Knowledge and the Prediction of Behavior: The Role of Information Accuracy in the Theory of Planned Behavior

The usefulness of a combined protection motivation and self-efficacy theory as a model of health enhancement was investigated via a persuasive communications paradigm. Self-efficacy expectancy, outcome expectancy (i.e., perceived response efficacy) and outcome value (i.e., perceived social value) of a health-enhancing behavior were manipulated. As predicted, both self-efficacy expectancy and response efficacy had significant main effects on subjects' intentions to perform the health-enhancing behavior. Outcome value had no significant effect on behavioral intentions. Correlational data indicated that response efficacy was the best single predictor of intentions and that self-efficacy expectancy was also a significant predictor of intentions. Outcome value added no predictability. These results support the utility of the combined protection motivation and self-efficacy theory as a model of health enhancement.     

The role of risk perception and efficacy cognitions in the prediction of HIV-related preventive behavior and condom use

Abstract

Based on empirical findings on the central model variables of the Protection Motivation Theory, the influence of perceived susceptibility, perceived severity of the threat of AIDS, communicative and sexual self-efficacy, and outcome expectancy on various aspects of HIV-preventive behavior was examined. The study was based on a sample of 468 heterosexual adults between the ages of 20 and 45 years. The data were obtained by means of questionnaires filled out at various vacation sites that draw mass tourism or in the subjects' home town. The most significant predictor of behavior was found to be self-efficacy expectancy as regards assertiveness and use of HIV-related preventive measures. A high communicative self-efficacy expectancy, on the other hand, is associated with a higher level of risk behavior among certain subgroups and under certain behavioral aspects. This confirms the necessity of acknowledging the different forms of self-efficacy expectancy in sexual interactions. Perceived personal threat is also associated with risk behavior with respect to certain behavioral operationalizations. From this it can be concluded that one's own behavior is used as the basis for appraising one's susceptibility. The results also show that distinctions must be made when analyzing HIV-related risk behavior. In particular, a difference must be made between absolute behavior (degree of the risk behavior) and relative behavior (change - especially reduction - in risk behavior due to the danger of AIDS).     

Effects of Potential Partners' Costume and Physical Attractiveness on Sexuality and Partner Selection

Male and female college students in the United States (N = 224) viewed models who had been prerated for physical attractiveness and who were dressed in costumes representing one of three levels of socioeconomic status (SES). Subjects reported their willingness to engage with these stimulus persons in six relationships involving various levels of marital potential and sexual involvement. Models' costume status had greater effects on female subjects' willingness than on male subjects' willingness to enter all six relationships. This difference was larger when the physical attractiveness of models was low than when it was high. Costume status also affected female subjects' ratings of male models' attractiveness but did not affect male subjects' ratings of female models' attractiveness. Results supported eight hypotheses derived from evolutionary theory: In choosing partners, men and women weighed potential partners' SES and physical attractiveness differently, and these factors may have different behavioral implications depending on the degree to which sexual relations, or marital potential, or both, are involved.     

Does Occupational Stereotyping Still Exist?

We surveyed 113 college students regarding their views of certain occupational stereotypes. Our results indicated that in this population gender was related to the subjects' views of occupations as either male, female, or neutral, and that the father's primary occupation significantly affected the subjects' views of only one occupation—clinical sociologist. The mother's occupation seemed to have no effect.     

Extra-legal factors and product liability: The influence of mock jurors' demographic characteristics and intuitions about the cause of an injury

Two experiments were performed to investigate the role of extra-legal factors in a simulated product liability trial. In cases where the factual evidence was identical, subjects' liability judgments varied as a function of the case-specific factor of the alleged source of the plaintiffs injury. In deciding cases differently depending on the alleged cause, subjects relied on intuitions about what injury sources are more or less likely to cause a certain kind of injury. Juror-specific factors also influenced subjects' verdicts. There was no difference between students and non-students, but race and SEC—factors that are often correlated with student status—did affect subjects' verdicts. Low-SES and minority subjects were more likely to find the defendant liable than high-SES and white subjects. The results are considered in terms of general decision-making processes, and the implications for jury selection and mock jury research are discussed.     

