The Theory And Theory Of Planned Behavior

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Originators and Purpose
In the 1960’s and 70’s there was an assumption that attitudes towards behavior is what determined behaviors. This was not true, and there was no evidence to back it up. Martin Fishbein and Icek Azjen conducted research experiments and studies in 1975 about attitudes and behaviors that once again confirmed there was no relationship between those two variables. Fishbein and Azjen said that behavior depends on the intention to participate in a behavior and does not depend on the attitude towards the behavior. This is where the Theory or reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behaviors came from. These theories say that behavior is based on intention and provided an alternative to the previous belief that behavior is related to attitude. Intention is how likely someone is to participate in a certain behavior. Intention is affected by attitudes, subjective norms, volitional control and behavioral control. These are the four main constructs of the theories. The theories are relatively the same, with the exception of the behavioral control construct. The Theory of Planned Behavior has an extra construct to it which is called behavioral control. This theory is helpful whenever the behavior is not under volitional control.

Overview of Core Constructs
The constructs of the Theory of Reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behavior are attitudes, subjective norms, volitional control, and behavioral control. All of these constructs affect a person’s intentions. Attitudes are beliefs that someone has that place a value on an outcome of a behavior. It depends on what a person’s feelings are about the behavior. For example, if a person views eating healthy as a good thing and something they want to do, then they will hav...

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... wants their patients to start eating healthier it could help give them ideas on how to change their patient’s intentions. The health care provider could help the patient realize that the important people in their life want them to eat healthy, and this could help change their behavior. They could educate them on the effects of eating healthier and ultimately change their attitude about eating healthy. For example, the patient does not have to cut junk food out completely; they just have to eat it in moderation. This is just one situation were the theories could help in the health care field. There are many other ways these theories are useful. It is important to understand these theories in order to understand that behavior is affected by someone’s intentions. This makes it easier to understand what affects a person’s intentions and how they can be changed.

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