The Gap Between Intention and Action (Theory of Planned Behavior) | EP 112

A student inside the Health Mindset Coaching Certification asked Dr. Kasey Jo Orvidas a simple question: why isn't the theory of planned behavior taught in HMCC? Her answer gets into the intention-behavior gap, the academic debate over one of psychology's most cited theories, and why she teaches something different instead.

In this episode, she covers:

• Why the theory of planned behavior doesn't show up inside HMCC, even though its three components (attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) are worth understanding
• The intention-behavior gap, and why a big shift in intention rarely produces a big shift in actual behavior
• The academic debate over whether it's "time to retire the theory of planned behavior," and how the original researcher responded
• Why perceived behavioral control is really just self-efficacy, and how that shows up throughout HMCC
• The behavior change theories she teaches instead, from the transtheoretical model to self-determination theory
• If-then planning as one simple, research-backed tool for closing the gap between intention and action
• What to do the next time a client says "I know what to do, I just don't do it"

If you've ever had a client say they know exactly what they should be doing and just aren't doing it, this episode is for you.

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Sources:

• McEachan et al. (2011)
• Sniehotta et al. (2014)
• Ajzen's rebuttal (2015)

Transcript

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your clients don't have an intention problem, and I think you can probably agree with me on that. They're intending to change. They're intending to go to the gym, to meal prep to get in their steps every day, to take better care of themselves. They're intending to do those things. The problem is there's a gap between the intention to do those things and actually doing those things. Hello my friends, and welcome back to not another Mindset show. I'm your host, Dr. Casey Joe. My goal with this podcast is to take the science of mindset and behavior change and distill it down into actionable takeaways for you. Together we're gonna unpack research around motivations, self-sabotage, willpower, and so much more, and we're going to take all of that and translate it into strategies you can immediately apply to your health. Fitness, relationships, business, marketing clients, all of the things. But just to be clear, it's not all serious and sciencey around here. We're gonna have a ton of fun too, and I'm so excited to share all of this with you. All right, let's go ahead and get into the episode. Hello, hello, my friends. Welcome back to not another mindset show. Today's episode sponsored by is actually kind of sponsored… I mean, not sponsored by anyone. You guys know I don't make any money, at least for the time being. I shouldn't keep saying that, 'cause it's like I would love to have someone come and sponsor the podcast, like someone, like, really cool, but I don't wanna, like, litter you with ads or anything, okay? Don't, don't worry about that. but would be, like, really cool if the show could make some money in all of the time that I'm spending on these outlines and reading research and sitting in front of the camera and setting up all the lights. You know, something came from that right away. But such is business ownership. You do a lot. You do a lot of stuff without getting paid right away. So anyway, that's not what I'm here to talk about. But sponsored by a question from one of my students, and I love when I get these ideas that come directly from you guys, which by the way, there is a Q&A form in the show notes of every single episode. So if there's ever anything you want me to touch on… And listen, not a lot of people actually use that Q&A form. So if you're thinking like, "Uh, if I put it in there, Casey probably won't choose it. There's probably so many," there isn't, and I probably will choose it. So please help me out and toss your questions in there when you have them. But it is student ask specifically, like n- I love my students because they're just like the nerds and, like, just kind- of just wanna keep learning and better understanding things. Like, I know that's you too because you're listening to the podcast and in general, if you clicked on this episode that literally s- talks about the theory of planned behavior, then you're definitely a little bit nerdy. W- And, and I love that. Thank you for being here, and thank you for nerding out with me. So she asked specifically why the theory of planned behavior was not directly discussed inside the Health Mindset Coaching Certification, which is my signature program for health and fitness professionals. She's a student in that program. She said that it was a main theory that was highlighted in one of her other nutrition certifications that had, like, a, a short behavior change module, which is- Exactly why the Health Mindset Coaching Certification exists, because what do you mean you're supposed to just learn about nutrition and exercise, and then just go build a plan for your clients, and they're supposed to just follow it? Obviously, that's not how it goes, that's why HMCC exists. So man, I'm being a little tangential today. Casey, get it together. So I want to talk about the theory of planned behavior, and I wanna talk about why it's not included in HMCC, but also just the things that you can still take away from this theory, because it's not like it is… I didn't not include it because I think it's