Social Influences, Identities, Intentions: Essays on Fishbein and Ajzen's Reasoned Action Approach to Predicting and Explaining Behavior

This dissertation consists of three essays on the Fishbein-Ajzen model of human behavior, the most famous iteration of which is the theory of planned behavior. In chapter one, I argue that Fishbein and Ajzen’s definitions of the attitudinal and normative components of their theory result in unnecessary and undesirable overlap between the two. In chapter two, I discuss Fishbein and Ajzen’s assessment of self-identity as a potential addition to their theory and argue – contra Fishbein and Ajzen – that many of the measures of self-identity that are typically used are not likely to measure the theory’s existing determinants of behavior, as opposed to a truly separate construct. In chapter three, I argue that Fishbein and Ajzen’s definition of intention as behavioral expectation is problematic because 1) it does not match our commonsense notion of intention, and 2) it is the commonsense notion that is best suited to fill the role of “intention” within the context of the theory.