Blog 5

According to Ajzen and Fishbein (1977) our behavior correlates with our held attitudes only when the attitude is very specific toward that behavior. Otherwise, our attitudes toward something are usually not a very good predictor of how will we behave in a given situation. For example, although I am a strong environmentalist and have participated in many many highway cleanups and other types of beach cleanups, I am the only person among all of my friends who has a littering ticket. In fact, I think it would be fair to say that I am the only person I know of who has ever gotten a ticket for littering. While the people in my various volunteer groups would be shocked to know this, and admittedly I am still shocked by it, the situation in which my ticket occurred did not reflect my attitudes toward the environment.

In fact, I think it would be fair to say that most people in my situation would have behaved the same way regardless of their attitudes. I had a car packed full of things because I was going on a camping trip with some friends. Of course, 35 South was stacked and packed with cars as well, and traffic was stop and go for miles. During one run of the highway we began to pick up speed, then all had to slam on our brakes. Unfortunately, when that occurred some cans from the 12 pack of cokes in the back slid out of their packages, hit the side of the dog kennel and exploded all over me and the car. As they were exploding, I threw the cans into the median of the highway, only to find out that a motorcycle cop was just 3 cars behind me.

If my attitude was that littering is immoral no matter the circumstances, and that the earth comes before anything, I probably would have behaved in accord with that attitude and kept the cans exploding all over the place. But, since my attitude is that you should try to throw away your trash in the trashcan and not be lazy and throw it out the window, in this particular situation my behavior did not necessarily line up with my attitudes.

Reference:

Azjen, I. & Fishbein, M. (1977). Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research. Psychological Bulletin, 84, 888-918.