HOW PRIMING THE PRIVATE SELF OR COLLECTIVE SELF AFFECTS THE RELATIVE WEIGHTS OF ATTITUDES AND SUBJECTIVE NORMS

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that the accessibility of the private self and the collective self affects the relative weights give n to attitudes and subjective norms when forming a behavioral intentio n. The results of Experiment 1 indicate that increasing the accessibil ity of the private self caused participants to place more weight on at titudes than subjective norms but that increasing the accessibility of the collective self caused participants to place more weight on subje ctive norms than on attitudes. Experiments 2 and 3, using a subtle pri ming procedure, replicated this pattern of results. In addition, the f indings of Experiment 3 provided direct evidence for the differential priming of the two self-concepts. Hence, the data suggest an intimate connection between the accessibility of the private and collective sel ves and whether people use attitudes or subjective norms to make behav ioral intentions.