Temporal instability as a moderator of the attitude-behavior relationship.

Abstract

The effects of temporal instability in attitudes on the attitude-behavior relationship were examined in a study of volunteering to tutor blind children.A mailed appeal was received by 286 Israeli undergraduates who had completed a questionnaire either 3 months, 6 months, or both 3 and 6 months earlier, or not at all.Embedded in the questionnaire were attitude items on altruistic acts (including tutoring blind children) and on various controversial issues.The attitude-behavior correlation was higher over the shorter time interval (.47 vs. .13),and data from the group whose attitudes were measured twice indicated this was due to real change in individuals' attitudes.A specific attitude and its corresponding behavior correlated more strongly among those whose general set of altruistic attitudes showed high rather than low temporal stability (.47 vs. -.03),but stability of the specific attitude did not moderate this correlation.Characteristics of attitudes that might influence their stability are discussed, and it is shown that attitude stability is not a general trait.

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