The effect of choice on intention-behavior consistency

Three studies were conducted with the aim of investigating whether choice o f behavioral alternative increases intention-behavior consistency. In Study 1 undergraduates were asked to write and mail back an essay on a topic the y either chose or were assigned. Demonstrating an effect of choice, signifi cantly more subjects who chose an essay topic mailed back the essays. These subjects also rated their intention to write the essay as stronger, thus s uggesting that the difference between choice and no choice is that the inte ntion is self-generated. Supporting this interpretation, no differences in mail-back rates were observed in Studies 2 and 3 between a difficult and ea sy choice condition. Furthermore, an alternative hypothesis that choice ind uces implementation intentions did not receive support since independent ef fects were in Study 2 found of deciding when and where to write the essay a nd in Study 3 of making an outline of the essay.