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The temporal stability and predictive validity of affect‐based and cognition‐based intentions
Author(s) -
Keer Mario,
Conner Mark,
Putte Bas,
Neijens Peter
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1111/bjso.12034
Subject(s) - affect (linguistics) , psychology , cognition , social psychology , developmental psychology , communication , neuroscience
Recent research has revealed individual differences in the extent to which people base their intentions on affect and cognition. Two studies are presented that assess whether such differences predict the strength of individuals' intention–behaviour relationships. Participants completed measures of affect, cognition, intention, and behaviour regarding a range of health behaviours. Study 1 ( N = 300) found that the strength of the intention–behaviour relationship was significantly related to the extent to which individuals based their intentions on affect, but not to the extent they based them on cognition. Study 2 ( N = 387) replicated the findings of the first study. In addition, Study 2 revealed that intention stability mediated the relationship between the degree people based their intentions on affect and the strength of the intention–behaviour relationship. Thus, individuals who base their intentions strongly on affect have more stable intentions, and are therefore more likely to enact them.