Attitudes & Behavior

Do Attitudes Determine
Behavior?
■ An underlying assumption in persuasion
research is: Shift a person’s attitude in the
right direction and behavior will follow.
Examples:
1. If people see the value of wearing their seatbelt
then they are more likely to actually wear it.
2. If people think that smoking is bad for their
health then they will quit.
Basic Questions
■ Is there a relationship between attitudes
and behavior and, if so, how strong is it?
■ When might such a relationship exist?
■ How do attitudes influence behavior? In
other words, what is the psychological
process?
Behavior? Yes, but not
strongly.
■ Classic Study of Cheating
■ Relationship between attitudes toward cheating and actual
cheating behavior.
■ Students took True-False exam then asked to assign
themselves a score.
■ Instructor also graded the exam.
■ Discrepancy between student’s self-assigned score and
instructor’s score was measure of cheating behavior.
■ Relationship between attitude toward cheating and
actually cheating close to zero.
■ Those who did poorly more likely to cheat.
■ Meta-analysis of attitude studies showed less than . 30
correlation between attitudes and behavior.
When do attitudes predict
behavior?
■ Are there factors that make attitudes more or less
predictive of behavior?
■ 4 Factors that Impact the Relationship:
■ Qualities of the…
■ Behavior (General vs. specific)
■ Person (Who is being asked)
■ Situation (When and how are they being asked?)
■ Attitude (How was the attitude formed?)
 Attitude Change

Attitude-Behavior Survey
Yes, Important Yes, I
1. Students should read acted
2. Homelessness is a problem I 100
3. should exercise
80
4. I should recycle
5. I should designate a driver I 60
6. should vote 40
Should change strategy to
7.
20
fight terrorism
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Behavior Being Predicted
■ Attitudes and behaviors must be
measured at the same level of
specificity.
■ Example: A person’s attitude toward their
general health will not predict their
propensity to jog.
■ Specific attitudes will predict specific
behaviors.
Person You Ask
■ Certain peoples’ attitudes are more consistent
with their behaviors than others.
■ Example: High Self Monitors
■ A high self monitor changes their behavior
depending on the situation. A low self
monitor behaves the same way across situations.
■ Are you a high self monitor?
■ The behavior of low self monitors is consistent
with their expressed attitudes.
 Situation in Which You Ask
Them
■ Whether attitudes predict behavior 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.
■ Example: People who hate their jobs will still go to work
because of normative and financial incentives.
■ Attitudes toward work predict attendance when
obligation to attend is removed.
■ Question: How many people would show up if I made one
class “optional”?
Additional Situational Factors
■ Attitudes are more predictive of
behavior when:
■ People have a vested interest in the
issue.
■ When people are under time
pressure.
■ When situational cues make your attitude
salient (a focus of attention).
■ Situations can be changed to make
attitudes more predictive.
Job Satisfaction and
Performance
■ Studies have shown consistently that happy
workers are not necessarily more productive.
■ Why do think this is the case?
■ How can job attitudes become more
predictive of behavior at work?
■ Recent study shows that happy workers don’t make
firms more successful, but successful firms make
their employees happier.
How do Attitudes Actually
Predict Behavior?
■ Two theoretical models that explain why
attitudes predict behavior.
■ Theory of Reasoned Action:
■ Theory relevant when the behavior is thoughtfully
planned in advance.
■ Attitude-To-Behavior Process Model
■ Theory relevant when behavior is a spontaneous
reaction to one’s immediate situation.
Planned Behavior
Decision to Protest Parking
Lot
■ Attitude Formation:
■ Saving trees is important to me.
Environmental protests are effective.
■ Social Pressure:
■ My friends are going to protest and they
might not talk to me if I don’t.
■ Result: I intend to protest and my
intention will result in action.
Decision to Stay Home
■ Attitude Formation:
■ Protests never work and there are enough
trees in Ithaca anyway.
■ Social Pressure:
■ My friends think protesting is stupid and
they will think I am weird if I go.
■ Result:
■ I intend to stay home.
Spontaneous Behavior
■ Sometimes people’s attitudes will result in
a spontaneous (unplanned) behavior.
■ Example: If you hate cockroaches then you
don’t have to think about what to do when
you see one.
■ Reason: Some attitudes are more
accessible (memorable) than others.
Attitude Accessibility
■ Attitudes guide our interpretation of an
object or a situation.
■ If the attitude is memorable than it will
have an immediate impact on our
behavior.
■ If the attitude is not memorable than it
will impact our behavior only when
recalled.
 Attitude Change Through
Priming
Title: ILR (Development/Recovery) Exercise

Instructions:

“A recent external audit revealed that ILR has been

(improving/ declining ) as an institution over the
last decade. However, the audit was vague as to why
this (improvement/ decline ) might be
occurring. As a group, please list all of the ways
that the administration can (keep/get ) ILR
moving
in the right direction. In other words, list all of the
things you (like/dislike ) about ILR.”
Satisfaction with ILR
■ Student who were randomly assigned to think about
things they didn’t like about ILR were also less
satisfied:
■ With the academic resources at ILR (p
< .05)
■ That they are receiving a high quality education at ILR (p
< .10)
■
With the variety of courses offered at ILR (p
< .05
■ That ILR has helped them prepare for career after
college
(p < .10)
Self Serving Bias
■ On average, people believe that they
are above average.
■ People take credit for their success but
attribute failure to external/situational
factors.
■ Egocentric bias in groups such that each
person believes they contributed more
than any other person.
Satisfaction with Yourself

More Negative
Even
More Positive

■ On average you listed 6.5 strong statements vs. 4.9

weak statements, t (45) = 4.37, p < .01
In Sum
■ In general, the relationship between
attitude and behavior is weak.
■ However, it is possible to strengthen
this link.
■ Combine attitude with social pressure.
■ Make attitude memorable.
THANK YOU