For a number of decades, researchers have been studying the relationship between attitudes and behavior. The findings suggest that attitude sometimes relates to behavior (Fazio & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2005). Furthermore, it has been found that there are two different means of influence that can contribute to how attitude affects behavior. For instance, behavior is a person’s response to a situation, person, or object that can be influenced by either being a thoughtfully planned out response, or a spontaneous reaction based on a person’s perception (Fazio & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2005). These results inspired the development of Icek Ajzen’s, ‘Theory of Planned Behavior’ and Russell Fazio’s ‘Attitude-to-Behavior Process Model’ (Fazio & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2005). This essay will discuss the differences of the two theories, the variable that Ajzen later added to his theory, and whether the additional determinant would improve on Fazio’s accessibility model. Included in this discussion, is the importance of measuring knowledge about the behavior or direct behavioral experience as …show more content…
Fazio’s accessibility model proposes that a person’s attitude towards external or internal stimuli has to be strictly generated from memory to exert influence over their reaction (Fazio & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2005). The attitude-to-behavior process is spontaneously activated through recognition of an event or object which triggers an individual’s perception and definition of the object or event (Fazio & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2005). In contrast, Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is an extension of the theory of reasoned action which implies a behavior is a combination of a person carefully considering and deliberating options before making a decision on how to respond (Fazio & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2005). The change was necessary due to limitations the original theory posed for explaining