Attitudes and Behaviour (Part Two) - Attitudes and Volitional Behaviour

Lecture 3

Expectancy-Value Models

attitudes comprise - 1). expectancy of object having an attribute, 2). evaluation of attribute

multiply each expectancy term with corresponding eval term. add products of all expectancy x eval terms → attitude = ∑ Expectancy x Value.

Helen Peak and colleagues e.g. Peak, 1955

attitude is overall summary of all salient attributes and associated evals.

overall attitude = combination of all relevant expectancy and eval terms. e.g. cycling example.

Predicting Volitional Behaviour - Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991)

volitional behaviour is product of rational decision process. decision based on salient beliefs. intention is most immediate influence on behaviour.

The Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) identified underlying determinants of behavioural intentions:-

• attitude towards the behaviour

• subjective norm

• perceived behavioural control

Antecedents of Attitudes Towards the Behaviour

comprises of pos/neg evals of performing the behaviour asa function of behavioural beliefs and outcome evaluations.

attitude = sum of behavioural beliefs x outcome evalutaion.

Antecedents of Subjective Norms

subjective norm comprises of approval/disapproval of referents towards behaviour as a function of normative beliefs and motivation to comply.

social norm = sum of normative beliefs x compliance motivation.

Antecedents of Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC)

PBC is a function of control beliefs:-

• likelihood of helping/hindering factor being present

• power to help/hinder

two types of control factor:-

• internal factors (skills, abilities, knowledge)

• external factors (barriers, dependence on others)

PBC = sum of likelihood of factor x facilitating/inhibiting power

PBC influences intention bc people intend to do things they have a chance of completing. direct link between PBC and behaviour → reflects extent PBC measures control.

Azjen & Madden (1986)

study of students’ intentions to get A grade in exam.

predicting intention:-

• attitude and subjective norms R = .49

• including PBC, R = .64

achieving actual grade (behaviour):-

• attitude and subjective norm R =.39

• adding PBC R =.45

McEachan et al. (2011)

meta-analysis - attitude, subjective norms, and PBC predicted 40-50% of variance in intention. intention and PBC predicted 19-36% variance in behaviour.

Reasoned Action Approach (Fishbein & Azjen, 2010)

attitude:-

• cognitive attitudes - what you know about the behaviour

• experiential attitudes - how you think you will feel about doing the behaviour

subjective norms:-

• injunctive norms - how you think others want you to behave

• descriptive norms - what you perceive others as doing

PBC:-

• capacity - how easy/difficult the behaviour is

• autonomy - whether doing the behaviour is up to you - extent you can actually do it

Lowe, Eves & Carroll (2002)

community study of exercise motivation.

365 Ps on exercise prescription programme.

concluded affective attitude a strong predictor of both intention and behaviour.

Critique - The Intention-Behaviour Gap (Gollwitzer, 1993)

lack of 1:1 correspondence between intentions and behaviour. TRA and TPB do not explain how intentions lead to behaviour.

Rubicon Model - goal-directed behaviour, 2-stage process:

1. motivation phase - form intention. goal intention.

2. action phase - form plan to pursue goal. implementation intention = commitment to act in specific situation. situation cues memory for intended action.

Gollwitzer & Brandstatter (1997)

students volunteer to write report. everyone intended to do so (goal intention).

condition 1 - Ps provided implementation intention. state where, when and how they will write report.

condition 2 - did not.

results = implementation intentions condition → 71% wrote report. no implementation intention → 32% wrote report.

Armitage (2007)

implementation intention as intervention to increase fruit consumption. 120 Ps either in implementation or control condition.

• sig. increase in fruit consumption in experimental condition

• no sig. increase in controls

• findings supportive of Gollwitzer’s model

Inclusion of additional variables to TPB (Conner & Armitage, 1998)

• belief importance

• past behaviour/habit → improved prediction of future behaviour by 18.2%

• moral norms → added 4% to predicting intentions

• self-identity

• affect

Volition Versus Automaticity (MODE Model, Fazio, 1990)

reasoned action approach (TPB) to volitional behaviours may be compatible with models of automatic attitudes and spontaneous behaviour.

opportunity/motivation exists → deliberate approach to behavioural decision making (TPB)

opportunity/motivation absent → behaviour influence by automatic attitudes