How are expectancies and values cognitively combined to determine behavioral intentions? The role of expectancy‐value theory, information integration and behavioral outcomes in dietary intentions

Abstract

The expectancy-value (EV) framework is among the most prominent psychological approaches to predicting behavioral intentions. However, how expectancies and values are cognitively integrated (e.g., multiplicatively, additively or averaging) to produce intentions has yet to be tested. This research combined EV and Information Integration Theory methodologies to identify how EV integration determined dietary intentions among 80 participants (Mean age = 19.4 years, 61 females). Participants were presented with scenarios depicting three potential outcomes of junk-food consumption (weight gain, increased disease risk, and time savings). Expectancies (no information/low/medium/high) were varied within-subjects, and between-subject values were trichotomized for each outcome. Participants indicated their dietary intentions in this 3Â4 mixed design for all three outcomes. Expectancies and values were integrated additively to produce dietary intentions in the context of weight gain and disease-risk, but the integration rule for time savings could not be determined.Theoretical implications and practical applications of these results are also discussed.