 9.5/12 Utopia by S4Carlisle Publishing Services
Printed and bound by Courier/Kendallville in United States of America
Senior Art Director/Supervisor: Janet Slowik
Interior Designer: Karen Quigley
Cover Designer: Jodi Notowitz
Cover Image: © tarei - Foto
Senior Editorial Media Project Manager: Denise Vaughn
Production Media Project Manager: Lisa Rinaldi
http://www.pearson
Page 303
308 SECTION 3 Consum ers as Decision Makers
The Peripheral Route to Persuasion
In contrast, we take the peripheral route when we're not really motivated to think about
the marketer's arguments. Instead, we're likely to use other cues to decide how to react to
the message. These cues include the product's package, the attractiveness of the source,
or the context in which the message appears. We call sources of information extraneous
to the actual message peripheral cues because they surround the actual message.
The peripheral route to persuasion highlights the paradox of low involvement dis
cussed in Chapter 4: When we don't care about a product, the style in which it's presented
(e.g., who endorses it or the visuals that go with it) increases in importance. The impli
cation here is that we may buy low-involvement products chiefly because the marketer
designs a "sexy" package, chooses a popular spokesperson, or creates a stimulating shop
ping environment. To recap, the basic idea of the ELM is that highly involved consumers
look for the "steak" (e.g., strong, rational arguments). Those who are less involved go for
the "sizzle” (e.g., the colors and images in packaging or famous people's endorsements).
It is important to remember, however, that the same communications variable can be
both a central and a peripheral cue, depending on its relation to the attitude object. The
physical attractiveness of a model might serve as a peripheral cue in a car commercial,
but her beauty might be a central cue for a product such as shampoo where a major prod
uct benefit is to enhance attractiveness.147
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Now that you have finished reading this chapter you should
understand why:
1. It’s important for consumer researchers to understand
the nature and power of attitudes.
An attitude is a predisposition to evaluate an object or
product positively or negatively. We form attitudes to
ward products and services, and these attitudes often de
termine whether we will purchase or not.
2. Attitudes are more complex than they first appear.
Three components make up an attitude: beliefs, affect,
and behavioral intentions.
3. We form attitudes in several ways.
Attitude researchers traditionally assumed that we learn
attitudes in a fixed sequence: First we form beliefs (cog
nitions) about an attitude object, then we evaluate that
object [affect), and then we take some action {behavior).
Depending on the consumer's level of involvement and
the circumstances, though, his attitudes can result from
other hierarchies of effects as well. A key to attitude for
mation is the function the attitude holds for the consumer
(e.g., is it utilitarian or ego defensive?).
4. A need to maintain consistency among all of our
attitudinal components motivates us to alter one or
more of them.
One organizing principle of attitude formation is the impor
tance of consistency among attitudinal components—that
is, we alter some parts of an attitude to be in line with oth
ers. Such theoretical approaches to attitudes as cognitive
dissonance theory, self-perception theory, and balance
theory stress the vital role of our need for consistency.
5. We use attitude models to identify specific components
and combine them to predict a consumer’s overall
attitude toward a product or brand.
Multiattribute attitude models underscore the complexity
of attitudes: They specify that we identify and combine a
set of beliefs and evaluations to predict an overall attitude.
Researchers integrate factors such as subjective norms
and the specificity of attitude scales into attitude measures
to improve predictability.
6. The communications model identifies several important
components for marketers when they try to change
consumers’ attitudes toward products and services.
Persuasion refers to an attempt to change consumers' atti
tudes. The communications model specifies the elements
marketers need to transmit meaning. These include a
source, a message, a medium, a receiver, and feedback.
7. The consumer who processes a message is not
necessarily the passive receiver of information
marketers once believed him or her to be.
The traditional view of communications regards the per-
ceiver as a passive element in the process. New develop
ments in interactive communications highlight the need
to consider the active roles a consumer plays when he or
she obtains product information and builds a relationship
Page 304
CHAPTER 7 Attitudes and Persuasion 309
with a company. Advocates of permission marketing argue
that it's more effective to send messages to consumers who
have already indicated an interest in learning about a prod
uct than trying to hit people “cold" with these solicitations.
8. Several factors influence the effectiveness of a message
source.
Two important characteristics that determine the effec
tiveness of a source are its attractiveness and credibility.
