Psychology

There are many factors that influence the behavior characteristics of a person. This could be dictated by different cultural backgrounds, the social interactions that exist in the communities just to mention but a few. However, there is a notion that the environment in which a person is found does not fully determine the behavior of a person. It is all depended on attitude.  The theory concerned with planned behavior is a speculation that relates the behavior of a person to the attitudes they have towards what they encounter (Ajzen  Fishbein, 1980).

The theory of planned behavior was established to develop the theory of reasoned action. As provided in the theory of reasoned action, if a proposed conduct is taken positive which depends on attitude, as well as if people perceive that others want them to act that way which is termed as being subjective, the people will be motivated to behave in that manner. The theory of reasoned action relates attitudes and norms of subjection to the intentions in behavior and general conduct (Ajzen  Fishbein, 1980).

The argument opposed to the reasoned action theory states that the intentions in behavior at all times leads to the real behavior which is as a result of limitations circumstantially. The theory through planned behavior refutes this notion of the strong relationship of actual conduct and the behavioral intentions. The theory about planned behavior has made developments on the theory of reasoned action by adding on to it another aspect of alleged control of behavior. Therefore, what a person likes most will always determine their purpose of behavior and consequently the real behavior (Blakeslee, 1997).

A normative belief is the perception of a person concerning a certain behavior which is depended upon the ruling of significant people in the persons life. Such people may be parents, peers, teachers and the like. A subjective norm on the other hand is the perception of the person concerning pressures of social norms or pertinent to other peoples convictions of whether the person should do a certain behavior or not.

Personal Efficacy
Personal efficacy simply refers to the things that a person considers to be most appropriate. While attitudes as well as subjective norms constitute the Reasoned Action theory, the Planned Behavior theory incorporates the idea of assumed control in behavior. This is found from the basis of personal efficacy. The behavioral actions are therefore determined by the way a persons expectations of performance, feelings and motivation of frustration are linked to recurrent failures. The expectations are of two types personal efficacy and expectancy of consequences or outcome (Ajzen, Timko,  White, 1982).

Self or personal efficacy is the confidence showing that a person can effectively perform a needed behavior to give out the outcomes. On the other hand, the outcome expectancy is an individuals estimation of the consequences that a particular behavior will produce. For change of behavior, personal efficacy is the paramount precondition as it determines the start of coping conduct behavior. This is the attitude that will be most effective in determining the behavioral change. In most cases, the behavior of a person is entirely dependent by the confidence a person has to be in a position to perform it (Blakeslee, 1997).

The attitude therefore an individual has towards behavior is the negative or positive analysis of personal ability to perform that specific behavior. Attitude is therefore the level to which the behavior performance is valued either negatively or positively. Attitude is entirely influenced by the total sum of the behavioral beliefs accessible connecting the conduct of behavior to several consequences or outcomes as well as other attributes. Behavior in individuals takes the concept of influence on social grounds. The assessment of this influence is done through social norm as well as normative conviction in the theories of both planned behavior and reasoned action.

The persons elaborative thoughts about the subjective norms as described by the reasoned action theory are the insights on if the society expects them to conduct themselves that way (Blakeslee, 1997).  For instance, the subjective customs coming from people of the same age in a smoking scenario would involve thoughts like, many of my close associates smoke others could be heard saying, I am not comfortable smoking before non smokers, from a family background, if all the members of the family are found to be smokers, then the individual would take it as though it was natural to smoke. If the entire society does not stand in support of smoking, there is a likelihood that a conception would be held that nobody smokes.

The theory on planned behavior takes influence like normative belief as well as social norm from the social setting on variables of social culture. From this perception, the behavior of a person may be influenced by networks of social organization. For example, on matters related to health, a person may choose to use a condom for safe sex due to peer pressure. People may also start smoking in the work place because they feel they are an outcast amongst quite a number that is smoking. Therefore, the theory on planned behavior brings clearly the idea of perceived control of behavior (Ajzen et al., 1982).

Therefore the attitude towards a certain behavior will not really depend on the action of reasoning in a free world. The behavior of a person will emerge after weighing the available options which is the perceived control exercised over the behaviors in the environment where an individual spends. Reasoned action depends on behavioral belief the persons conviction on the consequences of a specific behavior. This is not the case with planned behavior individuals will take to certain behaviors without really taking into consideration what would be the consequences there of. They might as well tend to perform a certain behavior knowing the possible outcome which they may not necessarily have to like but because of social influence, they may be found doing it (Ajzen  Fishbein, 1980).

For instance, a young lady may be forced due to enticement from peer groups to go on sleeping around with men not because she wants but she may think that if my friends are doing it, it seems to be good. Her behavior is not as a result of taking careful consideration of the consequences that may arise but is due the attitude she has towards the behavior of her peers. Her perceived ease of behaving in that manner has been determined by these control beliefs. The control beliefs here have the meaning that her beliefs concerning the presence of her peers who have influenced the action (Blakeslee, 1997).

Conclusion
There are therefore a lot of similarities between the attitude of an individual towards a given behavior from both perspectives of planned behavior and reasoned action. This is because the theory based on planned behavior seems to be a development of the theory based on reasoned action. They both seem to be influenced through the social organizations. It looks like all behaviors are learnt. The attitude towards behavior as described using the theory on planned behavior brings out the idea of a person being subjected to a certain behavior.

The theory has found much application than that of reasoned action as a crucial tool of establishing peoples behavior. It covers the reason for peoples choice of behavior which is not covered in the theory on reasoned action. This has been evident in the way the fields of nutrition and healthcare have found more efficacious to use when carrying out studies through research. Factors influencing health issues of obesity can easily be determined through this theory according to these studies (Ajzen et al., 1982).