Search

Author(s): Gilbert Jew [sup.1] , Alisia G. T. T. Tran [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.459941.4, 0000 0000 9763 7243, Counseling Psychology, Phoenix College, , Phoenix, AZ, USA (2) grid.215654.1, 0000 [...], The current study used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine multiple structural models of low-risk and high-risk activist intentions (Ajzen, 1991). Results indicated a good model fit for both a traditional TPB model (CFI = .96; RMSEA = .06; SRMR = .05; [chi].sup.2(125) = 283.28, p < .001) and an identity TPB model (CFI = .95; RMSEA = .06; SRMR = .05; [chi].sup.2 (194) = 434.20, p < .001). The identity TPB model, which included activist identity as a mediator for the TPB variables, accounted for notably more variance in both low-risk activist intentions (44.2% in comparison to 20.1%) and high-risk activist intentions (27.3% in comparison to 12.2%) than the traditional TPB model. The current study increases our understanding of factors that may contribute to low-risk and high-risk activist intentions and highlights the importance of an activist identity to both. The merits of each of the structural models and the practical implications for practice and research are discussed.

The present article includes separate meta-analyses showing that self-concordance and implementation intentions are significantly positively associated with goal progress. Study 1 confirmed the positive relations of both self-concordance and implementation intentions to weekend goal progress. Study 2 confirmed the positive relation of self-concordance with monthly progress on New Year's resolutions but failed to find a direct benefit for implementation intentions. Both studies, however, obtained a significant interaction effect indicating that goal self-concordance and implementation intentions combined synergistically to facilitate goal progress. The article also reports a meta-analysis and results from the 2 studies that demonstrated that goal progress was associated with improved affect over time.

This study examines the relationship between attitudes, norms, intentions, perception of self control, and attendance at health check appointments following an initial health screening. Results indicate that these variables, which comprise the theory of planned behavior, were accurate predictors of appointment attendance over thirteen months.

Factors determining why acts are regarded as aggressive were investigated in a sample of 303 subjects (140 males, 163 females, M age=17.7 yr., SD= 1.4). A model was tested, according to which people base their attribution of aggression to acts on four factors: (1) intention (yes/no), (2) reason (attack/defense), (3) injury (death/injury/no injury), and (4) mode (weapon/bare hands/nonphysical means). All four factors contributed to the explanation of attribution of aggression, and the order of importance was the one mentioned above, intention being most important. The interaction between intention and reason was the second most important, contributing more than reason alone. The findings are consistent with the severity of punishment in sentences for different crimes of violence

This article examines the effects of coping and action self-efficacy on behavioral intentions and preventative nutrition. Results indicate that action self-efficacy, perceptions of health risks, and outcome expectancies were correlated with behavioral intentions while coping self-efficacy was related to adherence to a low-fat, high-fiber diet for six months.

This article examines the psychosocial factors involved in sunbathing and using sun protection in Caucasian women. Results indicate that intentions of using sun protection were directly related to self-efficacy and social norms while while skin cancer susceptibility and perceived advantages of tanning predicted sunbathing intentions and behavior.

This study investigated the relationship between constructs of personal control and exercise attendance. Results indicate that behavioral intention and capacity beliefs, or individual expectations about action-specific behaviors, were more powerful predictors of attendance than beliefs related to outcomes.

When viewing ambiguous displays, observers can, via intentional efforts, affect which perceptual interpretation they perceive. Specifically, observers can increase the probability of seeing the desired percept. Little is known, however, about how intentional efforts interact with sensory inputs in exerting their effects on perception. In two experiments, the current study explored the possibility that intentional efforts might operate by multiplicatively enhancing the stimulus-based activation of the desired perceptual representation. Such a possibility is suggested by recent neurophysiological research on attention. In support of this idea, when we presented bistable apparent motion displays under stimulus conditions differentially favoring one motion percept over the other, observers' intentional efforts to see a particular motion were generally more effective under conditions in which stimulus factors favored the intended motion percept.

This article examines the effect of behavioral intentions on attendance at a screening for cervical cancer. Results indicate that women who were required to create specific implementation intentions about making an appointment were significantly more likely to be present for their screening when compared to a control population.

This study investigates the relationship between sexual arousal, intoxication, and attitudes toward unprotected sex in college-age men. Results demonstrating that aroused intoxicated men report more favorable attitudes toward unsafe sex support the alcohol myopia theory, or the belief that intoxicated people are highly influenced by salient environmental cues.

Meta-analyses of research using the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) show that these models explain on average between 40% and 50% of the variance in intention, and between 19% and 38% of the variance in behavior, This paper evaluates the performance of these models in predicting and explaining intentions and behavior. It discusses the distinction between prediction and explanation, the different standards of comparison against which predictive performance can be judged, the use of percentage of variance explained as a measure of effect size, and presents 9 reasons why the models do not always predict as well as we would like them to do.

The intention-superiority effect is the finding that response latencies are faster for items related to an uncompleted intention as compared with materials that have no associated intentionality. T. Goschke and J. Kuhl (1993) used recognition latency for simple action scripts to document this effect. We used a lexical-decision task to replicate that shorter latencies were associated with uncompleted intentions as compared with neutral materials (Experiments 1 and 3). Experiments 2-4, however, demonstrated that latencies were longer for completed scripts as compared with neutral materials. In Experiment 4, shorter latencies were also obtained for partially completed scripts. The results are discussed in terms of the activation and inhibition that may guide behavior, as well as how these results may inform theories of prospective memory.

