steve's primer of practical persuasion version 2.0
The Theory of Planned Behavior: It’s Easy, Fun, and Popular!
This chapter is about the Real Big Winner in social science theory. Virtually everyone who’s been to college has heard of this one. It’s like the periodic chart of elements in chemistry and MyDearAuntSally in mathematics and veni, vedi, vici in Latin and “Let’s Go, Mountaineers” on game day. If you’ve been to college, you know this like the best deal on Beer Night.
A little history and background . . . the Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB) came into being as the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) in the late 1960s. In the 1960s most college campuses were better known for riots, protests, teach-ins, free love, rock ‘n roll, and illegal substances, but in some departments some people were actually doing serious thinking. Martin Fishbein at the University of Illinois was one of those guys. Dr. Fishbein and one of his students, Icek Aizen who got his doctorate and became Dr. Aizen, were sitting around one day thinking about why people did what they did and they came up with this theory they called Reasoned Action. They did a bunch of interesting studies (to me any way) and wrote several books explaining it. They got really famous and if they had done something like this in Economics or Medicine they would have probably won a Nobel Prize. Really. You don’t have to go through a research library and get a doctoral degree like I did to see the impact they’ve had. Get your favorite online search engine and type in the key terms “theory reasoned action” or “theory planned behavior” You’ll get so many hits you’ll think you’ve typed in some exotic slang term for sex. Last time I did this, Google returned over 5 million hits.
Now, as good as the Theory of Reasoned Action is, Dr. Aizen thought it could be improved and he created an extension to it called the Theory of Planned Behavior. There’s a lot of to and fro - which is how academics fight; they don’t throw punches, they just to and fro - about the distinctions between the TRA and TpB and you can make some professors really angry about the topic which is kind of fun to do if you’ve had a couple of drinks and you’re tired of talking about structural equation models and elaboration moderators and cognitive production systems. Oops, I just dropped an olive.
In this chapter we’ll focus on TpB because if you know it, you know everything about TRA and we kill two birds with one stone. (Is it okay nowadays to write about killing birds with stones? Aren’t the PETA people petitioning on this? And what about the gun control crowd? Aren’t they also anti-stone?)
To understand the Theory of Planned Behavior just consider the title. “Theory” means a set of concepts that are linked together in a pattern of sequence (beginning to end) and hierarchy (top to bottom). “Planned” is just that, an activity that is thoughtful, goal oriented, but not perfect or absolute. And “Behavior” is the stuff you can see people do, the actions of everyday life. So, TpB will give us a small list of conceptual tools that describe and explain how people behaved in planned ways.
Here are the fundament concepts of TpB: Behavior, Intention, Attitude, Norm, and Control. And here’s a low tech diagram that shows the sequence and hierarchy:
This diagram shows that things called Attitude, Norm, and Control combine to move something called Intention, which in turn will move Behavior. To understand this diagram we need to read it backwards from right to left.
What is Behavior or Action (they’re synonyms and in this chapter they mean exactly the same thing; I will write one or the other to avoid monotony)? Action is the concrete observable behavior that people perform. They smile at others. They vote on Election Day. They choose this brand over that brand then purchase it. They drive their cars. They flirt with that gorgeous blonde in the Lair. They point and click. They tap. They rap. Actions all, behavior, too.
Now, what predicts the actions people perform? This is the $64,000 question (although with inflation we really should call this the $439,706 question). If you can answer this question, whether for $64,000 or for $439,706, you are way ahead of the game. Seriously, think about this one for a minute. If you are pretty good at figuring the likely actions of other people, you can have a pretty good time in life. Anybody who has a good answer to this question is going to find it easier to get famous, make a lot of money, or to be more virtuous about it, and will also find it easier to be a better person.
According to TpB, the best predictor of action is intention. The best internal, psychological (you can’t see it, but it’s going on inside) predictor of behavior (you can see it, it’s going on outside) is intention.
Intention.
Intention is the best predictor of behavior.
Thus, to understand what people are going to do, you need to understand what they intend to do. (Intend: plan, expect, propose, aim at, hope for, etc.) Or actions follow intentions.
Let’s think about this for a moment. Intentions predict actions.
Really?
What about reflexes? If you’ve ever taken that obnoxious glaucoma test at the eye doctor, you know all about reflex behavior. The optometrist has you rest your chin on that little black rest and soothingly asks you to “just look into the light.” Then they blow that strong puff of air directly into your trusting eyeball. Even when you know it is coming, you simply cannot control your behavior in response to the puff of air. You blink (and twitch and gasp and in my case, curse under my breath) and there’s just not much you can do to prevent this non-volitional, non-voluntary action.
