Advertising reflects an understanding of cognitive-behavioural theory Essay Example

prevailing psychological theories and research projecting advertising via the AIDA, cognition-information, persuasive hierarchy, low involvement hierarchy, cognitive affective and integrative models, among others. E. related the aforementioned concepts in 1898.

According to Haynes (2003), St. Elmo Lewis proposed the Attention-Interest-Desire-Action model as a means of explaining how advertising functions. The model asserts that advertising can alter brand attitudes by first capturing a person's attention, generating interest in the brand, leading to a desire for the brand, and resulting in actionable behavior. Essentially, the model assumes that an individual's mind starts as a blank slate, and through an increase in brand awareness, the right emotions, desires, or interests are elicited to prompt action towards the brand.

Haynes (2002) proposed a hierarchy of effects, based on Julian Rotter's cognitive-behavioral theory, to explain consumer decision-making. However, Vakratsas and Ambler (1999) argued that this model fails to account for the conscious and unconscious feelings, memories, and desires that consumers bring from past product experiences. The authors analyzed different advertising models and found support for cognitive-behavioral theory in their taxonomical analysis. They suggested evaluating advertising effects in a three-dimensional space comprising cognition, affect, and experience. For further information on cognition's role in learning, see the relevant article.The cognitive-information model suggests that consumers use logical reasoning when deciding which products or brands to buy, and advertising is simply used to provide factual information. According to Nelson's classification of goods into search and experience categories, advertising about a product that has been previously used will result in a decision based on experience. (Vakratsas & Ambler, 1999; Nelson, 1974 cited in Vakratsas & Ambler, 1999).

According to Verma (1980,

cited in Vakratsas ; Ambler, 1999), the level of experience with a product can affect consumer decision-making. Search goods, which can be evaluated based on objective information such as value for money, allow for relatively quick decisions. Conversely, experience goods require more use and familiarity before a decision can be made. Verma suggests that advertising is more effective for experience goods since it can provide additional information beyond the objective facts available for search goods. The cognitive-information model also suggests that advertising can impact consumer price sensitivity, which can ultimately influence behavior.

According to the market power theory (Cumanor ; Wilson, 1979, cited in Vakratsas ; Ambler, 1999), firms producing high-quality products like IBM can decrease consumer price sensitivity and incrementally raise the price of their goods with subtlety. However, the economics of information theory proposed by Chiplin and Sturgess (1981, cited in Vakratsas and Ambler, 1999) contradicts this notion by suggesting that advertising increases price sensitivity and influences behaviour by prompting consumers to consider the price of goods and seek out the best value. The cognitive-information model of advertising underscores the significance of cognition in shaping consumer behaviour but disregards the role of affect. This model assumes that consumers rationally analyze the information presented in advertisements to make informed decisions. However, Holbrook and Batra's (1987) research highlights the impact emotions can have on decision-making, an aspect that the cognitive-information model overlooks.

The advertising industry utilizes a hierarchy of effects to process information, which can be observed through the persuasive and low involvement hierarchy models of advertising (Vakratsas; Ambler, 1999). The persuasive hierarchy model suggests that cognitions impact emotions that subsequently affect behaviour. A study by Batra

and Ray (1985), however, revealed that various antecedents of cognitive response production can hinder the effectiveness of advertisements on consumers. These antecedents, which block advertising messages from reaching consumers, depend on the consumer's motivation and involvement with the message. For instance, an advertisement for outdoor equipment such as a tent would influence a consumer who is highly motivated and involved in a recreational activity like camping. The consumer views the advertisement, cognitively processes their high involvement with the advert's content, triggering their affect and resulting in a change in behaviour.

Using persuasive techniques is necessary for advertising that has low involvement properties with the consumer in order to evoke arousal. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), a common persuasive model, distinguishes between two paths to persuasion: central (for high need for cognition) and peripheral (for low need). Both follow the hierarchy of cognition followed by affect. The cognitive-schemata theory or heuristic learning can be linked to the cognitive-affective model of advertising.

Narvaez & Bock (2002, p. 297) define schemas as collections of concepts, expectations, and hypotheses that develop as individuals identify similarities and patterns in their experiences. These schemas are constantly active in the mind and can be triggered by present stimuli that resemble the original stimuli that formed the schema (Rock, 1997). Chaiken (1980) suggests that people process information both systematically and heuristically.

Using simple cues to make a decision (such as brand preference) is called schemas or heuristic processing. Consumers may rely on easy decision rules like buying a brand name, buying a brand that an expert, attractive or trustworthy spokesperson advertises, or buying the brand most people use. Such processing is connected to the ELM's

peripheral route to persuasion, where information is processed using a low need for cognition. Mental shortcuts that consumers use to evaluate products are also related to George Kelly's psychological construct theory. According to the theory, individuals create constructs that help them understand the world.

When a consumer perceives that new computers generally cost around $2000, they create a mental framework that places all new computers at this price point. However, if they encounter a new computer priced around $1000, their existing framework is adjusted and replaced with a new one. The cognitive-affective model of advertising also pertains to brand recall and attitude. While most advertising focuses on popular brands like Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and IBM, the hierarchical model suggests that once established in the consumer's mind, minimal advertising is needed to maintain its presence. Despite this, research shows that reducing brand advertising results in reduced sales not because consumers forget to search for the product but because memory of it deteriorates over time.

