Topic N Attitudes
Persuasion: about the mental attitudes that make you say ‘yes’ and more importantly how this
psychology of compliance actually works
Hoe laat je mensen voor jouw product kiezen
1) Reciprocity
2) Consistency
3) Social proof
4) Liking
5) Authority
6) Scarcity
Reciprocity: people repay in kind (wederkerigheid)
Application: give what you want to receive
Try to repay in kind what another person has provided us. We are obligated to the future repayment
of gifts, favors, invitations
Tactics based on reciprocity
That’s not all: requesters offer additional benefits to target persons before they have decided
whether to comply with or reject specific requests
Door-in-the-face: requesters begin with a large and then, when this is refused, retreat to a smaller
one (also called: reject then retreat)
Consistency: people align with their clear commitments
Application: make their commitments active, public and voluntary:
The drive to be (look) consistent in public and show personal and intellectual strength
- Consistency offers us a heuristic approach; allows us to act automatically (deed ik de vorige
keer ook consistent)
- Safe hiding place from truths or realities
- Commitment; forced to take a stand (door iets te zeggen, zet je jezelf in een bepaalde
positie)
Tactics based on commitment / consistency
Foot-in-the-door: small request followed by a larger one
Bait and switch: go to a store to buy a certain advertised product; product is of low quality or ‘sold
out’ = still willing to buy something (… an alternative)
Lowballing (bait mechanism): seller offers a product at a lower price, which their customer agrees
to. Then they increase the price before they complete the sale. Having already agreed tot he sale,
customers reluctantly accept the higher price
Labeling technique: making people aware of their existing commitments
Example house insurance: wanneer bezig met hypotheek voor een huis. Duur huis gekocht
dan moet je ook een dure verzekering afsluiten. Als magerine bij plus 20% korting is, rijden we
daarnaar toe. Afhankelijk van het anker. Bij elektrische fiets wil je ook een dure verzekering.
Alles te maken met consistentie, duur huis = dure hypotheek
Legitimization of Paltry Favors approach: charity donation (just a penny would help; just 25
cents/day)
How are you feeling technique: answer (fine, okay)
, More difficult to deny others some money/time when you just admitted how well you are
doing (will appear cheap). Phone call to have cookie salesperson come to house to raise $ for
Hunger Relief Committee. Control: 1% vs 32% were asked how they felt that evening
Commitments are most effective when they are
- Active
- Public
- Effortful
- Internally motivated
Social Proof: people follow the lead of similar others
Application: use peer power whenever it’s available
Wet determine what is correct by finding out what other people think is correct
- An action is appropriate when other are doing it as well
- Works best under uncertainty
- When a situation is unclear/ambiguous, we are unsure of ourselves and look more at others
to guide our behavior
- Danger: the failure of entire groups to help people in need (je voelt je niet verantwoordelijk
in een groep)
Tactics based on social validation
Wisdom of crowds technique: approval from large groups of other people
Experts: approval from credible experts in the relevant field
Celebrities: approval or endorsement from celebrities (paid or unpaid)
Users: approval from current/past users (ratings, reviews and …)
Peers: approval from friends and people you know
Where do you see it
- Laugh tracks: if others think it’s funny, I should laugh too
- Bartenders: leave tips on the bar (fooienpot op de toonbank)
- Ringers in magic shows or religious programs
- Fast-growing or ‘best seller last year’
- Cults, group-think
Liking: people like those who like them
Application: uncover real similarities and offer genuine praise
We say ‘yes’ more often to people who we like
- Door to door salespeople are ‘nice/friendly/talkative’
- Use widely accepted cues, words, emblems (American flag)
Cola en Pepsi, blind, niet onderscheiden kleuren en smaken. Hoe zoeter hoe beter wanneer
geblinddoekt. Ze dachten we moeten onze frisdranken zoeter maken. Dit product kwam op de markt,
maar men was vergeten dat Coca-Cola niet van Coca-Cola was maar van Amerikaan (identiteit). Ze
brengen deze identiteit/cultuur in gevaar. Kijk dus ook naar wat het product betekend.
