Q. I'm trying to find works in psychology that focus on effects of behavior Vs. Intent

Hello,

In the PsycInfo database, there are thousands of articles on intention with behavior. The PsycInfo database is available on the library's top database list at http://libguides.unomaha.edu/topdatabases

To make your search more precise, change the "Select A Field" option at the end of the first search lines to "SU Subject" - this will ensure that the article will be about the subject and not just have the word in it somewhere.

Also, instead of the word "intent" use "intention" - the database prefers that.  So your search would like

first line - intention (SU Subject)

second line - behavior (SU Subject)

This will return those thousands of search results that I wrote about above.  You can narrow that by being specific about the type of behavior.  You can do that in one of two ways

1.  Use the link for the Thesaurus at the top of the page to search for the different types of behavior.  When you click on the word behavior in the returned list, you'll see a list of types of behavior.  Notice that some of the types have a plus symbol next to them.  That means they have additional types of behavior underneath those links.  For instance, you don't see "aggressive behavior" on the first list because it is under the broader term of "social behavior" - you can then use these phrases for specific types of behavior in your search on the second line.

OR

2.  You can add the situation for the behavior or intention on the third search line.  For instance, the workplace, classroom, family, Internet might be the context for the behavior.  I wouldn't change the "Select a Field" on the third line.  Leave it as it is so you'll have a little flexibility with this concept.  The precision really needs to come from "intention" and "behavior"

Also, the research on this goes back a long way, so you will probably want to adjust the date.  There is an option to do that on the opening screen.  Or you can adjust it after you see the results with the scroll bar on the left side of the results page.

If you need more assistance, please feel free to contact me at mcast@unomaha.edu

Regards,

Melissa