Attitude toward abortion and attitude-relevant overt behavior.
Relationships between attitude and overt behaviors were examined in two studies. Attitude toward abortion was assessed by questionnaire in undergraduate classes. Two to three months later pro- and anti-abortion subjects were seen individually, for an ostensibly unrelated project, and were asked to transcribe resolutely pro- or anti-abortion scripts. Supposedly the recordings would be used in a future study designed to convince hospital personnel either to support or refuse to participate in abortion procedures. In Study I, where respondents were allowed to transcribe either script, a strong attitude/choice-behavior correlation resulted: phi = .60. In Study II, the script was assigned randomly, creating attitude-congruent and attitude-discrepant conditions. Three criteria were affected in the expected way by attitude-congruency/discrepancy: (a) recording one's name with the persuasive message (phi = .56); (b) authorizing use of an identified tape (phi = .44); and (c) self-estimates of persuasiveness (phi = .36). Two other intuitively relevant behaviors were not significantly associated with attitude-congruency/discrepancy. The observed correlations were high, compared to previous attitude-behavior research, and some possible explanations are offered.
Fischer
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Farina
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D000029:Abortion, Legal / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001519:Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012106:Research; D013334:Students