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The Intention–Behavior Gap
Abstract
Bitter personal experience and meta-analysis converge on the conclusion that people do not always do the things that they intend to do. This paper synthesizes research on intention–behavior relations to address questions such as: How big is the intention–behavior gap? When are intentions more or less likely to get translated into action? What kinds of problems prevent people from realizing their intentions? And what strategies show promise in closing the intention–behavior gap and helping people do the things that they intend to do?
... Sheeran's (2002) meta-analysis of meta-analyses results showed that on average 28% of the variance in future behavior is explained by intentions. Sheeran and Webb (2016) revealed that the intention-behavior gap is still substantial based on the current evidence, and this large gap showed that intentions result in action approximately one-half of the time. ...
... In other words, inclined abstainers are mainly responsible for the intention-behavior gap for failing to act upon their positive intentions. Sheeran and Webb (2016) synthesized research on intention behavior relations. Based on current evidence, the intention-behavior gap is still substantial. ...
... The analysis of the problems encountered during intention realization suggested that three tasks can be accomplished to enact intention realization. That is, people should initiate, maintain, and close goal pursuit (Sheeran & Webb, 2016). ...
MOOC learners come from different backgrounds, and they have various motivations and intentions for taking online courses. This study examines learner intentions with subsequent behaviors and the reasons for the intention-behavior gap in MOOCs. A total of four MOOCs from Bilgeİş MOOC Portal was used in this study. This quantitative study with a qualitative follow up includes 9797 participants in total. Learners’ behaviors on the courses were compared with their intentions they stated before starting online courses. Four intention-behavior patterns, which are inclined actors, inclined abstainers, disinclined actors, and disinclined abstainers, were used. MOOC learners mostly wanted to complete the MOOCs and obtain certificates, yet they failed to do so, and their intentions changed. The results showed that intention-behavior gap occurs in the MOOCs as the learner intentions did not result in the intended behaviors. In brief, inclined abstainers were mainly responsible for the intention-behavior gap for failing to act upon their positive intentions, and the main reason behind intention-behavior gap was mostly related to the individual learner, including learner related time issues, learner related general issues, and learner related technical issues. More specifically, learners achieved below their intentions in the courses due to lack of time. This study also confirmed that the intention-behavior gap in MOOCs primarily occurs due to non-MOOC related reasons. That is, learners mainly failed to spare enough time for the MOOCs. Results were discussed and future research directions were provided.
... Purchase intention has been recognized as an indicator of actual purchase behavior (Sheeran & Webb, 2016), especially when it is formed by positive attitudes and feelings (Bagozzi & Edwards, 1998;Ha, 2012;Sheeran & Webb, 2016). Celebrity endorsement has long been found to have a positive impact on purchase intention (Knoll & Matthes, 2017;Ohanian, 1991;Vrontis et al., 2021). ...
... Purchase intention has been recognized as an indicator of actual purchase behavior (Sheeran & Webb, 2016), especially when it is formed by positive attitudes and feelings (Bagozzi & Edwards, 1998;Ha, 2012;Sheeran & Webb, 2016). Celebrity endorsement has long been found to have a positive impact on purchase intention (Knoll & Matthes, 2017;Ohanian, 1991;Vrontis et al., 2021). ...
Social media influencers emerged as powerful sources in affecting and guiding consumers' purchase decisions through self‐generated content and online interactions with their followers. A large number of studies have so far focused on cognitive aspects such as perceived credibility, trustworthiness, and expertise of these influencers. This study aims to further advance the existing literature on social media influencer marketing from an affective perspective, with a focus on the emotional bonds generated by online interactions between the influencer and their followers. Based on the interpersonal process model of intimacy and theories in celebrity endorsement and social media influencer marketing, it examines the impact of self‐disclosure and perceived responsiveness on familiarity and intimacy, which, in turn, affect purchase decision. An online survey was conducted with 304 social media users in Mainland China who have followed social media influencers. The results highlight the formation of two affective factors, namely, familiarity and intimacy, via self‐disclosure and perceived responsiveness. Theoretically, this study provides a fresh perspective to better understand the endorser effect outside the regular set of cognitive factors. Marketing practitioners and companies can follow the suggestions of this study to select more effective social media influencers for their marketing campaign, and to build closer relationships with their target customers.
... Strengthening goal intentions can thus be considered as a first step in a chain, motivating the action, while implementing it should follow once the goal intention is stronger than competing goals. Major barriers to acting on the intention then include not identifying a good opportunity to act and not having the resources or behavioral repertoire to act (Sheeran and Webb, 2016). These barriers are exacerbated by the existence of strong countervailing habits. ...
... 8 In line with this, we found much smaller correlations of kama muta with the behavioral measures for information seeking and activism, reading time, and donations, than for the intention measures. Behavior is influenced by many more factors than behavioral intentions, such as prior knowledge, prior donation behavior, habits, current time constraints, attitudes to these specific organizations, the alignment of the specific behavior chosen with the message content, the framing of the behavior (see, e.g., Hardisty et al., 2010), or current financial situation (Sheeran and Webb, 2016). How, then, does kama muta relate to action? ...
Concern about climate change is often rooted in sympathy, compassion, and care for nature, living beings, and future generations. Feeling sympathy for others temporarily forms a bond between them and us: we focus on what we have in common and feel a sense of common destiny. Thus, we temporarily experience communal sharing relationships . A sudden intensification in communal sharing evokes an emotion termed kama muta , which may be felt through tearing up, a warm feeling in the chest, or goosebumps. We conducted four pre-registered studies ( n = 1,049) to test the relationship between kama muta and pro-environmental attitudes, intentions, and behavior. In each study, participants first reported their attitudes about climate change. Then, they received climate change-related messages. In Study 1, they saw one of the two moving video clips about environmental concerns. In Study 2, participants listened to a more or less moving version of a story about a typhoon in the Philippines. In Study 3, they listened to a different, also moving version of this story or an unrelated talk. In Study 4, they watched either a factual or a moving video about climate change. Participants then indicated their emotional responses. Finally, they indicated their intentions for climate mitigation actions. In addition, we measured time spent reading about climate-related information (Studies 1, 2, and 4) and donating money (Study 4). Across all studies, we found that feelings of kama muta correlated positively with pro-environmental intentions ( r = 0.48 [0.34, 0.62]) and behavior ( r = 0.10 [0.0004, 0.20]). However, we did not obtain evidence for an experimental effect of the type of message (moving or neutral) on pro-environmental intentions ( d = 0.04 [−0.09, 0.18]), though this relationship was significantly mediated by felt kama muta across Studies 2–4. The relationship was not moderated by prior climate attitudes, which had a main effect on intentions. We also found an indirect effect of condition through kama muta on donation behavior. In sum, our results contribute to the question of whether kama muta evoked by climate-change messages can be a motivating force in efforts at climate-change mitigation.
... This is important because arguably the ultimate goal of any debunking intervention is to reduce misconceptions in order to change behavioural choices and outcomes. It is well-known that changes to beliefs and attitudes tend to not translate to equivalent changes in behavioural intentions and behaviours [66,67]. In fact, other research has found that misinformation corrections tend to have stronger impact on the targeted misconceptions than on related behaviours or behavioural intentions, including vaccination intentions [e.g., 2,45,68,69]. ...
... Another limitation is that only vaccination intention was measured, rather than actual uptake behaviour. As mentioned earlier, intentions do not consistently translate into action, and there are a range of factors beyond intention that determine and contribute to behaviour execution [66,67]. It is therefore recommended that future research investigate the uptake of healthcare behaviours following misinformation correction. ...
Individuals often continue to rely on misinformation in their reasoning and decision making even after it has been corrected. This is known as the continued influence effect, and one of its presumed drivers is misinformation familiarity. As continued influence can promote misguided or unsafe behaviours, it is important to find ways to minimize the effect by designing more effective corrections. It has been argued that correction effectiveness is reduced if the correction repeats the to-be-debunked misinformation, thereby boosting its familiarity. Some have even suggested that this familiarity boost may cause a correction to inadvertently increase subsequent misinformation reliance; a phenomenon termed the familiarity backfire effect. A study by Pluviano et al. (2017) found evidence for this phenomenon using vaccine-related stimuli. The authors found that repeating vaccine "myths" and contrasting them with corresponding facts backfired relative to a control condition, ironically increasing false vaccine beliefs. The present study sought to replicate and extend this study. We included four conditions from the original Pluviano et al. study: the myths vs. facts, a visual infographic, a fear appeal, and a control condition. The present study also added a "myths-only" condition, which simply repeated false claims and labelled them as false; theoretically, this condition should be most likely to produce familiarity backfire. Participants received vaccine-myth corrections and were tested immediately post-correction, and again after a seven-day delay. We found that the myths vs. facts condition reduced vaccine misconceptions. None of the conditions increased vaccine misconceptions relative to control at either timepoint, or relative to a pre-intervention baseline; thus, no backfire effects were observed. This failure to replicate adds to the mounting evidence against familiarity backfire effects and has implications for vaccination communications and the design of debunking interventions.
... One strategy to combat these limitations is to ground the mHealth app in behavior change theory. The Multiprocess Action Control (M-PAC) framework addresses what is known as the "intention-behavior gap" through various constructs, including intention formation, action control (adoption), and action control (maintenance) [14][15][16]. One's progression through these constructs is further strengthened by behavior change techniques (BCTs). The initial constructs of M-PAC (ie, instrumental attitude and affective judgment) tend to be based on BCTs categorized as social support, natural consequences, and antecedents to behavior. ...
... With this strong foundation of both reflective and regulatory processes, the maintenance of behavior is supported by habit and identity, which can be categorized as reflexive processes [14,17,46,47]. Grounded in the M-PAC framework, the 8-week Healthy Hearts program started with intention formation (lessons 1-10), then moved into action control adoption (lessons [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], and concluded with action control maintenance (lessons 20-25). A total of 3 lessons were designed to be delivered each week and encompassed the following topics: PA and heart health, goal setting and planning, PA and mental health, building PA opportunities by restructuring the physical and social environment, and exercise habit and identity formation. ...
Background:
Regular physical activity (PA) is a key lifestyle component for hypertension prevention. Previous studies have shown that mobile health (mHealth) apps can be an effective tool for improving PA behaviors. However, adherence to and poor engagement with these apps is a challenge. A potential solution to overcome this challenge may be to combine financial incentives with innovative behavior theory, such as the Multiprocess Action Control (M-PAC) framework. Currently, there is a lack of PA financial incentive-driven M-PAC mHealth programs aimed at hypertension prevention.
