Chapter 6 Flashcards
Heaven’s Gate Cult (1 of 2)
Believed that a space ship was coming to transport them
Needed to rid selves of “current containers” (own body)
Spaceship failed to appear behind Hale-Bopp Comet
Continued with plan anyway
Mass suicide
What is the process by which intelligent, sane people can succumb to such fantastic thinking and self-destructive behavior?
Cognitive dissonance:
Discomfort that people feel when two cognitions (beliefs, attitudes) conflict, or when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their conception of themselves
When Cognitions Conflict
Important and provocative social psychological theory
Threats to self-image
Induces powerful, upsetting dissonance
Three Ways to Reduce Dissonance
Change behavior
Justify behavior by changing one of the dissonant cognitions
Justify behavior by adding new cognitions
Teen Cognitions for Smoking
Teenagers who smoke usually justify their actions with such cognitions as “Smoking is cool”; “I want to be like my friends”; “In movies, everyone smokes”; “I’m healthy, nothing is going to happen to me”; or “Adults are always on my back about stuff I do.”
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
Every time we make a decision, we experience dissonance.
Chosen alternative has some negative aspects
Rejected alternative has some positive aspects
The College Decision
Life is full of tough choices, like where to attend college. Once we make a decision, we often inflate the importance of positive aspects of our choice (i.e., the college we selected) and minimize the positive aspects of the other alternatives (i.e., the colleges we didn’t select).
Distorting Our Likes and Dislikes
(1 of 2)
Distort likes and dislikes
Downplay
Negative aspects of chosen alternative
Positive aspects of rejected alternative
Postdecision dissonance
Dissonance aroused after making a decision, typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives
The Permanence of the Decision
More important decisions = more dissonance
Greater permanence = more dissonance
Permanence of decision
How difficult it is to revoke
Buying a New Car: What Postdecision Effect?
All sales are final. When will these customers be happier with their new car: ten minutes before the purchase or ten minutes after?
Creating the Illusion of Irrevocability
(1 of 2)
When decisions are permanent (irrevocable)
Dissonance increases
Motivation to reduce dissonance increases
Lowballing:
Salesperson induces a customer to agree to purchase a product at a very low cost, subsequently claims it was an error, and then raises the price.
Frequently, the customer will agree to make the purchase at the inflated price.
Three Reasons Lowballing Works
- Sense of commitment
- Sense of commitment triggers the anticipation of an exciting event
- Price only slightly higher than other prices elsewhere
Justification of effort:
The tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain
External justification:
A reason or an explanation for dissonant personal behavior that resides outside the individual (e.g., to receive a large reward or avoid a severe punishment)
Internal justification:
The reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself (e.g., one’s attitude or behavior)
Counterattitudinal Advocacy
Stating an opinion or attitude that runs counter to one’s private belief or attitude
Justifying Good Deeds and Harmful Acts
Dissonance theory predicts that when we
dislike someone, if we do them a favor, we
will like them more.
Behavior is dissonant with attitude
Change attitude about person to resolve dissonance
“The Ben Franklin effect”
The Ben Franklin Effect
Without realizing it, Ben Franklin may have been the first dissonance theorist.
Moral dilemmas
Implications for self-esteem
Dissonance reduction
People may behave either more ethically or
less ethically in the future
If threat of punishment for engaging in a
forbidden behavior is severe
There is sufficient external justification for
refraining from behavior
If punishment is less severe
–There is insufficient external justification
–Creates greater need for internal justification
▪Change attitudes via self-persuasio
Insufficient punishment:
The dissonance aroused when individuals
lack sufficient external justification for having
resisted a desired activity or object, usually
resulting in individuals’ devaluing the
forbidden activity or object
*When external justification for resisting an
object or activity is insufficient
–Dissonance is aroused
–Reduce dissonance by
▪Self-persuasion
–e.g., devaluing forbidden activity or object
The Lasting Effects of Self-Persuasion
Aronson and Carlsmith 1963 study:
Children rated the attractiveness of toys,
then were forbidden to play with toy they
found most attractive.
