It's fitting that my first contribution to the new "Behaviors & Attitudes" column addresses the age-old question: Which comes first- attitude or behavior? Actually, the more practical question is which one should be targeted first for change? Education typically addresses "attitude," or internal and subjective dimensions of people, by attempting to "think people into acting differently."
Training programs focus on behavior. Through role-play exercises and behavioral feedback, people practice desired target behaviors. Here, the attempt is to "act people into thinking differently." It's presumed that if people act in a certain way, they will adjust their internal intentions, beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes to be consistent with their behaviors.