Maintenance and decay of past behavior influences: anchoring attitudes on beliefs following inconsistent actions.
Three studies investigated the influence of past behavior on the stability of the attitudes it elicits. In Experiment 1, the effect of a bogus behavior feedback was long lasting when people engaged in biased scanning, presumably because this process elicits behavior-consistent beliefs. In contrast, the effect of the feedback decayed when participants were forced to consider whether the behavior might have undesirable outcomes. A second experiment using a different behavioral paradigm and a field study further supported the interpretation that individuals resolve conflict between a past behavior and subsequent beliefs about it by aligning attitudes with beliefs instead of behavior.
Albarracín
Dolores
D
Department of Psychology, University of Florida, FL 32611, USA. dalbarra@ufl.edu
McNatt
Penny S
PS
D001290:Attitude; D001519:Behavior; D017280:Condoms; D030141:Feedback, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors