Forming attitudes based on the cognitive response to

➢ Forming attitudes based on the cognitive response to a marketing message / information
➢ Three cognitive responses:
● Supporting arguments: thoughts that express agreement with the message (“This will
work, I need this product”)
● Counter arguments: thoughts that express disagreement with the message (“This will
never work, buying this will be a waste of money”)

● Source derogations: thoughts that discount the or attack the message source (“They are
all paid actors, this is fake”)
Cognitive Dissonance: The Inner Tension Raises:
● Discrepancy of Beliefs:
➔ Discrepancy of beliefs can lead to cognitive dissonance
➢ Cognitive dissonance = feeling of discomfort (inner stress) when we hold contradictory
beliefs (e.g., a marketing message is different from our believe)
➔ Consumer solve discrepancy by
➢ Changing the attitude
➢ Justifying the attitude by acquiring information that supports initial attitude
➢ Justifying the attitude by ignoring or denying the information
Source Credibility: Extent to which the source is trustworthy, an expert or has status /
reputation factors:
● Trustworthiness
➔ Eg. Consumers trust word of mouth more than they trust advertising
● Expert
● Status
● Company reputation
Influencing Cognitive Based Attitudes: The Message:
● Quality of the argument:
➔ Use of strong arguments to explain superiority of products or distinct product features in
a message (e.g., highlighting the USP; match amount to consumer’s effort)
● One- vs. two-sided messages:
➔ One-sided: only positive or negative
➔ Two-sided message: both positive and negative
➢ Effective when:
● When customers have a negative attitude initially
● When there is exposure to counter messages from competitors
● Negative message is about an attribute that is not extremely important
● Comparative messages:
➔ Message that references the competition by making direct or indirect comparisons
Lecture 7:
Motivation:

● Motivation = the inner state of arousal that provides energy needed to achieve a goal
● Relevance: describes the motivation to seek and process information, to make decision,
and to take actions
Affective Foundations of Attitudes: How Affect Creates Attitudes:
● Affective response = feelings / emotions consumers generate in response to a message
● Affective responses act as a source of information
Affective Foundations of Attitudes (2/2):
● Models of Affective Attitude Formation: Low Effort Affective Processing
➔ Mere Exposure Effect = attitude toward an offering increases, the more familiar a
consumer becomes with it
➔ Independent of any cognitive processing
Classical and Evaluative Conditioning (1/2):
● Classical conditioning:
➔ Conditioning = producing a response to a stimulus by repeatedly pairing it with another
stimulus that automatically produces the response
● Evaluative conditioning:
➔ Producing an affective response by repeatedly paring a neutral conditioned stimulus
(e.g., brand) with an emotionally charged unconditioned stimulus (e.g., scenery and
music in an ad)
Affective Foundations: Attitude Toward the Ad & Consumer Mood:
● Attitude toward the ad