How Implementation Intentions Affect Self Affirmed Individuals

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).

It has substantial success in predicting a variety of behaviors (Conner & Sparks, 1996). It details the causes of an individual's decision to behave in a particular manner. Theory of Planned Behavioral is rooted in the fact that behavior reflects expected value. It aims to explain rationally motivated, intentional health and non-health behaviors. Extremely specific behavioral intentions measures that closely match the intended behaviors are used in the Theory of Planned Behavior. Behavioral intention measures can assess planning. The Theory of Planned Behavioral provides an account of the elements of behavior when both motivation and opportunity to process information are high (Conner & Armitage, 1998). Self-efficacy plays a vital role in this

Bandura focused on perceived self-efficacy, which he defines as a belief in one’s own capability to organize and execute the course of action required to attain a goal. (Bandura, 1977).

Tavris and Aronson discuss the main idea of this chapter—cognitive dissonance. As it is the engine of self-justification like it is mentioned in the first page of the chapter, cognitive dissonance allows the person to reflect two different cognitions and know the justifications to actions and decisions. Tavris and Aronson use the example of smoking to exemplify the reduction in dissonance. Considering cognitive dissonance, the authors reveal that dissonance challenges behaviorism. People should know that even if there is a painful situation laid front of their life path, achieving something by going through that path will make them a superior person and that goal will become even more attractive. In addition, explained by the authors, the

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.

“I will start running”, for instance, is not a well developed goal. Professor Chang from the National Changhua University conducted an experiment testing the impact of specific and nonspecific goals. Elementary students were split into two groups: in one group, the teacher gave students nonspecific goals like “do your best” and “try hard”, and in the second group, the teacher gave each student a specific number of questions to get correct on a test. When both groups took a vocabulary post-test, students who were given a specific goal scored on average twenty-four points higher than students who were given nonspecific goals (Chang 61). To revise the first statement I wrote earlier, “I will run two miles a day” is a more specific and tangible goal that a rookie runner can take to approaching and persevering in their goal. As a note, people who feel they aren’t as motivated as others shouldn’t fear goal setting. In fact, two researchers conducted an experiment that created randomized groups with both high and low achieving students. The results concluded that “low need achievers who received externally imposed goals performed more poorly on the task than did low need achievers with self-set goals or high need achievers with imposed goals” (Horn and Murphy 275). With the research done by Horn and Murphy, it becomes evident that the goals people persevere through are usually more effective when they are self-imposed. Why?

The principle of self-justification explains the dissonance of two or more thoughts or beliefs that are inconsistent. For example, when our attitudes change, we experience a feeling of tension that happens after we act in contrary to our attitudes or when we make difficult decisions to reduce the arousal of our behavior. Furthermore, these principle of self-justification is composed of two strategies the internal self-justification and the external self-justification. The internal self-justification refers to the change that people perceive when their actions are in denial or when they have negative consequences, while the external self-justification refers to the use of external excuses used to justify one’s actions.

“If I chose to do it or say it, I must believe in it.” asserts the psychologist Leon Festinger (as cited in Psychology: Eighth Edition in Modules, 2007, p.731). When we become aware that our actions contradict our attitudes, we tend to revise our attitudes. This statement fits Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory that asserts that we act to reduce discomfort or dissonance, an unpleasant tension, we experience when two of our thoughts or cognitions are inconsistent. Mkimmie, et al. (2003) investigated the impact of social support on cognitive dissonance arousal in their experiment, “I’m a Hypocrite, but So Is Everyone Else: Group Support and the Reduction of Cognitive Dissonance.” The psychologists aimed to test the impact of social

The idea of self is a significant part of every individual’s life. The way we visualise ourselves can be altered by feelings of self worth and self esteem and lead to a change or influence in the way we act. The evaluation of one’s attitude towards self can be seen to be improved by the individual believing they are worthy which could lead to a self fulfilling prophecy. The better-than-average effect can depict this theory by assessing individuals on their motivational bias and attributes (Brown, 2011). In this particular study, participants are given a questionnaire regarding ten traits, half of high importance and half of low importance. They were then told to rate these attributes on importance of possession. As predicted, the results show that the

