Attitude and Behaviour

It would seem reasonable to argue the existence of a link between spot and conduct and to further assume that it is those self comparable(prenominal) statuss that determine that doings. However, there atomic number 18 many variables to consider which may walk out the strength of such a link. It is important to distinguish between the exploit of different types of side (reference), the first type being attitudes towards general entities and the arcminute being attitudes towards more specific wholenesss.This essay will look at how attitudes can be a poor portendor of behaviour on a broad perspective but become sound predictors when looked at in a narrower and more specific way. However, the additional impact of a wide array of other variables undermines the accuracy of the link between attitudes and behaviour and complicates the drawing of clear conclusions. Attitude is defined by Eagly and Chaiken in their allow The Psychology of Attitudes as a mental tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favour or disfavour. reference) In other words, an attitude is a judgement or military rating made about any entity which can be assessed along a measurement of favourability.As well as a persons attitudes differing in positivity, (i. e. some attitudes possessed can be positive, neutral or negative), they too can differ in strength, (i. e. one may look more strongly about a certain topic than another), and and then consider it a more important topic. In brief, behaviour is the actions of an separate which can be objectively measured. Some may argue that attitudes are a weak predictor of behaviour.In 1969, Wicker, after reviewing studies such as that of Richard LaPiere, concluded that attitudes and behaviour are only slightly, if at all, related. LaPiere, in the 1930s, seemed to kick up very little correlation between attitude and behaviour. LaPiere travelled well-nigh America with an Asian couple at a time where anti-Asian impairment was prevalent. Although concerned that the couple would be refused from many of the hotels along the way, he engraft that only one out of the 250 hotels did so. After his travels, LaPiere sent a earn to each of the hotels asking whether they would allow Chinese guests.Of all his replies, only one declared they would serve a Chinese guest. This study, and others like it at the time, seemed to notify very few links between attitude and behaviour. However, there are a number of problems with this study, such as the fact that there is no guarantee that the person who answered the letter is the same person who let the Chinese couple stay. The question in the letter as to whether they would let a Chinese couple in is also too broad a statement as it does not specify if they are a well-dressed Chinese couple accompanied by an American college professor (ref).The limits of the success of attitude predicting behaviour can also be seen by the fact that confusable at titudes held by different people can lead to different behaviour from those individuals. Indeed, Thurstone wrote It is quite conceivable that two men may have the same degree or intensity of effect favourable towards a psychological object and that their attitudes would be described in this sense as homogeneous but that their overt actions would take quite different forms. ref impress out) In other words, one cannot predict an individuals actions fit to his/her attitudes as two different people with the same attitude towards something may act fit to that attitude in completely different ways. in that respect are also many other factors which will determine how effective attitude is in predicting behaviour. One such factor is the strength of the attitude which one holds. The stronger ones attitude, the more likely it is to predict behaviour. This is because if a person holds a very strong positive attitude towards something, they are likely to act positively towards it.However i f that person holds another, weaker, attitude towards something, thereby valueing it of less importance, they will be less likely to act according to that attitude. Furthermore, an attitude ground on direct screw rather than import hand information will be more effective in predicting behaviour. This was demonstrated in a study by Fazio and Zanna, 1981, whereby participants were asked to pull in some(prenominal) puzzles. One the one hand, in the second hand condition, some participants were shown how to solve the puzzles, and on the other, in the direct experience condition, some participants were allowed to work on the puzzles beforehand.Attidude being measured as intrest shown, and behaviour being measured as the order and proportion of the puzzles solved, the test showed a correlation between attitude and behaviour of between . 51 and . 54 in the direct experience condition while only between . 22 and . 20 in the indirect experience condition. (ref printout). It can therefor e be seen that attitudes can predict behaviour under some cercumstances, such as those layed out by Fishbein and Ajzen.The extent to which attitude can predict behaviour is also critical to factors such as how one persives the importance of that attitude and what that attitude is based upon. Behaviour is also affected by other factors which may be opposing to the attitude held by an individual. Subjective norms and perceived behaviour controle also influence behaviour. Therefore, when looking at all three together, predicting behaviour may be effective, however, when looking at attitude by itself such predictions may be weak.