the worst thing in the world, and it's not actually gonna help you or is, it's meaningless, right? But in HMCC, we cover a lot of different behavior change theories and frameworks, so you can better understand what the longstanding science longstanding science has kind of come together to say. This is why people are motivated, why they're not. This is what helps them change, what doesn't, what gets in the way, things you need to understand. so we include a bunch of them, and ultimately with, yeah, the idea of trying to identify why your clients aren't actually sticking to the plan, they struggle with consistency, and what the heck to do about it. So, and I'm not just out here… As you can see, like I do on the podcast, we have fun. We make science fun and immediately applicable. So it's not just, let me teach you about this behavior change theory and then, like, good luck using this in your coaching. No, it's not that, and that's not what I do ever, right? That's why, that's why I'm here. But the theory of planned behavior Giving you just, like, a quick rundown to even understand what it is, and that will help you then understand why it's not included. It's based on the idea that action is directly driven by intention. So intention to do something drives actually doing it. And those intentions to do something, to want to do something, to desire to do something, to decide I'm gonna do this, those intentions, they, based on the theory of planned behavior, come from three different components, three main components. The first one is attitudes. So this is, like, the positive or negative evaluation of doing this behavior. Like exercise is something that's going to make me feel healthier and happier and more energized. That would be a positive attitude about the behavior. Then we have subjective norms, and this mainly has to do with the social pressures that are around. So I'm making the intention to start exercising more because I feel like I have to do it because my husband is doing it all the time. Like, that would be social pressures to do the thing. And then lastly, number three, we have perceived behavioral control, and this is kind of… This is, like, a hallmark piece of the theory of planned behavior. Perceived behavioral control. Why is that word so hard for me to say? This is the belief about how easy or difficult it is to actually do the behavior, and this can have to do with things like skill set, knowledge, but also can be more external things like resources, money, support, things like that. And again, those three things, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. control. Slowing it down that time. Those three things feed into what makes you decide on an intention And then the intention is supposed to predict the behavior. Which all of this makes intuitive sense, right? Like, I think we're all sitting here thinking, of course your attitudes about something and social pressure and how much control you feel over the behavior, if it, how difficult or how easy it is, of course all of those things are important when we're talking about behavior change and following through on something and being successful in your goals. Of course. Like, intuitively, this all, this all hits. But where it breaks down, the core issue is not that the theory of planned behavior is wrong, and I'm not gonna sit here and argue and tell you that this theory does not matter. Like we just talked about, those three components and someone's intentions to do things, like, those things do matter. But the truth is, intention does not reliably predict behavior. And I think we also all know that very well. How many times have you had the best intentions to do something And you didn't actually end up doing it. So can we really put so much weight on this idea that intention drives behavior? So that gap between intending to do something and actually doing it, it has a name, and it is called the intention behavior gap. Really creative with that one. And it's really, really well documented. This is, this is something we talk about a lot in the certification, is how to bridge the gap between your clients intending to do things, wanting to do things, telling you they want to do this, and then actually how do we get them to build the bridge to actually doing that behavior again and again and again? So findings suggest a medium to large shift in intention often only produces a small to medium shift in actual behavior. So that's what I'm talking about, the intention behavior gap. It is well documented. It, This is something that is known. There is also, guys, there is drama in the academic space around the theory of planned behavior. And I'll say first, the reason this theory is not highlighted in HMCC is for the intention behavior gap reason. That's one reason. Second reason is me knowing about this academic drama, surrounding the theory of planned behavior. And I'm like, "You know, I have a lot of other theories and frameworks that I'm teaching to students, and so much stuff in HMCC, and these components of the theory of planned behavior are really taught in HMCC in different ways," which we'll get into. But then, yeah, there's, like, this fight going on, and I'm just like, "You know, it does- we do not need to push this into HMCC on top of everything else that's already in there." So this, this academic fight, this academic drama, there is actually a, a paper from 2014, and this is the one that I came across, and I, then I read the rebuttal and everything, and I was like, "You know what? Eh, I'm not sure we need it." But there's this paper. It's