Objective:
We aimed to describe the process of developing an 8-week mHealth PA and financial-incentive hypertension education program (Healthy Hearts) and to evaluate usability of the Healthy Hearts program.
Methods:
The first 2 stages of the Integrate, Design, Assess, and Share framework were used to guide the development of the Healthy Hearts program. The development process consisted of 2 phases. In phase 1, the research team met to discuss implementing the M-PAC framework to adopt an existing web-based hypertension prevention program to a mobile app. The app was developed using a no-code app development platform, Pathverse (Pathverse Inc), to help decrease overall development time. In phase 2, we created a prototype and conducted usability testing to evaluate lesson 1 of the Healthy Hearts program to further enhance the user experience. We used semistructured interviews and the mHealth App Usability Questionnaire to evaluate program acceptability and usability.
Results:
Intervention development among the research team successfully created an 8-week financial-incentive hypertension education program for adults aged 40-65 years who did not currently meet the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (<150 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA per week). This program lasted 8 weeks and comprised 25 lessons guided by the M-PAC framework. The program used various behavior change techniques to further support PA adherence. Usability testing of the first lesson was successful, with 6 participants recruited for 2 rounds of testing. Feedback was gathered to enhance the content, layout, and design of the Healthy Hearts program to prepare the mHealth program for feasibility testing. Results of round 1 of usability testing suggested that the content delivered in the lessons was long. Therefore, the content was divided into multiple lessons before round 2 of usability testing, where feedback was only on design preferences. A minimum viable product was created with these results.
Conclusions:
The iterative development process and the usability assessments suggested by the Integrate, Design, Assess, and Share framework enabled participants to provide valuable feedback on the content, design, and layout of the program before advancing to feasibility testing. Furthermore, the use of the "no-code" app development tool enabled our team to rapidly make changes to the app based on user feedback during the iterative design process.
... Studies in the context of health behaviors have supported the assumptions of this approach (for example, see Falomir-Pichastor et al., 2009 for flu vaccination). Sheeran and Webb (2016) reported that a meta-analysis's results showed experimentally induced norms changes were associated with changes in intentions and behavior. Their findings also suggested that a change in norms was sufficient to change behavior, even without changes in personal attitudes and self-efficacy. ...
... Zou and Savani (2019) indicated that people are prone to credit descriptive norms for their own risk-taking but recommend others act in parallel with injunctive norms. Decision-making studies emphasize that real behavioral measures of prosociality (i.e., incentivized games including real decisions with real money) can provide more accurate results (Sheeran and Webb, 2016) and that different cognitive biases affect responses to the two measures (Little et al., 2012). Therefore, we encourage future studies to use real behavioral measures when examining prosocial behaviors. ...
The global struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for almost three years. Although national and local leaders have often called on the public to comply with preventive measures through health communication, large sections of society sometimes violated precautions and did not adequately follow these calls. We propose that social norms and leaders' identity entrepreneurship characteristics could be essential in effective health communication. In line with this notion, we investigated the effects of social norm types and leadership on complying with preventive measures, the intention to be vaccinated, and prosocial behavioral tendency through a high-powered experiment that focused on three factors: leadership quality (presence/lack of entrepreneurship), descriptive norm (supportive/obstructive), and injunctive norm (supportive/obstructive). Results showed that when support for injunctive and descriptive norms was present, people tended to more readily adhere to preventive measures, get vaccinated, and engage in prosocial behavior. There was also a significant effect of the interaction between descriptive and injunctive norms on compliance with preventive measures. The compliance level was highest when both norm types were supportive and lowest when both were obstructive. The effect decreased in the discrepant norms condition, where one type of norm was supportive and the other obstructive. There is also a significant interaction between leadership and the descriptive norm, indicating that a combination of an entrepreneur leader and a supportive descriptive norm increases compliance with the preventive measure. We discussed the role of leadership and social norms in effective health communication.
... Also, there were differences in the capacity of the models to predict the variance in intention and behavior. This is known as the intention-behavior gap [64] and refers to why people do not always act according to their intentions. Regarding DUI, we can hypothesize that people may intend not to drink and drive but might end up doing it for different reasons, such as impaired judgment and decision-making after drinking or social pressure. ...
Background: Driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) can be studied from several angles. One is the study of the socio-cognitive factors that underlie this behavior. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has successfully explained DUI. Objectives: i) to synthesize and characterize the articles that approached DUI within the TPB framework in the last ten years, ii) to describe methodological aspects of the articles, and iii) to identify key concepts and research gaps. Methods: We followed the PRISMA ScR guideline. We included articles from 2011 to 2021 in English, Spanish and Portuguese. We excluded articles focused on risky driving (not specific to DUI), articles that studied cycling under the influence, articles that only included one TPB dimension (e.g., attitudes), and articles that focused on another substance. Sources of evidence: PubMed, Scielo, Lilacs, Science Direct, Base, and Scilit databases, complemented with manual searches from articles' references. The data search was conducted in December 2021. After removing duplicates and screening abstracts and full articles, 29 articles were included. Results: in its different versions, the TPB model helps to predict driving under the influence of alcohol and the intention to do it. However, we found no unified criteria for assessing the model dimensions and a wide range of explained variance. Research gaps: Among others, we highlight the low amount of studies from Global South countries. Conclusion: The TPB framework helps to understand the socio-cognitive reasons why people intend and decide to DUI. Future studies should try to overcome limitations regarding how the TPB dimensions are measured, power estimations, and Global South sources.
... Behavioral regulation was considered tactics applied to directly manage or change PA actions, presumably after an intention has been formed (Cane et al., 2012;Rhodes & Yao, 2015). Specifically, we focused on BCTs that would conceivably assist in managing and improving the chances of behavioral action among individuals who already intend to engage in the behavior (e.g., Duckworth et al., 2016;Rhodes & Yao, 2015;Schwarzer, 2008;Sheeran & Webb, 2016). The final list of BCTs, corresponding with the numbers in the Michie et al. (2013) taxonomy, is as follows: problem-solving 1.2; action planning 1.4; review of behavior goals 1.5; discrepancy between current behavior and goal 1.6; behavioral contract 1.8; commitment 1.9; feedback on behavior 2.2; selfmonitoring of behavior 2.3; prompts/cues 7.1; self-incentive 10.7 (later removed because of similarity to self-reward 10.9); self-reward 10.9; reduce negative emotions 11.2; restructuring the physical environment 12.1; restructuring the social environment 12.2; avoidance/ reducing exposure to cues for the behavior 12.3; and distraction 12.4 (later removed because of overlap with 12.3). ...
Objective:
Behavioral regulation tactics used to manage actions after the formation of a physical activity (PA) intention are common to many theories, yet comprehensive measures of PA regulation are scant.
Purpose:
To develop a reliable instrument of PA regulation and test predictive validity and its capacity to mediate the intention-PA relationship.
Method:
To achieve a pool of candidate items, we used the behavior change technique taxonomy as a template, followed by a critical literature review of PA regulation measures to extract exemplar items, and then concluded with a Delphi feedback method (N = 4). The main study included a sample representative of the Canadian adult population to explore and then confirm the construct and discriminant validity, and internal consistency reliability of the measure using two independent samples (N = 683 and N = 727). Finally, using a 2-week prospective design, the full sample was used to investigate test-retest reliability, and predictive validity of self-reported PA at Time 2.
Results:
Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses resulted in a reliable 14-item, four-factor measure (internal consistencies > .80) of (a) proactive regulation, (b) reactive regulation, (c) social monitoring, and (d) self-monitoring, we named the Physical Activity Regulation Scale (PARS). The PARS factors explained 18% of PA at Time 2, and mediated the relationship between intention and PA.
Conclusion:
While continued testing is needed, the initial evidence is supportive that the PARS may be a useful PA behavioral regulation measure to include for use within various theoretical models applied to understand PA. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
... The behavioral component of many field studies is equally important because consumers do not always live as they learn, suggesting that their stated attitudes and intentions cannot always be used to draw accurate behavioral inferences (Mittal, 1988;Otterbring, 2021;Park and Lin, 2020;Sheeran and Webb, 2016). This gap between attitudes and intentions, on the one hand, and actual behavior, on the other hand, can have many explanations, such as biases linked to social desirability, expectancy and experimenter effects and demand characteristics (Sheeran, 2002;Otterbring and Frank, 2023;Rosenthal, 1976;Viglia and Acuti, 2023). ...
... What is clear, though, is that behavioral intentions did not appear to closely follow self-evaluations and emotional reactions (which tended to be positively correlated; see Table 1). This finding fits with research highlighting the complexities of behavioral intentions as a construct (for review see Sheeran & Webb 2016). ...
Whereas prior research has found that people are influenced by both internal (e.g., dimensional) and external (e.g., social) comparative information in academic contexts, we experimentally examined the influence of such comparisons in a health fitness context. Participants engaged in “physical and mental fitness” tasks (e.g., performing sit-ups, memorizing words) and were randomly assigned to receive (1) social comparative feedback indicating their physical or mental fitness was better or worse than their peers or (2) dimensional comparative feedback indicating their performance in a target domain (e.g., mental fitness) was better or worse than a referent domain (e.g., physical fitness). Results showed that participants who made upward comparisons had lower fitness self-evaluations and more negative (less positive) emotional reactions to the feedback for the target domain, with the effect being nominally stronger for social than dimensional comparisons and for mental than physical fitness. Findings are discussed in the context of comparison-based models and health behavior theories.
... A meta-analytic summary across research studies reported that intention is, on average, associated with actual behavior [19]. This evidence and the theoretical support of TPB suggest that intention-while not the sole predictor of future behavior [20]-can serve as a starting point for identifying modifiable factors to potentially increase rates of CRC screening completion [21]. Although prior studies grounded in the TPB have included income and educational attainment as potential confounders of men's CRC screening adherence [22,23], no studies to date have specifically focused on unraveling their association with the social-cognitive variables within the TPB. ...
Purpose
To examine whether a greater perception of economic pressure would be associated with more-negative attitudes, greater perceived barriers, and lower subjective norms regarding colorectal cancer (CRC) and CRC screening among males aged 45–75 years.
Methods
We recruited 492 self-identified males aged 45–75 years living in the United States. We operationalized perceived economic pressure as a latent factor with three subscales: can’t make ends meet, unmet material needs, and financial cutbacks. Our dependent variables were attitudes toward CRC and CRC screening, perceived barriers to completing a CRC screening exam, and subjective norms regarding CRC screening (e.g., how others value CRC screening). We tested a hypothesized model using structural equation modeling with maximum-likelihood estimation, adjusting for covariates, and made post-hoc modifications to improve model fit.
