Which First -- Attitude or Behavior?

It's fitting that my first contribution in the new " Attitude and Behavior " column addresses the age-old question, which comes first-attitude or behavior? Actually, the more practical question is which should be targeted for change first-attitude or behavior? Education typically addresses " attitude " or internal and subjective dimensions of people by attempting to " think people into acting differently. " In other words, educators present theory, principles, and rationale in an attempt to influence inside aspects of people-their intention, belief, perception, or attitude. Training programs focus on behavior. Through role-play exercises and behavioral feedback, people practice desired target behaviors. Thus, this approach to change attempts to " act people into thinking differently. " It's presumed that if people act in a certain way on the outside, they will adjust their " inside " (including intention, belief, perception, and attitude) to be consistent with their behaviors. The key word is " consistency. " The truth of the matter is that both approaches (education and training) work because of our need to be consistent. Thus, it doesn't matter whether you address attitude or behavior first if you are successful at influencing your target. I recommend targeting behavior first because behavior is easier to change on a large scale than attitude. In fact, psychologists know more about changing behavior than attitude because behavior is easier to measure objectively and reliably than attitude. Therefore, various intervention procedures to influence behaviors in organizational settings have been developed and refined through empirical research. Sometimes the starting behavior can be simply a verbal statement or commitment, and then more desired behavior (and attitude) can be expected because of the consistency principle.