5. Cognitive dissonance processes Flashcards
What do consistency theories believe? (Dissonance Social)
Beliefs, attitudes, values and mental representations are mutually interdependent parts of the system, that tends toward a state of harmony
What is balance theory? (Dissonance Social)
Theory of attitude change, where cognitive consistency motive is a drive toward psychological balance
What is Festinger (1957) cognitive dissonance theory? (Dissonance Social)
- When cognitive elements do not fit together, they stand in a dissonant relationship
- Dissonance leads to pressures to reduce the aversive state
What changes are needed to reduce the dissonance/conflict? (Dissonance Social)
- Change to attitude
- Change to behavior
- Addition of constant elements
What were Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) procedures? (Dissonance Social)
- P’s asked to tell the next new P that they will really enjoy the task ($1 or $20 given to persuade)
- Original P’s complete questionnaire on how much they actually enjoyed the task
What did Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) find? (Dissonance Social)
- Those who were paid $1 significantly enjoyed the task more than those who were paid $20
- $20 condition = a small lie is justified (no dissonance, no attitude change)
- $1 condition = a small lie for $1 is not justified (dissonance and attitude change)
What were Zimbardo et al (1965) procedures and what did he find? (Dissonance Social)
- Experimenter was either cold/hostile or warm/bubbly
- P’s induced to eat a grasshopper
- Those in the cold condition were more in favor of eating the grasshopper
What are the main factors in the dissonance process? (Dissonance Social)
- Freedom of choice
- Commitment
- Aversive consequences
What is self concept involvement? (Dissonance Social)
The idea that dissonance arises when there is a threat to peoples self esteem/self-concept
What is impression management? (Dissonance Social)
When people state something to create an impression of consistency between attitude and behaviour (even though it may not be true)
What is self-perception theory? (Dissonance Social)
The idea that people infer their attitudes from their own behaviour
What were Zanna & Cooper (1974) procedures? (Dissonance Social)
- P’s given a placebo drugs and side effect information
- Choice or no choice in taking part in filler task
- Filler task of counter-attitudinal essay
What did Zanna & Cooper (1974) find? (Dissonance Social)
- Choice group report high levels of tension
- No choice report low levels of tension
What were Stone (1994) procedures? (Dissonance Social)
- 2x2 design (commitment or no commitment and mindful or not mindful
- Commitment condition = make video advocating condom use for high school students
- Mindful condition = list past failures to use condoms
- DV = condom purchase and intention for future use
What did Stone (1994) find? (Dissonance Social)
- No commitment/not mindful condition brought significantly more condoms than any other condition
- Hippocracy condition therefore bought about the most amount of change
