The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), introduced by Ajzen and Fishbein in 1975, is a way to explain why people decide to do certain things. It says that when someone decides to do something, it’s because they have thought about it and made a choice. TRA helps us understand how people make choices and why they do certain things (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1975; Ajzen, 1985).
TRA has two main factors that influence this decision: what someone believes about the thing they want to do and what other people think about it. These beliefs and evaluations are called attitudes, and the way other people think about it is called social norms (Storm, 2019).
TRA says that these attitudes and social norms determine how likely someone is to decide to do something. This decision is called intention, and it’s the immediate reason someone will go ahead and do the thing (Storm, 2019) For example, if someone thinks exercising is important and their friends and family also think so, they’re more likely to decide to exercise.
Ajzen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J. Kuhl, & J. Beckmann (Eds.), Action control: From cognition to behavior (pp. 1139). Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag.
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Storm, V. (2019). In D. Hackfort, R. J. Schinke, & B. Strauss (Eds.), Dictionary of sport psychology: Sport, exercise, and performing arts. Academic Press.
