title: The rocky road from attitudes to behaviors: Charting the goal systemic course of actions.
abstract: The issue of attitude-behavior relations is revisited in light of recent work on motivation and the psychology of goals. It is suggested that for object-attitudes to drive a specific behavior, a chain of contingencies must be realized: Liking must be transmuted into wanting, wanting must evolve into a goal, the goal must be momentarily dominant, and the specific behavior must be chosen as means of goal pursuit. Our model thus specifies a set of mediating processes that transpire between attitudes and behavior. Prior theories of attitude-behavior relations are examined from the present perspective, and its conceptual and empirical implications are noted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland.
authors.forename: Arie W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Kruglanski
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jasko
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chernikova
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland.
authors.forename: Maxim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Milyavsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland.
authors.forename: Maxim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Babush
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Universita` di Roma "La Sapienza"
authors.forename: Conrad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baldner
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Universita` di Roma "La Sapienza"
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pierro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001519:Behavior; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological