Gv

refers to the two processing dimensions: Motivation and Opportunity as Determinants of which process will occur – reasoned or spontaneous - the inconsistency of the relationship between attitudes and behaviour may be due to whether the decision to take on a particular action involves deliberation or whether it is a relatively spontaneous reaction to the immediate situation - deliberation will most likely take place when behaviour has reasonably serious implications (motivation) and there is no time pressure (opportunity) - spontaneous reaction is usually in line with their attitudes, which may occur under time pressure Theory of Reasoned Action Ajzen and Fishbein’s theory of reasoned action is based on the premise that we usually consider implications of our actions and then act consciously and deliberately - the strength of an intention to act in certain ways is determined by: 1. Attitude towards that action 2. Subjective norms Behavioural beliefs and outcome evaluations - belief that an action will lead to a certain outcome, weighted by evaluation of that outcome

Attitude towards the action Intention

Normative beliefs and motivation to comply - belief that certain people do/don’t expect you to act in that way, weighted by your desire to comply with what they expect

Behaviour

Subjective norms

** Basically, it concludes that behaviour can be predicted by intentions - intentions to behave are determined by attitude towards the action and subjective norms Criticisms  Attitudes influence intention to act in a certain way, but it doesn’t influence behaviour directly - it proved that attitudes influence behaviour even after accounting for intentions  The theory neglects variables such as relevant attitudes  Attitudes are conceived as a cause and behaviour as ultimate effect - but cause and effect can go both ways The predictive utility can be improved by taking into consideration people’s perceived control of the situation - ie. the intention to continue on to university may also depend on whether the student perceives he has the required ability and financial resources – perceived control Theory of Planned Behaviour This theory adds beliefs concerning the resources and opportunities individuals perceive that they

possess to the factors in the reasoned action model - perceived behavioural control can influence intention to act as well as directly influence behaviour - high perceived behavioural control  high intention to act Intention to Act Depends on whether the individual perceives engaging in the behaviour to be easy or difficult

Directly Influence Behaviour Based on the extent to which the person perceives the behaviour to be under his control