An Examination of the Etiology of the Attitude-Behavior Relation for Goal-Directed Behaviors

The nature of the attitude-behavior relation was investigated by use of structural equation models in a cross-lagged panel design. The theory of reasoned action and an augmented version of the theory, which included the frequency and recency of past behavior as covariates, were tested. Respondents were 254 undergraduates who provided behavioral and psychological reactions over two points in time to two kinds of goal-directed behaviors: event-planned goals (i.e., trying to lose weight) and event-triggered goals (i.e., initiating a conversation with an attractive stranger). The findings show that the theory of reasoned action as classically formulated explains trying to lose weight well but initiating a conversation poorly. Further, the introduction of frequency and recency effects brings into question predictions under the theory of reasoned action. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed. A weighted least squares method is applied to the asymptotic covariance matrix based on appropriate polychoric and tetrachoric correlations. Variates are assumed measured on only ordinal scales.