Making decisions about condoms: Whose attitude is it anyway?

Policy capturing was used to assess the relative influence of one's own att itudes and those of a sexual partner on decisions about condoms. Participan ts read vignettes describing a romantic encounter between themselves and a hypothetical date. Each vignette contained six independent variables; three described aspects of the participant's attitudes toward condoms, and three described the corresponding attitudes of the date. For each scenario, part icipants judged the likelihood that they would use a condom should they hav e intercourse. The decision was independently affected by the attitudes of both participant and date. A second experiment showed the date's influence increasing with time constraints. The results suggest that efforts to incre ase condom use may require heightened awareness of the influence of the oth er's attitude on decision-making.