Theories Of Planned Behaviour

In order to change behaviour, we must understand the best way to persuade people to do this. There are 5 main models of behaviour change. However, the two we are discussing today is the theory of planned behaviour and the social learning theory. The theory of planned behaviour is a development of the theory of reasoned action and proposes that the individuals’ behaviour can’t Always be controlled and due to this another aspect has been added and this is perceived behavioural control. This is where the individual decides how difficult it is to display a certain type of behaviour and the difficulty they give to the act will be a factor which will influence whether they change their behaviour or not. There are a few factors which may influence

This is because each social class has a different culture, and this will have an impact on the effectiveness of health education. For example, when a stop smoking initiative was launched, it seemed to be very effective with regards to the upper class, but had little to no affect with the lower class. This has also been the case with encouraging healthy eating. There are many reasons why this may be because middle class people have more income and so are able to afford better quality of food and objects e.g. healthy food. It is generally more stressful being in the working class as they have less income and so, they worry more about getting food on the table and providing for their families. Those in the working class is also more likely to work manual jobs which are usually more stressful as it requires more repetitive, unsatisfactory work., making them more stressed. Social class can have a negative and positive impact on changing behaviours e.g. if you are middle class then you are more likely to not do or quite negative behaviours such as smoking or unhealthy eating. Whereas these behaviours are more likely and sometimes encouraged in the working-class community, making it more likely someone who is working class, to display those behaviours.

However, when we look at factors in this way, this may lead to people making assumptions which may not necessarily be true. Just because middle class people are more likely to display healthy eating and not smoking, doesn’t mean that all middle-class people display these behaviours. Just like how just because working class people are generally smokers and working manual jobs, doesn’t mean that all working-class individuals are smokers. Furthermore, not everything is as it seems e.g. just because one type of people can display negative behaviours, doesn’t mean they don’t display different positive behaviours. For example, the middle class eat healthier and don’t smoke, but, many of them engage in excessive alcohol consumption.