Attitudes are hypothetical constructs, they cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. Because attitudes cannot be observed, a variety of perspectives have developed over the years in attempting to describe what they are. Fortunately, there is now widespread agreement that the term attitude should be used to refer to a general and enduring positive or negative feeling about some person, object, or issue.
The effective component is what is generally being referred to when people use the word “attitude.” However, attitude theorists recognize two additional components, cognitive and conative. The cognitive component refers to a person’s beliefs (knowledge and thoughts, which sometimes are erroneous) about an object or issue (e.g., “Reebok shoes are more stylish that Nike;” “Nike Air Jordans are high-quality basketball shoes”).
The conative component represents one’s behavioral tendency toward an object. In consumer-behavior terms, the conative component represents a consumer’s intention to purchase a specific item.
Attitudes are learned predispositions to respond to an object or class of objects in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way.
An attitude is characterized by progressing from “thinking” (cognitive), to “feeling” (affective), to “behaving” (conative).
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