ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter we noted how there is a pervasive tendency for people to attribute the causes of other people’s behaviour to ‘internal’ factors, such as personality and attitudes, and to underestimate the influence that the situation has upon behaviour. But, as we saw in Chapter 1, the problem with this ‘layman’s view’ of the causes of behaviour is that it is not very useful if you are trying to get people to change their behaviour. If behaviour is ‘caused’ by personality then, in order to change someone’s behaviour, you have to change their personality. This is not feasible. Attitudes, on the other hand, are more susceptible to change. As we saw in the last chapter, the problem is that the link between attitudes and behaviour is not strong. Recent studies, for example, suggest that attitudes can only explain between 15 per cent to 20 per cent of people’s behaviour.