Results
Greater perceived economic pressure was associated with more-negative attitudes toward CRC and CRC screening (β = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.37,0.57) and with greater perceived barriers to CRC screening (β = 0.22, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.34), but was not significantly associated with subjective norms (β = 0.07, 95% CI: − 0.05, 0.19). Perceived economic pressure was an indirect pathway by which lower-income and younger age were associated with more-negative attitudes and greater perceived barriers.
Conclusions
Our study is one of the first to show that, among males, perceived economic pressure is associated with two social-cognitive mechanisms (i.e., negative attitudes, greater perceived barriers) that are known to influence CRC screening intent and, ultimately, CRC screening completion. Future research on this topic should employ longitudinal study designs.
... Measuring the actual consumer behavior is also important due to the intention-behavior gap, which is considerably large. Prior research shows that when people intend to do something, they are able to translate those intentions into actions just under half of the time (Sheeran & Webb, 2016). ...
The rise of AI-based chatbots has gradually changed the way consumers shop. Natural language processing (NLP) technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are likely to accelerate this trend further. However, consumers still prefer to engage with humans and resist chatbots, which are often perceived as impersonal and lacking the human touch. While the predominant tendency is to make chatbots appear more humanlike, little is known about how anthropomorphic verbal design cues in chatbots influence perceived product personalization and willingness to pay a higher product price in conversational commerce contexts. In the current work, we set out to test this through one pre-test (N = 135) and two online experiments (N = 180 and 237). We find that anthropomorphism significantly and positively affects perceived product personalization, and that this effect is moderated by situational loneliness. Moreover, the results show that the interaction between anthropomorphism and situational loneliness has an impact on the willingness to pay a higher product price. The research findings can be used for future applications of AI-driven chatbots where there is a need to provide personalized and data-driven product recommendations.
... The construct of bedtime procrastination was derived from previous work on procrastination of health behaviors [16] and is conceptually similar to general procrastination. For example, bedtime procrastination has been thought of as an instance of an intention-behavior gap, in which people have the intention to go to bed on time but fail to do so [3,17]. Additionally, bedtime procrastination has consistently been associated with general procrastination behaviors [10,18]. ...
Study Objectives:
Bedtime procrastination, or delays in bedtime not attributable to external obligations, is a behavioral tendency that undermines sleep and is conceptualized as a consequence of poor self-regulation. Prior studies investigating the mechanistic role of self-regulation in bedtime procrastination relied on cross-sectional methods and self-reported self-regulation. The present study examined the association between bedtime procrastination and both objective and self-reported executive functioning (EF) as indices of self-regulation, as well as the moderating role of chronotype, using methods that examined these associations at the daily level.
Methods:
273 young adult participants (78% female; Mage = 24.4) completed daily measures of objective EF (i.e., Stroop Task), self-reported EF (i.e., self-reported cognitive, behavioral, and emotional regulation difficulties), and bedtime procrastination over 14 days, in addition to measures of chronotype. Multilevel models were constructed to examine the associations between bedtime procrastination and EF, as well as EF-chronotype interactions.
Results:
Poorer daily objective EF and self-reported behavioral regulation were associated with greater same-night bedtime procrastination. Additionally, poorer subjective cognitive and emotional regulation were associated with greater average bedtime procrastination across 14-days. Later chronotypes reported greater bedtime procrastination than early chronotypes.
Conclusions:
The present study provides support for the association between EF and bedtime procrastination, but finds no evidence for the moderating role of chronotype in this association. Results suggest that some EF processes may be more relevant to bedtime procrastination than others. Current findings have implications for assessment and intervention for this consequential sleep-relevant behavioral tendency.
... While responses on how the participants would behave if they suspected versus confirmed the deception also support this, when directly questioned about the topic, many participants aligned with the popular opinion that providing information that deception is present would make it less effective. This also aligns with previous studies [64,65] that have found that people don't always know or answer how they will actually behave. ...
Human behavior is a critical, yet under-studied topic in cybersecurity. Among the techniques used for cyber defense, for cyber deception, a better understanding of human perception and behavior is crucial. To this point, the current study used a custom Deception Questionnaire to assess perceptions of cyber deception among experts. In this paper, we use a qualitative thematic analysis over the questionnaire responses, which provides a rich insight into the decision-making process of cyber attackers. Results reveal that experts were unlikely to expect deception, and upon encountering potential deception, a subset of attackers would increase and others decrease their attack activity in response. This work augments prior qualitative analyses indicating that cyber deception creates a psychological impact and behavioral change in cyber attackers. Results support the psychological impact and efficacy of deception to deter malicious actors and provide insights about how defenders might utilize deceptive strategies.
... Behavior cannot be solely attributed to internal motivation or intention. Contextual barriers may prevent motivation or intention from consistently resulting in actual behavior [27][28][29]. The intention-behavior gap can also be ascribed to social influence or situational interaction, as converting behavioral intention into action necessitates individual effort and collective agreement. ...
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic’s significant impact on the dining-out industry, this study examined factors influencing consumers’ dining-out behavior changes using a unified theoretical framework based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and select components of the risk information seeking and processing (RISP) model. A quantitative research method was employed, analyzing 536 valid survey responses collected in South Korea in early 2021 using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings showed that consumer attitude, perceived control, and subjective norm positively influenced dining-out intention, supporting the TPB. However, risk information-seeking behavior discourages dining-out behavior without significantly affecting intention. Fear emerged as a determinant of dining-out intention, risk information-seeking behavior, and dining-out behavior, highlighting the importance of emotions over rational thinking. This study contributes to existing literature by incorporating dining-out intention, COVID-19-related information-seeking behavior, and fear as key antecedents of dining-out behavior during the pandemic, while validating formative indicators that constitute risk information-seeking behavior and dining-out behavior in the research model.
... Predicting donation behaviour from the standard TPB constructs (19%), however, fell somewhat short of expectations based on general TPB meta-analytic findings of 27% [20]. As a behavioural domain, then, donation as a behaviour may be more subject to the 'intention-behaviour gap' [41] than other types of behaviour (e.g., health behaviours), with self-regulatory tools such as implementation intentions (making if-then plans) potentially required to improve the likelihood that charitable giving intentions will translate into donation behaviours. With all summary effects moderate-tostrong in the present study, comparisons to the more general meta-analysis of Armitage and Conner show similar patterns for the strength of the predictors of behaviour, but with stronger relationships for the association between both subjective norm and PBC with intention in the case of people's donation behaviours. ...
Given the predominance of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to represent the psychological determinants underlying people's charitable decisions, the present study synthesised the model's key relationships, using meta-analysis, and tested the predictive utility of the model for charitable giving encompassing donations of blood, organs, time, and money. Given its relevance to altruistic decisions, the impact of moral norm was assessed also. A systematic literature review identified 117 samples (from 104 studies) examining donation intentions and/or prospective behaviour using TPB measures. The sample-weighted average effects for all associations were moderate-to-strong with perceived behavioural control (PBC) most strongly associated with intention (r+ = 0.562), followed by moral norm (r+ = 0.537), attitude (r+ = 0.507), and subjective norm (r+ = 0.472). Intention (r+ = 0.424) showed stronger associations with prospective behaviour than PBC (r+ = 0.301). The standard TPB predictors explained 44% of variance in intention (52% including moral norm). Intention and PBC explained 19% of variance in behaviour. A number of TPB associations showed differences when analysed for moderator variables such as length of follow-up for prospective behaviour and type of target behaviour. Stronger associations were found for the (subjective and moral) norm-intention associations among some of the different types of giving behaviours, especially for donating organs and time. Overall, the large proportion of variance explained by the TPB predictors especially for intention highlights those cognitions associated with people's plans to give, informative for charities reliant on people's propensity to give.
... Such effects are also amplified by the fact that people affected by great transformations-unlike in Homo oeconomicus modeling-do not seem to act completely rationally (Brunner, 2019). This is, for instance, confirmed by studies on the so-called intention-behavior gap (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002;Sheeran & Webb, 2016;Rausch & Kopplin, 2021). These studies show, for example, with reference to food consumption, that the rationally desired and prescribed action does not correspond to the everyday action (Meyer & Simons, 2021). ...
Climate change, the destruction of the environment, and resource scarcity—the developments associated with these phenomena are posing ever greater challenges for humanity today and require solutions, both in a regional context and at a global level. The sustainability debate has long dominated everyday politics in Germany and elsewhere. The need for comprehensive changes in attitudes, behavior, and rules is acknowledged, and people are—in principle—aware of the great challenges that lie ahead. Yet progress is very slow in setting the necessary course for the future, and, in the light of looming ecological tipping points, this can seem quite alarming. This paper addresses the question of how to generate significantly more implementation potential in our society and bring together what are often uncoordinated developments to achieve a truly “great transformation” toward more sustainable structures in business, society, and the environment. The focus is put on the significance of innovation and entrepreneurial thinking and acting and its early, systematic manifestations. It is argued why appropriately designed, youth entrepreneurship education (YEE) could be an important factor in this context.
... Although there could be obstacles that might prevent behavioral intention from leading to actual behaviors, the results of several meta-analyses have shown that compared to other cognitive or personality factors, behavioral intention has superior predictive power regarding the performance of actual behaviors (Sheeran, 2002). Therefore, behavioral intention is a vital predictor of one's behavior (Sheeran & Webb, 2016). Prior research has already confirmed the positive relationship between ISP compliance intention and ISP compliance behavior (Pahnila et al., 2007;Crossler & Bélanger, 2014;Boss et al., 2015;Sommestad et al., 2015). ...
This paper examines the underlying mechanisms through which paternalistic leadership (PL) motivates employees’ information systems policy (ISP) compliance. We propose that the three dimensions of PL—authoritarian leadership (AL), benevolent leadership (BL), and moral leadership (ML)—influence employees’ ISP compliance by affecting their perceptions of two information security control mechanisms: sanctions and the information security climate. Based on survey data from 760 participants, we found that the impact of AL is partially mediated by employees’ perceptions of sanctions, the impact of BL is partially mediated by employees’ perceptions of the information security climate, and the impact of ML is partially mediated by employees’ perceptions of both sanctions and the information security climate. Our research extends the existing literature by exploring the impact of specific leadership styles on employees’ perceptions of information security control mechanisms and by proposing that perceptions of information security control mechanisms play a mediating role between PL and ISP compliance. The findings suggest that in addition to choosing effective control mechanisms, it is also important for leaders to adjust their leadership style to ensure that employees perceive control mechanisms in the expected manner.
