Attitude-behavior consistency

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Attitude-behaviour consistency is a central concept in social psychology, referring to the relationship and alignment between an individual’s beliefs, or attitudes, and their actions, or behaviour.^[1] Specifically, the concept attitude-behaviour consistency addresses the parts of the study of attitudes in which social psychologists examine whether people's actions can be understood as arising from their beliefs and opinions.^[1]

The relationship has been highly debated among researchers, given the fact that individuals often act in ways that seem inconsistent with their attitudes. Many argue that attitudes are not the only factors influencing behaviour;^[2] some people may behave more in line with their attitudes than others, and people’s behaviour may align more with their attitudes in some circumstances than in others.^[3]

The consistency between attitudes and behaviours can be explained by moderating factors, which strengthen or weaken the relationship. Some of the categories of moderators include attitude strength and accessibility, individual factors, and situational/contextual factors.