Date of Award

6-2011

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Kenneth DeBono

Language

English

Keywords

theoretical model, behavior, relatioships, intention, message, communication

Abstract

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is a leading theoretical model used to explain the intention-behavior relationship as it relates to exercise. Even though TPB consistently explains some of the variance between intention and behavior, the rest of the variance has yet to be explained. This study investigates whether individual differences in terms of the Big Five personality dimensions, specifically, Conscientiousness and Extraversion, can account for any of the additional variance. The present research extends on past research by examining how personality relates to intention in terms of its relation to the constructs of TPB. 122 students at Union college participated in the experiment in which they were asked to complete personality inventories and read a persuasive message to exercise targeted at one of the constructs of the TPB: attitude towards the act, perceived behavioral control (PBC), or subjective norm (SN). It was hypothesized that for individuals high in conscientiousness the message targeted at PBC would produce greater intention to exercise whereas for individuals high in the extraversion dimension, messages targeted at both attitude towards the act and SN would predict greater intentions. Results support the first hypothesis, that individuals high in conscientiousness had a greater intention to exercise after the PBC message. In the second hypothesis, only SN was related to greater intentions. Implications concerning public health implementations to increase exercise are discussed.

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