Message-Attitude-Behavior Relationship

Message-Attitude-Behavior Relationship explores the relationship between messages, attitudes, and behaviors. Emphasis is on alternative conceptualizations of various message strategies, cognitive and information processing models, and their relevance to the study of behavior. Innovative mathematical models are discussed to highlight stochastic and deterministic mathematical operators case in coextensive, sequential, and multidimensional arrays of systems state. Message strategies are cast in terms of social, psychological, and information processing constructs.

Comprised of 11 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the research tradition dealing with messages, attitudes, and behaviors. The following chapters provide in-depth justification, supported by data analysis, for the use of various theoretical and methodological approaches to the message-attitude-behavior relationship. An atomized, stochastic model of the behavioral effects of message campaigns is then described, along with the foundations of cognitive theory and a constructivist analysis of the relationship between attitudes and behavior. An information-processing explanation of attitude-behavior inconsistency is also outlined. The link between mental states and social action is analyzed with respect to Ludwig Wittgenstein's 1953 book Philosophical Investigations.

This monograph should be a valuable resource for both social and behavioral scientists engaged in behavioral research.

Contenu

List of Contributors
Preface
1 Attitudes, Behaviors, and Messages: An Introductory Overview
Review of Theoretical and Empirical Progress and of Issues in the Attitude Behavior Literature
Theory Types and Present Developments in Message-Attitude-Behavior Theory
Theory and Quantitative Relationships: Methods
Messages, Attitudes, and Behaviors: Implications
References
2 An Atomized, Stochastic Model of the Behavioral Effects of Message Campaigns
Why Choose an Axiomatic Theory?
Why a Stochastic Process Theory?
An Axiomatized Stochastic Theory?
Summary, Conclusions, Caveats, and Extensions
References
3 Foundations of Cognitive Theory: A Multidimensional Model of the Message-Attitude-Behavior Relationship
Behavior, Attitude, and Entelechy
Categories and Continua
Simple Messages
Compound Messages
A Current Assessment
References
4 The Relationship of Attitudes and Behavior: A Constructivist Analysis
The Nature of the Problem
The Constructivist Analysis
Comparison with Fishbein and Ajzen's Analysis
Concluding Remarks
References
5 An Information-Processing Explanation of Attitude-Behavior Inconsistency
The Information-Processing Perspective
Storage Principles: The Determination of Attitudinal Responses from Informational Beliefs
Semantic and Episodic Organization in LTM
Attitudinal Reports and Behavioral Actions as Information Retrieval Processes from LTM
Implications of the Information-Processing Explanation
References
6 Attitude-Verbal Report-Behavior Relationships as Causal Processes: Formalization, Test, and Communication Implications
Overview
Issues
Definitions
Plan
Causal Process Theories
A Causal Process Theory of Attitude-Verbal Report-Behavior Relationships
Communication Implications
Conclusion
References
7 Behavior and Hierarchies of Attitudes: A Deterministic Model
Usefulness of Deterministic Modeling
A Hierarchical Model of Attitude Organization and Change
Behaviors and Attitudes in Hierarchical Systems
Implications of the Hierarchical Model for Message Design
Conclusion
References
8 The Message-Attitude-Behavior Relationship from the Point of View of the Actor
The Attitude Concept
Attitude, Behavior, and Intuition
The Problem of Attitude-Behavior Matching
The Point of View of the Actor
Limitations of the Actor's Point of View
References
9 Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations and the Relationship between Mental States and Social Action
Meanings and Messages
Intentions and Behaviors
Attitudes and Social Action
References
10 A Structural-Functional Model of the Message-Attitude-Behavior Relationship
11 Afterword
Author Index
Subject Index