Although celebrities often serve this purpose, their cred
ibility is not always as strong as marketers hope. Market
ing messages that consumers perceive as buzz (those that
are authentic and consumer generated) tend to be more
effective than those they categorize as hype (those that are
inauthentic, biased, and company generated).
9. The way a marketer structures his or her message
determines how persuasive it will be.
Some elements of a message that help to determine its
effectiveness include the following: conveyance of the
message in words or pictures; employment of an emo
tional or a rational appeal; frequency of repetition; conclu
sion drawing; presentation of both sides of the argument;
and inclusion of fear, humor, or sexual references. Adver
tising messages often incorporate elements from art or lit
erature, such as dramas, lectures, metaphors, allegories,
and resonance.
10. Audience characteristics help to determine whether
the nature of the source or the message itself will be
relatively more effective.
The relative influence of the source versus the message
depends on the receiver's level of involvement with the
communication. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM)
specifies that source effects are more likely to sway a less-
involved consumer, whereas a more-involved consumer
will be more likely to attend to and process components
of the actual message.
KEY TERMS
ABC model of attitudes, 274
affect, 274
allegory, 305
alternate reality games (ARGs), 292
attitude, 273
attitude object (v40), 273
attitude toward the act of buying
U**), 286
balance theory, 280
basking in reflected glory, 282
behavior, 274
blogs, 292
cognition, 274
communications model, 289
comparative advertising, 301
compliance, 277
ego-defensive function, 274
elaboration likelihood model (ELM), 307
experiential hierarchy of effects, 276
fear appeals, 304
foot-in-the-door technique, 279
functional theory of attitudes, 273
hierarchy of effects, 275
identification, 277
internalization, 277
knowledge function, 274
latitudes of acceptance
and rejection, 280
low-involvement hierarchy of effects, 275
M-commerce, 291
metaphor, 305
multiattribute attitude models, 282
multiple pathway anchoring and
adjustment (MPAA) model, 287
permission marketing, 290
persuasion, 288
podcasting, 292
principle of cognitive consistency, 278
refutational arguments, 300
resonance, 305
self-perception theory, 279
simile, 305
sleeper effect, 295
social judgment theory, 280
social media, 291
sock puppeting, 294
source attractiveness, 295
source credibility, 293
spokescharacters, 296
standard learning hierarchy, 275
subjective norm (SN), 286
theory of cognitive dissonance, 278
theory of ree.soned action, 284
theory of trying, 287
transmedia formats, 292
transmedia storytelling, 292
Twitter, 292
two-factor theory, 300
utilitarian fu nction, 274
value-expressive function, 274
video blogging (vlogging), 292
virtual worlds, 292
widgets, 292
REVIEW
1 How can an attitude play an ego-defensive function?
2 Describe the ABC model of attitudes.
3 List the three hierarchies of attitudes, and describe the ma
jor differences among them.
4 How do levels of commitment to an attitude influence
the likelihood that it will become part of the way we think
about a product in the long term?
Page 606
612 G lossary
Social object theory proposes that social
networks will be more powerful com
munities if there is a way to activate re
lationships among people and objects
within them
Social power the capacity of one person to
alter the actions or outcome of another
Social stratification the process in a social
system by which scarce and valuable
resources are distributed unequally to
status positions that become more or
less permanently ranked in terms of
the share of valuable resources each
receives
Sociometric methods the techniques for
measuring group dynamics that involve
tracing communication patterns in and
among groups
Sock puppeting a company executive or
other biased source poses as someone
else to tout his organization in social
media
Sound symbolism the process by which the
way a word sounds influences our as
sumptions about what it describes and
attributes such as size
Source attractiveness the dimensions of a
communicator that increase his or her
persuasiveness; these include expertise
and attractiveness
Source c re d ib ility a communications
source's perceived expertise, objectiv
ity, or trustworthiness
Spacing effect the tendency to recall
printed material to a greater extent
when the advertiser repeats the target
item periodically rather than presenting
it over and over at the same time
Spectacles a marketing message that takes
the form of a public performance
Spendthrifts consumers who derive plea
sure from large-scale purchasing
Spiritual-therapeutic model organizations
that encourage behavioral changes
such as weight loss that are loosely
based on religious principles
Spokescharacters the use of animated char
acters or fictional mascots as product
representatives
Spontaneous recovery ability of a stimulus
to evoke a weakened response even
years after the person initially per
ceived it
Spreading activation meanings in memory
are activated indirectly; as a node is
activated, other nodes linked to it are
also activated so that meanings spread
across the network
Stage of cognitive development the ability
to comprehend concepts of increasing
complexity as a person matures
