theory of planned behaviour Flashcards

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1
Q

Theory of planned behaviour

A

Model proposed by Ajzen (1985, 1991)

Cognitive theory about factors that lead to a person’s decision to engage in a particular behaviour

According to TPB, an individuals decision to engage in a particular behaviour can be directly predicted by their intention to engage in that behaviour

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2
Q

The theory suggests intentions arise from three key influences

A

Our personal attitudes

Our beliefs about what others think

Our beliefs about our ability to change our drug related behaviour

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3
Q

Personal attitudes

A

Refers to entire collection of addicts attitudes towards their addiction

Overall attitude is formed from weighing up balance of favourable and unfavourable attitudes

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4
Q

Subjective norms

A

Individuals beliefs about whether people who matter most to them approve or disapprove their behaviour

Ideas of normality are based on what key people in addicts life believe to be normal behaviour

If others are unhappy - less likely to intend to gamble

Most influential aspect of subjective norms is person’s perception of whether the people closest to them approve or disapprove of their behaviour

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5
Q

Perceived behavioural control

A

How much control we believe we have over our behaviour (self-efficacy)

This may be related to their perception of resources available to them, these can be external (money, time) and internal (ability, skill)

Has 2 possible effects:
- can influence behaviour directly: the greater the perceived control, the longer and harder the addict will try to stop
- can influence intentions to behave: the stronger the self-efficacy, the stronger the intention to stop

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6
Q

Strength

A

Supporting research evidence

Hagger et al 2011

Found TPB’s 3 factors predicted the intention to limit drinking - intentions were also found to influence actual alcohol consumption after one and three months . However, the theory was not able to predict behaviour related to all addictions (e.g. binge drinking)

Suggests although it can predict some addictive behaviours, its success may depend on the addiction being studied

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7
Q

Limit 1

A

Machine reductionist

Because TBP suggests individuals always make decisions rationally when deciding to partake in an addictive behaviour, unfairly ignoring irrational behaviours (e.g. emotions)

E.g. presence of strong emotions (e.g. frustration after argument) might explain why people fail to carry out an intended behaviour even when it is in their best interest to do so

This decreases validity of TBP as it unfairly oversimplifies the processes of behaviour change

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8
Q

Limit 2

A

Methodological issues with TPB

All components of the model are assessed using questionnaires which are influenced by social desirability bias

E.g. patients may express the intention to quit their addictive behaviours to the researcher as admitting they have no plan of quitting might be shameful and embarrassing

This suggests intentions expressed on questionnaires are poor predictors of actual behaviour, as people might lie

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9
Q

Limit 3

A

May not predict behaviour change

Armitage and Conner’s (2001)

Meta-analysis found that TBP was successful in predicting intention to change (e.g. I intend to stop smoking next week) rather than actual behavioural change (e.g. stopping smoking)

This weakens TBP as it cannot specify the processes involved in translating the intention into action

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