Attitudes and Behaviour
By : Aditi Verma
Do attitudes predict behaviour ?
• Attitudes may be useful for predicting what people
will do – maybe if we change people’s attitudes ,
we might be able to change their behavior .
• Attitude-behavior consistency exists when there is
a strong relation between opinions and actions .
• Initial research on attitude-behavior consistency
was conducted by LaPiere , who found very small
correlation between attitude and behavior and
• revealed inconsistency between what people do and
what they say .
• But later it was found that attitudes and overt
behaviour are not related in a one-to-one fashion .
There are conditions that promote or disrupt the
correspondence between having an attitude and
behaving .
When do attitudes predict behaviour ?
• There are factors that make attitudes more or less
predictive of behaviour :
1. Attitude
Attitude
extremity
Attitude Strength Attitudes Attitude-
certainty of are behaviour
attitudes accessible consistency
Personal
experience
2. Situation – whether attitudes predict behaviour may
depend on the context in which you ask the
question .
• Norms can be so strong that it is unlikely that overt
behavior will reflect private attitudes .
3. Specificity – Attitudes and behaviors must be
measured at the same level of specificity .Specific
attitudes will predict specific behaviors .
How do attitudes predict behaviour ?
• Two theoretical models that explain why attitude
predict behaviour :
1. Theory of reasoned action
2. Theory of planned behaviour
Theory of Reasoned Action
• It was developed by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980).
• The model comprised three broad processes of
beliefs, intention and action and included the
following components:
• Subjective norm – a product of what the
individual perceives others to believe.Significant
others provide direct or indirect information about
‘what is the proper thing to do’.
• Attitude towards the behaviour – a product of the
individual’s beliefs about the target behaviour and
how these beliefs are evaluated .
• Behavioural intention – an internal declaration to
act .
• Behaviour – the action performed .
• Usually, an action will be performed if (1) the
person’s attitude is favourable; and (2) the social
norm is also favourable .
• According to this model , a person’s behaviour is
determined by his behavioural intention to perform
it . This intention itself is determined by the person’s
attitudes and his subjective norms towards the
behaviour .
• Example - I know I can stop smoking if I really want
to .
Theory of Planned Behaviour
• This model was the extension by Ajzen of the theory
of reasoned action .
• It was developed to predict deliberative and
thoughtful behavior .
• According to this model, the most immediate
predictor (or determinant) of a person’s behavior is
his or her intention and a person’s intentions are
determined by three factors : attitudes , subjective
norms and perceived behavioral control .
• The attitude component refers to the individual’s
attitude towards the behaviour – whether the person
thinks that performing the behaviour is good or bad .
• The subjective norms refer to people’s beliefs
about how other people who are important to them
view the relevant behavior .
• The perceived behavioral control is the extent to
which the person believes it is easy or difficult to
perform an act .
• Example – every student wants to achieve A-
grades in their course .
Attitude
towards
behavior
Subjective Behavioural
Behaviour
norm intention
Perceived
behavioural
control