社会自我效能感与工作倦怠的关系：社会交换视角下有调节的中介模型

本研究基于工作要求-资源模型和领导-成员交换理论,采用两时点追踪问卷调查方法收集了313份数据,探讨了员工的社会自我效能感与工作倦怠之间的关系及其内在机制。分析结果表明：社会自我效能感对工作倦怠有显著的负向预测作用;领导-成员交换关系在社会自我效能感和工作倦怠之间有着显著的中介作用;领导-成员交换社会比较调节了社会自我效能感通过领导-成员交换关系预测工作倦怠的间接效应。     

INCREASING VERBAL INTERACTION AMONG ELDERLY SOCIALLY ISOLATED MENTALLY RETARDED ADULTS: A GROUP LANGUAGE TRAINING PROCEDURE

The present study examined the effectiveness of a group language training procedure for directly increasing and generalizing the rate of verbal interaction among four elderly, socially isolated, moderately mentally retarded men. A withdrawal of treatment design was used to examine the effect of the procedure that used verbal prompts, behavioral rehearsal, and contingent social praise. Changes in behavior were examined in two generalization settings, one similiar to the training environment (Generalization I) and the other arranged as part of the subjects' daily routine (Generalization II). Baseline data indicated no verbal interaction among the subjects. During treatment the training procedure increased the rate of subjects' verbal interactions not only in the training situation, but also in the two generalization settings. An analysis of the data obtained during the Generalization II situation indicated that subjects' verbal interaction increased not only among themselves, but with nonsubject peers present in this setting. Follow-up data showed that increases in rates of verbal interaction were maintained four months after the cessation of training. The implications of the results for program generalization and work with the language deficient individual is discussed.     

Accommodating Surprise in Taxonomic Tasks: The Role of Expertise

This paper reports a psychological study of human categorization that looked at the procedures used by expert scientists when dealing with puzzling items. Five professional botanists were asked to specify a category from a set of positive and negative instances. The target category in the study was defined by a feature that was unusual, hence situations of uncertainty and puzzlement were generated. Subjects were asked to think aloud while solving the tasks, and their verbal reports were analyzed. A number of problem solving strategies were identified, and subsequently integrated in a model of knowledge‐guided inductive categorization. Our model proposes that expert knowledge influences the subjects' reasoning in more complex ways than suggested by earlier investigations of scientific reasoning. As in previous studies, domain knowledge influenced our subjects' hypothesis generation and testing; but, additionally, it played a central role when subjects revised their hypotheses.     

How Mothers' Parenting Styles Affect Their Children's Sexual Efficacy and Experience

The relations among mothers' parenting styles and adolescents' sexual self-efficacy and sexual experience were examined in a sample of 253 British adolescent-mother pairs. Also explored was whether adolescents' self-efficacy would be positively or negatively related to their sexual experience. Mothers' parenting styles were expected to influence children's locus of control, based on the theory that mothers who are involved with their children and mothers who stress independence contribute to the development of an internal locus of control in their children, increasing the children's feelings of sexual self-efficacy. Structural equation modeling was used to test a longitudinal model. The results support the assumption that maternal involvement leads to higher levels of self-efficacy, whereas maternal control was associated with lower levels of self-efficacy. Sexual self-efficacy was associated with higher levels of sexual experience. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Cognitive Antecedents and Sequelae of Smoking Relapse Crises1

This study examines Marlatt's account of the cognitions surrounding relapse episodes. Interviews with 143 ex-smokers who called a relapse prevention hotline provided mixed support for this account. Most subjects, especially those who smoked, stated that they had expected smoking to result in reduced tension. Subjects who were motivated by reduction of craving were unlikely to smoke. Contrary to expectations, all subjects experienced significant drops in self-efficacy as a result of the relapse crisis, regardless of whether or not they smoked. Subjects who did not smoke worried about future crises, while those who did felt guilty about their transgression. Both groups reported feelings of failure, which were related to the absence of coping. These unexpected results, though based on a limited sample, suggest that many subjects' experience of relapses and near-relapses are not well described by current theory.     