Standard learning hierarchy the traditional
process of attitude formation that starts
with the formation of beliefs about an
attitude object
State-dependent retrieval people are better
able to access information if their inter
nal state is the same at the time of recall
as when they learned the information
Status crystallization the extent to which
different indicators of a person's sta
tus (income, ethnicity, occupation) are
consistent with one another
Status hierarchy a ranking of social desir
ability in terms of consumers' access to
resources such as money, education,
and luxury goods
Status symbols products whose primary
function is to communicate one's social
standing to others
Stimulus discrimination the process that
occurs when behaviors caused by two
stimuli are different, as when consum
ers learn to differentiate a brand from
its competitors
Stimulus generalization the process that
occurs when the behavior caused by a
reaction to one stimulus occurs in the
presence of other, similar stimuli
Storage the process that occurs when
knowledge in long-term memory is in
tegrated with what is already in mem
ory and "warehoused" until needed
Store image a store's "personality," com
posed of such attributes as location,
m erchandise suitability, and the
knowledge and congeniality of the
sales staff
Straight rebuy in the context of the buyclass
framework, the type of buying decision
that is virtually automatic and requires
little deliberation
Subculture a group whose members share
beliefs and common experiences that
set them apart from other members of
a culture
Subjective norm an additional component
to the multiattribute attitude model that
accounts for the effects of what we be
lieve other people think we should do
Subliminal perception the processing of
stimuli presented below the level of the
consumer's awareness
Superego the system that internalizes soci
ety's rules and that works to prevent the
id from seeking selfish gratification
Superstitions beliefs that run counter to ra
tional thought or are inconsistent with
known laws of nature
Surrogate consumer a professional who is
retained to evaluate and/or make pur
chases on behalf of a consumer
Symbol a sign that is related to a product
through either conventional or agreed-
on associations
Symbolic interactionism a sociological ap
proach stressing that relationships with
other people play a large part in forming
the self; people live in a symbolic envi
ronment, and the meaning attached to
any situation or object is determined by a
person's interpretation of these symbols
Symbolic self-completion theory the perspec
tive that people who have an incom
plete self-definition in some context
will compensate by acquiring symbols
associated with a desired social identity
Synchronous interactions a conversation
that requires participants to respond in
real-time
Syncretic decision purchase decision that is
made jointly by both spouses
Synoptic ideal a model of spousal decision
making in which the husband and wife
take a common view and act as joint
decision makers, assigning each other
well-defined roles and making mutu
ally beneficial decisions to maximize
the couple's joint utility
Taste cultu re a group of consumers
who share aesthetic and intellectual
preferences
Terminal values end states desired by mem
bers of a culture
The Values and Lifestyles System (VALS2™ )
a psychographic segmentation system
Theory of cognitive dissonance theory based
on the premise that a state of tension is
created when beliefs or behaviors conflict
with one another; people are motivated to
reduce this inconsistency (or dissonance)
and thus eliminate unpleasant tension
Theory of reasoned action an updated ver
sion of the Fishbein multiattribute atti
tude theory that considers factors such
as social pressure and Aact (the attitude
toward the act of buying a product),
rather than simply attitudes toward the
product itself
Theory of trying states that the criterion of
behavior in the reasoned action model
of attitude measurement should be re
placed with trying to reach a goal
Tie strength the nature and potency of the
bond between members of a social
network
Ties connections between members of a
social network
Tightwads consumers who experience emo
tional pain when they make purchases
Time poverty a feeling of having less time
available than is required to meet the
demands of everyday living
Page 607
Glossary 613
Timestyle an individual's priorities regard
ing how or she spends time as influ
enced by personal and cultural factors
Tipping point moment of critical mass
Torn self a condition where immigrants
struggle to reconcile their native identi
ties with their new cultures
Total quality management (TQM) manage
ment and engineering procedures
aimed at reducing errors and increas
ing quality; based on Japanese practices
Trade dress color combinations that
become strongly associated with a
corporation
Transactional advertising an advertising
message in a social game that trans
actional advertising rewards players if
they respond to a request
Transform ative Consumer Research (TCR)
promotes research projects that include
the goal of helping people or bringing
about social change
Transitional economies a country that is
adapting from a controlled, centralized
economy to a free-market system
Transmedia formats social media platforms
such as alternative reality games that
allow consumers to participate in an
advertising campaign
