PSYCH 614 Week 3 Attitudes, Persuasion and Behavior Example

They Said Yes but Did Not Show Up: Attitudes, Persuasion and the Intention-Behavior Gap in a Free Forklift Certification

[Student Name]

University of Phoenix

PSYCH/614: Social Psychology

Week 3 Assignment

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The workforce center, its certification course and enrollment figures are composites written for a model paper; research findings come from the sources listed.

Social psychologists have long studied how attitudes form and change and when they guide behavior. A practical problem at my workforce center offered a chance to apply that research: job seekers who said they wanted a free certification did not come to class. This paper diagnoses the gap and redesigns the outreach.

The Problem

Our center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, offers a free two-week forklift operator certification several times a year in partnership with a community college. Warehousing and distribution employers in the region hire certified operators at higher starting wages than general laborers. Last spring, sixty job seekers told their coaches they were interested and signed a list. Only twenty-six attended the first class, and twenty-one finished. Each empty seat cost the program money and cost a job seeker a credential.

Attitudes Were Not the Problem

A brief phone survey of the thirty-four who did not attend found positive attitudes: most agreed that the certification would help them find work and that forklift jobs paid well. The most common reasons for not attending were child care, transportation to the college's training yard across town, a conflicting temporary job and, for several, uncertainty about whether they could pass the written test. In other words, they wanted the outcome but did not act.

How Persuasion Works

Petty and Cacioppo (1986) proposed the elaboration likelihood model, which describes two routes to attitude change. A reader with time, interest and the background to judge the case weighs the arguments themselves, and attitudes formed that way tend to last and to show up in later action. When motivation or ability is low, people take a peripheral route, relying on cues such as the source's attractiveness, the number of arguments or how others respond. Changes through the peripheral route tend to be weaker and shorter-lived.

Our original flyer was a full page of text describing the college partnership, equipment, safety standards and the course schedule in small print, posted on a bulletin board and handed out at workshops. Many job seekers are juggling crises and have limited time to read, so their ability to process the flyer carefully was low. Those who signed up may have done so partly through peripheral cues, such as seeing others sign the list, which produced interest but not a firm commitment.

From Attitude to Behavior

Ajzen (1991) argued that a person's intention grows from three roots: whether doing the thing seems good or bad to them, whether family and friends would cheer or frown and whether they feel equipped to manage it. That last root, felt control, can push behavior along by itself too, since people who feel able to manage something usually have the means to.

Our survey suggests that attitudes and norms were favorable, but perceived control was low. A single mother who cannot arrange child care for ten weekdays, or a job seeker without a car who faces two bus transfers, may intend to attend but judge, correctly, that attending is difficult. Several also doubted they could pass the written test, another form of low perceived control.

They did not need to be convinced the certification was worth it; they needed to believe they could get to the yard.

How Much Does Changing Intentions Help?

Webb and Sheeran (2006) meta-analyzed experiments that successfully changed people's intentions and examined whether behavior changed too. Experiments that moved intentions a good deal moved actual behavior only about half as far. The gap was larger when behaviors required opportunities, resources or cooperation from others, and when habits worked against the new behavior. This finding explains our result: even if a better flyer increased intentions, attendance might rise only modestly unless barriers were addressed.

Turning Intentions Into Action

Gollwitzer (1999) wrote about plans with a trigger built in. Instead of "I will go to class," the person decides, "When Monday reaches 7:30 a.m., I walk to the stop and board the number 4 bus to the college yard." Because the cue is set in advance, the moment itself starts the action, so a forgetful morning, a distraction or a flicker of doubt is less likely to derail it. Research has found that forming implementation intentions increases goal attainment across many behaviors.

For our certification, an implementation intention would help job seekers plan exactly how they would get to the first class, who would watch their children and what they would do if something went wrong.

The Redesigned Outreach

The new outreach has four parts. First, a short message suited to peripheral processing: a half-page flyer with one headline, "Get forklift certified free in two weeks; local employers start certified operators at $19 an hour," a photo of a recent graduate from Las Cruces and a phone number. A short testimonial from a graduate who was a single parent provides a credible source similar to the audience. Second, a central-route option for those who want details: a fifteen-minute information session at the center, where people can ask questions and see a sample of the written test. Third, barrier removal to raise perceived control: bus passes for the course period, referral to the center's child care assistance program and a schedule that starts after school drop-off. Fourth, a planning card completed with a coach, in which each enrollee writes if-then plans for getting to class, arranging child care and handling a missed day.

A Note on Commitment

Signing a list is a weak commitment. Research on cognitive dissonance and commitment suggests that people are more likely to follow through when a commitment is active, public and their own choice, because acting against it would feel inconsistent. The planning card serves this purpose as well: the job seeker writes the plan in their own words, keeps a copy and tells their coach, which makes attending the first class feel like keeping a promise to themselves rather than complying with a request from the center.

Ethical Persuasion

Persuasion research can be used to manipulate as well as to inform. Our outreach must be honest: the wage figure comes from current postings by local employers and will be updated, the testimonial will come from a real graduate who agreed to share her story and no one will be pressured to sign up. Our aim is to help job seekers carry out a plan they already chose, never to talk them into one they did not.

Measuring Results

We will compare the share of interested job seekers who attend the first class and who complete the certification in the next two classes with the spring class. A rise from forty-three percent attendance toward seventy percent would suggest success. We will also ask attendees which parts of the outreach mattered most and whether the planning cards were used.

Limits

Our survey had a small sample and relied on self-reports, which may understate reasons such as embarrassment about the test. Changes in the labor market could affect attendance regardless of outreach. And several changes are introduced at once, making it hard to know which helped most.

Conclusion

The certification problem was not mainly one of attitudes. Research on persuasion explains why the original flyer failed busy readers, the theory of planned behavior identifies low perceived control as the main barrier and research on intentions and if-then plans shows how to turn interest into attendance. Effective outreach combines a clear message with practical help and a plan.

References

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T

Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54(7), 493-503. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.7.493

Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 123-205. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60214-2

Webb, T. L., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Does changing behavioral intentions engender behavior change? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 132(2), 249-268. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.2.249