Message—Attitude—Behavior Relationship

Theory, Methodology, and Application

1st Edition - November 28, 1980
Editors: Donald P. Cushman, Robert D. McPhee
Language: English
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 2 - 6 4 6 1 - 5

Message-Attitude-Behavior Relationship explores the relationship between messages, attitudes, and behaviors. Emphasis is on alternative conceptualizations of various message… Read more

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Message-Attitude-Behavior Relationship explores the relationship between messages, attitudes, and behaviors. Emphasis is on alternative conceptualizations of various message strategies, cognitive and information processing models, and their relevance to the study of behavior. Innovative mathematical models are discussed to highlight stochastic and deterministic mathematical operators case in coextensive, sequential, and multidimensional arrays of systems state. Message strategies are cast in terms of social, psychological, and information processing constructs. Comprised of 11 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the research tradition dealing with messages, attitudes, and behaviors. The following chapters provide in-depth justification, supported by data analysis, for the use of various theoretical and methodological approaches to the message-attitude-behavior relationship. An atomized, stochastic model of the behavioral effects of message campaigns is then described, along with the foundations of cognitive theory and a constructivist analysis of the relationship between attitudes and behavior. An information-processing explanation of attitude-behavior inconsistency is also outlined. The link between mental states and social action is analyzed with respect to Ludwig Wittgenstein's 1953 book Philosophical Investigations. This monograph should be a valuable resource for both social and behavioral scientists engaged in behavioral research.

List of Contributors

Preface

1 Attitudes, Behaviors, and Messages: An Introductory Overview

Review of Theoretical and Empirical Progress and of Issues in the Attitude Behavior Literature

Theory Types and Present Developments in Message-Attitude-Behavior Theory

Theory and Quantitative Relationships: Methods

Messages, Attitudes, and Behaviors: Implications

References

2 An Atomized, Stochastic Model of the Behavioral Effects of Message Campaigns

Why Choose an Axiomatic Theory?

Why a Stochastic Process Theory?

An Axiomatized Stochastic Theory?

Summary, Conclusions, Caveats, and Extensions

References

3 Foundations of Cognitive Theory: A Multidimensional Model of the Message-Attitude-Behavior Relationship

Behavior, Attitude, and Entelechy

Categories and Continua

Simple Messages

Compound Messages

A Current Assessment

References

4 The Relationship of Attitudes and Behavior: A Constructivist Analysis

The Nature of the Problem

The Constructivist Analysis

Comparison with Fishbein and Ajzen's Analysis

Concluding Remarks

References

5 An Information-Processing Explanation of Attitude-Behavior Inconsistency

The Information-Processing Perspective

Storage Principles: The Determination of Attitudinal Responses from Informational Beliefs

Semantic and Episodic Organization in LTM

Attitudinal Reports and Behavioral Actions as Information Retrieval Processes from LTM

Implications of the Information-Processing Explanation

References

6 Attitude-Verbal Report-Behavior Relationships as Causal Processes: Formalization, Test, and Communication Implications

Overview

Issues

Definitions

Plan

Causal Process Theories

A Causal Process Theory of Attitude-Verbal Report-Behavior Relationships

Communication Implications

Conclusion

References

7 Behavior and Hierarchies of Attitudes: A Deterministic Model

Usefulness of Deterministic Modeling

A Hierarchical Model of Attitude Organization and Change

Behaviors and Attitudes in Hierarchical Systems

Implications of the Hierarchical Model for Message Design

Conclusion

References

8 The Message-Attitude-Behavior Relationship from the Point of View of the Actor

The Attitude Concept

Attitude, Behavior, and Intuition

The Problem of Attitude-Behavior Matching

The Point of View of the Actor

Limitations of the Actor's Point of View

References

9 Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations and the Relationship between Mental States and Social Action

Meanings and Messages

Intentions and Behaviors

Attitudes and Social Action

References

10 A Structural-Functional Model of the Message-Attitude-Behavior Relationship

11 Afterword

Author Index

Subject Index