Attitudes vary from strong to weak, confident to unsettled, extreme to mild, and they are as diverse as the behavior they influence. Social scientific research has aimed at tackling the age-old questions of how and when attitudes influence behavior. What kinds of attitudes influence judgment and behavior most? Under what circumstances do attitude-behavior correspondence occur most often? What processes and pathways do attitudes follow to influence behavior? The MODE ((Motivation and Opportunity as Determinants of the attitude behavior relation) model, created by Dr. Russel H. Fazio, was introduced to answer these age-old, fundamental questions. The tenets of the MODE model highlight the paths of attitudes to behavior. Additionally, the model
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The spontaneous process is based on one’s perception of that immediate instance versus the deliberative process where there is deliberation regarding behavioral options. Fazio (1990, 1999) argues that attitudes can dictate behavior in a spontaneous manner, without the individual consciously reflecting on the relevant attitude and without the individual’s awareness of the attitude’s influence. Memory automatically activates the attitude upon an immediate encounter with the attitude object, and this attitude will influence how the person interprets the object in the immediate moment. Ultimately, the interpretation of the object will affect the person’s behavioral response. For attitudes that are strong enough to be automatically activated by perception, attitude-relevant behaviors activate unimpeded by controlled, conscious processes. Fazio and his colleagues have researched and documented the many consequences of accessible attitudes that contribute to the attitude-behavior relation. For example, he has shown that strong, accessible attitudes can shift attention (Fazio et al., 1992), bias visual perceptions of an object (Fazio et al., 2000), and influence categorization of the attitude object (Fazio et al., 1997). Additionally, there is a linear …show more content…
Meaning, instead of behavior being an attitude-driven process, there is a thoughtful, deliberation process that is followed by a behavior (Fazio, 1990). A deliberative behavior is influenced less by the automatic evaluation, and more by a cognitive comparison of the behavioral alternatives. While Fishbein and Ajzen (2005) had conflicting theories with the MODE model, they were harmonious in that they believed that the pros and cons of a behavior are compared in deliberative actions, which reflect upon the attitudes relevant to the behavioral decision. Fazio goes further to state that actions can be both deliberative and spontaneous at times. He answers the fundamental question of how and when these processes interact on the path from attitudes to behavior by defining the role of motivation and
The spontaneous process is based on one’s perception of that immediate instance versus the deliberative process where there is deliberation regarding behavioral options. Fazio (1990, 1999) argues that attitudes can dictate behavior in a spontaneous manner, without the individual consciously reflecting on the relevant attitude and without the individual’s awareness of the attitude’s influence. Memory automatically activates the attitude upon an immediate encounter with the attitude object, and this attitude will influence how the person interprets the object in the immediate moment. Ultimately, the interpretation of the object will affect the person’s behavioral response. For attitudes that are strong enough to be automatically activated by perception, attitude-relevant behaviors activate unimpeded by controlled, conscious processes. Fazio and his colleagues have researched and documented the many consequences of accessible attitudes that contribute to the attitude-behavior relation. For example, he has shown that strong, accessible attitudes can shift attention (Fazio et al., 1992), bias visual perceptions of an object (Fazio et al., 2000), and influence categorization of the attitude object (Fazio et al., 1997). Additionally, there is a linear …show more content…
Meaning, instead of behavior being an attitude-driven process, there is a thoughtful, deliberation process that is followed by a behavior (Fazio, 1990). A deliberative behavior is influenced less by the automatic evaluation, and more by a cognitive comparison of the behavioral alternatives. While Fishbein and Ajzen (2005) had conflicting theories with the MODE model, they were harmonious in that they believed that the pros and cons of a behavior are compared in deliberative actions, which reflect upon the attitudes relevant to the behavioral decision. Fazio goes further to state that actions can be both deliberative and spontaneous at times. He answers the fundamental question of how and when these processes interact on the path from attitudes to behavior by defining the role of motivation and