Chapter 6 The Need to Justify Our Actions: The Costs and Benefits of Dissonance Reduction Flashcards
explain the Heaven’s gate cult
Heaven’s Gate Cult (cult that believed the second coming was inevitable and they were the chosen ones and believed they had to kill themselves to get to Heaven)
-Believed that a space ship was coming for them to pick up their souls
-Looked for spaceship behind Hale-Bopp comet
When it wasn’t there people start questioning their beliefs, but this is uncomfortable so they change their beliefs and continue with original plan
-Blamed telescope when they didn’t see it
-Continued with plan anyway
-Mass suicide – so their souls would be free
When there was no spaceship, why didn’t they question their beliefs?
Have you ever done something like this? Where do our attitudes really come from?
what is 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
-Dissonance is a powerful, upsetting experience; so we do something to get rid of the unpleasant feeling
ex. Heaven’s gate cult:
-There appears to be no spaceship behind the comet (I’m wrong about my beliefs)
-I’ve invested my life in this cult (I can’t change that)
what are the three ways to reduce dissonance
-Change one of the dissonant cognitions
-Add new cognitions
-Change behavior (but can’t change past behaviors)
explain dissonance for smokers and other drug users
-People hooked on smoking or other drugs and feel like they cannot quit; they know that the drug overtime will kill them and know they cannot quit
-People change their views that the drug will eventually kill them on that timeline
explain every decision and dissonance
Every time we make a decision, we experience dissonance.
-Chosen alternative has some negative aspects
-Rejected alternative has some positive aspects
what do the pros and cons of decisions lead to and how can it be reduced
Postdecision Dissonance
-Dissonance aroused after making a decision
typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives
How do we do that?
-Downplay: Negative aspects of chosen alternative and Positive aspects of rejected alternative
explain the Knox and Inkster horserace study
-Confidence increases after placing bets
-Went to a horse racing arena, lots of people were making bets
Took one day and hung around the betting booth and approached people before they made the bet, who are you making the bet on? And how confident are you that you are going to win the bet?
-Then waited until people made the bet, and asked after they walked away from the betting window and asked the same questions
Results: the people they talked to after they made the bet were much more confident than the people they talked to before they made the bet
what happens to dissonance when decisions are permanent (irrevocable) and the photo study
Irrevocability increases dissonance (Gilbert & Ebert, 2002)
-Participants had a choice between two photos (people were in a class where you had to learn about photography, had to develop pictures in a dark room and it cost more money at the time this study was made); took people in the class and told them they could keep one of the photos they could keep
-Could change mind later (or not); half were told this and half were told they could not change the mind
-Later, those who could not choose were happier; contacted the people who made the choice and asked them how happy with the decision they were that they made; increased level of happiness to reduce dissonance
where does dissonance reduction come from (two places)
-Dissonance reduction can come from two places:
1) External Justification
-An explanation for dissonant behavior that resides outside the individual (e.g., to receive a large reward or avoid a severe punishment)
-Ex. Something has been added in that makes you feel better about it
2) Internal Justification
-The reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself (e.g., add or change cognition, or change behavior)
explain the study with college students and the boring task and the results
Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)
-Brought college students into his lab and told them they would be engaging in a task and the purpose is to see how you are influenced by the type of instructions you need to do on the task
-Task was mind numbingly boring, had to turn all the pegs quarter turns over and over again
-Cover story
The effect of “interest instructions” on performance on a boring task
Task
-Extremely boring
After they had everyone do the task they reminded about the purpose of the study and told them that they needed to tell the participant after them that the task was super interesting even though it was dull; half of the people were told they would be paid $1 the other half were told they would be paid $20
Results: everyone complied to the study, no one cared about lying and everyone did it
-Dependent measure was asking the people how much they liked participating in the study
-Found that the people who were paid $1 said the task was very interesting, people who were paid $20 said the task was not interesting
why did they find the results they did in the college student study
-In the $20 condition, these people have good external justification for lying, did not actually change their attitude about the task
-In the $1 condition, these people did not have good external justification so they needed to find internal justification, did not get paid much to lie to the person and unsure why they did that (dissonance), so maybe it was not a lie, maybe the task was actually very interesting
does dissonance reduction work in the real world?
