Cognitive Choice Processes and the Attitude-Behavior Relation

Fishbein and Ajzen’s (1975) theory of reasoned action is currently the most successful and much discussed theory in attitude-behavior research. Although the theory is well established for predicting behavior in various contexts, its central assumption of a static attitude-behavior intention relation appears questionable when recent results of cognitively oriented decision research are considered. This assumption is dynamically reformulated in order to model the cognitive processes in binary choice. The resulting criterion-dependent choice models assume a sequential evaluative processing of the alternatives’ attributes until enough evidence in favor of one alternative is accumulated. Within this general framework, specific models distinguish between internally (memory) and externally (display) available information about the alternatives. The models and a series of experimental studies, which were specifically designed to investigate various aspects of the models, are comprehensively presented. Relations to other theories and consequences for attitude-behavior research are discussed.

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