Cited by 1,613Behavioral Health and InterventionsSocial and Intergroup PsychologyEnvironmental Education and Sustainability

Attitudes and the Prediction of Behavior: A Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Literature

Kraus, Stephen J.·1995·Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Abstract

The relationship between attitudes and behavior has been the topic of considerable debate. This article reports a meta-analysis of 88 attitude-behavior studies that reveals that attitudes significantly and substantially predict future behavior (mean r = .38; combined p <<. 000000000001). Relatively large and significant moderating effects were found for the attitudinal variables of attitude certainty, stability, accessibility, affective-cognitive consistency, and direct experience (mean q = .39). A smaller but significant moderating effect was found for self-monitoring (mean q = .29). Methodological factors associated with high attitude-behavior correlations included self-report measures of behavior (q =. 22), the use of nonstudents as subjects (q =. 17), and corresponding levels of specificity in the attitude and behavior measures (mean q = .47). The practical magnitude of attitude-behavior correlations is considered, as are the future directions of attitude-behavior research.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/0146167295211007

Cites

10 of 10 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The relationship between the ideal L2 self and achievement is smaller than the expected correlation between attitudes and behavior in social psychology (r = .38, Kraus, 1995).

    “The relationship between the ideal L2 self and achievement is also smaller than the expected correlation between attitudes and behavior in social psychology (r = .38,Kraus, 1995).”

    From The L2 motivational self system: A meta-analysis (2018) · cites this paper as Kraus, 1995

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Kraus, S. J.
Affiliations
Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author
Kraus, Stephen J.
Venue
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Published
1995-01
Volume
21
Issue
1
Pages
58-75
ISSN
  • 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-7433
OpenAlex
W2126078878
Cited by
1,613
References
10
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 57 · 2022: 59 · 2021: 73 · 2020: 146 · 2019: 75 · 2018: 81 · 2017: 73 · 2016: 82 · 2015: 102 · 2014: 80 · 2013: 75 · 2012: 77
FWCI
13.90
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental Education and Sustainability
Keywords
attitude-behavior relationship, attitude certainty, attitude stability, attitude accessibility, direct experience, self-monitoring, behavior prediction

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review