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. 2014 May;45(5):391-398.
doi: 10.1027/1864-9335/a000198. Epub 2014 Jan 1.

Liking More Means Doing More: Dispositional Attitudes Predict Patterns of General Action

Justin Hepler  1 , Dolores Albarracin  2
Affiliations

Liking More Means Doing More: Dispositional Attitudes Predict Patterns of General Action

Justin Hepler et al. Soc Psychol (Gott). 2014 May.

Abstract

Dispositional attitudes are an individual difference in the tendency to form positive versus negative attitudes. As positive (negative) attitudes promote active (inactive) responses to stimuli, we predicted that dispositional attitudes would be positively correlated with patterns of general action. In Study 1, participants reported all activities they engaged in during a 1-week period using a structured time use survey. Dispositional attitudes were positively correlated with the number of unique behaviors participants engaged in and with the total number of behaviors reported for the entire week. Study 2 replicated Study 1 using a free response time use survey. Overall, the results demonstrated that dispositional attitudes predict general action, such that the tendency to form positive (negative) attitudes predicts the tendency to engage in many (few) behaviors in daily life. This pattern occurred for both low effort and high effort behaviors. Implications for understanding activity patterns are discussed.

Keywords: action; attitudes; behavior; dispositional attitudes; motivation.

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