Icek Ajzen's Theory Of Planned Behavior

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) proposed by Icek Ajzen has effectively been used to predict outcomes to a variety of health behaviors including, but not limited to, smoking, diet, vitamin intake, exercise, drinking, and drug use. The Theory of Planned Behavior suggests attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, directly guide intentions which predict an individual’s behavior. Per our textbook Behavior Theory in Health Promotion Practice and Research the following definitions are defined. Attitudes are a positive or negative evaluation about a given behavior, and are likely associated with personal influences including age, race, gender, ecological factors, income, personality, and demographic factors. Subjective norms refers
Prior to this study the Theory of Planned Behavior had yet to be utilized as an analytical tool in predicting eating disordered behaviors. The authors applied the five constructs of the theory to the study: attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, behavioral intent, and behavior. The authors referred to Miller to define the constructs of the TPB as it relates to exercise behavior. Attitudes include over-all beliefs about the outcome of behavior while taking into account the evaluations of beliefs, e.g., cooking healthy meals increases over-all health and weight, but is too expensive. Subjective norms is the expectations others have in one’s ability to perform a behavior. Perceived behavioral control is the presumption in the ability to control a result. Intentions judge an expected behavior, and behavior results from the preceding factors. Additional screening tools have been implemented to assist with disordered eating. However, for the purpose of this paper I am emphasizing only the Theory of Planned Behavior and may mention other tools and techniques when
Using a 10-point Likert Scale participants were able to respond. Questions 7-36 incorporated the five constructs of TPB and consisted of the ‘I’ statements. In comparison to our textbook and Miller, the survey questions aligned with the definitions from both the text and the survey. Per the five construct categories, survey example questions are as followed: attitudes (i.e. I feel remorse after consuming food) aligned with the textbook definition that attitudes are over-all beliefs about the outcome of behavior; subjective norms (i.e. I consume less food when others are around, but gorge on food when they leave) aligned with the textbook definition that an individual perceives their behavior as being accepted by their peers; perceived behavioral control (i.e. It takes little effort in controlling food thoughts) aligned with the textbook definition that refers to how a person perceives both ease and difficulty in preforming a desired behavior; intentions (i.e. I intend to start eating healthier) aligned with the textbook definition that intention determines the strength in the likeliness of engaging and committing to the behavioral outcome; behavior (i.e. I consume food and beverages alone) being the outcome of the