Thursday 23 July 08:15
- 09:45
Hall: 05 - Ottagonale
Chair and Presenter:
Keech Jacob
Division: Division 8: Health Psychology
Changing health-related behaviour requires identification of behavioural determinants, and the
development of interventions targeting these determinants and the mechanisms accompanying
them. Decades of research has demonstrated the ability of various prototypical social cognition
models such as the theory of planned behaviour, in explaining health behaviour. However, these
models have inherent limitations, which may be overcome through consideration of other
constructs. To realise the benefits of such complementary perspectives, researchers have more
recently sort to combine constructs and mechanisms into integrated theoretical models to explain
behaviour. Such models may include constructs such as attitudes, norms, self-efficacy, and self
determined motivation which may underpin motivated reasoned actions; volitional constructs such
as planning and action control; and constructs such as behavioural automaticity, habits, and
implicit social cognition which may underpin non-conscious processes. Such comprehensive
integrated approaches are well-suited to understanding the determinants of behaviours which
have been traditionally considered difficult to change, such as physical activity, swimming-related
behaviours, and behaviours used in the context of coping with stress. This symposium will
showcase synthesised research and empirical studies from Australia, Asia, Canada, and the USA
which highlight the range of processes likely to impact behaviour through advances in the
application of integrated models and theories.