According to Huey (1999), if advertising is not continuous, the consumer will not be able to form a cognitive experience of the product, which results in failure to remember it. Vakratsas and Ambler's (1999) analysis of the cognitive-affective approach to advertising indicates that people respond differently to advertisements depending on their level of involvement. The notion that ads inform and then persuade is not well-supported; instead, the ELM persuasion model and other multi-path approaches are more widely supported (Vakratsas & Ambler, 1999).

According to the low-involvement hierarchy model, which was introduced by Vakratsas and Ambler in 1999, advertising has less influence on beliefs, attitudes, and behavior than the experience of a product. In this model, the

cognitive aspect may only be a brief awareness of products that do not engage the consumer. Conversely, Ehrenberg's reinforcement model proposes that product preferences are established after an initial trial. For example, receiving a complimentary Nivea Skin Cream sample in the mail and continuing to buy it based on previous experience. In contrast, Smith (1993) discovered that while advertising reinforces behavior, experience has a more significant effect on forming beliefs, attitudes, and making choices.

Vakratsas and Ambler (1999) propose the integrative model, which suggests that cognition, affect, and experience dimensions can be interchangeable and need not always follow a specific order. On the other hand, Vaughn (1980) presents the FCB grid that identifies purchase decisions where either thinking or feeling dominates. Furthermore, McWilliam's (1993) study states that high need for cognition entails major purchases while low need for cognition is linked with food and staple items. Vaughn suggests designing advertising according to product category: high involvement and high need for information (such as a Ford Festiva) should receive more emphasis than low involvement and low need for information items (such as a tin of corn).

Albert Bandura's social learning theory, also known as social cognitive theory, can offer a psychological explanation of how advertising impacts consumers. According to Bandura (1977, 1986), behavior can be learned by simply observing it. The widespread use of media, particularly television, has dramatically increased the opportunities for observational learning. Bandura (1986) notes that television, films, and other visual media provide abundant and varied symbolic modeling that can be an influential source of social learning for individuals of all ages.

The social cognitive model asserts that learning occurs through four stages: attention, retention, production,

and motivation processes. This model can be applied to analyze the impact of advertising on consumers' decision-making process. The initial phase of the social cognitive process is attention (Bandura, 1977, 1986).

Heavy media consumption by consumers, including print media, is observed along with the attractive design of product ads that appeal greatly to them. Advertisements for cigarettes, for instance, often portray physically attractive models in dreamlike environments, engaging in exciting activities and being desirable to the opposite sex. This feature is found to meet the consumer's needs for success, identity, love, acceptance and sexuality, as stated by Altman, Slater, Albright and Maccoby (1987). Frequent exposure to these intriguing ads could also increase the possibility of consumers following the portrayed behaviour such as smoking, drinking or using a certain brand of shampoo.

Retention, which is the second step in the social cognitive process, is emphasized by advertisements through the use of slogans that aid in recalling information (Bandura, 1977, 1986). An example of this is Pepsi's slogan, "The taste for a new generation!" Moreover, visual imagery is especially effective in retaining information that cannot be easily transformed into verbal equivalents (laBarbera, Weingard, & Yorkston, 1998).

Effective cigarette ads rely heavily on visual imagery, as seen with the iconic 'Malboro Man' campaign that uses images of nature and independence to connect smoking with fulfilling activities. According to Bandura (1977, 1986), mental rehearsal aids retention when reproducing observed behaviors is not possible, as shown through recall of ad slogans like Toyota's 'oh what a feeling' and captivating visual imagery. This retention is a critical step in social learning, with production of the new behavior and decision-making becoming subsequent steps. Taylor (1998)

notes that reinforcements primarily affect performance rather than learning in behavior sequences.

The concept of observational learning suggests that behaviors resulting in positive outcomes are more likely to be repeated while those with negative consequences are not. Advertising often relies on a simple "hierarchy of effects" model where consumers change their minds, attitudes, and then take action. However, Vakratsas and Ambler have found no theoretical basis for assigning cognition its proper role in the consumer's mind. While advertising theories propose that cognition affects consumer choices, there is little objective evidence to support this claim.

Bruce (2002) emphasizes the importance of emotions in shaping attitudes towards a brand or product. Holbrook and Batra (1987) supported this theory by demonstrating the impact of emotions, such as pleasure, arousal, and domination, on brand attitudes. Bruce (2002) proposed a model of advertising, the perception, experience, memory model, which suggests that emotions, feelings, affect, and experience supersede cognition in shaping attitudes towards a brand. The model includes three stages: pre-experience, enhancing experience, and post-experience exposure to advertising.

The model proposes that advertising manipulates perception to generate excitement for a product. This is demonstrated in food advertisements that aim to induce hunger, such as McDonald's use of visuals that appear as if the viewer is about to bite into a burger. Beer ads rely on the sound of carbonation being released when opening the cap, known as the 'whoosh'. Conversely, life insurance advertisements attempt to instill anxiety about the future.

According to Bruce (2002), car advertisements aim to evoke the sensation of driving rather than relying on interpretation. This means that cognition only plays a role after expectation and anticipation are established. The cognitive-behavioural

theory suggests that our information processing follows a specific sequence, with cognition influencing behaviour. However, there is no concrete evidence to support this hierarchy in advertising theories.

As stated by Vakratsas and Ambler (p.33), certain advertising theories that rely on a hierarchical concept lack empirical evidence. These theories suggest that consumers prioritize cognition over affect and behavior; however, their validity rests solely on logical and instinctual assertions. While it is undeniable that cognition influences decision-making, the degree of its influence remains open to discussion. The crux of the matter lies in the fact that individuals might not become aware of a brand or product unless they anticipate encountering it, which advertising must somehow convey.