Intentions to perform most behaviors are more controlled by attitudes than by subjective norms. Yet subjective norms typically account for a significant, albeit small, proportion of unique variance in intentions. To explore the hypothesis that this effect can be explained largely by individual differences in the degree to which some people are apt to be more under normative control, subjects were asked to indicate their intentions, attitudes, and subjective norms toward performing 30 behaviors. Between-subjects and within-subjects analyses were performed. The within-subjects analyses revealed important differences in whether subjects are under attitudinal or normative control across the behaviors. Further, when 'normatively controlled' subjects were excluded from the sample, the significant effects of subjective norms on intentions that were obtained in previous between-subjects analyses were eliminated, and the attitudinal effects were augmented. Finally, this individual difference was associated with the strength of the collective self.

In 4 experiments we investigated dynamic properties of representations of intentions. After Ss had memorized 2 texts describing simple activities, they were instructed that they would have to later execute one of the scripts. On an intervening recognition test, words from the to-be-executed script produced faster latencies than did words from a second to-be-memorized script. This intention-superiority effect was obtained even when (a) selective encoding and poststudy imagery or rehearsal of the to-be-executed script was prohibited and (b) subjects expected a final free-recall test for both scripts. In a control condition in which subjects had to observe someone else executing a script, latencies for words from the to-be-observed script did not differ from neutral words. In conclusion, representations of intentions show a heightened level of subthreshold activation in long-term memory that cannot be accounted for by the use of controlled strategies.

We argue that attitudes and subjective norms are not sufficient determinants of intentions and that intentions are not a sufficient impetus for action, as maintained by leading theories of attitude. To deepen attitude theory, we address the role of cognitive and emotional self-regulatory mechanisms. The attitude-intention link is hypothesized to depend on conative processes and on certain coping responses directed at the emotional significance of evaluative appraisals. The subjective norm-intention relationship is hypothesized to be governed by certain cognitive activities inherent in perspective taking and by positive and negative emotional reactions associated with appraisals of the deviation and conformance of both the self and others to expectations concerning the shared social meaning of a focal act. Finally, the intention-behavior relationship, particularly for goal-directed behaviors, is posited to be conditioned on decision making with respect to the means needed to achieve a goal; with respect to implementation processes related to planning, monitoring, and guidance and control of instrumental acts; and with respect to motivational processes associated with commitment, effort, and affect toward the means.

Intentions to wear seatbelts in 12 different driving situations were predicted from attitudes toward wearing seatbelts, subjective norms concerning seatbelt uses, and perceived driving risk. In a given driving situation, appropriate measures of attitutdes and subjective norms both had significant effects on intentions to wear a seatbelt, whereas there was little relation between risk and intentions. Intentions across the 12 driving situations were significantly related to perceived driving risk, both for aggregate data and for a substantial portion of individual subjects. However, further analyses indicated that risk seemed to affect intentions indirectly through subjective norms and attitudes associated with seatbelt use. The results suggest that attempts to increase seatbelt use should target all relevant beliefs important in determining people's attitutdes toward and subjective norms concerning seatbelt use, rather than just focusing upon making people aware of the risks associated with driving.

This article deals with the question of-whether human action can be explained empirically by a psychological theory that refers to intentions, expectancies, and evaluations as determinants. In contrast with the majority of action theories in psychology and philosophy, a logical connection between action and intention is defended and, consequently, a causal relationship between action and intention is refuted. This is illustrated by reference to one of the most widely known and applied psychological action theories: the theory of planned behavior (I. Ajzen, 1991). However, the logical-connection argument can be circumvented if the existing research findings are reinterpreted as part of a psychology of intention. This article demonstrates the value of such an approach for future research. However, the final section of the article outlines some further fundamental theoretical difficulties for this perspective.

The perceived intention model incorporates a new moderator, beliefs about reward-giver intention, into the overjustification paradigm. In 2 simulated shopping studies featuring products paired with promotional rewards, consumers who believed the marketer was promotion focused (reward used to encourage purchase) reported lower purchase intentions and brand attitudes for promoted products after promotion, whereas consumers who believed the marketer was reward focused (promotion used to distribute the reward) showed no attitude change. Promotion-focus beliefs lowered attitudes by heightening the contingency between the promotion and purchase and thereby increasing the perceived causal role of the reward. This effect was contingent on initial behavior--postpromotion attitude change occurred for consumers who actively engaged in product decisions but not for consumers who passively observed the choice sets.

A field study tested Gollwitzer's (1993) proposition that the formation of implementation intentions specifying action opportunities accounts for the speed with which intentions are translated into action. Motivation to resume functional activity was assessed among a general population sample of patients prior to joint replacement surgery. At 3 months following surgery, people who had formed implementation intentions were found to have initiated 18 out of 32 activities sooner than people who had not formed implementation intentions. This difference could not be attributed to differences in motivation between the 2 groups. Evidence also showed that the formation of implementation intentions mediated the effects of behavioral expectation on speed of action initiation.

One hundred five older adults enrolled in exercise classes were recruited from local YMCAs. Exercise behavior was measured 1, 3, and 9 months after beginning the exercise class. Intentions were not a significant predictor of exercise behavior, probably because of a lack of variance; most people intended to exercise. The direct measures of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, however, explained 9% of exercise behavior at I month. They did not significantly explain behavior at 3 and 9 months. When the indirect measure of subjective norms explained 18% of exercise behavior at I month. The indirect measure of perceived behavioral control accounted for 27% of the variance at 1 month and 10% at 3 months.