What about classical conditioning? Ding-dong, baby. There’s no intention in that one. What about reinforcement? Zap! You don’t think about the shock, you just run from it. What about habit? You just do because you’ve always done it, no thinking required.
Bang, we’ve already generated several obvious exceptions to the claim that intentions predict actions. So, no, intentions do not always predict actions. They don’t predict actions that are conditioned, reinforced, or habituated.
But, now consider all the actions people perform that are not conditioned, reinforced, or habituated.
Vote. Marry. Buy. Advocate. Choose. Any action that requires some thought, planning, consideration, value, tradeoff.
That’s quite a list and an interesting list at that. All of these actions are ones that we volitionally select. That means we think about them, ruminate, weigh, consider pros and cons, we run them against our values. Intentional actions are the most important and interesting actions that people perform. These are the ones that really count in the world and show us for whom we truly are. So the fact that there are some actions that are unintentional (habits, ding-dongs, carrots and sticks) doesn’t mean that intentional behaviors aren’t worth understanding.
TpB explains volitional behaviors we perform. A volitional behavior is one that we have or had conscious control over. It is a behavior we intend to perform, a behavior we know we are going to do. By contrast, non-volitional behaviors are action we cannot rationally control Now, TpB will not explain those kind of behaviors, but if the action is something you planned to do, TpB maps out the crucial variables that drive your voluntary action.
Back to the opera . . .
The best predictor of volitional action is intention. Now, what’s intention?
Intention is a psychological concept. You can’t open up the body and find the intention organ. It is an element in the cognitive world created in our brains. This intention reflects the outcome of our thinking, consideration, and rumination about whom we are and what we want to do in the world.
After careful thinking, we intend to reduce the amount of calories we eat and exercise more.
After thoughtful consideration, we intend to attend every damn class, read all the chapters, take good notes, and love our professors.
After long rumination, we . . . are sick of the parallel structure in this guy’s writing and wish he would get back to the point!
Intentions reflect the willful, planful likelihood of performing actions in given circumstances. Intentions express the probability, not the certainty, that a behavior will occur in the future.
Okay, now all of this intention -> behavior stuff makes sense. For volitional behaviors, it makes good common sense that if you know what others intend to do, you can make a pretty good prediction about what they will do. So, what predicts intentions?
According to the Theory of Planned Action, three psychological variables are the best predictor of intentions: Attitudes, Norms, and Control.
Attitudes express what is good or bad about the action.
Norms express who we think approves or disapproves of the action.
Control expresses what makes it easier or harder to do the action.
Consider the low tech diagram:
Attitude (good-bad)
Norm (approves-disapproves) -> Intention -> Action
Control (easier-harder)
Reading from left to right, if you think it is good, other people approve of it, and it is easy, then you will have a stronger intention to perform the action. If you think it is bad, other people disapprove, and it is hard, then you will have a weaker intention to perform.
Consider this idea as an equation:
Behavior = Intention.
Intention = Attitude (good-bad) + Norm (approves-disapproves) + Control (easier-harder).
Let’s run an example through this equation. Consider the action of “exercising more often – at least three times a week.”
What’s good about this?
“I do feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally when I exercise. Experts say you live longer and are healthier. I might meet interesting new people, like that great looking blonde I saw at the Rec Center.”
What’s bad about this?
“I don’t look good in Spandex.”
Who approves?
“Come on. Who doesn’t approve? Everyone says you should do this.”
Who disapproves?
“Well, when I see myself in the mirror wearing Spandex, I disapprove, but that doesn’t count here. The approval-disapproval thing is about other people. So, really, nobody disapproves.”
What makes it hard to exercise?
“Time control. Like I’m busy and where do I make time for this?”
What makes it easier to exercise?
“If I don’t over do it and just kind of ease into a routine. If I joined a club or a group or some kind of social thing, it would be easier.”
Doesn’t this sound like the conversation you’ve had in your own head? You think a bunch of thoughts and after all that thinking you somehow arrive at a conclusion which in this case we’ll call an intention. If you were to take the time to write down all of these thoughts you have in your head when you have this conversation, you’d find that they pretty much fall into those three categories of attitude (good-bad), norm (approve-disapprove), and control (easy-hard).