Transmedia storytelling the use of a mix of
social media platforms to create a plot
that involves consumers who try to solve
puzzles or mysteries in the narrative
Trialability in the context of diffusion of in
novations, the extent to which a new
product or service can be sampled prior
to adoption
Tribal marketing strategy linking a product's
identity to an activity-based "tribe"
such as basketball players
Trickle-down theory the perspective that
fashions spread as the result of sta
tus symbols associated with the upper
classes "trickling down" to other social
classes as these consumers try to emu
late those with greater status
Tweens a marketing term used to describe
children aged 8 to 14
Twitter a popular social media platform that
restricts the poster to a 140 word entry
Two-factor theory the perspective that two
separate psychological processes are
operating when a person is repeatedly
exposed to an ad: repetition increases
familiarity and thus reduces uncer
tainty about the product but over time
boredom increases with each expo
sure, and at some point the amount of
boredom incurred begins to exceed the
amount of uncertainty reduced, result
ing in wear-out
Two step flow model of influence proposes
that a small group of influencers dis
seminate information since they can
modify the opinions of a large number
of other people
Uncertainty avoidance one of Hofstede's cul
tural dimensions: The degree to which
people feel threatened by ambiguous sit
uations and have beliefs and institutions
that help them to avoid this uncertainty
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) a stimulus
that is naturally capable of causing a
response
Underground economy secondary markets
(such as flea markets) where transac
tions are not officially recorded
Unipolar emotions emotional reactions that
are either wholly positive or wholly
negative
Unplanned buying when a shopper buys
merchandise she did not intend to pur
chase, often because she recognizes a
new need while in the store
Urban myth an unsubstantiated "fact" that
many people accept as true
User the person who actually consumes a
product or service
User-generated content consumers voice
their opinions about products, brands,
and companies on blogs, podcasts, and
social networking sites such as Face-
book and Twitter, and film their own
commercials that they post on sites
such as YouTube
Utilitarian function states that we develop
some attitudes toward products simply
because they provide pleasure or pain
Value a belief that some condition is prefer
able to its opposite
Value-expressive function states we develop
attitudes toward products because of
what they say about him or her as a
person
Value system a culture's ranking of the rela
tive importance of values
Variable-interval reinforcem ent the time
that must pass before an organism's
response is reinforced varies based on
some average
Variable-ratio reinforcement you get rein
forced after a certain number of re
sponses, but you don't know how many
responses are required
Variety amnesia a condition where people
consume products to the point where
they no longer enjoy them
Variety seeking the desire to choose new al
ternatives over more familiar ones
Video blogging (vlogging) posting video dia
ries on sites such as YouTube or photos
on Flickr
Viral marketing the strategy of getting cus
tomers to sell a product on behalf of the
company that creates it
Virtual goods digital items that people buy
and sell online
Virtual identity the appearance and person
ality a person takes on as an avatar in a
computer mediated environment like
Second Life
Virtual worlds immersive 3D virtual envi
ronments such as Second Life
Voluntary simplifiers people who believe
that once basic material needs are sat
isfied, additional income does not lead
to happiness
Von Restorff effect techniques like distinc
tive packaging that increase the novelty
of a stimulus also improve recall
Want the particular form of consumption
chosen to satisfy a need
W arm ing process of transforming new
objects and places into those that feel
cozy, hospitable, and authentic
Web 2.0 the current version of the Inter
net as a social, interactive medium
from its original roots as a form of one
way transmission from producers to
consumers
W eber’s Law the principle that the stron
ger the initial stimulus, the greater its
change mast be for it to be noticed
W idgets small programs that users can
download onto their desktops, or em
bed in their blogs or profile pages, that
import some form of live content
Wiki online program that lets several peo
ple change a document on a Web page
and then irack those changes
Wisdom of crowds a perspective that argues
under the right circumstances, groups
are smarter than the smartest people in
them; implies that large numbers of con
sumers can predict successful products
Word of mouth (WOM) product information
transmitted by individual consumers
on an informal basis
Word-phrase dictionary in sentiment analy
sis, a libra ry that codes data so that the
program can scan the text to identify
whether the words in the dictionary
appear
W orldview a perspective on social norms
and behaviors that tends to differ
among social classes
Z ip f s Law pattern that describes the ten
dency for the most robust effect to be
far more powerful than others in its
class; applies to consumer behavior in
terms of buyers' overwhelming prefer
ences for die market leader in a product
category
