multiple processes by which attitudes guide behavior

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confidence with which the attitude is held (Sample & V.'arland, 1973; Fazio & ... Provided specification of one conceivable process by which attitudes guide ...
MULTIPLE PROCESSES BY WHICH ATTITUDES GUIDE BEHAVIOR: THE MODE MODEL AS AN INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORK

Russell H. Fazio

I. Introduction Although the concept of attitude has been a central one in the field of social psychology for decades (Allport, 1935), it is not until relatively recently in this long history that much systematic work has been conducted on the correspondence between expressed attitudes and subsequent behavior. Researchers appear to have been more concerned with issues regarding attitude formation and change and, for the most part, appear to have presumed that attitudes guide later behavior. However, beginning in the late 1960s and running to the present time, a considerable amount of empirical work has addressed the issue of attitudebehavior consistency (see the Annual Review chapters by Chaiken & Stangor, 1987; Cialdini, Petty, & Cacioppo, 1981; Cooper & Croyle, 1984; Eagly & Himmelfarb, 1978). Despite this increased attention over the last two decades, there exists a very fundamental question regarding the attitude-behavior relation that has not been subjected to much theoretical or empirical inquiry. The qucstion concerns an issue of process: How do attitudes guide behavior? By what conceivably multiple processes do individuals' attitudes have impact on their behavior'? The present article describes two very different basic processes that link attitudes and behavior, along with variants that amount to a mixture of the essentials of each process. Conditions that promote one process or the other also are discussed.

11. Current State of the Literature

Before presenting the two contrasting models of the attitude-to-behavior process, it is useful to consider the state of the present literature on attitude75

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