Tactics based on liking
Ingratiation: requesters first induce target person to like them (use flattery, improve one’s
appearance, emit positive nonverbal cues, do small favors for target person)
,Personal appeals: appeal to feelings of loyalty, friendship
What do we like
a) Physical attractiveness (in court, do net wear shorts, hats, flip flopts etc. People who wore
the dress code had less punishment)
b) Similarity
c) Compliments
d) Contact and cooperation (Cool Blue, lang treuzelen op site, verschijnt een naamgebruiker en
vraagt of hij kan helpen, hier ontstaat een liking persoonlijk)
e) Conditioning and association (wanneer iets positief te brengen, wordt jij hier op aangekeken
visa versa)
Authority: people defer to experts
Application: expose your expertise, don’t assume it’s self-evident
- Potent motivators – power, prestige – social proof
- Symbols of authority
o Titles (using experts in ads)
o Size (titles lead to height disortions, think about two leaders, one is bigger to other,
you have differnet opinion about them)
o Clothes and expensive accessoires (uniforms, business suits, jewelery, cars)
Tactics based on power/authority
Reward power: providing and promising a positive outcome
If you brush your teeth every night this week, I’ll take you to the movies
Coercive power: providing or promising a negative outcome
If you don’t brush your teeth you can’t watch TV
Expert power: special knowledge, skills or ability
The dentist told you to brush twice a day, she knows best
Referent power: identifying with or wanting to be like another person or group
Your big brother Stan always brushes twice a week
Legitimate: the influencer’s right or authority te make a request
I’m your parent and I’m telling you to brush your teeth now
Where do you see this
- Military – following orders
- Obedience to parents, teachers, church
- Medical decisions
- Milgram’s obedience experiment
Scarcity: people want more of what they can have less
Application: highlight unique benefits and exclusive information
- People assign more value to opportunities when they are less available
- Things that are difficult to get are typically perceived better
- We are more motivated by the though of losing something than by the thought of gaining
somethink of equal value = loss aversion (prospect theory)
Tactics based on scarcity
Playing hard to get: suggesting that a person or object is scarce and hard to obtain
, Deadline technique: target persons are told that they have only limited time to take advantage of
some offer to obtain some item
We see this in
- Limited-number (less = better – makes them more desirable)
- Rare value (the best one)
- If there are few (left), social proof suggests other are buying
- Forbidden things (teenagers – banned books)
‘the way to love anything is to realize it might be lost’
Things that are difficult to obtain are typically more valuable
- Limited editions
- Limited stock
If things become less accessible, we lose freedom of choice and wnat it even more
- Time left at auctions / deal valuable until …
- We don’t sell alcohol under 18 / movie rating system
This also hold for scarcity of information
- People want it more
- People believe it more / become more favorable to it
Key takeaways
- An attitude is global and enduring evaluation of how much we like or dislike an object, brand,
person or action
- Knowing how to influence attitudes is crucial for managers, as attitudes drive consumer
behavior (I.e. purchases)
- Attitudes can be changed on cognition (i.e. thoughts) and/or affect (i.e. feelings/emotions)
- Cognitive models include an analytical process of attitude formation, in which consumers put
in high effort to form their attitude (i.e. supporting arguments, counter arguments and
source derogation)
- Affective models are based on the experience that emotional reactions may serve as a
powerful way of creating attitudes that are favorable, enduring and resitant to change
Topic O
Evaluation of alternatives
Information relevant when making a choice:
- Choice alternatives (e.g. brands)
- Choice criteria (e.g. product attributes, price)
Information on choice alternative may be
- Externally available (stimulus-based, not asked you get a stimuli)
- Retrieved from memory (memory-based ‘evoked set’ or ‘consideration set’)
- A mixture of both cases
Information on choice criteria may be
- Stimulus-based (e.g. now on sale)
- memory-based (e.g. I know that car brands differ in reliability)
- A mixture of both cases
Need to evaluate:
- Set of brands
