Week 2- Influencing Real World Behaviours: Attitudes and Attitudinal Change Flashcards
What is an “Attitude”?
A general and enduring positive or negative feeling about some person, object, or issue”
- Some evaluative judgment - the extent to which we hold favourable or unfavourable views of a person, object, or issue…
- Relatively stable
- Affective, cognitive, and behavioural components
Do Attitudes Influence Behaviour?
- Assumption that attitudes underpin/influence actual behaviour
- Early research did not support this assumption
– LaPiere (1934) study
– Wicker (1969) based on 31 studies: r = .30 (r2 = .09) so only
9% of the variance in behaviour was explained by attitudes
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)
The theory of reasoned action (TRA or ToRA) aims to explain the relationship between attitudes and behaviors within human action. It is mainly used to predict how individuals will behave based on their pre-existing attitudes and behavioral intentions. An individual’s decision to engage in a particular behavior is based on the outcomes the individual expects will come as a result of performing the behavior
Do intentions result in behaviour?
intentions don’t equal behaviour
Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (see the diagram)
Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)
- Attitude toward the behaviour
- Subjective norm
- Perceived behavioural control (PBC)
- Perceived ease and control over engaging in the behaviour
Behavioural intention
Behaviour
What are The TPB’s Indirect Beliefs
Behavioural beliefs (underpin Attitudes)
* What are the advantages of the behaviour?
* What are the disadvantages of the behaviour?
Normative beliefs (underpin Subjective norm)
* Who would approve of my engaging in the behaviour?
* Who would disapprove of my engaging the behaviour?
Control Beliefs (underpin PBC)
* What are the perceived barriers to engaging in the
behaviour?
Why are Salient beliefs important?
- Salient beliefs underpinning a behaviour are the major determinants of that behaviour –> therefore, identify salient beliefs and potentially modify behaviour
- Case Study
Tests of the TPB
- One of most frequently tested/applied model of attitude-behaviour relations
- Well-validated model of attitude-behaviour relations and behaviour prediction
- Reasoned not necessarily rational
- Meta-analytical support for the model and relationships proposed between constructs
- Armitage and Conner (2001)
Meta-analytical support for the TPB
- Armitage & Conner (2001) meta-analysis
- 185 studies which applied the TPB
- Range of social- and health-related behaviours including,
for example,
– eat healthier food,
– alcohol use,
– blood donation,
– commit driving violations
Some Key Findings: Armitage & Conner (2001)
- TPB accounted for 27% and 39% of the variance in behaviour and intention, respectively
- PBC a strong, consistent predictor
- Relative to the other predictors, subjective norm was a weaker predictor
- Theoretically expected that importance varies
“The relative importance of attitude, subjective norm, and
perceived behavioral control in the prediction of intention is
expected to vary across behaviors and situations”
Key aspects to consider in Armitage & Conner (2001)
- Variance unexplained
– Intention-behaviour gap - There is a gap in the variance explained in behaviours versus intentions (more variance explained in intention)
– Overall –> more variance could still be explained in
intention and behaviour
The Intention-Behaviour Gap
- How can intentions be better translated into actual
behaviour? - Gollwitzer (1999)
- Implementation intentions as an important contribution
to the field
Whar are Implementation Intentions?
- They are the “If-then” plans that specify the where, when, and how you will translat Intentions into behaviour
- Evidence supports the value of forming implementation
intentions in increasing the translation of intentions into behaviour - Study examples:
– Orbell, Hodgkins, and Sheeran (1997) BSE study
– Elliott and Armitage (2006) speeding compliance study
Implementation Intentions: BSE Study (Orbell et al., 1997)
- Aim to increase likelihood that women conduct breast
self examinations (BSEs) - Women assigned to an intervention or a control group
– intervention group instructed to identify where and when they would perform their BSE (i.e., implementation intention)
– control group participants received no instructions
Instructions received by Intervention Group participants in the Orbell et al. (1997) study.
