Question

The stronger the attitude, the more likely behavior will be influenced. When there is a (strong) relationship between opinions and actions then attitude and behavior are seen to be more consistent (attitude-behavior consistency). With your example of smoking, if individuals do not think they will develop cancer from smoking (weak attitude) then they may be more prone to engage in smoking. Thoughts?

Answer 1

Attitude-behavior consistency:

A subject area of research which consists of people’s attitude & opinions and its relation to the behavior & action. Attitude behavioral consistency exists when there is a strong relationship between the opinions and action. These attitudes can be bifurcated into a positive and a negative attitude which influences behavior.

Referring to the above example of smoking, if one holds a positive attitude, where he has the following beliefs and opinions:

1. Smoking is a filthy habit
2. Smoking makes me weak
3. Smoking causes cancer and kills
4. Smoking should be banned, etc.

The person will never, (even remotely, like vape, hookah etc.) engage in smoking.

The strong positive attitude he or she may hold could be the way his/her attitudes were formed. It could have been due to one or all these factors:

1. Direct Contact: With the idea, person, situation, (in this case, it’s the idea of smoking)
2. Direct Instruction: When a parent or a significant may instruct from early childhood. (smoking is injurious to health)
3. Interaction with others: Discouraging peers with the whole idea of smoking.
4. Observational learning: Watching father/mother suffer from cancer due to smoking, watching documentaries on how smoking reduces the lifespan of a person.

Coming to the negative or weak attitude an individual holds when it comes to smoking, where he has the following beliefs and opinions:

1. Smoking is cool
2. It kills my stress
3. It makes me popular
4. It attracts the opposite gender
5. Makes me feel ‘classy’
6. Peers are engaged in smoking, so will I.

The weak or negative attitude he or she may hold is exactly the same way how the positive or strong attitudes were formed. It could have been due to one or all these factors:

1. Direct Contact: With the idea, person, situation, (in this case, it’s the idea of smoking, where smoking is something cool to engage in)
2. Direct Instruction: In this case, there must have been an absence of instructions from the significant(s) i.e. parents, lack of education from formal schooling, etc.
3. Interaction with others: Where peers encourage with the whole idea of smoking, engage in smoking cigars, hookah, vape every day.   
4. Observational learning: Watching peers engage in smoking, watching how hookah, cigarettes, and cigars are smoked. (curiosity as a driving factor)

Answering your question, ‘With your example of smoking, if individuals do not think they will develop cancer from smoking (weak attitude) then they may be more prone to engage in smoking. Thoughts?’ There are 2 main theories which may have varying outcomes/predictions of a person probable act of engaging in smoking.

1. Theory of reasoned action: it shows that some attitudes fail in predicting or influencing behavior (smoking in this case). The society, family, norms, surroundings (social norms) can play a major role in winning over attitudes. These social norms and their influences may vary depending on what kind of personality attributes the individual has, and situational factors to absorb such influences of social norms.
2. Theory of planned behavior: it uses attitudes towards behavior to predict the behavior. Theory of planned behavior does not consider automated behavior.

Hence it depends upon which approach you go by. Both these theories can be used using its individual quantitative method to get the desired outcome.