The role of risk perception in explaining parental sunscreen use

Objective: This study assessed: (1) whether risk perceptions about skin cancer were related to parent's use of sunscreen on their children; (2) which combination of assessments susceptibility and severity best explain parental sunscreen protection behaviours and (3) whether risk perceptions influence behaviour directly through intentions or through attitudes, subjective norms and self-efficacy.

Design: Two longitudinal studies assessed sunscreen protection behaviours of parents for their toddlers (N?=?391) and young children (N?=?436).

Main outcome measure: Parent's use of sunscreen on their children.

Results: Risk perceptions correlated with future sunscreen protection behaviours of parents but were lower than those of attitude, social influence and self-efficacy. Treating susceptibility and severity as an additive function resulted in the best model fit. Risk perceptions were related with future intention and future sunscreen protection behaviour, but the effects were mediated through attitude, social influence and self-efficacy.

Conclusions: Our path analyses suggest treating susceptibility and severity as an additive function. A multiplicative model without main effects – although often used – had the poorest fit. Risk perceptions influence behaviour by influencing attitudinal and self-efficacy beliefs. Addressing risk perceptions in health communication programs is relevant when the purpose is to increase awareness and to influence attitudes and self-efficacy.     

On-line versus memory-based orientations and self-report validity

A partial replication of a study by Nisbett and Bellows (1977) to which a memorization condition was added showed that subjects did not have introspective access to the determinants of their judgments, but did so only in the impression-formation condition. In the memorization condition, the subjects' self-reports matched the observed experimental effects. An analysis of the results showed that this was probably because the subjects' judgments in the latter condition were based on causal theories. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of seriousness and contagiousness of disease on emotional reactions to ill persons

Abstract

Extends research on illness cognition by arguing that two major dimensions of illness cognition - seriousness and contagiousness of disease - are responsible for different emotional responses to ill persons, and that the activation of these dimensions is dependent on type of contact with these persons. Using a vignet methodology, nursing students (N = 333) were asked to imagine having different types of contact with patients with diseases differing in seriousness and contagiousness. When participants imagined personal contact with the patient, their anxiety responses and self-efficacy expectations were primarily determined by seriousness of disease. In contrast, when they anticipated close physical contact with the patient, subjects' anxiety reactions and self-efficacy expectations were primarily influenced by contagiousness of disease. Seriousness of disease appeared to be a major determinant of feelings of pity, poweriessness, sadness, and motivation to psychologically support the patient. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Effects of hedonic valence and physiological arousal on emotion: A comparison of two theoretical perspectives

Two theoretical perspectives concerned with how one emotional state may influence a subsequent one were examined. Zillmann's (1979) excitation transfer theory suggests that undetected residual arousal from a first state will transfer and intensify a subsequent state—regardless of the first state's hedonic valence. Baron's (1977) incompatible response model, on the other hand, suggests that the hedonic valence of an earlier state will affect the experience of a second state and that this effect will be strongest when the two states are temporally close. The results of this investigation support the incompatible response model but not the excitation transfer model. Unrecognized residual arousal from a prior state failed to affect subjects' second emotional state, although the hedonic valence of the prior state did affect the final emotional state when the second state was induced immediately after the first. All emotional states, although they may be equally arousing, do not affect subsequent emotion in an identical manner. When two emotional states are induced in quick succession, the hedonic valence of the prior state plays an important role in determining the intensity of the subsequent emotional state.     

