"In the 1960s and 70s, researchers showed that while people's actions are heavily influenced by the context around them, we tend to explain behavior by focusing on internal traits. This tendency, for example, to say someone was rude because they are a rude person, rather than because they were in a stressful situation, is called the Fundamental Attribution Error. We pay less attention to the context and attribute behavior to the content of a person's character."
"We also learned something else: that changing behavior can lead to changes in attitude. If you start recycling because it's required in your building, over time, you may come to believe it's morally important. This runs counter to our intuition that beliefs come first and behaviors follow. But the evidence, especially from research on cognitive dissonance, shows that behavior change can, and often does, lead to lasting attitude changes."
Behavior is a product of both the person and the environment. Research documents that people often attribute actions to internal traits rather than situational context, a pattern known as the Fundamental Attribution Error. Changing behavior can produce changes in attitude; mandated practices can lead people to adopt corresponding beliefs, consistent with cognitive dissonance findings. Many individuals value internal willpower and personal responsibility and therefore view externally imposed strategies as less legitimate. Those moral intuitions generate resistance to effective external behavior tools. Designing effective interventions requires identifying violated values and aligning or reframing strategies to respect them.
Read at Psychology Today
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