literally titled Time to Retire the Theory of Planned Behavior. And Ajzen is is guy who created the theory of planned behavior. He was the one who wrote the rebuttal saying that it is alive and well And that's, that's great. Like, this is, this is research, this is science, this is, "Hey, I found this thing and developed this thing based on all of this research," and someone else goes and says, "Hey, here's how I'm gonna poke holes in it," and then they have discussion about it and publish papers. It's like instead of a Reddit thread of people arguing, it's just like they're publishing these papers to go against each other. so I'm not telling you that the theory of planned behavior is debunked and we shouldn't care about it, but I am telling you that it is contested. Whereas a lot of the other theories that I am including in HMCC, and all of them, do not have this kind of like drama going on. So the parts that matters for you here is that the findings from the theory of planned behavior specifically, they are really good at these findings, like they're really good at short-term behavior change rather than long-term sustained behavior change, which is another point I'm trying to make here. Because long-term behavior change is literally what we're trying to do, what we're trying to support our clients with. So seeing that, it's kind of like, okay, there's a lot going on with this thing, and we got a lot going on in HMCC already, so I probably don't need to, yeah, find a way to shove this in there. And perceived behavioral control, that's that one component, pretty strong component, in the three components that predict intentions which then predict behavior according to this theory. It's basically self-efficacy. Like how hard, how difficult you believe something is going to be and whether or not you can continue to be consistent with it and stick with it through even obstacles and challenges. Like, that's self-efficacy, and that sounds so much to me like perceived behavioral control, which is that component of this model. So self-efficacy, girl, we, we talk about self-efficacy constantly in HMCC because it is such a core component of behavior change. So, like, that's already kind of baked into HMCC anyway. And instead of stacking on yet another theory into HMCC whose weak spot is long-term sustained behavior change- Instead, in HMCC, we will focus on things like, the trans theoretical model, stages of change, so identifying how ready someone is to actually take action and identifying those stages and how to speak to people at different stages. We talk about… What other one could I mention here? Of course, self-determination theory, which is all about motivation, different types of motivation, quality of motivation, and that ultimately it's not really about having more motivation, it's about helping your clients build more of the right type of motivation. Talk about that one. Of course, we get into implicit theory, which is when we're talking about mindset stuff like growth versus fixed mindset and how your beliefs make a really big difference of whether or not you can actually be successful, how to build resilience through a growth mindset, all that good stuff. So each one of those things, like we're talking about motivation, and I also talk about social cognitive theory, which has pieces of like your social environment in it, as does the health belief model that I talk about. So basically what I'm doing right here is saying that this theory has a lot of stuff in it that I feel like is important, but because of the intention-behavior gap, because the theory itself is contested, I went a different direction and instead am teaching you a lot of other things. So really at the end of the day, your clients, your clients don't have an intention problem, and I think you can probably agree with me on that. They're intending to change. They're intending to go to the gym, to meal prep to get in their steps every day, to take better care of themselves. They're intending to do those things. The problem is there's a gap between the intention to do those things and actually doing those things. that's the biggest thing here. So something that is useful to help bridge that gap between intention and behavior, I mean, there are so many tools and strategies and things you can do. I mean, I quite literally, again, I'm really not trying to spend this whole episode, like, talking about HMCC and selling you on it, but listen, I believe in it, okay? Obviously. there are so many things, and I teach so many things in HMCC for building the bridge for that gap from intention to behavior with your clients. And one thing that I have mentioned on the pod before, it's one of my students', like, favorite thing, is if-then planning. And it's so simple, but really does work so well, and the research really supports it, too. So e- an example would be, like, if it's a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday at 6:00 AM, then I will put on my workout clothes before I check my phone. Like, this is, like, working on exercise behavior consistency, and this is just, like, one small little tool that you can help your clients with. The goal is not that you are writing these if-then plans, these if-then statements for your clients, but you're encouraging them to write those. If this happens, then I will do that. And this is part of, like, the theory of planned behavior that's never addressed. Like, what if we can't get from the intention to the behavior? Like, of course, intentions are required in order to act, but we can't fully rely on