The Importance of Risk in Determining the Extent to Which Attitudes Affect Intentions to Wear Seat Belts1

Stasson and Fishbein (1990) reported findings indicating that college students' intentions to wear seat belts in low‐risk situations were attitudinally controlled, while their intentions to wear seat belts in high‐risk situations were normatively controlled. If these findings are valid, manipulations of attitude (toward wearing a seat belt) should have a greater impact on intentions to wear a seat belt in a safe situation than on intentions to wear a seat belt in a risky situation. Three experiments provided strong support for this hypothesis. The implications of these findings for defining behavior and for designing interventions to increase seat‐belt use are discussed.