... Finally, as the disclosure behavior was very low (N = 4) at 1-year follow-up, only intention to disclose was used as the outcome and the 4 participants who had disclosed at follow-up were excluded from the analysis. Although intention has been regarded as one of the most proximal determinants of behaviors [25,26], intention-behavior gap exists and intention does not necessarily translate into behavioral performance [50]. Results require cautious interpretation when applying to the context of HIV disclosure, as it only involved the measure of intention. ...
Objective: The current study investigated the role of positive outcome expectations and reward responsiveness in intention to disclose HIV status to children among women living with HIV in China. The moderating role of reward responsiveness was also explored.
Method: A 1-year longitudinal survey was conducted. 269 women living with HIV who had at least one child aged >5 years and had not yet disclosed their HIV status to their oldest child were selected from a larger sample of women living with HIV at baseline, with a total of 261 respondents completing the follow-up survey.
Results: After adjusting for significant socio-demographic and medical variables, positive outcome expectations positively predicted mothers’ intention to disclose HIV, while reward responsiveness had a negative effect. A moderation effect of reward responsiveness was found, with further analysis showing that reward responsiveness has strengthened the relationship between positive outcome expectations and intention to disclose HIV.
Conclusion: Findings support the relevance of positive outcome expectations and reward responsiveness to intention of disclosure among women living with HIV in China.
... Meskipun menurut (Ajzen, 1985(Ajzen, , 1991 realisasi tindakan seseorang akan dipengaruhi dan dikontrol oleh intensi orang tersebut untuk melakukan sesuatu namun tidak semua niat tersebut akan dilaksanakan. Gap antara intensi dan perilaku besar, menurut (Sheeran & Webb, 2016) probabilitas sebagai niat diterjemahkan menjadi tindakan adalah setengah. Hal ini dipengaruhi oleh kualitas, sifat tujuan fokus, dasar, dan sifat niat tersebut. ...
p>Zakat is not only relates to ilahiyah worship but also relates to muamalah which has social and economic value. Zakat can be used as a tool to increase welfare and eradicate poverty. Since, Indonesia has large Muslim population, it supposes to has large amount of Zakat. However, the actual recorded zakat collection is still very far from the potency. People zakat literacy about zakat obligations is also low. This paper aims to see the impact pf zakat literacy to zakat collection by OPZ. This research was an associative quantitative study using PLS-SEM bootstrap with WarpPLS5. The object of this research was 9 OPZs (8 LAZNAS and 1 BAZ) which have representative offices in Surabaya. Respondents of this study were muzakki who represented OPZ. The results of this study indicated that zakat literacy has a significant effect on the realization of zakat collection, however the intention to pay zakat does not mediate the relationship between literacy and the realization of zakat collection. This research can be used to identify steps to increase zakat collection.</p
... Consumers who are in an incremental mindset are more likely to transfer the traits of the previous user and when these traits are experientially relevant and positive, consumers have a better experience. Finally, in Study 3, we deal with the potential intention-behavior gap (East et al., 2008;Sheeran & Webb, 2016) by looking at the effects in a real choice situation. ...
With the rise of the sharing economy, more consumers than ever are thinking about products not in terms of ownership, but in terms of access necessary to facilitate experiences. In this paper, we build on prior literature, which distinguished product from expe-riential satisfaction to explore the role that knowledge of a prior user plays in shaping these two types of satisfaction in access-based consumption experiences. Across three studies, we demonstrate that product and experiential satisfaction can be affected differently when consumers are provided with information about previous users of products. We find that information about the previous user of a product consistently negatively impacts product satisfaction. However, we find that when the previous user has positive and experientially relevant traits, experiential satisfaction is increased. When the information about the previous user is negative or experientially irrelevant, experiential satisfaction is decreased. In cases in which we find a positive effect of prior user information on experiential satisfaction, we find it is mediated by transfer of the previous user's traits and that the effectiveness of this mechanism depends on the relevance of traits and the stability of the self-concept of the consumer.
... Rapoport and colleagues (2022) investigated the influence of sports procrastination and self-compassion on sports behaviour. They found that high sport procrastinators tend not to complete the sport activity they have planned for the week (intentionaction gap, for an overview see Sheeran & Webb, 2016). However, if these high procrastinators show high values in self-compassion, the effect is cancelled out and they do as much sport as they have planned (comparable to the low sport procrastinators). ...
It is known that both procrastination and self-compassion are associated with health behaviours in the sense that the former reduces them and the latter increases them. It is also known that regular visits to the doctor and especially to the dentist are part of a healthy lifestyle. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of procrastination and self-compassion on dental attendance. For this purpose, a new questionnaire was designed and confirmed by means of an explorative factor analysis. The results show that procrastination has an influence on dental attendance, even when the influence of dental anxiety is excluded. No conclusion can be drawn about the influence of self-compassion on dental attendance.These results open up a new area in which procrastination plays an important role and which has been neglected until now. The study emphasises the importance of further research into procrastination behaviour in the health area, in order to be able to minimise it in the long term.
... This strong framing effect also emphasized that lay people's reported acceptance of AVs and intention to use is not stable, but depends on how the AV and its capabilities are framed. This seems to be a direct consequence of the behaviorintention gap [54], where people often report different predicted behavior than they actually show in the same situation. Additionally, current technology development, like with AVs, is happening "without a sound cultural framework that could give technology a sense beyond mere utilitarian considerations." ...
Ongoing debates about ethical guidelines for autonomous vehicles mostly focus on variations of the ‘Trolley Problem’. Using variations of this ethical dilemma in preference surveys, possible implications for autonomous vehicles policy are discussed. In this work, we argue that the lack of realism in such scenarios leads to limited practical insights. We run an ethical preference survey for autonomous vehicles by including more realistic features, such as time pressure and a non-binary decision option. Our results indicate that such changes lead to different outcomes, calling into question how the current outcomes can be generalized. Additionally, we investigate the framing effects of the capabilities of autonomous vehicles and indicate that ongoing debates need to set realistic expectations on autonomous vehicle challenges. Based on our results, we call upon the field to re-frame the current debate towards more realistic discussions beyond the Trolley Problem and focus on which autonomous vehicle behavior is considered not to be acceptable, since a consensus on what the right solution is, is not reachable.
... Covid-19 is very contagious) and beliefs about the effectiveness of behaviours to prevent disease transmission and severity are, however, not sufficient to change behaviour. Beliefs alone do not inevitably translate into actual behaviour change; that is, people intend to act, but fail to realise their intentions (this is typically referred to as the 'intention-behaviour gap' [50]). The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) conceptualises beliefs as pre-intentional motivational processes that contribute to behavioural intention and represent proximal and distal determinants for developing an intention to change behaviour [51]. ...
Background
Governments have relied on their citizens to adhere to a variety of transmission-reducing behaviours (TRBs) to suppress the Covid-19 pandemic. Understanding the psychological and sociodemographic predictors of adherence to TRBs will be heavily influenced by the particular theories used by researchers. This review aims to identify the theories and theoretical constructs used to understand adherence to TRBs during the pandemic within the UK social and legislative context.
Methods
A systematic review identified studies to understand TRBs of adults in the UK during the pandemic. Identified theoretical constructs were coded to the Theoretical Domains Framework. Data are presented as a narrative summary.
Results
Thirty-five studies ( n = 211,209) investigated 123 TRBs, applied 13 theoretical frameworks and reported 50 sociodemographic characteristics and 129 psychological constructs. Most studies used social cognition theories to understand TRBs and employed cross-sectional designs. Risk of sampling bias was high. Relationships between constructs and TRBs varied, but in general, beliefs about the disease (e.g. severity and risk perception) and about TRBs (e.g. behavioural norms) influenced behavioural intentions and self-reported adherence. More studies than not found that older people and females were more adherent.
Conclusions
Behavioural scientists in the UK generated a significant and varied body of work to understand TRBs during the pandemic. However, more use of theories that do not rely on deliberative processes to effect behaviour change and study designs better able to support causal inferences should be used in future to inform public health policy and practice.
Prospero Registration
CRD42021282699.
... Importantly, not all information can be expected to be equally engaging for its readers. Over fifty years of research in social psychology have pointed to a fundamental disconnect between attitudes and behavior, as noted by both the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen et al., 2011), and other approaches (Sheeran and Webb, 2016). Raising awareness of the causes and consequences of climate change, eliciting fear and other intense emotions, and inducing a positive attitude towards mitigating factors, might not translate into actual behavior change (Ajzen et al., 2011). ...
By growing awareness for and interest in climate change, media coverage enlarges the window of opportunity by which research can engage individuals and collectives in climate actions. However, we question whether the climate change research that gets mediatized is fit for this challenge. From a survey of the 51,230 scientific articles published in 2020 on climate change, we show that the news media preferentially publicizes research outputs found in multidisciplinary journals and journals perceived as top-tier. An in-depth analysis of the content of the top-100 mediatized papers, in comparison to a random subset, reveals that news media showcases a narrow and limited facet of climate change knowledge (i.e., natural science and health). News media selectivity reduces climate change research to the role of a sentinel and whistleblower for the large-scale, observed, or end-of-century consequences of climate change for natural Earth system components. The social, economic, technological , and energy aspects of climate change are curtailed through mediatization, as well as local and short-term scales of processes and solutions. Reviewing the social psychological mechanisms that underlie behavioral change, we challenge the current criteria used to judge newsworthiness and argue that the consequent media-tization of climate change research fails to breed real society engagement in actions. A transformative agenda for the mediatization of climate change research implies aligning newsworthiness with news effectiveness, i.e., addressing the extent to which communication is effective in presenting research that is likely to produce behavioral change.
... Future studies can investigate actual turnover to determine how variables of interest influence the extent to which nurses stay in their profession over time. Nevertheless, intention is a precursor of behavior (Sheeran & Webb, 2016). Fourth, this study was conducted only among nurses. ...
This study examined workplace status as a moderator of the relationship between organizational constraints and frontline nurses' intent to stay in their profession. Data were collected from 265 nurses working in hospitals designated for caring for patients with COVID-19 across Nigeria. The measurement and structural models were assessed with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed a negative relationship between organizational constraints and intent to stay, whereas workplace status was positively related to intent to stay. Further, the relationship between organizational constraints and intent to stay was moderated by workplace status such that it was more positive when workplace status was high rather than low. The results provide evidence for keeping frontline nurses in their profession by reducing the organizational constraints they encounter and elevating their status in their workplace.
