Determinants of everyday time allocation

Two experiments examined the role of intentions in people's allocation of time to everyday activities (e.g., talcing a shower, running for exercise). In Experiment 1 32 subjects rated their intentions of, preferences for, and perceived control over performance of 10 activities at different frequencies during the following month. In Experiment 2 another 36 subjects performed the same ratings for the following week, then returned after that week to report how frequently they had been engaged in the activities. The results of both experiments showed that either the ratings of preference, of perceived control, or both combined linearly, predicted the intentions. However, intentions did not predict performance particularly well. This probably reflected (1) that some activities are performed routinely without intentions being formed; (2) that intentions to perform some other, more impulsively timed activities are formed late when appropriate actual situations are encountered; and (3) that for still other activities intentions are formed but not maintained.