You are more likely to carry out your intention to perform BSE if you make a decision about where and when you will do so.
Many women find it most convenient to perform BSE at the start of the morning or last thing at night, in the shower or bath, or while theyare getting dressed in their bedroom or bathroom.
Others like to do it in bed before they go to sleep or prior to getting up. Decide now where and when you will perform BSE in the next month and make a commitment to do so.
What were the findings of the BSE Study
- Orbell et al. (1997) found support for implementation intentions
- 64% of participants in the intervention group (who had formed an implementation intention) reported conducting a BSE one month later compared with 14% in the control group
- Value of implementation intentions has been shown for
various behaviours
Implementation Intentions: Encouraging Compliance with the speed limit (Elliott & Armitage, 2006)
- Similar design to the Orbell et al. (1997) BSE study in
that participants randomly assigned to intervention or
control group - Intervention group received instructions to form an
implementation intention while control group did not…
Instructions received by Intervention Group participants in the Elliott and Armitage (2006) study.
Many drivers exceed the speed limit, even though they may not intend to. If you form a specific plan of exactly when, where, and how you will keep to the speed limit, you are more likely to actually do it. We would like you to try to keep within the speed limit when you are driving in 30-mph areas over the next month.
Please decide now when you will start to keep to the speed limit while driving in 30-mph areas, and where and how you will do it. Please use the spaces below to write down in as much detail as possible when, where, and how you will try to keep to the speed limit.
Implementation Intentions: Speeding compliance study (Elliott & Armitage, 006)
- Similar to Orbell et al., (1997) support for implementation intentions was found
- One month later, self-reported compliance with speed
limits significantly increased for intervention participants but not for control participants - More behavioural strategies identified the better
- Efficacy
Key aspects to consider of (Elliott & Armitage, 2006)
- Variance unexplained
– Intention-behaviour gap - There is a gap in the variance explained in behaviours
versus intentions (more variance explained in intention)
– Overall –> more variance could still be explained in
intention and behaviour
Extending the TPB to increase overall variance explained
- TPB’s standard constructs (i.e., attitude, subjective norm, and PBC) may be considered necessary but not (always) sufficient
- Other variables can predict intentions and behaviour
independently of the TPB’s standard constructs (over and
above the standard constructs) - Examples have included affective influences (e.g., anticipated regret) as well as other normative influences
Extending the TPB: Other Normative Influences
- Ajzen supports the addition of other variables to the TPB under specific situations (when they make sense and when they add to the prediction of behaviour)
Other normative influences are:
- Moral norm: perceptions of what one “ought” to do (legal behaviours; speeding)
- Group norm – perceptions of what particular groups of important others would approve of/engage in themselves
- Anticipated regret
Extensions of the TPB
Group Norm
moral norm
Anticipated regret
Other construct/s??
Cognitive Models of Persuasion
*Elaboration Likelihood Model
* Heuristic-Systematic Model
* Dual-pathway models of persuasion
* Motivation and ability (to process) = degree of elaboration (ELM)
* Similarity but also some differences between the models
Two Pathways to Persuasion
- If people are highly motivated and able to process a persuasive message (elaboration is high), they will engage in deeper processing and likely be more heavily influenced by the quality/strength of message arguments (the ELM’s central route)
- If people are not highly motivated or able to process a message (elaboration is low), they may be more influenced by simple cues in the message (e.g., attractiveness or trustworthiness of the source) (the ELM’s peripheral route
Factors influencing Elaboration
- Many factors may influence motivation and ability to
process (elaboration) - Factors may have multiple roles in the persuasion context
- Personal relevance/involvement with the issue helps to
motivate message scrutiny - Petty, Cacioppo, and Goldman (1981) demonstrated the
impact of personal relevance
Personal Relevance and Persuasion
Participants were undergraduates Informed that the university was reviewing academic policies (more exams!)