... In our surveys, intentions preceded actual adoption for 26.5% of farmers adopting solar PV, with two to three years between the surveys. Generally, intentions are translated into action approximately one-half of the time [58], making it a strong determinant. The realization rate is influenced by, among others, the nature of the focal goal and the basis and quality of the intention, which might be determined by culture [59]. ...
... This is problematic, as such outcome measures may not be closely associated with real-life reactions to misinformation posts. Critically, the reported associations could be spurious due to experimenter demand effects 38 or the intention-behaviour gap, in which there is a discrepancy between stated intentions and performed actions 39 . Thus, there is a clear research need for evidence involving an experimental design that uses behavioural, rather than self-reported, outcome measures. ...
Misinformation can have a profound detrimental impact on populations’ wellbeing. In this large UK-based online experiment (n = 2430), we assessed the performance of false tag and inoculation interventions in protecting against different forms of misinformation (‘variants’). While previous experiments have used perception- or intention-based outcome measures, we presented participants with real-life misinformation posts in a social media platform simulation and measured their engagement, a more ecologically valid approach. Our pre-registered mixed-effects models indicated that both interventions reduced engagement with misinformation, but inoculation was most effective. However, random differences analysis revealed that the protection conferred by inoculation differed across posts. Moderation analysis indicated that immunity provided by inoculation is robust to variation in individuals’ cognitive reflection. This study provides novel evidence on the general effectiveness of inoculation interventions over false tags, social media platforms’ current approach. Given inoculation’s effect heterogeneity, a concert of interventions will likely be required for future safeguarding efforts.
... One possible explanation is that the willingness to help does not necessarily translate to actual behavior to help because of a gap between the intention and the behavior [41]. Several studies in the psychological domain have suggested how intention can determine the likelihood that a behavior will be carried out (e.g., [42], [43]). ...
Surprising events can be beneficial for unwinnable persuasive games, especially since they can evoke players to reflect on their failure to win the game. Despite its presence in some titles, the usage of surprising events still lacks empirical support. This study aims to gain insight into it by comparing the effects of revealing the game’s context from the beginning to delaying it until the game ends. In addition, we also examine the interaction effects with playing duration since it is possible that longer playtime will lead to smaller effects for a game with surprising events, whereas longer playtime will result in greater effects for a game without surprising events. To do so, we conducted a 2 x 2 factorial between-subject experiment with an additional no-treatment control group. The results suggest that delaying the revelation to create a surprising event can promote the same level of donation from players, regardless of their playing time. On the other hand, longer playtime is important if players know the context from the beginning. Additional results about the effect of playing duration on donation and willingness to help were also discussed in this paper.
... However, this study did not measure other traditional masculine norms, nor non-traditional norms. Furthermore, no known studies have investigated the relationship between masculine norms and other variables relevant to dietary change (i.e., intentions to change diet, and willingness to change diet; Kwasny et al., 2022;Sheeran & Webb, 2016). By including a broad range of masculine norms, as well as several factors of interest to behaviour change, the current study will extend knowledge of the meat-masculinity link by highlighting the most important masculine norms related to men's meat consumption, and provide insights into the potential barriers and facilitators of dietary change. ...
Men are the biggest meat consumers worldwide, placing themselves at greater risk of disease and early death from red and processed meat consumption. Despite these serious health outcomes, men tend to be unwilling to reduce their meat intake. It has been theorised that adherence to masculine norms plays a role in this unwillingness. The current study sought to determine which traditional and non-traditional masculine norms predict men’s meat consumption, intention to eat meat, and willingness to reduce meat consumption. Five hundred and seventy Australian and English self-identified males completed the Meat Consumption and Intention Scale, and three psychometrically validated measures of traditional and non-traditional masculinity. The traditional masculine norms violence, importance of sex, and heterosexual self-presentation positively predicted men’s meat consumption; the non-traditional masculine norm sensitivity to male privilege negatively predicted men’s meat consumption. Toughness, emotional control, and holistic attentiveness were also important predictors of men’s willingness to reduce. Our results suggest that informational campaigns, designed for men, that help challenge and break perceived links between meat consumption and attitudes to violence, sexual virility, heterosexuality, and physical strength may be effective in reducing meat consumption.
... At the start of the new year, many people reflect on their future plans and form resolutions. However, they often fail to put their good intentions into practice (Sheeran & Webb, 2016). Strategic "if-then" plans, also known as implementation intentions, are an effective way to support the translation of intentions to actions. ...
People often have good intentions but fail to adhere to them. Implementation intentions, a form of strategic planning, can help people to close this intention-behavior gap. Their effectiveness has been proposed to depend on the mental formation of a stimulus-response association between a trigger and target behavior, thereby creating an "instant habit." If implementation intentions do indeed lead to reliance on habitual control, then this may come at the cost of reduced behavioral flexibility. Furthermore, we would expect a shift from recruitment of corticostriatal brain regions implicated in goal-directed control toward habit regions. To test these ideas, we performed a fMRI study in which participants received instrumental training supported by either implementation or goal intentions, followed by an outcome revaluation to test reliance on habitual versus goal-directed control. We found that implementation intentions led to increased efficiency early in training, as reflected by higher accuracy, faster RTs, and decreased anterior caudate engagement. However, implementation intentions did not reduce behavioral flexibility when goals changed during the test phase, nor did it affect the underlying corticostriatal pathways. In addition, this study showed that "slips of action" toward devalued outcomes are associated with reduced activity in brain regions implicated in goal-directed control (ventromedial prefrontal cortex and lateral orbitofrontal cortex) and increased activity of the fronto-parietal salience network (including the insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and SMA). In conclusion, our behavioral and neuroimaging findings suggest that strategic if-then planning does not lead to a shift from goal-directed toward habitual control.
... Keshavarz et al., 2022), but have generally not encompassed techniques targeting behavior change through change in constructs operating in a volitional phase of action (Schwarzer, 2008). Given that individuals do not always act on their intentions (Sheeran & Webb, 2016), it has been suggested that behavioral interventions, such as those aiming to promote influenza prevention behaviors in older adults, need to include techniques that promote intention formation for the target behavior in the target population and techniques that lead them to act on those intentions (Ziegelmann & Knoll, 2015). ...
Older adults are at greater risk of complications from seasonal influenza, and promoting uptake and adherence to preventive behaviors is key to attenuating this risk. The current study examined the efficacy of a theory-based telephone-delivered intervention to promote uptake and maintenance of influenza preventive behaviors in a sample of Hong Kong residents 65 years and older. The intervention adopted a three-group randomized controlled design (n = 312) with two intervention conditions, motivational and motivational + volitional, and a measurement-only control condition. The primary outcome variable was self-reported compliance with influenza preventive behaviors, including washing hands, avoiding touching eyes, nose, or mouth, and wearing face masks. Secondary outcomes were theory-based psychological variables. Influenza preventive behaviors in participants in the motivational + volitional intervention group were significantly improved 3 months post-intervention relative to those in the control condition. However, participants in the intervention group demonstrated no difference in behavior at 6 and 12 months post-intervention relative to the participants in the control group. Intervention effects were observed on the theory-based social support, action planning, and coping planning variables. Although short-term benefits of the intervention were observed, effects appeared to be short-lived and future research should investigate more intensive interventions that lead to greater behavioral maintenance.
... Moreover, experimental research on the partisan divide has almost exclusively used inconsequential self-reports (e.g., West & Iyengar, 2020; but see Carlin & Love, 2013;Iyengar & Westwood, 2015). Attitudes and intentions have only moderate relations to actions (Kruglanski et al., 2015;Sheeran & Webb, 2016), and inconsequential self-reports therefore only provide a poor proxy for actual behavior (Baumeister et al., 2007). We examine these issues in the context of group-based criticism. ...
The United States is highly divided along party lines, and this partisan divide has a tremendous impact on social relationships and even health-related behavior. Although group members frequently reject criticism from individuals outside their own group relative to criticism from within the group (intergroup sensitivity effect), it remains unclear whether this effect holds for calls for unity across party lines. Additionally, the democratic process may itself help to mend intergroup sensitivity. Our high-powered experiment with self-identified U.S. Democratic or Republican voters across three time points during the 2020 U.S. presidential election demonstrates consistent rejection of calls for unity across party lines, which differentially affected consequent reconciliatory behavior. While the ascription of unconstructive motives decreased reconciliatory behavior, heightened threat perceptions increased reconciliatory behavior. Effects were consistent across time and party affiliation, indicating that the democratic election process and the determination of the election outcome were unable to mend intergroup sensitivity across the partisan divide. Calls for unity affected the reported emotional experience of pride but these self-reports had no consistent impact on behavior. We discuss how understanding these psychological mechanics of partisanship helps to prevent democratic backsliding and promote reconciliation.
... While this study did not examine selfhelp self-efficacy as a predictor of actual self-help behaviors, it showed predictive validity for self-help intentions, and provides a validated measurement instrument for future research. Nevertheless, due to the intention-behavior gap (Sheeran and Webb, 2016), more applied research is necessary to test predictive validity for actual behaviors. Moreover, the confirmatory factor analysis was not fully satisfactory for the unidimensional model. ...
Background:
Self-help interventions for health complaints promise alleviation, for instance, of depressive symptoms, and have become increasingly popular. However, despite constant progress regarding digitally supported self-help, real-world uptake is low and motivational processes, like task-specific self-efficacy, are rarely investigated. Therefore, this study developed and tested the Self-Efficacy for Self-Help Scale (SESH).
Methods:
In a randomized controlled trial of a positive psychological online intervention to foster self-help, 344 adults (mean age = 49.26 years, SD = 27.85; 61.9 % female) completed SESH at three time points (pretest, posttest, 2-week follow-up). Psychometric testing included factorial validity, reliability (internal consistency, split-half), convergent validity (via depression coping self-efficacy), discriminant validity (via depression severity, depression literacy), sensitivity to change (due to the intervention), and predictive validity (via a theory of planned behavior questionnaire on self-help).
Results:
The unidimensional scale showed excellent reliability, construct validity, and predictive validity regarding self-help (the theory of planned behavior explained 49 % of variance in self-help intentions). The analysis did not clearly support sensitivity to change, however, as SESH scores did not change in the intervention group but were lower in the control group at posttest.
