Introduction
Discussion
The relationship between attitude and behavior can be viewed from a tripartite perspective. The structure of attitudes has three components; the affective, behavioral and cognitive components. However, instead of assuming that every attitude has the three components, scholars focus on these components as correlates of attitudes. From this perspective, an attitude can be based on behavioral information. For instance, self-perceptions from previous experiences can influence ones attitude towards the same stimulus. Many studies have been carried out on the relationship between attitudes and behavior. From these studies, it is known that attitudes are important in predicting and understanding social behavior (Albrecht & Kerry, 1976).
However, many questions on the relationship between the two still remain. This is because researchers have identified factors that moderate the effect that intentions and attitudes have on overt actions. This has been done through testing theories of planned behavior and reasoned action. From these tests, researchers have found that one can draw a distinction between one’s difficulty to perform a certain behavioral act and one’s ability to control oneself from performing the said behavioral act. Perceived difficulty to perform a behavioral act is an important antecedent of actions and intentions. The contribution of attitudes to behavior is not universal. On the contrary, it varies across subject populations and is also dependent on subject norms.
The question as to whether attitude is a good predictor of behavior has been lingering in the minds of social psychologists since the pioneering days of LaPiere. In the absence of social situational factors, attitude is not a good predictor of behavior. Social psychologists have found that when attitude is used as the sole predictor of behavior, the congruence between attitude and behavior cannot be theoretically guaranteed. It is for this reason that sociologists abandoned the bivariate relationship in an attempt to understand the relationship between attitude and behavior. In order to better understand this relationship, sociologists have now included social situational factors (Olson & Zanna, 1993).
One of the reasons why attitude is not a very good predictor of behavior is the lack of a direct relationship between professed attitudes and overt actions. The lack of this direct relationship is attributed to the social involvement of an individual in a cocktail of social constraints that deter an individual from acting overtly towards the directions of his convictions. For instance, people might support a particular political candidate or party and still fail to participate in the voting process. Additionally, people are known to change their attitudes so as to better conform them to their behavior. This is due to cognitive dissonance where a person experiences some psychological distress as a result of conflicting beliefs or thoughts. In order to rescue themselves from the tension, one may alter their professed attitudes so as reflect actual behaviors or their other beliefs (Ajzen, 2001).
For instance, a person who is affluent, and places value on fiscal security may get into a relationship with an economically feeble person. This person is faced by two options in order to mitigate the dissonance caused by the antagonistic behavior and beliefs. He can either terminate the relationship and seek out another person with more financial security, or de-emphasize the significance of fiscal stability. As such, this person might need to alter their actions or change their attitude in order to reduce the dissonance between the conflicting behavior and attitude. Given this scenario, attitude cannot be used to predict behavior because of the effect of the social situations that might potentially deter this individual from overtly acting towards the direction of his convictions.
Allen, Machleit & Kleine (1992) conducted a study where they examined reports about individual emotive experiences vis-à-vis individual attitudinal judgments used as predictors of ensuing behavior. The researchers hold the hypothesis that the emotional reports contain motivational implications that should not be used in attitude judgment. They posit that unlike previously where attitude has solely been use to predict behavior, these motivational implications should supplement the use of attitude in the prediction of behavior.
Conclusion
Evidently, attitude has a profound influence on ones behavior. However, it is fallacious to say that attitude solely influences overt behavior. As espoused in the discussion, there is no direct relationship between professed attitudes and overt actions. Additionally, the discussion above has progressed the argument that attitude alone is not a good predictor of behavior. This is because of the presence of social situation factors that might deter an individual from acting overtly towards the direction of his convictions.
References
Ajzen, I. (2001). Nature and Operation of Attitudes. Annual Reviews of Psychology. 52:27–58.
Albrecht, S. & Kerry E. (1976). Attitudes as Predictors of Behavior Versus Behavior Intentions: A Convergence of Research Traditions. Sociometry,. 39, (1) 1-10.
Allen, T., Machleit, K.& Kleine, S. (1992). A Comparison of Attitudes and Emotions as Predictors of Behavior at Diverse Levels of Behavior Experience. Journal of Consumer Research, 18, (4)493-504
Olson, M & Zanna, M. (1993). Attitudes and attitude change. Annual Reviews of Psychology44:117-54
