ABSTRACT
Spurred largely by interest in the relation between attitudes and behavior, the attitude concept, following a period of relative neglect, has moved back into the focus of research in social psychology (Chaiken & Stangor, 1987). The general pessimism regarding our ability to predict behavior from attitudes that prevailed not too long ago has, in recent years, given way to the belief that strong attitude-behavior relations can be obtained under appropriate conditions. Most social psychologists now accept the proposition that the effect of attitude on behavior is contingent on the operation of other factors (e.g., Fazio & Zanna, 1981; Snyder, 1982; Warner & DeFleur, 1969). These moderating variables can be individual personality differences, circumstances surrounding performance of the behavior, the nature of the attitude, and so on (see Ajzen, 1987; Sherman & Fazio, 1983 for reviews). The present chapter focuses on attitude structure and the role it may play as a moderator of the attitude-behavior relation.
