Attitude and Behavior: Which Comes First?

This theory was first created by Ajzen and Fishbein in 1980. This theory provides a framework to study the attitudes that support behaviours and suggests that the most important determinate of an individual’s behaviour is their behavioural intent. This is the individual’s intention to preform a certain behaviour, which is formed from a combination of their attitude towards the behaviour and the subject norm. (The subject norm is the individual’s perception of what others expect them to do).

Attitudes can also arise due to observational learning, wherein people internalize the attitudes of others; passing them on from one individual to the other. Attitudes can be held implicitly and do not innately imply behavior. Often individual’s will have consideration of a ground or opinion but not act on it when the chance rises. Many factors influence whether or not attitudes will come to impact behavior.

Attitude - Attitude toward a behavior is referred as an individual’s positive and negative evaluation of a relevant behavior and is composed of an individual’s salient beliefs regarding the perceived consequences of performing behavior (Ajzen, 1991, p.207).

In the journal (classical conditioning of consumer attitudes: Four experiments in an advertising context) page number 334-349, writer has stated that the behavior of a consumer is towards the product matters. (Elnora W. Stuart, 1987). And classical conditioning matters a lot. He proves by providing multiple examples.

planned behavior, if we want to predict a behavior we need to know three things: (1) attitude

Engaging in exercise everyday would help reduce the risk of lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The counties could also educate the people on the dangers of smoking and as such spearhead campaigns to help people quit smoking. The theory of planned behavior is used to predict deliberate behavior in individuals since behavior can be planned and deliberative. The theory could be applied in reversing the health trends in the counties with emphasis on whether to exercise or use condoms when having sex. Further, there exists a correlation between independently healthy eating behaviors with barriers, such as attitude, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm, evident in the theory of planned behavior3. The health policymakers in the counties would have to assume that people process every piece of information and act accordingly and thus would be compelled to quit smoking and result to exercise. This theory would fit the intervention plan due to its efficiency to explain intention, perceived behavioral control being as important as attitude across health-related behavior

A theory often used in the research of individual health behavior and behavioral intentions is the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991). According to this theory, the performance of any behavior depends on behavioral intention. Behavioral intention is viewed as being dependent on behavioral beliefs (e.g., attitude towards the behavior), normative beliefs, and control beliefs. Normative beliefs are beliefs about the expectations of others, and control beliefs are beliefs about the factors that may help or hinder the performance of the behavior. The framework for the study of physical activity discussed earlier by Armitage (2005) is based on this theory. That study found that behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs all contribute to physical activity behavior.

An attitude are the long lasting beliefs, feelings, and behavioral responses towards social objects such as other people or issues (Attitudes and Behavior, n.d.). Attitudes can either be positive or negative.

“Attitudes are positive or negative evaluations, feeling, and tendencies that individuals harbor toward objects or concepts” (Wild). As the book mentions, attitudes are similar to values, these are formed according to a culture background and varies from country to country.

Attitude–a relatively constant feeling, predisposition, or a set of beliefs that is directed toward an object, a person, or a situation.

Attitudes are thoughts that you have accepted as true and that lead you to think, feel, or act positively or negatively toward a person, idea or event. They represent an emotional readiness to behave in a particular manner. (Reece) Positive and negative attitudes affect how you work and how you influence other people around you. These attitudes can absolutely be changed though because we are not born with those attitudes. We form them as time passes, depending on the situations that we have been through. For instance, if you had a job where your supervisor was racist toward you, you would begin to form a negative attitude about supervisors thinking that all of them are going to be racist. Instead, you can change your attitude by thinking that not everyone acts the same way. A positive attitude can make a difference between an amazing life and a nonsense one. Therefore, a lot of people should try to change their attitude to a positive one.

Implicit attitudes are unintentional and somewhat unconscious evaluations that are made, explicit attitudes are attitudes that we are fully conscious and aware of Rather than focus on the feelings and values of an attitude object Cognitive based attitudes focus on the beliefs held about the particular attributes of an attitude object (Crisp and Turner 2007). This type of attitude serves to help us quickly identify a positive or negative response on whether we want something or not (Crisp and Turner 2007). Behavioural based attitudes are primarily concerned with Daryl

Do attitudes predict behaviour? It is not easy to find the correct answer to this question. The relationship between attitudes and behaviour is one of the most controversial topics in social psychology. This essay explores whether attitudes can predict behaviours using two of theories of behaviour change: Cognitive Dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957) and Self-Perception Theory (Bem, 1965, 1967).

Social psychologists know that people’s attitudes define whether they have a successful, bright, happy future. Most people can agree that this is the case, but people must ask themselves why and what really makes up a person’s attitude. In past years, attitude was recognized as one of the most important psychological experiences of human beings. Over time, the significance of attitudes has increased specifically in understanding how people come to be who they are. This paper will discuss the structure of attitudes through the ABC Model which explains three different components (affect, behavior and cognition) and how these components play a role in people’s lives.

Fisbein & Ajzen, 1975). Specifically, it proposes that perceived behavioural control (PBC), in conjunction with attitude and subjective norms, is a direct predictor of behavioural intention.