Results stated that the experimental group who used goal setting had a higher adherence levels compared to the social support and controlled groups who did not set goals whilst performing exercises (experimental group 80.40, controlled group 50.43). This supports (Theodorakis et al., 1996), as they both obtained similar results in terms of the goal setting groups receiving significantly increased results, this ultimately shows that goal setting helped participants to stick to their rehabilitation programs and also perform better during exercises. (Coppack, R et al., 2011), also backed up the results of (Theodorakis et al., Evans, L. and Hardy, L. 2002), results as again he used similar methods of an experimental group and two controlled groups. His results showed that the experimental group showed higher adherence scores compared to the controlled groups. This shows that the method was used by many experts to test goal setting. Although all studies suggested that goal setting had a positive effect on an athlete’s rehabilitation as self-efficacy and satisfaction improved. Results obtained may not be as accurate as possible, and therefore, may not be reliable. (Evans, L. and Hardy, L., 2002) explained that methodology’s that use feedback to asses self-efficacy and satisfaction suggest that result could not be as accurate as

The difference between condition one and three is that condition three allowed the participants to self-affirm after finding out their verdict was in disagreement with the other group members. Festinger argues that the lack of choice adds consonant cognitions which reduce the overall amount of dissonance that otherwise would be experienced (Festinger, 1957, 1958; as cited in Matz & Woods, 2005). Additionally, the opportunity to self-affirm strengthens self-worth and thereby reduces the dissonance created when people’s actions threaten their personal integrity (Simon, Greenberg, & Brehm, 1995; as cited in Matz & Woods, 2005). Thus, Matz and Woods hypothesize that dissonance will be reduced by the lack of choice and the opportunity to self-affirm. The results show low levels of discomfort in the lack of choice and self-affirmation conditions, providing an explanation of the kinds of strategies people use to reduce dissonance.

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).

Self-regulation is an important part of an individual’s everyday life. From the moment a person wakes up until the moment they go to sleep, they are engaging in self-regulatory practices throughout much of their day. These self-regulatory processes are not only conscious decisions that one makes throughout a variety of situations, but can become deeply imbedded in an individual’s way of life. Through a social-cognitive perspective, one may define self-regulation as producing feelings, thoughts, and actions. These are planned and adapted cyclically in order for one to achieve personal goals in a changing social and physical environment (Zimmerman, 2010, as cited in Durand-Bush, McNeill, Harding, & Dobransky, 2015, p. 257). One must constantly modify their actions in order to obtain the desired outcome. Self-regulation involves looking in retrospect at past actions, evaluating them, and then choosing current behavior to be consistent with desires. For some, self-regulatory practices have been built over many years throughout one’s life and continue to grow. The individual learns new knowledge and practices that they can incorporate into their lives. Daily actions are motivated by both internal and external forces. According to Ryan and Deci (2000), there is a very important difference between intrinsic and extrinsic kinds of motivation. Intrinsic motivation entails doing something because it is essentially interesting or enjoyable, while extrinsic motivation entails doing

From Week 4 lecture, I have learnt about the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Initially, I thought that if a person intend to do something, they will put in their best effort to do it. However, I realized that I was wrong because ‘intention does not always accurately predict behaviour when there is a reflex or conditioned response involved.’(Long-Crowell, 2003) For example, ‘my friend with a phobia may intend to stay calm and collected when faced with their fear, but may end up having a panic attack instead.’(Long-Crowell, 2003) After this lecture, I have learnt that this theory explores the relationship between attitudes and behaviour. A person who have the intention to change is determined by attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. For example, a person who know about the negative effects are more willing to quit smoking.

The TPB (Ajzen, 1985; 1991) was developed following an extension of the socio psychological Theory of Reasoned Action or TRA (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) as a result of the original model’s limitations in dealing with behaviours over which people have incomplete volitional control. According to the theory, both attitude toward behaviour (Act) and subjective norms (SN) are immediate determinants of intention to perform behaviour. The TPB further proposes that intention to perform behaviour is the immediate cause of such behaviour. It represents motivational components, that is, the extent to which a person will exercise conscious effort in carrying out any intended behavioural actions.