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Achieving Higher Seat Belt Usage: The Role of Habit in Bridging the Attitude‐Behavior Gap 1
Author(s) -
Mittal Banwari
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1988.tb01189.x
Subject(s) - habit , psychology , social psychology , bridging (networking) , positive attitude , computer science , computer security
The Triandis (1977, 1980) model of habit is applied in an investigation of attitude‐behavior discrepancy for seat belt use behavior. Habit is conceptualized as automated response, and the measure employed here is shown to be discriminated from measures of intentions and behavior. A case is also made for a distinction between pro‐intentional and counter‐intentional habits. Data from a random sample of 197 adult respondents show that the two habits (a) are distinct; (b) operate differently, that is, use habit has a main effect whereas nonuse habit interacts with attitude/intentions; and (c) explain belt use behavior nonredundantly with intention and attitude (e.g., their addition to attitude raises R 2 from 38.8% to 62.9%). Theoretical implications for understanding habit processes and programmatic directions for increasing the belt usage are discussed.