It does!
ex. Counterattitudinal essays about doubling funds for African American students’ scholarships (people who did not support this had to write an essay about why they support this)
-Increased support for policy (and changed attitudes towards African Americans), decreased racism
Essays against “thin is beautiful” ideal
-Increased body satisfaction
-Decreased chronic dieting
-Happier and less anxious
Presumably because they are having people engage in a behavior that is in contrast to a belief they have, to reduce dissonance they back off of the belief they have
explain what Ben Franklin said about the justification of kindness (Ben Franklin effect)
-Franklin told this story about a strategy he uses to manipulate people (who do not like him), he asks people to do him a favor and he asks them to do him a favor and he writes them a thank you note and they end up liking him
explain the study that tested the Ben Franklin effect
-Had people do a psychology experiment and paid them for doing the experiment
-In one condition: experimenter asked people to do a favor for them, we paid you, but we need to pay all of our participants and we are running out of money, could you please return some to me so I can finish my research (people did this in many cases because people are pretty compliant)
-In another condition: people were asked to give money to the psychology department to continue the study not the experimenter
-In another condition: no favor was asked
People were then asked how much they liked the experimenter: people who did a favor for the experimenter said they liked them the most, people who did the favor for the department said they liked them the least
Why?
-Doing the favor is kind of hypocritical and a dumb thing to do because it is your money
-People will justify their decision by saying he is a nice guy and I was just helping him out
explain cruel behavior and dissonance
Cruel behavior is dissonant with view of self as a decent human being (killing other people is not a comfortable thing)
-Resolve dissonance by changing thoughts about victim
-If you truly believe that the people you are fighting are bad people, then they deserve what you are doing to them
explain the Davis and Jones study about writing things wrong about a person
-Participants observed interview of a confederate
-After watching the person interview, they asked one group to figure out everything wrong with the persona and give the write up to the person, Gave him analysis of his faults
The other group did not do this
-Later liked him less (the group that analyzed his faults)
explain the holocaust example about justifying cruelty
-Many people went along with this and knew this was happening
-A lot of the propaganda at the time helped people with this, negative views about Jewish people, equating them to rats and we need to kill them like we kill rats
explain the study about cheaters that explains how dissonance reduction can influence personal values
-Mills (1958) Measured 6th graders’ attitudes about cheating then had participants play the game
-Gave opportunity to cheat in a game, kids had to play in a game, very easy to cheat and easy to cheat and win the game; purpose was to create a situation where students were able to cheat
-Easy to cheat
-Cheating almost necessary to win
-Believed cheating could not be detected
Measured the attitudes on cheating after the game
Cheaters
-Became more lenient toward cheating
Noncheaters
-Became less lenient toward cheating
what is the justification for effort
The tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain.
-A method for reducing dissonance
-Cannot change the fact that you put in all that effort, but you can change how you feel about the group
explain the Aaronson and Mills study about the sex discussion group and how it relates to justification of effort
Brought people into the lab and told them they have been having a discussion group about sex, we want you to become a part of this group and participate in the discussion
-Severe initiation condition: sex sometimes makes people uncomfortable and we want to make sure you are comfortable, we are going to have you say embarrassing words and read sex stories in front of a group
-Mild initiation: same thing, just read mildly embarrassing stuff
-No initiation
Then had participants listen to the group discussion they are currently having, and it was an incredibly boring discussion, overall a stupid conversation
Participants then had to rate their interest in the group
Results: people who went through the severe initiation were the most excited about it, followed by mild initiation
explain justification effort study in real life about the Hindi festival
-Hindi festival where participants have to hook things to their skin and drag things from the hooks, it is painful and gross
-Some people do the severe ordeal and other people do something less severe
-Approach people after this and asked if they wanted to donate money to the religion, people who go through the severe ritual donate more
explain the implications of the hazing study about the Hindi group
-Hazing rituals serve a purpose
-Good for groups
-Bad for people (when they get out of hand)
explain why harsh punishments might not always be the best way to go about situations
Most people use them, but it might not always be the best way; when you give them a harsh punishment you are giving them external justification for not engaging in the behavior; attitude towards the behavior has not actually changed
explain the study about punishments and self-persuasion (toy study)
Had children go into a room with a lot of toys and had them rate the attractiveness of toys, and then told them they cannot play with the most attractive toy
-One group was given a mild threat (insufficient justification)
-One group was given a severe threat (sufficient justification)
-People normally did what they were told and did not play with the toy
-Then had all children rate the attractiveness of the toys again, and then let them play with any of the toys they wanted
Results: in children who were given the mild threats the favorite toy was rated as less attractive; the ratings stayed the same in the severe threat condition (in the mild threat condition, children are like why did I not just play with the toy because the threat is not that bad?)
Results: people in severe punishment also played with the toy more after the fact