that, that, like, that's the primary driver. So it explains why someone forms an intention, but not necessarily what makes that intention turn into action, and something like if-then planning, that's just one small little thing, can actually do that, and that's what I choose to teach inside HMCC. That's what I… It's like, it needs to be applicable and actually help you guys. okay. So with that said, what else do I have for you here? Next time you have a client, I think we can, we can wrap up here. Next time you have a client who says something like, "I know what I wanna do, I know what I'm supposed to do, I know what I should do, I know what to do, I just don't do it," that is the intention-behavior gap being on display in front of you with this client, and it's happening in real time. Your goal as the coach is not to jump to assuming that your client is lazy or they don't want it bad enough or they just don't have any motivation. It's not gonna get you anywhere. And don't immediately jump to just, like, providing them with more education or trying to get them… convince them why they should do it. And please don't just, like, keep throwing solutions at them and expecting them to suddenly find one that's just going to be the miracle solution. Instead, work with them to figure out what barriers are at play. What's breaking the spots on the bridge, making parts of the bridge crumble? W- the way I often talk about it, and I talked about this in bootcamp, for those of you who were there, that there's a follow-through chain that we're kind of looking at, and if there's a link broken in the follow-through chain, your goal as the coach is to figure out what link is broken, and then of course help them fuse it back together so they can continue to follow through. So yeah, we want to help them uncover things that are working well, things that do go well, their strengths, and, and learn to leverage that stuff. Ask more questions, and just truly keep this in mind, keep this in mind. Seek to understand before you jump to solutions and strategies. Seek to understand first. What questions can you ask? How can, how can you better understand your client's internal and external world to give you the information as to why the bridge from intention to action has, has crumbles, has cracks in it, or maybe there's no bridge at all, right? And my HMCC students, y'all know all of this already. You, you know how to help people do that. But wanted to give you a little bit of, like, something you could think about, and I also just was just like, "Oh, yeah, I, I could talk about the theory of planned behavior on the podcast." It's not in HMCC, but, like, it also explain why. and maybe that just gave you a little insight into how I think about things and how I structured the course. And let me tell you, I did consider what theories, like, main theories I wanted to teach. I mean, there's so many out there, guys, but the main ones that I wanted to teach and keep in HMCC, I revised, or revisited those rather, when I redid the entire course ear- earlier this year. 125 hours of work, mind you. Whew. Um, that was a doozy. Would rather not do that again for a long time. But I revisited everything and went through everything, was like, "Is this still how I want to teach things and go about things?" And I did make some changes to a lot of stuff in the program and made it even better, especially now that we have a lot more research available in certain areas. But okay, I'm just sitting here yapping with you now because I'm procrastinating the fact that I have to go to the gym after this. Okay, we're leaving it there. I appreciate you so much for being here, so much. Thank you. I know I was complaining at the beginning of the episode, like, how much time this takes, but I have, I have so much fun with this. Truly, if I could just teach on calls for HMCC, work with students, speak about this stuff, sit in front of this podcast podcast mic and camera, and that was all I had to do, those three things, I would be living the dream. I already am. I'm already living the dream. I already get to do all those things. It's just the problem is I have so many, many, many other things that I also have to do. So look, I'm still doing it. I'm procrastiyapping. Okay, I'm done. Thank you for being here. Thank you for giving me a place to do what I love. I appreciate you, and I'll see you next week And that's a wrap for today's episode of Not another Mindset show. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you get notified of the next one. Because if you're anything like me, if the episodes aren't popping up for you automatically, you'll keep forgetting to come back to the show even if you really, really enjoyed it. So go ahead and hit that subscribe button and make it super easy for you and of course. If you wanna see more episodes just like this one, I'd love for you to let me know by leaving a review. I know, I know it's super annoying to do, but the few seconds that it takes means the world to me and also ensures that I can keep providing free education and value to you. And just to sweeten the deal, I am going to be picking a random reviewer every single month to receive a free workshop or product from me. If you're looking for more free resources or just wanna connect, hang out, chat a little bit, come find me on Instagram. I'm Coach Casey, Joe over there. That is where I hang out the most in the land of social media. Alright, my friends, that is all I have for you this time. I so appreciate you being here and love to see you prioritizing your growth. I'll see you next time.