Limitations:
The study was not representative of the population, and the intervention was not previously tested. Studies with longer follow-ups and more diverse samples are needed.
Conclusions:
This study closes a gap in current self-help research by presenting a psychometrically sound measure to capture self-efficacy for self-help that can be used in epidemiological studies as well as clinical practice.
... A nearby hypothesis is, that sharing in small vehicles is considered as inconvenient, which is also true for vertical transport means like elevators as shown by Hirschauer (1999). Furthermore, some studies show that car users have positive attitudes towards sharing but no intention to use or contribute to such services (Heubeck, Hartwich and Bocklisch forthcoming), which is an expression of an intentionbehavior gap (Sheeran and Webb 2016). ...
Social interaction and loneliness have received much research interest. However, the direction of their relationship is unclear—does social interaction shape loneliness, or does loneliness shape willingness to interact? We explored dynamics of these social experiences under exceptional circumstances: COVID-19 lockdowns, which were necessary for public health but impacted people’s social lives. We investigated the relationship between social interaction and loneliness in and out of lockdown in Australia. We used experience sampling methodology to follow 233 people across 1 week ( M age =30; 8,495 surveys) in a period that spanned one of the longest lockdowns in the world. Although loneliness did not predict subsequent social interaction, having a social interaction predicted lower subsequent loneliness, particularly in (vs. out of) lockdown. These findings suggest social interactions may limit loneliness, especially during physical isolation. In short, times when we are apart from others may be times we benefit from interacting with them the most.
Developing messaging to encourage minorities to adhere to health recommendations has been a complex task for governments worldwide during the COVID-19 crisis. Here, we propose and tests a new typology of messages among minorities that can be used to mobilize compliance and engagement. This typology comprises three messaging treatments emphasizing personal, ingroup, and intergroup benefits. We examine, via an experimental field study, whether there is a difference in the effect of these messages on two policy outcomes, social distancing and vaccine hesitancy, among the Arab minority living in Israel. The findings suggest that social messages, i.e., ingroup and intergroup messages, positively affect social distancing, while self-messaging harms social distancing compliance. Regarding vaccine intake, within the social messages tested, intergroup-focused messages were more effective than ingroup-focused messages for vaccination intentions only among citizens with low trust in the government. We discuss the findings in detail and propose new avenues in theory and practice to foster health policy compliance among minorities.
Underutilization of mental health services is common and associated with substantial suffering, mental disorders and death. The present study aimed to explore factors significantly affecting the professional psychological help-seeking behavior based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). A sample of 597 Chinese college students recruited online completed the questionnaires, which measured four constructs of TPB including help-seeking intention, attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control in December 2020. Help-seeking behaviors were evaluated three months later in March 2021. A two-step structural equation modeling procedure was used to test the TPB model. Findings show that partially consistent with TPB, more positive attitudes about seeking professional help (Β = .258, p = .001) and higher perceived behavioral control (Β = .504, p < .001) directly predicted higher intention to seek mental health services, and perceived behavioral control (Β = .230, p = .006) directly predicted help-seeking behavior. However, behavioral intention (Β = -.017, p = .830) did not statistically significantly predict help-seeking behavior, while subjective norm (Β = .047, p = .356) did not predict help-seeking intention as well. The model accounted for 49.9% of the variance modeling help-seeking intention and 12.4% of the variance modeling help-seeking behavior. The results revealed the importance of attitude and perceived behavioral control in predicting help-seeking intention and behavior among Chinese college students and indicated that there existed a gap between intention and actual help-seeking behavior.
Philanthropic organizations experience difficulties in obtaining support from younger generations, highlighting the need for modern fundraising strategies. Advances in technology provide a potential solution by offering alternatives to traditional fundraising practices. In an experimental study in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), we investigated whether virtual reality (VR) could be harnessed to innovate fundraising. We customized a VR module developed by the ICRC and tested its effectiveness at eliciting donations compared to that of an on-screen version of the experience. In addition, we explored mechanisms that might drive this effect, namely the level of interactivity (active/passive) and the type of affect elicited by the module (positive—happy ending/negative—tragic ending), as well as subjective perceptions and emotions related to the experience. Our findings showed that VR, compared with an on-screen experience, led to both an increase in incentivized donations and a larger reported propensity to become regular donors. Investigating the mechanisms that might drive the effect, we found that the VR experience led to stronger emotional feelings (notably being moved and sadness) and improved quality of the experience (e.g., level of interest and vividness). We further found physiological evidence showing a significant increase in arousal for the VR condition compared with the on-screen condition, although this was not correlated with an increase in donations. Taken together, our study provides evidence that VR could be a viable tool to innovate fundraising and identifies some of the features that may make this medium more effective than traditional practices.
Purpose
Demonetization and pandemic-related restrictions in India propelled the usage of mobile payments (M-payments). The culture of online smartphone transactions is expected to rise over the coming years, even after things return to normal. This study aims to unveil the factors that escalate the satisfaction levels of M-payment users and eventually stimulate them to continue using M-payments for their daily activities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study evaluated the intention to continue using M-payments for 710 users utilizing structural equation modeling and augmenting the technology acceptance model (TAM) as well as the expectation confirmation model (ECM). Mediation and moderation analysis examined the proposed model's direct and indirect relationships.
Findings
The findings unveil that perceived value co-creation participation, service quality and cognitive processing magnify user satisfaction, significantly escalating M-payment continuance usage intention. Perceived value co-creation participation and user satisfaction with M-payment partially mediate the linkage among the constructs. Furthermore, perceived usefulness strengthens the link, while perceived severity of security threats weakens the linkage between user satisfaction with M-payment and continuance usage intention.
Research limitations/implications
The study's findings could benefit M-payment service providers, users, policymakers and the telecom industry to strengthen India's digital payment framework.
Originality/value
The perceived value co-creation participation and cognitive processing domain have not garnered much attention in the M-payment literature. The study strives to comprehend these constructs by widening the purview of TAM and ECM models. It also measures the moderating role of perceived severity of security threats and perceived usefulness to unfurl potential linkages between the identified constructs.
The study aim was to evaluate the preliminary efficacy and acceptability of an e-learning module to increase sports coaches’ mental health literacy and intention to engage in mental health promotion. Thirty-five coaches completed measures at baseline and 1-week follow-up. Mixed methods were used to assess the acceptability of the module, including interviews with 15 coaches. Coaches’ knowledge, confidence and intention to engage in mental health promotion increased at 1-week follow-up. Coaches found the module to be acceptable with the content perceived to be informative, the design visually appealing, and the module realistic to be implemented more broadly within their sport.
Introduction
Unhealthy eating behaviour is a major contributor to obesity and related diseases and is associated with a behavioural bias to approach rather than avoid desired foods, as measured with reaction time tasks. Approach-avoidance interventions (AAIs) have been proposed as a way to modify food evaluations and help people to eat in accordance with their dietary goals. Mobile implementations of AAI might be easily accessible, low threshold interventions, but their effectiveness has not been established yet.
Methods and analysis
Participants who aim to change their eating behaviour are randomised to intervention or control groups. They complete six sessions of a smartphone-based AAI, in which they push (ie, avoid) or pull (ie, approach) personalised food images. Intervention group participants always avoid foods that they personally want to eat less often and approach foods that they personally want to eat more often. In the control group, images are paired equally often with both response directions. To evaluate contextual and dynamic intervention effects, ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is measured throughout, with questions about food intake, hunger, stress, emotions, eating intentions, food craving and impulsivity twice a day. Additional EMA preintervention and postintervention measures are administered before and after the intervention phase (4 days each) with a 1-day follow-up EMA 4 weeks after the intervention. Multilevel models will examine the temporal covariance between approach bias and self-reported variables as well as short-term and long-term intervention effects on approach bias, food intake and craving.
Ethics and dissemination
The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Salzburg. Results will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and presented at scientific conferences.
Trial registration number
German Clinical Trials Register DRKS, registration number DRKS00030780.
Data breaches are prevalent. We provide novel insights into individuals’ awareness, perception, and responses to breaches that affect them through two online surveys: a main survey ( n = 413) in which we presented participants with up to three breaches that affected them, and a follow-up survey ( n = 108) in which we investigated whether the main study participants followed through with their intentions to act. Overall, 73% of participants were affected by at least one breach, but participants were unaware of 74% of breaches affecting them. While some reported intention to take action, most participants believed the breach would not impact them. We also found a sizeable intention-behavior gap. Participants did not follow through with their intention when they were apathetic about breaches, considered potential costs, forgot, or felt resigned about taking action. Our findings suggest that breached organizations should be held accountable for more proactively informing and protecting affected consumers.
To successfully pursue a goal in the face of temptation, an individual must first identify that she faces a self-control conflict. Only then will the individual exercise self-control to promote goal pursuit over indulging in temptation. We propose a new model that distinguishes between the problems of conflict identification and those of conflict resolution. We then review research on the factors that influence conflict identification and those that determine conflict resolution.
Control theory and other frameworks for understanding self-regulation suggest that monitoring goal
progress is a crucial process that intervenes between setting and attaining a goal, and helps to ensure that
goals are translated into action. However, the impact of progress monitoring interventions on rates of
behavioral performance and goal attainment has yet to be quantified. A systematic literature search
identified 138 studies (N �= 19,951) that randomly allocated participants to an intervention designed to
promote monitoring of goal progress versus a control condition. All studies reported the effects of the
treatment on (a) the frequency of progress monitoring and (b) subsequent goal attainment. A random
effects model revealed that, on average, interventions were successful at increasing the frequency of
monitoring goal progress (d� �= 1.98, 95% CI [1.71, 2.24]) and promoted goal attainment (d� �= 0.40,
95% CI [0.32, 0.48]). Furthermore, changes in the frequency of progress monitoring mediated the effect
of the interventions on goal attainment. Moderation tests revealed that progress monitoring had larger
effects on goal attainment when the outcomes were reported or made public, and when the information
was physically recorded. Taken together, the findings suggest that monitoring goal progress is an
effective self-regulation strategy, and that interventions that increase the frequency of progress monitoring
are likely to promote behavior change.
Objective:
Previous research has shown that the degree to which individuals base their intentions on particular underlying cognitions (i.e., motives) significantly moderates the intention-behavior relationship. Studies have individually examined the moderating effect of intentions based on overall attitude, affective attitudes, injunctive norms, and moral norms. The present research used a within-persons approach to simultaneously test the moderating effects of intentions based on instrumental attitude, affective attitude, anticipated affective reactions, injunctive norms, descriptive norms, and moral norms on the intention-behavior relationship and the impact of controlling for intention stability, self-efficacy, and past behavior.
