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Erschienen in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine 2/2015

01.04.2015 | Original Article

Expectations Are More Predictive of Behavior than Behavioral Intentions: Evidence from Two Prospective Studies

verfasst von: Christopher J. Armitage, PhD, Paul Norman, PhD, Soud Alganem, PhD, Mark Conner, PhD

Erschienen in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine | Ausgabe 2/2015

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Abstract

Background

Understanding the gap between people’s behavioral intentions and their subsequent behavior is a key problem for behavioral scientists, but little attention has been paid to how behavioral intentions are operationalized.

Purpose

Test the distinction between asking people what they intend to do, as opposed to what they expect they will do.

Methods

Two studies were conducted in the domains of alcohol consumption (N = 152) and weight loss (N = 141). Participants completed questionnaires assessing their behavioral intentions, expectations, and self-efficacy at baseline; alcohol consumption/weight were assessed at both baseline and follow-up.

Results

In study 1, expectations were more predictive of alcohol consumption than behavioral intentions, controlling for baseline alcohol consumption and self-efficacy. In study 2, changes in expectations were more predictive of weight loss than changes in behavioral intentions, controlling for baseline weight and self-efficacy.

Conclusion

The findings support a potentially important distinction between behavioral intentions and expectations.
Fußnoten
1
Note that some researchers also make a distinction between “self-efficacy” and “perceived control over behavior” [6, 7]. For example, using factor analysis and a panel of experts, Tavousi et al. [8] were able to distinguish internal influences on perceived control (e.g. confidence in one’s own ability or “self-efficacy”) and external influences on perceived control (e.g. environmental barriers) in relation to substance use among young adolescents, see also [6, 7, 9]. However, we were unable to support such a distinction in study 1, and so we focused on self-efficacy, given that self-efficacy is consistently more predictive of behavior than perceived control over behavior [6, 7].
 
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Metadaten
Titel
Expectations Are More Predictive of Behavior than Behavioral Intentions: Evidence from Two Prospective Studies
verfasst von
Christopher J. Armitage, PhD
Paul Norman, PhD
Soud Alganem, PhD
Mark Conner, PhD
Publikationsdatum
01.04.2015
Verlag
Springer US
Erschienen in
Annals of Behavioral Medicine / Ausgabe 2/2015
Print ISSN: 0883-6612
Elektronische ISSN: 1532-4796
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9653-4

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