Influencing future behavior by priming past behavior: A test in the context of petrified forest national park

Several researchers have argued that intentions to perform behaviors can be predicted not only from attitudes and subjective norms as Fishbein suggested, but also from previous behaviors. It has been argued further that the path from previous behavior to future intention is independent of attitude and subjective norm. This has never been demonstrated experimentally, however only through correlational paradigms. In addition, the reason for the relationship between previous behavior and future intention has not been determined, thereby leading some researchers to conclude that including previous behavior in a causal model of behavior has no explanatory value. Four hypotheses are presented that potentially are capable of accounting for the role of previous behavior. We argue that there is considerable support in the literature for three of them but not for the fourth-a hypothesis that previous behavior provides a cognitive prime for future intentions. The unique contribution of this hypothesis, the priming hypothesis, is demonstrated experimentally, thus adding to our understanding of the process by which previous behavior affects intentions to behave similarly in the future. © 1999 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.