attitude to behavior process model

Meaning: The model, usually credited to Russell Fazio, describes a mostly automatic route from attitude to behavior. First, the attitude is activated from memory when the person meets the object or a cue for it. Second, the activated attitude biases selective perception of the object and the setting. Third, this perception combines with social norms and other situational cues to form the person's definition of the event. Behavior follows from that definition. The more accessible and strong the attitude, the more likely it is to be activated and to guide action.

On the MCAT: Expect a passage where a person's behavior is predicted from an attitude. You may need to say whether the attitude is accessible, or whether norms or situational pressure override it. Questions often contrast this with the theory of planned behavior. In that theory, attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control shape intention, and intention leads to behavior. That is the deliberate route.

Common confusion: Students treat the two models as rivals or assume attitudes always predict behavior. They are two accounts, one mostly automatic and one deliberate, and both allow norms and the situation to weaken the link between attitude and behavior. The link is also not one-way: behavior can change attitudes, as in cognitive dissonance.