the overall evaluation is also dependent upon the accumulation of certain aspects of the attitude concept. Thurstone introduced one of the earliest definitions of attitude in 1931. He viewed attitude as a fairly simple concept the amount of affect a person has for or against an object. A few years later, Allport proposed a much broader definition: Attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness to respond, organized through experience, and exerting a directive and/or dynamic influence on behavior. (Lutz 234-5)Today, most researchers agree that the simple concept of an attitude proposed by Thurstone and Fishbein is the most useful. That is, attitude represents a persons favorable or unfavorable feelings toward the object in question. For example, if a persons feelings towards an institution of higher learning are unfavorable, the attitude is generally not too good towards that institution. Beliefs (cognition) and intentions to behave (conation) are seen as related to attitude but are separate cognitive concepts, not part of attitude itself. (Myers-Levy 76-86) So, both cognition and conation are related to attitude but directly.Objects and behaviors are the two broad types of concepts that most interest marketers. Consumers can have attitudes toward various physical and social objects including products, brands, models, stores, and people, as well as aspects of the marketing strategy. Consumers also can have attitudes toward imaginary objects such as concepts and ideas. It does not matter if the object is real or perceived it still has relevance to consumers whether it is a brand like Coca-Cola or if it is an idea like having car alarms in all of the 2001 models. A 1997 survey of Americans attitudes toward pollution and the environment found that, compared to five years ago, 76 percent were more concerned, 19 percent were less concerned, and 6 percent were unchanged. (Fishbein 1-19) Once an attitude has been formed and stor...
