THEORY OF REASONED ACTION/THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR

Originators of Model:
Icek Ajzen, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts. He received
his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Illinois and has, in past years, been a
Visiting Professor at Tel-Aviv University in Israel. He is the author of numerous scholarly
articles and, with Dr. Martin Fishbein, has co-authored many scholarly papers, journals and
books on the "Theory of Reasoned Action" and "Theory of Planned Behavior." Drs. Ajzen and
Fishbein co-authored Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior, a book that has
been used in many academic settings and in the field of social psychology. Dr. Ajzen's homepage
URL is: http://www-nix.oit.umass.edu/~aizen/homepage/

Martin Fishbein, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of psychology and the Institute of
Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana, IL. He is a consultant for the
International Atomic Energy Agency, The Federal Trade Commission and Warner
Communications, Inc. He co-authored with Dr. Ajzen Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behavior:
An Introduction to Theory and Research. He has written many scholarly books, book chapters
and articles. He first started thinking about the role of attitudes influencing behaviors in the early
1960s and in the early 1970s Ajzen joined him and they collaborated and developed the Theory
of Reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behavior. Also conducts research at the CDC in the
behavioral intervention branch in the area of prevention.

Approximate year of origin: The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was developed in 1967.
During the early 1970s the theory was revised and expanded by Ajzen and Fishbein. By 1980 the
theory was used to study human behavior and develop appropriate interventions. In 1988, the
Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was added to the existing model of reasoned action to
address the inadequacies that Ajzen and Fishbein had identified through their research using the
TRA.

Circumstances that led to the model development: The development of the TBP/TPA
originated in the field of social psychology. As early as 1862 psychologists began developing
theories showing how attitude impacted behavior. Social psychologists continued to study
attitudes and behaviors between the year so f 1918 and 1925 saw many new theories emerging.
Having their emphasis on attitude and behavior, it can be postulated that this theory grew out of
the 19th century when the field of psychology began to look at the term "attitude". Those theories
suggested that "attitudes could explain human actions" (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980, p. 13). Thomas
and Znaniecki were the first psychologists to view attitude as individual mental processes that
determine a person’s actual and potential responses. This was when social scientists began to see
attitude as a predictor for behavior. Thee ideas remained relatively intact until the early 1960s
when many social scientists began to review attitudes and behavior predictors.
The following were influential in the understanding of the relationship between attitudes and
behaviors:
• In 1929 L.L. Thurston developed methods for measuring attitudes using interval scales.
Following Thurston’s scale came the famous, more specific and easier to use Likert-scale. This
scale is widely used today.

• In 1935, Gordon W. Allport theorized that the attitude-behavior relationship was not uni-
dimensional as previously thought, but multi-dimensional. Attitudes were viewed as complex
systems made up of the person’s beliefs about the object, his feelings toward the object, and his
action tendencies with respect to the object.

• In 1944, Louis Guttman developed the scalogram analysis to measure beliefs about the object.

• Doob in 1947 adopted the idea of Thurstone that attitude is not directly related to behavior but
it can tell us something about the overall pattern of behavior.

• In the 1950’s, this point of view that attitude is multi-dimensional became universal.

• Rosenberg and Hovland in 1960 theorized that a person’s attitude toward an object is filtered
by their affect, cognition and behavior.

• In 1969, Wicker conducted an extensive survey and literature review on the subject and
he determined "it is considerably more likely that attitudes will be unrelated or only
slightly related to overt behaviors than that attitudes will be closely related to actions"
(Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980, p. 25).

As a result of these developments, Fishbein and Ajzen joined forces to explore ways to predict
behaviors and outcomes. They assumed that individuals are usually quite rational and make
systematic use of information available to them. People consider the implications of their actions
before they decide to engage or not engage in a given behavior" (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980, p. 5).
After reviewing all the studies they developed a theory that could predict and understand
behavior and attitudes. Their framework, which has become known as the Theory of Reasoned
Action, looks at behavioral intentions rather than attitudes as the main predictors of behaviors.
As the Theory of Reasoned Action began to take hold in social science, Ajzen and other
researcher realized that this theory was not adequate and had several limitations (Godin & Kok,
1996). One of the greatest limitations was with people who have little or feel they have little
power over their behaviors and attitudes. Ajzen described the aspects of behavior and attitudes as
being on a continuum .. from one of little control to one of great control. To balance these
observations, Ajzen added a third element to the original theory. This element is the concept of
perceived behavioral control. The addition of this element has resulted in the newer theory
known as the Theory of Planned Behavior.
Purpose of Theory:
• To predict and understand motivational influences on behavior that is not under the
individual's volitional control.
• To identify how and where to target strategies for changing behavior.
• To explain virtually any human behavior such as why a person buys a new car, votes
against a certain candidate, is absent from work or engages in premarital sexual
intercourse.