AIDSQuest: The HIV/AIDS Survey Library
Behavioral and Social Theories Commonly Used
in HIV Research

K. Theory of Reasoned Action

The Theory of Reasoned Action, advanced in the mid-1960s by Fishbein and Ajzen, is based on the assumptions that human beings are usually quite rational and make systematic use of the information available to them and that people consider the implications of their actions in a given context at a given time before they decide to engage or not engage in a given behavior. The Theory of Reasoned Action is conceptually similar to the Health Belief Model but adds the construct of behavioral intention as a determinant of health behavior. Both theories focus on perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, and constraints to changing behavior. The Theory of Reasoned Action specifically focuses on the role of personal intention in determining whether a behavior will occur. A person’s intention is a function of two basic determinants:

1. Attitude (toward the behavior), and

2. "Subjective norms," that is, social influence.

Normative beliefs play a central role in the theory, which generally focus on what an individual believes other people, especially influential people, would expect him/her to do. For example, for a person to start using condoms, his/her attitude might be “having sex with condoms is just as good as having sex without condoms” and subjective norms (or the normative belief) could be “most of my peers are using condoms, they would expect me to do so as well.” Interventions using this theory to guide activities focus on attitudes about risk-reduction, response to social norms, and intentions to change risky behaviors.

Over time it became clear that it was important to consider whether a behavior is under a person’s control or not, and the construct of perceived control was added to the theory.

Much of this information was obtained from Karusa Kiragu and Julie Pulerwitz, "Application of behavior change theory to HIV programs: Lessons learned from operations research at Horizons," unpublished manuscript, with some input from Rachel King's "Sexual behavioral change for HIV: Where have theories taken us?" June 1999.