IV = Severity of threatened punishment
–½ children: Threat of mild punishment if they
disobeyed and played with toy
–½ children: Threat of severe punishment
*DV = rating of toy attractiveness
The Lasting Effects of Self-Persuasion
*Threat of severe punishment
–Forbidden toy remained highly attractive
▪No change in attitude
▪Had sufficient external justification for resisting toy
The Lasting Effects of Self-Persuasion
Threat of mild punishment
–Forbidden toy was rated as less attractive
–External justification was insufficient
–Resolved dissonance through internal
justification
▪Changed attitude about toy
The Hypocrisy Paradigm (1 of 2)
Induce hypocrisy
–Make person aware of conflict between
▪Attitudes
▪Behavior
–Hypocrisy creates dissonance
–Reduce dissonance by changing behavior
▪e.g., attitudes about condoms and use of condoms
The Hypocrisy Paradigm
Students in the hypocrisy condition were
subsequently more likely to buy condoms
than students in any of the other
conditions.
Self-affirmation theory
–The idea that people can reduce threats to
their self-esteem by affirming themselves in
areas unrelated to the source of the threat
Self- Affirmation
*Bolster the self-concept
*Reducing dissonance by adding a
cognition about other positive attributes
–e.g., smoker who fails to quit
▪“Not very smart of me to be smoking, but I’m really
a very good mathematician!”
Dissonance in Close Relationships:
Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory
Self-evaluation maintenance theory:
–Idea that we experience dissonance when
someone close to us outperforms us in an
area that is central to our self-esteem
–Dissonance can be reduced by becoming less
close to the person, changing our behavior so
that we now outperform them, or deciding that
the area is not that important to us after all.
Ways to Reduce Dissonance in
Relationships
*Distance self from the person who
outperforms us
*Change how relevant the task is to our
self-esteem
*Change one’s performance relative to the
other person’s
Ways to Reduce Dissonance in
Relationships
*Distance self from the person who
outperforms us
*Change how relevant the task is to our
self-esteem
*Change one’s performance relative to the
other person’s
Some Concluding Thoughts on
Dissonance and Self-Esteem
*Understanding cognitive dissonance allows
one to understand some extreme
behaviors (e.g., Heaven’s Gate).
*Dissonance-reducing behavior maintains
self-esteem.
*But must also learn from mistakes and
incorrect beliefs
Copyright © 2019, 2016, 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Politics and Self-Justification
Example: War in Iraq based on belief of
WMDs
*When no WMDs were found, had to reduce
dissonance between two thoughts
1. “We believed there were WMDs–that
justified this war.”
2. “We were wrong.”
Politics and Self-Justification
Justified war by stating goal was to liberate
nation from cruel dictator
Overcoming Dissonance
*Acknowledging mistakes and taking
responsibility is easier said than done.
*Process of self-justification is unconscious, but
once we know we can justify our actions, we can
monitor our thinking and behavior.
*When you are confronted with evidence that you
are wrong, will you justify that mistake or strive to
correct it?
Prosecutors and Dissonance
After DNA testing proved that he could not have committed the rape he
was convicted of, David Lee Wiggins was released from a Texas prison in 2012
after serving 23 years. How might dissonance explain why prosecutors in wrongful
conviction cases often have a hard time accepting that the defendant is actually
not guilty?
Narcissism and the Dangers of Too Much
Self-Esteem
Self-esteem
–Overall evaluation (positive or negative) that
people have of themselves
Benefits of High Self-Esteem
*Buffers against thoughts of own mortality
*Motivates us to persevere when going gets
rough
Narcissism
*Combination of excessive self-love and a
lack of empathy toward others
*Has increased in college students since
the 1980s
Narcissus at the Pool
In Greek mythology, Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water
and was so fond of his own image that he couldn’t leave and eventually died.
Today, narcissism refers to the combination of excessive self-love and a lack of
empathy toward others.
Are People Becoming More
Narcissistic?
The top (red) line shows average scores for college students on the Narcissistic
Personality Inventory (NPI), a common measure of narcissism, from the years 1980 to
2008. The bottom (blue) line shows the percentage of first-person pronouns (e.g., I, me,
mine) in the lyrics of the 10 most popular songs of the year from 1980 to 2007. As you can
see there has been a steady increase on both measures over time, suggesting that
narcissism may be increasing
