Abstract

The theory of trying was applied to studying behavior domain among under-graduate students. The theory conceptualizes attitudes as distinct constructs: attitudes toward success, toward failure, and toward the process; expectations of success and failure are also included and are expected to interact with attitudes to predict intentions. Moreover, the theory includes effects of recency and frequency of past behavior. In the present study the predictive power of the theory and relationships among the global attitude construct and the attitude constructs proposed by the TT were investigated. A sample of 259 undergraduate students provided measures of attitude variables, subjective norms, and intentions with respect to studying behavior. About half of the subjects was contacted to obtain a measure of studying behavior one week later, and 109 collaborated. Confirmatory factor analysis showed good levels of convergent and discriminant validity for TT variables. Intentions and behavior were satisfactory predicted within the TT (R 2 equal to .52 and .46, respectively). Results were better than those obtained considering the theory of planned behavior. Nevertheless, the role of the global attitude construct is not completely subsumed by the attitude conceptualization proposed within the TT. The theoretical relevance of the TT is discussed as well as some research issues deserving further investigations.