Method:
Adults (N = 366) completed questionnaires assessing instrumental attitude, affective attitude, anticipated affective reactions, injunctive norms, descriptive norms, moral norms, self-efficacy and past behavior at baseline; intentions at baseline and 1-month follow-up; and behavior at 2-month follow-up for 20 health behaviors. The main outcome measures were the self-reported performance of 20 health behaviors.
Results:
When tested simultaneously using multilevel modeling the only significant moderator of the intention-behavior relationship was the extent to which intentions were based on anticipated affective reactions (intentions more strongly based on anticipated affective reactions were significantly stronger predictors of behavior). This effect remained when we also controlled for intention stability (which also moderated the intention-behavior relationship), self-efficacy, and past behavior.
Conclusions:
Intentions based on anticipated affective reactions may be particularly important predictors of health behaviors. Studies manipulating such intentions to test their effects on behavior change are required. (PsycINFO Database Record
Several studies have investigated the neural basis of effortful emotion regulation (ER) but the neural basis of automatic ER has been less comprehensively explored. The present study investigated the neural basis of automatic ER supported by ‘implementation intentions’. 40 healthy participants underwent fMRI while viewing emotion-eliciting images and used either a previously-taught effortful ER strategy, in the form of a goal intention (e.g., try to take a detached perspective), or a more automatic ER strategy, in the form of an implementation
intention (e.g., “If I see something disgusting, then I will think these are just pixels on the screen!”), to regulate their emotional response. Whereas goal intention ER strategies were associated with activation of brain areas previously reported to be involved in effortful ER (including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), ER strategies based on an implementation intention strategy were associated with activation of right inferior frontal gyrus and ventro-parietal cortex, which may reflect the attentional control processes automatically captured by the cue for action contained within the implementation intention. Goal intentions were also associated with less effective modulation of left amygdala, supporting the increased efficacy of ER under implementation intention instructions, which showed coupling of orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala. The findings support previous behavioural studies in suggesting that forming an implementation intention enables people to enact goal-directed responses with less effort and more efficiency.
Research dealing with various aspects of* the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985,
1987) is reviewed, and some unresolved issues are discussed. In broad terms, the theory is
found to be well supported by empirical evidence. Intentions to perform behaviors of different
kinds can be predicted with high accuracy from attitudes toward the behavior, subjective
norms, and perceived behavioral control; and these intentions, together with perceptions of
behavioral control, account for considerable variance in actual behavior. Attitudes, subjective
norms, and perceived behavioral control are shown to be related to appropriate sets of salient
behavioral, normative, and control beliefs about the behavior, but the exact nature of these
relations is still uncertain. Expectancy value formulations are found to be only partly
successful in dealing with these relations. Optimal rescaling of expectancy and value
measures is offered as a means of dealing with measurement limitations. Finally, inclusion of
past behavior in the prediction equation is shown to provide a means of testing the theory*s
sufficiency, another issue that remains unresolved. The limited available evidence concerning
this question shows that the theory is predicting behavior quite well in comparison to the
ceiling imposed by behavioral reliability.
Whereas hedonic consumption is often labeled as impulsive, findings from self-licensing research suggest that people sometimes rely on reasons to justify hedonic consumption. Although the concept of self-licensing assumes the involvement of reasoning processes, this has not been demonstrated explicitly. Two studies investigated whether people indeed rely on reasons to allow themselves a guilty pleasure. Participants were exposed to a food temptation after which passive and active reasoning was assessed by asking participants to indicate the justifications that applied to them for indulging in that temptation (Study 1) or having them construe reasons to consume the hedonic product (Study 2). Regression analyses indicated that higher levels of temptation predicted the number of reasons employed and construed to justify consumption. By providing evidence for the involvement of reasoning processes, these findings support the assumption of self-licensing theory that temptations not only exert their influence by making us more impulsive, but can also facilitate gratification by triggering deliberative reasoning processes.
Mindful attention, a central component of mindfulness meditation, can be conceived as becoming aware
of one’s thoughts and experiences and being able to observe them as transient mental events. Here, we
present a series of studies demonstrating the effects of applying this metacognitive perspective to one’s
spontaneous reward responses when encountering attractive stimuli. Taking a grounded cognition
perspective, we argue that reward simulations in response to attractive stimuli contribute to appetitive
behavior and that motivational states and traits enhance these simulations. Directing mindful attention at
these thoughts and seeing them as mere mental events should break this link, such that motivational states
and traits no longer affect reward simulations and appetitive behavior. To test this account, we trained
participants to observe their thoughts in reaction to appetitive stimuli as mental events, using a brief
procedure designed for nonmeditators. Across 3 experiments, we found that adopting the mindful
attention perspective reduced the effects of motivational states and traits on appetitive behavior in 2
domains, in both the laboratory and the field. Specifically, after applying mindful attention, participants’
sexual motivation no longer made opposite-sex others seem more attractive and thus desirable as
partners. Similarly, participants’ levels of hunger no longer boosted the attractiveness of unhealthy foods,
resulting in healthier eating choices. We discuss these results in the context of mechanisms and
applications of mindful attention and explore how mindfulness and mindful attention can be conceptualized
in psychological research more generally.
Despite evidence that monitoring domestic electricity usage can reduce consumption, there is currently little information on what factors motivate people to monitor their consumption. The present research used an augmented version of the theory of planned behavior as a framework for understanding householders’ intentions. Participants (N = 346) completed a questionnaire measuring their beliefs about electricity use and monitoring consumption, their environmental behavior, and concern about climate change. Regression revealed that the primary predictors of intentions to monitor consumption were perceived behavioral control, attitudes toward monitoring, past behavior, descriptive, and subjective norms. In addition, we developed a modified home electricity monitor that legged when participants looked at their consumption. A subset of participants (n = 38) were given a monitor for three months. Participants looked at the monitor relatively frequently during the first week but usage rapidly declined. There was, however, some evidence that participants found the monitor beneficial.
Objective:
Motivation is not sufficient to actually use condoms, as self-regulatory processes are needed to translate motivation into action. Buying condoms and carrying them constitute preparatory behaviors that may serve as proximal predictors of action. Whether or not such preparatory behaviors operate as mediators between intention and action within a broader behavior change framework has been examined.
Method:
A sample of 150 heterosexual men between ages 18 and 25 years responded at three points in time to a computer-based survey that assessed behavior as well as social-cognitive antecedents. A structural equation model was specified that included preparatory behaviors and self-efficacy as mediators at Time 2.
Results:
Preparatory behaviors were the most proximal predictors of condom use, and they were, themselves, predicted by self-efficacy and intention. The latter was partly determined by positive emotional outcome expectancies.
Conclusion:
To bridge the intention-behavior gap, preparatory behaviors play a mediating role, and they represent a side of planning that constitutes the most proximal predictor of condom use.
Hedonic overconsumption is often considered to be caused by impulsive factors. The current paper investigates whether self-licensing, relying on reasons to justify subsequent gratification, can also be included as a significant contributor to hedonic consumption. Two studies were conducted to investigate whether self-licensing can account for an increase in hedonic consumption while ruling out impulsive factors such as resource depletion, negative affect, and visceral state as alternative explanations. A pilot study indicated that perceiving oneself as having invested greater effort and thus having a self-licensing cue did not lead to a decline in self-control capacity compared with not having a self-licensing cue. The main study employed the same procedure and established that having a licensing cue did lead to increased snack intake while controlling for impulsive factors. Together, these studies support the notion that self-licensing is a separate mechanism leading to hedonic gratification independent of impulsive factors. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Weakness of the will may lead to ineffective goal striving in the sense that people lacking willpower fail to get started, to stay on track, to select instrumental means, and to act efficiently. However, using a simple self-regulation strategy (i.e., forming implementation intentions or making if–then plans) can get around this problem by drastically improving goal striving on the spot. After an overview of research investigating how implementation intentions work, I will discuss how people can use implementation intentions to overcome potential hindrances to successful goal attainment. Extensive empirical research shows that implementation intentions help people to meet their goals no matter whether these hindrances originate from within (e.g., lack of cognitive capabilities) or outside the person (i.e., difficult social situations). Moreover, I will report recent research demonstrating that implementation intentions can even be used to control impulsive cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses that interfere with one’s focal goal striving. In ending, I will present various new lines of implementation intention research, and raise a host of open questions that still deserve further empirical and theoretical analysis.
Self-regulation failure is often explained as being overwhelmed by impulse. The present article proposes a novel pathway, presenting a theoretical framework and empirical review of a justification-based account of self-regulation failure. With justification we refer to making excuses for one's discrepant behavior, so that when experiencing a self-regulation dilemma between immediate impulses and long-term intentions, people resolve the conflict by developing and employing justifications that allow violations of the goal they endorse. Accordingly, rather than inhibiting motivations from the impulsive system, the reflective system can also facilitate them, leading to self-regulation failure. We bring together empirical evidence from various domains demonstrating that justifications can instigate self-regulation failure and rule out alternative accounts. Having established that justification processes contribute to self-regulation failure, we then propose several mechanisms that may fuel the effect. Finally, routes for future research and the conceptual and practical implications of these novel insights for self-regulation are discussed.
Can cognitive abilities such as reasoning be improved through working memory training? This question is still highly controversial, with prior studies providing contradictory findings. The lack of theory-driven, systematic approaches and (occasionally serious) methodological shortcomings complicates this debate even more. This review suggests two general mechanisms mediating transfer effects that are (or are not) observed after working memory training: enhanced working memory capacity, enabling people to hold more items in working memory than before training, or enhanced efficiency using the working memory capacity available (e.g., using chunking strategies to remember more items correctly). We then highlight multiple factors that could influence these mechanisms of transfer and thus the success of training interventions. These factors include (1) the nature of the training regime (i.e., intensity, duration, and adaptivity of the training tasks) and, with it, the magnitude of improvements during training, and (2) individual differences in age, cognitive abilities, biological factors, and motivational and personality factors. Finally, we summarize the findings revealed by existing training studies for each of these factors, and thereby present a roadmap for accumulating further empirical evidence regarding the efficacy of working memory training in a systematic way.
