This paper examines the psychological functions of attitudes and the processes by which they can be changed through persuasion. Drawing on Snyder and DeBono's functional theory, the paper identifies four core attitude functions—ego-defensive, knowledge, value expressive, and social adjustive—and supplements these with Levin's instrumental function. Real-world examples, including consumer brand preferences and voting behavior, illustrate how different functions operate differently across individuals. The paper then analyzes the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), explaining how the central route engages high-involvement cognitive processing while the peripheral route relies on cues such as jingles and brand mascots to sustain consumer awareness.
Mark Snyder and Kenneth G. DeBono reference "functional theories" of attitudes, explaining that the functional aspect of attitudes allows people to "execute plans and achieve goals" (Snyder, et al, 1989). Importantly, functional theory often serves "very different functions for different people" because, even when two individuals hold very similar attitudes, the persuasive conditions required to change those attitudes may "be quite different" (Snyder, 340). As Snyder emphasizes, in order to "successfully change an attitude," the specific function being served by that attitude must be directly addressed.
Snyder and DeBono identify four distinct functions that attitudes can perform. The first is the ego-defensive function: people protect themselves from "accepting truths about themselves" that are undesirable or threatening (Snyder, 340). One mechanism for this is "reaction formation," in which a person who despises a neighbor becomes excessively friendly toward that neighbor — concealing true feelings in order to avoid confronting an uncomfortable reality.
The second function is knowledge. People need to organize information efficiently, so they categorize objects based on limited information and use "attributes associated with general categories" to pass judgment on "specific objects" (Snyder, 340). This allows individuals to navigate a complex world without exhaustively evaluating every stimulus from scratch.
The third function is value expressive. This type of attitude allows a person to express his or her "true self — that is, his or her underlying values, dispositions, or personality" (Snyder, 341). A clear example is a voter who supports banning assault rifles and goes to the polls to vote for a candidate whose platform centers on that issue. The voter is expressing deeply held values through his or her attitude and behavior.
The fourth function is social adjustive. This attitude forms when an individual wishes to fit in with a particular social group. Using the same gun-policy example, a person with a social adjustive attitude might attend a cocktail fundraiser for a candidate who supports an assault weapons ban — not necessarily because of deeply held inner convictions, but because associating with that liberal, gun-control-oriented group fulfills a social need and allows the individual to belong to a desirable social setting (Snyder, 341). The key distinction from the value expressive function is motivation: social fitting-in rather than authentic self-expression.
Kenneth Levin and colleagues add an instrumental function to the four functions identified by Snyder. Attitudes serving an instrumental function are defined by the "motivation to maximize rewards and minimize punishments" (Levin, 1999, 164). A person whose attitude reflects an instrumental function will typically plan for and anticipate "positive consequences" tied to that attitude. Levin illustrates this with the example of a woman shopping for a new car: she responds to the persuasive appeals of a salesman because she is searching for a vehicle that specifically matches her needs. She therefore evaluates the information shared with her in an objective, open manner, because her attitude is oriented toward finding what will genuinely serve her (Levin, 164).
"Levin's fifth function and consumer brand examples"
"Advertising cues, mascots, and consumer consciousness"
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