A Comparison of Nonverbal Compensatory Behaviors Within Direct Face-to-Face and Television-Mediated Interviews1

A study was performed to compare direct face-to-face and television-mediated interviews with regard to a hypothesized compensatory relationship between intimacy level of conversation topic and individuals' looking and smiling behaviors. Thirty-two male subjects were randomly assigned to one of two communication settings and asked a series of questions that varied according to topic intimacy. Subjects' looking, smiling, talking, and listening times were scored from videotapes made of the interviews. In support of predictions derived from Argyle and Dean's (1965) affiliative-conflict theory, it was observed that a shift in topic intimacy from low to high resulted in a decrease in the percent of time subjects spent looking at the interviewer. Further, the results of the present study replicated those reported by other investigators, indicating that a shift in topic intimacy (1) primarily affects subjects' looking while talking and not looking while listening and (2) does not affect subjects' smiling behavior. With the exception that more looking while listening occurred in the television-mediated interviews than in the direct face-to-face interviews, no differences were found in subjects' behaviors between the two communication conditions. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed from the perspective of affiliative-conflict theory and its application to social interactions conducted via two-way television.     

English learners' achievement in mathematics and science: Examining the role of self-efficacy

The goals of the current study were twofold. The first goal was to describe levels of mathematics and science self-efficacy and achievement among a sample of students with varying levels of English language proficiency. The second goal was to examine the extent to which students' self-efficacy explains the relation between their English proficiency level and mathematics and science achievement. The sample consisted of 332 fifth graders (mean age = 10.46 years, SD = 0.38) and their 63 teachers in 20 schools. The student sample was linguistically diverse with parents reporting 22 different home languages. Based on district classification procedures, each student was coded into one of three English language proficiency level categories: English proficient-speaking students (English proficient), English Learner (EL) students who are reaching proficiency, yet are still being monitored (reaching proficiency), and EL students who are receiving English for Speakers of Other Languages services (ESOL; limited English proficient). Regression analyses indicated that students identified as limited English proficient consistently demonstrated lower achievement and self-efficacy across the content areas of mathematics and science as compared to their peers who were English proficient and reaching proficiency. In addition, students' self-efficacy partially explained the relation between limited English proficiency level and achievement for science, but not for mathematics. Results indicate that educators should consider variability in students' English proficiency levels as they select supports to promote both science achievement and self-efficacy. Findings also suggest promise for practices and programs that foster self-efficacy in addition to language and content skills.     

Factors affecting balance,agreement and positivity biases in POQ and POX triads

This review considers experiments which have tested triadic balance in POX and POQ structures. It is pointed out that balance is only one bias which affects subjects' responses to these structures. Of the others the most important are agreement and P/O positivity; these three biases act independently of each other and therefore should be considered as separate influences on subjects' responses. In addition, because they act independently, Newcomb's (1968) theory of interpersonal balance cannot be an adequate explanation of their operation. In an attempt to discover the different influences on balance, agreement, and positivity biases, experiments concerned with balance theory are reviewed in three sections: (1) a classification based on experimental task, (2) a classification based on characteristics of the triad, and (3) personality variables. It is concluded that there are different influences on the different biases, and that any attempt to assess their relative strength must consider the influences upon them. Finally, it is suggested that the view of biases as methods of encoding information about social structures should consider that such methods can be varied by subjects' knowledge or assumptions about that social structure.     

The effects of intergroup discrimination and social values on level of self-esteem in the minimal group paradigm

The proposition that individuals engage in intergroup discrimination to increase or maintain positive social identity and a high level of self-esteem has received some empirical support. An attempt was made to extend prior findings by evaluating whether intergroup allocation behaviour consistent with subjects' social values would lead to higher self-esteem than inconsistent allocation behaviour. More specifically, it was predicted that competitive subjects' self-esteem will be higher following discriminatory choices than fair choices and prosocial subjects' self-esteem will be higher following fair choices than discriminatory choices. It was also predicted that after subjects were constrained to make discriminatory choices, competitors' self-esteem would be higher than prosocials' self-esteem and after subjects were constrained to make fair choices, prosocials' self-esteem would be higher than competitors' self-esteem. Experiment I supported the first of these predictions when a measure of personal self-esteem was used as a dependent variable. Experiment 2 attempted to extend the generality of the findings of Experiment 1 by defining and measuring self-esteem in collective terms. The expected prior pattern of results did not occur again. Constraining subjects to make discriminatory choices increased their collective self-esteem regardless of their social values.