As the presidential election draws closer, it seems that more and more people are expressing their attitudes regarding candidates and issues. This is certainly true of my social circles. Although I feel that I can guess, with decent accuracy, the political views of my friends, there are times when I find myself under the wrong assumption and left holding confusion's hand. Unfortunately, this was the case with one of my closest friends and his attitude towards John McCain.
My friend is someone whom I would consider open-minded and accepting. He attends a liberal university, spends the majority of his time with liberal friends, and generally disagrees with conservative views (when not explicitly noted as conservative). Months ago, when we began discussing the presidential candidates, I was shocked to hear that my friend intended to vote for John McCain. "That makes no sense!" I recall myself saying. I was disheartened and confused by his voting selection. However, in light of the theory of planned behavior, my friend's prediction of his action this November makes more sense.
The theory of planned behavior reasons that my friend's behavior is influenced by his intentions. According to this theory, my friend's intentions are influenced by his attitude toward a specific behavior, the extent to which he feels in control of his behavior, and his beliefs about what others think he should do (also known as subjective norms) (Ajzen, 1991). Thus, in the case of my friend, multiple factors contribute to his intention to vote for John McCain. My friend feels that participation in the electoral process is somewhat futile and that either candidate will do things in office with which my friend does not agree. This negative attitude toward voting has led my friend to be less interested in the campaigns of both parties and less likely to actively investigate the platforms of both candidates. My friend is registered to vote and knows that he has easy access to facilities where he can do so, therefore feeling in control of the behavior of voting for McCain. In my opinion, the greatest contributors to my friend's intent to vote are found in subjective norms. My friend's family is very conservative, politically active and powerful in his hometown, and controls a large amount of wealth that they are obviously interested in protecting. Although my friend does not actively participate in his family's local politics, his family certainly influence him to be more conservative by modeling such behaviors. It seems that his general disinterest and disdain have left him siding with his most reliable source of information and support - his family.
While the theory of planned behavior stresses that intentions doe not completely determine behavior, it seems likely that the influence of perceived control of personal behavior, subjective norms, and opinions about the behavior will lead my friend to vote for McCain, despite his own personal liberalism.
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211.
3 years ago
1 comment:
I kind of had this same situation on Tuesday when I got back from Fall Break. My family is very liberal and my parents tend to surround themselves with like-minded people, so I spent 4 days at home listening to older adults with liberal viewpoints talk and talk and talk. I consider myself to be very liberal, and from conversations I've had with my roommate on specific political issues, it seemed safe to assume that she felt the same way. So I brought back a big Obama/Biden sign to hang in our window, but when I walked in the door and showed it to her, she didn't look happy. Apparently her family owns a lot of land and will most likely be voting for McCain as a way to protect themselves from taxing, and so her attitudes and behavior might be influenced by the norms of her family and those around her when she's at home. Anyway, she claimed she was ok with the sign, and I hung it up, but I definitely understand the confusion you felt in your situation.
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