Social Psychology Theories

 Social psychology focuses on the endogenous components that influence people's

behaviors. This research examines endogenous components in the theory of planned

behavior (TPB). TPB builds upon and is a combination of two social psychology

theories, the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and self-efficacy, which I describe below.

The Theory of Reasoned Action

 Ajzen and Fishbein's (1980) theory of reasoned action (TRA) proposes that

individuals, as rational agents, use information at any given time available to them to

make decisions about intentions to perform behaviors. A behavior is the observable

response in a given situation with respect to a given target (Ajzen, N.D.). Examples of

behaviors include women breastfeeding their newborn babies, voters choosing candidates

in an election and college students attending classes. Intentions are the motivating factors

that affect and influence a behavior. They are the conscious decision-making process

used by individuals to determine if he/she will engage in the behavior. Intentions are

indicative of how much effort people are willing to invest in order to perform a behavior

(Ajzen, 1988). An individual's intention is the primary determinant of his/her behavior.

The stronger an individual's intentions to commit a specific behavior, the more likely

he/she will do so. Intentions are determined based on two factors, an individual's attitude

towards a behavior (a personal factor) and subjective norms (a social factor).

 Attitudes are a person's judgment about whether a specific behavior is positive or

desirable, or negatively or undesirable (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). Two components

influence attitudes towards a behavior, behavioral beliefs (b) and the evaluation of the

behavior (e). Behavioral beliefs (b) are an individual's most prominent beliefs about the

outcome that a specific behavior will produce (Robinson & Doverspike, 2006). For