Destreza

Following the logic of the dual-process models o f persuasion (see Chapter 3, section 3.3.2), Fazio (1990a; Sanbonmatsu and Fazio, 1990) recently proposed the integration of automatic and controlled attitude-to-behaviour processes under the premises of the MODE model (emphasising Motivation and Opportunity as Determinants of how attitudes influence behaviour). The MODE model integrates the automatic impact of attitudes on behaviour, that is inherent in the model of spontaneous attitude activation

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proposed by Fazio (1986), and the deliberative impact, that is central in the theories of reasoned action (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980) and planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1985,

1991), by defining the conditions that promote one versus the other.

According to the model, when individuals are highly motivated to think deliberately about an attitude object (e.g. when the behavioural decision is important and consequential) and when they have the opportunity to do so (e.g. the time to deliberate), attitudes will affect behaviours in the manner outlined in the theories of reasoned action and planned behaviour, that is, through effortful reasoning. In such cases, individuals are likely to consider the specific attributes of the attitude object or the possible consequences of the behaviour, before taking a behavioural decision. However, when either motivation or opportunity is missing any effect of attitude on behaviour will operate only through the automatic processing mode (Fazio, 1990a). In such situations, people may rely more on global attitudes that are spontaneously retrieved from memory, rather than on consideration of specific, attribute relevant information.

4.16

Empirical tests of the MODE model

A direct test of the MODE model is provided by an experiment conducted by Sanbonmatsu and Fazio (1990). This research concerned the degree to which individuals’ decisions would be based on their overall evaluation o f two alternatives versus careful consideration of the specific attributes that had earlier been ascribed to these two alternatives. More specifically, while under instructions to form general evaluations of each of two stores, subjects were exposed to a series of statements

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describing various departments of two fictitious department stores. One such store was described in generally favourable terms; two thirds of the statements mentioned desirable attributes. The other store was described predominantly in unfavourable terms; two thirds of the statements concerned undesirable attributes. However, the specific attributes ascribed to the camera departments of the two stores were designed to reverse the direction of this general preference. At a later point, subjects were asked to imagine that they needed to buy a camera and to consider which store they would buy it from. The critical concern was how the decision strategy would be affected by the variables postulated to be important by the MODE model - motivation and opportunity. Prior to the introduction of the camera buying scenario, both time pressure and fear of invalidity (Kruglanski, 1989) were manipulated. The data provided support to the model. Only subjects under fear of invalidity (motivation) and in no time-pressure (opportunity) displayed a significantly greater preference for buying the camera from the department with the best camera store, indicating that, only when subjects have the time and desire, do they retrieve specific bits of information from memory, in a manner consistent with Ajzen and Fishbein's theory o f reasoned action. In all other cases, they are more likely to rely on their more global evaluations.

According to the MODE model, the role of attitude accessibility is presumed to differ as a function of processing mode. The impact of accessibihty is much more direct in the case of spontaneous processes. Given sufficient motivation and opportunity, individuals are hypothesised to deliberate about the attributes of the attitude object and to deliberately retrieve evaluative information from memory. In such conditions, any influence o f attitude accessibility on subsequent behaviour is relatively indirect in nature (Fazio, 1995). In this respect, attitude accessibility should have its maximum

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impact on attitude-behaviour consistency in situations where either motivation or opportunity is missing.

In a more recent test of the MODE model, Schuette and Fazio (1995) manipulated both motivation and attitude accessibihty. Subjects expressed their attitudes towards capital punishment either once (low accessibility) or repeatedly (high accessibility). Subsequently, they were asked to evaluate two studies with conflicting conclusions regarding the efficacy of capital punishment as a crime deterrent. Motivation was manipulated via fear of invalidity (Kruglanski, 1989). Half of the subjects were told their evaluations of the studies should be publicly compared to an expert panel’s conclusions (high motivation), while the other half did not receive any specific instructions (low motivation). The relation between attitude and judgement was found to depend on both attitude accessibility and motivation. Judgements were more attitudinally congruent (or biased) in the low motivation/high accessibility condition than in the other conditions (see also Jamieson and Zanna, 1989).

Indirect evidence for the MODE model has also been provided from research conducted within the framework of the theory of reasoned action. Bagozzi and Yi (1989) manipulated the formation of students’ intention to read a written follow-up of a case analysis that had been discussed in the class by varying their opportunity to consider the perceived consequences of the action. In the well-formed intention condition, subjects were given a task relevant to the target behaviour, so as to stimulate the process of decision making asserted by the theory of reasoned action. Subjects were explicitly instructed to write down the positive and negative aspects of performing the target behaviour. Subjects in the ill-formed intention condition were asked to write down the positive and negative aspects of marketing simulation games.

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a task designed to distract subjects from a deliberate consideration of the consequences of the behaviour. Results indicated that the impact of attitudes on intentions was stronger in the well-formed (high opportunity) condition. In addition, when intentions were well-formed the effects of attitudes on behaviour were fully mediated by intentions. When intentions were poorly formed, however, the mediating role of intentions was absent and attitudes had a direct (strong) effect on behaviour. The explanation for these findings offered by the authors is consistent with the MODE model. Attitude-intention and intention-behaviour relations follow the sequence hypothesised by the theory of reasoned action (i.e. intentions mediate the effect of attitudes on behaviour) only when opportunity (and motivation) to deliberate is high. In contrast, when opportunity (or motivation) is low, overall evaluations and affective reactions to objects, when sufficiently strong (i.e. when highly accessible), can influence behaviour directly, without following the cognitive sequence presumed by the theory.