Premium
Predicting behaviour towards genetically modified food using implicit and explicit attitudes
Author(s) -
Spence Alexa,
Townsend Ellen
Publication year - 2007
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 - 10.1348/014466606x152261
Subject(s) - implicit attitude , psychology , variance (accounting) , social psychology , implicit personality theory , cognitive psychology , accounting , personality , business
The predictive validity of implicit and explicit attitudes is a central question in social psychological research with important theoretical and empirical ramifications. Three main patterns of combining implicit and explicit attitudes to predict behaviour have been postulated. They are, double dissociation (in which implicit and explicit attitudes predict spontaneous and deliberate behaviour respectively), additive (in which implicit and explicit attitudes both predict variance in behaviour) and interactive (in which implicit and explicit attitudes combine to predict behaviour). These models were tested in this study using a structural equation modelling approach utilising three different measures of behaviour (of varying spontaneity) towards genetically modified (GM) food. The additive pattern, in which implicit and explicit attitudes both predict variance in behaviour, was found to best fit the data. In addition, all behaviour measures indicated that the majority of participants were willing to try GM food in some situations.