4 - bridging the intention-behaviour gap

Question 1

how does the health action process approach differ from the theory of planned behaviour?

Answer 1

many other variables between intentions and behaviour

Question 2

what does the health action process approach say?

Answer 2

stronger relationship between people’s intentions and their behaviour when intentions are supported by action plans or coping plans which then drives behaviour

Question 3

what is action planning?

Answer 3

process of linking goal-directed behaviours to certain environmental cues by specifying when, where, and how to act

Question 4

what is coping planning?

Answer 4

identifying barriers that might derail intended actions and forming plans to manage or overcome them

Question 5

what are implementation intentions?

Answer 5

plans that say when, where, and how a person will take action to reach a goal
(originates from rubicon model of action phases)

Question 6

what is the structure of implementation intentions?

Answer 6

if-then format
IF - identifies a good opportunity to act (can be barrier)
THEN - identifies an effective goal-directed response (can be action)

Question 7

why does the if-then format matter?

Answer 7

seem to have larger effects on behaviour
less time from intended to start to actual start time when using if-then format

Question 8

what was Rodda et al’s study?

Answer 8

participants who gamble, those who formed coping/action plans spent less money gambling

Question 9

what did Sheeran & Orbell find?

Answer 9

women were more likely to attend a cervical smear appointment when they specified when, where, and how they will make an appointment

Question 10

what did Zhang et al find?

Answer 10

conducted a meta-analysis of studies measuring action/coping planning

intentions significantly predicts action/coping planning

so people with stronger intentions are more likely to plan

therefore action/coping planning predicted behaviour but the effects were small

Question 11

what did Sniehotta et al find?

Answer 11

coping planning is predictive of long-term behaviour, important for maintaining a goal

Question 12

what are the mechanisms of action planning?

Answer 12

• helps individuals identify salient cues that lead to action
• these cues then trigger intended action
• helps people get started?

Question 13

what are the mechanisms of coping planning?

Answer 13

• helps people overcome obstacles and cope with difficulties by anticipating them and planning coping responses
• prevents goal striving being derailed by obstacles

Question 14

how do implementation intentions work?: heightened cue accessibility

Answer 14

• by specifying a good opportunity to act, the situational cues associated with this opportunity are more accessible
• people are ‘perceptually ready’ to encounter this situation

Question 15

how do implementation intentions work?: strong cue-response linkages

Answer 15

• if-then plan forms a strong association between opportunity and intended response
• when situation is encountered person does not need to deliberate about what to do, intended response is initiated automatically (like a habit)

Question 16

how do implementation intentions work?

Answer 16

1. heightened cue accessibility
2. strong cue-response linkages

Question 17

what did Aarts & Dijksterheuis find?

Answer 17

when people have a good plan, even if they are not habitual cyclists, they are quicker to identify cycling as a good way to get to the location

implementation intentions is forging an association between the cue and intended response (like habits)