Researchers manipulated 3 variables:
– personal relevance (low [exams added in a decade’s time], high [exams added next year/during their degree])
– message argument strength (weak [anecdotes], strong
[compelling arguments])
– source credibility (inexpert [local high school class formed the proposal], expert [Commission of Higher Education formed the proposal])
Personal Relevance and Persuasion
- Participants read a proposal about the “new” exams which manipulated argument strength and source credibility as well as when it was to be introduced
- They then rated their attitudes towards the new exams being proposed
- Based on the ELM, the predictions were that:
– When involvement/relevance is high, attitudes will be influenced more by argument strength
– When low, attitudes will be influenced more by source credibility
A Case Study: Designing and evaluating an anti-
speeding advertising campaign for an organisational (fleet) context (background to project)
- Road crashes account for the highest number of
occupational incidents - Speeding is the most common traffic violation and is a
major contributor to road trauma - Advertising and public education is an on-going and key
component of road safety initiatives to address speeding –> attempts to persuade - Developed in the absence of guiding theory
- Fear-evoking, graphic advertising have been a long-standing campaign approach
- Males less influenced by fear-based approaches than females
What is the Research Aim of the anti-speeding advertising campaign
- Development of a work-related safety intervention for speeding
– A component of which was to be a theoretically-informed series of campaign messages
The Step approach to Message Design & Testing (SatMDT)
STEP 1
Pre-existing individual characteristics
-Identify
- Elicit
STEP 2
Message-related characteristics
- focus and context
STEP 3
Individual responses
- Emotional and cognative
STEP 4
Message outcome
Acceptance &Rejection
The Message in the anti-speeding advertising campaign
- As a key component of a 3 month intervention
- 3 messages developed (1 per month)
- Content informed by evidence (review of literature) + interviews with drivers (N = 11)
- Key motivations, beliefs, personal and situational factors
- Messages were to challenge common beliefs that:
- Everybody speeds
- Speeding saves and/or makes up time
- ‘Safe’ speeding is okay
The Messages cont
- Across all 3 of the messages:
- Threat of being fined was common
- Strategies provided (“Slow down”, “Monitor your speed”)
- Main character was female aged mid to late 40’s
- The campaign tagline featured - “Slow down, monitor your speed, people are depending on you”
– Respect the nature of the work that community care nurses do
– Reiterating concrete strategies to avoid speeding - Messages then piloted (as written outlines)
- Voiced and recorded
- CDs of the messages given to supervisors as part of monthly safety sessions
Testing the Effects of the Campaign
- Qualitative research via open-ended questions in a post-intervention survey
- 6 service centres participated
- Participants included:
– Drivers (N = 36),
– Supervisors (N = 26), and
– Managers (N = 6) - Thematic analysis
Findings of the speed campaign
What was liked about the intervention?
* Most commonly cited positive outcome was increased awareness of speeding, driving, and
safety
* Also reports of impact upon individuals’ driving behaviour
* Improved organisational communication
* The advertising materials and CDs
* The majority of drivers and supervisors were very supportive of the messages, referring to
them as “effective”, “good”, and “excellent”, “appropriate”, and “easy to relate to”.
* The details recalled suggest messages had been memorable (participants recalling exact
phrasing at times)
What was not liked about the intervention?
- Length of time and additional paperwork required to
participate in the intervention - Remembering to make reference to the safety
messages (supervisors) - Longevity of the initiative?
Some Key Implications of the speed campaign
Findings highlight the value of:
(i) developing an intervention based on a sound theoretical
framework; and
(ii) the need to adopt a considered, consultative, and largely
explorative (qualitative) approach when developing public
education messages. Such an approach ensures that the
intervention aligns with the specific needs, and targets the
beliefs, of personnel within a particular organisation
Some Future Directions
Drawing upon findings from the research:
– Insights into belief types and function (challenge or
emphasise) to use in messages
– Importance of addressing the “right” motivator of
behaviour for the particular intended target audience
