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On Weakening the Strongest Link: Attributions and Intervention Strategies for Behavior Change

University of California, Davis, jtjohnson{at}ucdavis.edu

Participants read vignettes in which two mental antecedents (e.g., two motivations, emotions, or attitudes) generally co-occurred with a behavior. When the behavior was undesirable, they believed that the more typical antecedent represented the stronger subjective experience of the target person. They also recommended that greater modification effort be directed toward the typical antecedent (Study 1) and believed that modifying it would be more effective in reducing the behavior (Study 2). Their responses violated the covariation rule and constituted endorsement of a "weaken the strongest link" strategy of behavior change. When the objective was to strengthen a causal chain to facilitate a desirable behavior, in contrast, participants indicated that they would strengthen the weakest link by modifying the atypical antecedent. Results suggest that both attributions and intervention strategies may be affected by intervention goal.

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