Objective
Palatable food, such as sweets, contains properties that automatically trigger the impulse to consume it even when people have goals or intentions to refrain from consuming such food. We compared the effectiveness of two interventions in reducing the portion size of palatable food that people select for themselves. Specifically, the use of dieting implementation intentions that reduce behaviour towards palatable food via top-down implementation of a dieting goal was pitted against a stop-signal training that changes the impulse-evoking quality of palatable food from bottom-up. DesignWe compared the two interventions using a 2x2 factorial design. Methods
Participants completed a stop-signal training in which they learned to withhold a behavioural response upon presentation of tempting sweets (vs. control condition) and formed implementation intentions to diet (vs. control condition). Selected portion size was measured in a sweet-shop-like environment (Experiment 1) and through a computerized snack dispenser (Experiment 2). ResultsBoth interventions reduced the amount of sweets selected in the sweet shop environment (Experiment 1) and the snack dispenser (Experiment 2). On average, participants receiving an intervention selected 36% (Experiment 1) and 51% (Experiment 2) fewer sweets than control participants. In both studies, combining the interventions did not lead to additive effects: Employing one of the interventions appears to successfully eliminate instrumental behaviour towards tempting food, making the other intervention redundant. Conclusions
Both interventions reduce self-selected portion size, which is considered a major contributor to the current obesity epidemic.
Using meta-analytic tests based on 87 statistically independent samples, we investigated the relationships between the five-factor model (FFM) of personality traits and organizational citizenship behaviors in both the aggregate and specific forms, including individual-directed, organization-directed, and change- oriented citizenship. We found that Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Openness/Intellect have incremental validity for citizenship over and above Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, 2 well- established FFM predictors of citizenship. In addition, FFM personality traits predict citizenship over and above job satisfaction. Finally, we compared the effect sizes obtained in the current meta-analysis with the comparable effect sizes predicting task performance from previous meta-analyses. As a result, we found that Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Extraversion have similar magnitudes of rela- tionships with citizenship and task performance, whereas Openness and Agreeableness have stronger relationships with citizenship than with task performance. This lends some support to the idea that personality traits are (slightly) more important determinants of citizenship than of task performance. We conclude with proposed directions for future research on the relationships between FFM personality traits and specific forms of citizenship, based on the current findings.
The present experiment investigated cognitive and behavioral effects of planning (i.e. forming implementation intentions) on goal pursuit during the performance of mundane behaviors. Participants received the goal to collect a coupon halfway the hall from the lab to the cafeteria. Later, they were also given the task to go from the lab to the cafeteria. Thus participants had to attain a new goal by interrupting a mundane behavior. Some participants enriched their goal with implementation intentions, others did not. Results showed that participants who formed implementation intentions were more effective in goal pursuit than the control group. Importantly, the data suggest that the effects of planning on goal completion are mediated by a heightened mental accessibility of environmental cues related to the goal completion task. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Past behavior guides future responses through 2 processes. Well-practiced behaviors in constant contexts recur because the processing that initiates and controls their performance becomes automatic. Frequency of past behavior then reflects habit strength and has a direct effect on future performance. Alternately, when behaviors are not well learned or when they are performed in unstable or difficult contexts, conscious decision making is likely to be necessary to initiate and carry out the behavior. Under these conditions, past behavior (along with attitudes and subjective norms) may contribute to intentions, and behavior is guided by intentions. These relations between past behavior and future behavior are substantiated in a meta-analytic synthesis of prior research on behavior prediction and in a primary research investigation.
Psychological approaches often conceptualize "free will" as self-determined decision-making. However, the functional mechanisms potentially underlying volitional freedom or its limitations have barely been elaborated. Starting from a functional definition of volition, we illustrate how personality systems interactions (PSI) theory may contribute to explaining underlying mechanisms of volitional freedom. Specifically, based on neurobiological evidence, this theory postulates that degrees of volitional freedom increase with an increasing involvement of more complex levels of psychological functioning (e.g., from habits and affective impulses toward motives, specific goals, intentions, and more global, personal goals). We will demonstrate how, at a psychological level, demand-related stress limits the pursuit of specific goals, whereas threat-related stress limits self-congruent choice of specific goals. Empirical evidence will be reported that relate to these two possible ways of losing volitional ("top-down") control. In addition, we report on neurobiological findings supporting the present view of volitional freedom and its limitations.
Can children improve shielding an ongoing task from distractions by if-then planning (i.e., by forming implementation intentions)? In an experimental study, the situational and personal limits of action control by distraction-inhibiting implementation intentions (“If a distraction comes up, then I will ignore it!”) were tested by comparing them to simple goal intentions (“I will ignore distractions!”). Goal intentions were sufficient to successfully ignore distractions of low attractiveness. In the presence of moderately and highly attractive distractions, as well as a distraction presented out of the children’s sight, however, only implementation intentions improved children’s task shielding, as indicated by faster response times in an ongoing categorization task and shorter periods of looking at highly attractive distractions presented out of their field of vision. These findings held true regardless of the children’s temperament and language competency. Implications for research on planning and developmental research on self-control are discussed.
Two experiments based upon Gollwitzer's (1993) concept of implementation intentions are described. In both experiments, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and intentions from Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behaviour were used to measure participants' motivation prior to an intervention in which participants made implementation intentions specifying where and when they would take a vitamin C pill each day. Behaviours were assessed by self-report and pill count at both 10 days and 3 weeks in Experiment 1, and at 2 weeks and 5 weeks in Experiment 2. Results supported the view that participants who formed implementation intentions were less likely to miss taking a pill every day compared to controls. Evidence suggested that implementation intentions were effective because they allowed participants to pass control of behaviour to the environmental cues contained in the implementation intention. Implications of the study and some suggestions for future research are outlined. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Experience has a paradoxical effect on intention-behavior consistency. In some studies greater experience is associated with weaker intention-behavior relations (due to habit formation), whereas in other studies experience strengthens the relationship between intention and behavior (by stabilizing intentions). The present research tests the idea that both of these findings are possible—because experience produces a quadratic relationship between intentions and behavior. Findings from a longitudinal study of blood donors (N = 2,389) indicated that the intention-behavior relation exhibited the predicted inverted U-shaped curve as a function of lifetime donation experience. Greater experience of donation enhanced the predictive validity of intention up to a point; thereafter, increasing experience was associated with weaker prediction of donation behavior by intention. These findings are consistent with the idea that experience both strengthens and weakens the intention-behavior relation and help to resolve a long-standing paradox in research on behavioral prediction.
Although observers of human behavior have long been aware that people regularly struggle with internal conflict when deciding whether to behave responsibly or indulge in impulsivity, psychologists and economists did not begin to empirically investigate this type of want/should conflict until recently. In this article, we review and synthesize the latest research on want/should conflict, focusing our attention on the findings from an empirical literature on the topic that has blossomed over the last 15 years. We then turn to a discussion of how individuals and policy makers can use what has been learned about want/should conflict to help decision makers select far-sighted options. © 2008, Association for Psychological Science. All rights reserved.
How can progress in research on health behavior change be accelerated? Experimental medicine (EM) offers an approach that can help investigators specify the research questions that need to be addressed and the evidence needed to test those questions. Whereas current research draws predominantly on multiple overlapping theories resting largely on correlational evidence, the EM approach emphasizes experimental tests of targets or mechanisms of change and programmatic research on which targets change health behaviors and which techniques change those targets. There is evidence that engaging particular targets promotes behavior change; however, systematic studies are needed to identify and validate targets and to discover when and how targets are best engaged. The EM approach promises progress in answering the key question that will enable the science of health behavior change to improve public health: What strategies are effective in promoting behavior change, for whom, and under what circumstances? Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology Volume 68 is January 03, 2017. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
The resource model of self-control casts self-control as a capacity that relies on some limited resource that exhausts with use. The model captured our imagination and brought much-needed attention on an important yet neglected psychological construct. Despite its success, basic issues with the model remain. Here, we ask six questions: (i) Does self-control really wane over time? (ii) Is ego depletion a form of mental fatigue? (iii) What is the resource that is depleted by ego depletion? (iv) How can changes in motivation, perception, and expectations replenish an exhausted resource? (v) Has the revised resource model unwittingly become a model about motivation? (vi) Do self-control exercises increase selfcontrol? By providing some answers to these questions – including conducting a meta-analysis of the self-control training literature – we highlight how the resource model needs to be revised if not supplanted altogether.
Can self-control be improved through practice? Several studies have found that repeated practice of tasks involving self-control improves performance on other tasks relevant to self-control. However, in many of these studies, improvements after training could be attributable to methodological factors (e.g., passive control conditions). Moreover, the extent to which the effects of training transfer to real-life settings is not yet clear. In the present research, participants (N 174) completed a 6-week training program of either cognitive or behavioral self-control tasks. We then tested the effects of practice on a range of measures of self-control, including lab-based and real-world tasks. Training was compared with both active and no-contact control conditions. Despite high levels of adherence to the training tasks, there was no effect of training on any measure of self-control. Trained participants did not, for example, show reduced ego depletion effects, become better at overcoming their habits, or report exerting more self-control in everyday life. Moderation analyses found no evidence that training was effective only among particular groups of participants. Bayesian analyses suggested that the data was more consistent with a null effect of training on self-control than with previous estimates of the effect of practice. The implication is that training self-control through repeated practice does not result in generalized improvements in self-control.
The present experiment investigated cognitive and behavioral effects of planning (i.e. forming implementation intentions) on goal pursuit during the performance of mundane behaviors. Participants received the goal to collect a coupon halfway the hall from the lab to the cafeteria. Later, they were also given the task to go from the lab to the cafeteria. Thus participants had to attain a new goal by interrupting a mundane behavior. Some participants enriched their goal with implementation intentions, others did not. Results showed that participants who formed implementation intentions were more effective in goal pursuit than the control group. Importantly, the data suggest that the effects of planning on goal completion are mediated by a heightened mental accessibility of environmental cues related to the goal completion task. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cybernetic models suggest that to achieve one's long-term goals, one must create specific plans, enact these plan, monitor progress toward the goal, and resist temptations. Although many studies have examined these proposals in laboratory settings, few studies have examined such processes in daily life. This was the explicit purpose of the current investigation. Participants identified 4 long-term goals during an orientation session. They then completed a diary protocol in which they reported on these self-regulatory processes. The results were largely consistent with predictions. Of the 20 hypotheses examined, 17 were significant in the expected direction. For example, testing led to the initiation of long-term goal operations, which in turn led to goal progress. Likewise, temptations led to self-control operations, which in turn led to the successful resistance of temptations. The investigation thus suggests that cybernetic principles have broad relevance to understanding goal pursuit in daily life. (PsycINFO Database Record