EXPLAINING AND PREDICTING BEHAVIOR WITH U NCERTAIN CONSEQUENCES - INFERENCES FROM BEHAVIORAL DECISION RESEARCH FOR ATTITUDE RESEARCH

Both, social psychological attitude research and behavioral decision r esearch, aim at the prediction of behavior with uncertain consequences , The present article discusses whether theories from decision researc h can be profitably adopted into attitude research. Specifically, it i s examined if cumulative prospect theory (Tversky & Kahneman, 1992) is a viable alternative approach to the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). First, the most important conceptual differences a nd commonalities are pointed out acid essential analogies are emphasiz ed. Second, some specific techniques for measuring likelihoods and eva luations of salient beliefs are proposed. It is maintained that these modifications will improve the explanation of attitudes and the predic tion of behavior.