Amount of information about the attitude object and attitude–behavior consistency.

The synthesis of 2 separate lines of inquiry—research on information integration and longitudinal studies of attitudes—prompted the hypothesis that the degree of consistency between attitudes and behavior will increase as a function of the amount of information available about the attitude object. This hypothesis was tested in 3 longitudinal studies, ranging in length from 4 days to 4 mo, that investigated the following behaviors: voting for candidates for political office, voting for 2 social-policy election initiatives, and having an influenza vaccination. Ss were 62 undergraduates (Study 1), 270 undergraduates (Study 2), and 299 27–92 yr old veterans (Study 3). In support of the hypothesis, amount of information moderated the consistency between attitudes and behavior in each study, and the significance of this relation remained even after controlling for the effects of other potential moderators, including prior direct behavioral experience with the attitude object and attitude certainty. Consistent with previous research, direct behavioral experience was also a determinant of attitude–behavior consistency, and this relation was independent of the effect of amount of information for the behavior of having an influenza vaccination. Discussion focuses on the interrelation among moderators of attitude–behavior consistency and on the theoretical implications of the findings. (52 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)