If, on balance, you have more thoughts that are “good,” “approved,” and “easier” then you’ve got a favorable intention to perform. And, contrariwise, if you have more thoughts that are “bad,” “disapproved,” and “harder” then you’ve got an unfavorable intention to perform.
Fine points about Attitude, Norm, and Control . . .
If you read the original sources on TpB the first thing you’ll realize is that Attitudes, Norms, and Control are theoretically more complex than I’m showing here. Each of these components is actually composed of two smaller elements. If you want to go on into an Exciting Career as a social scientist you really need to know this. If you have a different career path, these nuggets of gold may be shiny, but you’re probably looking for something else and that’s fine. Just know that things are a little more complicated than this quick (shallow, facile, glib, clever, sigh, the things colleagues say about my work) overview.
A TpB “Attitude” is the same thing described as “attitude” in the Foundations chapter. You’ll recall that I defined an attitude as an evaluation of an object of thought. We used a mental yardstick as a metaphor. Well, Attitude is also an evaluation, but we’re using a different metaphor – good to bad – with this. When you “evaluate” you are expressing what is “good” or “bad” about the object of thought.
The concept of Norm is a massive idea in social science and we’re gliding on skates over the surface of a vast field. You can take entire college courses devoted to the study of Norms (i.e. the rules of society). I’m presenting it here as the simple notion of approval versus disapproval from others. Just take a moment right now to consider how much of our life is shaped by the opinions of others. We dress to please, impress, or attract good opinion. We talk about topics that we think will please, impress, or attract. Virtually every act of social behavior (actions in the presence of other people) is done with an eye toward garnering approval and avoiding disapproval. Can there be any doubt that this external force is crucial in shaping our intentions and actions?
Control is another one of those social science concepts that is defined well enough so that most people can understand it and use it for both the real world practice and research studies. It is also vague enough that people can use the term and mean something else. For example, there is another related field of study on a term called, “self-efficacy.”
Outro
That’s about it for TpB. Here are the key words: Behavior, Intention, Attitude, Norm, and Control. Define each. Generate examples for each.
Now, arrange them in sequence.
You’ve got a famous theory and a good answer to the $439,706 question.
References And Recommended Readings
Aizen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J. Kuhl, & J. Beckmann (Eds.), Springer series in social psychology (pp. 11-39). Berlin: Springer.
Aizen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211.
Aizen, I. (1988). Attitudes, personality, and behavior. Milton-Keynes, England: Open University Press & Chicago, IL: Dorsey Press.
Visit Dr. Aizen’s website at: http://www.people.umass.edu/aizen/tpb.html.
Okay, about his last name, Aizen. First, it is pronounced “Eye-Zen.” Second, it is sometimes spelled, “Ajzen.” Altogether it is “Eye-Zak” “Eye-Zen.” Icek Aizen. Pronounced just like it looks.
If you’re really motivated and yearn for the great weariness of much knowledge, here are the references to Reasoned Action by Dr. Fishbein and Dr. Aizen.
Fishbein, Martin (1967). Readings in Attitude Theory and Measurement, New York, NY: Wiley.
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1973). Attitudinal and normative variables as predictors of specific behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27, 41-57.
Fishbein, M. (1967). Attitude and the prediction of behavior. In M. Fishbein (Ed.), Readings in attitude theory and measurement (pp. 477-492). New York: Wiley.
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior : An introduction to theory and research. Reading, Mass. ; Don Mills, Ontario: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.
Yes, those references are from the 1960s. And if you want to read them you’ll actually have to go to a library, search the shelves, find the book, open it and read it like Abraham Lincoln and I did when we were learning. Amazingly enough, books often contain the same great ideas you find on the Internet! Or from another angle, just because it is old, unfamiliar, and not digitized does not mean it is out of date. In fact, pound for pound of book versus byte for byte of file, books are more likely to contain truth than are computer files. Consider that you are the first generation in human history to grow up without books as your primary source of knowledge. So what? Books or files, how can it matter?
Well, the file you’re reading right now seems a lot like an academic textbook except that the writing style is flip, friendly, and fast. There’s another big exception: No one has reviewed this file prior to its publication. Virtually everything on the real page (book, magazine, journal, etc.) went through a review and editorial process that vetted the content. Talk to any writer and you’ll hear the laments of all those great ideas that never made it to print because of those lying reviewers or damn editors who killed the manuscript. You really need to be careful about what you read on the Internet, including this Primer. Determine the credibility of the writer. Do periodic searches on key terms and see what other sources are saying.
