ed in memory, consumers do not have to engage in another integration process to construct another attitude when they need to evaluate the concept again. Instead, the existing attitude can be activated from memory and used as a basis for interpreting new information. Because activated attitudes can influence consumers judgements, taste test usually are conducted blind (tasters are not told what brands they are tasting). This avoids activating brand attitudes that could persuade the taste judgements. Finally, the activated attitude can be integrated with other knowledge in decision making. (dAstous 132-37)Consumers attitudes have been studied intensively, but marketers tend to be more concerned about consumers overt behavior, especially their purchase behavior. It is not surprising that a great deal of research has been primarily devoted to the relationship between attitudes and behavior. (Jaccard 600-5) Based on the idea of consistency, you might expect attitudes toward an object. For instance, most market researchers believe, and operate under the assumption, that the more favorable a persons attitude toward a given product (or brand). (Fishbein 3)Predicting consumers future behaviors, especially their purchase behavior, is critically important aspect of forecasting and marketing planning. According to the theory of reasoned action, predicting consumers purchase behaviors is a matter of measuring their intentions to buy just before they make a purchase. In almost all cases, however, this would be impractical. When planning strategies, marketers need predictions of consumers purchase and use behaviors weeks, months, or sometimes years in advance.Unfortunately, predictions of specific behaviors based on intentions measured well before the behavior occurs may not be very accurate. For instance, one survey found that only about 60 percent of people who intended to buy a car actually did so within a year. (Longman 28-37) Simi...
