cognitive dissonance

Question 1

cognitive dissonance: when we encounter info that ___________ our need for ____________, we experience a great deal of mental _________.

Answer 1

threatens/chellenges; consistency; discomfort

Question 2

when do we experience dissonance?

Answer 2

1. when our beliefs are challenged by info that we never thought about
2. when we behave in ways that don’t fit well with who we are (attitudes, values)
3. when reality suggests that we may have acted illogically, irrationally or immorally

Question 3

3 ways to reduce dissonance.

Answer 3

1. changing the dissonant behaviour and realign it with dissonant cognition
2. justify behaviour through changing the dissonant cognition
3. justify behaviour by adding new cognitions

Question 4

who dicovered the theory of cognitive dissonance?

Answer 4

leon festinger (1957)

Cognitive dissonance theory was first presented by Leon Festinger in 1957 in order to explain the relationships between the motivation, perceptions and cognitions of an individual

Question 5

what are the 3 assumptions of the cogitive dissonance theory?

Answer 5

1. we are naturally inclined to behave consistently with our attitudes (need for consistency)
2. when our attitudes and behaviours deviate from each other, we experience cognitice dissonance
3. we are motivated to reduce dissonance by changing either our attitudes or behaviours

Question 6

describe the experiment by Festinger and Carlsmith (1958) on cognitive dissonance.

Answer 6

• Participants performed a boring task (turning pegs)
• They were then asked to tell the next participant that the task was enjoyable (lie) for either $1 or $20
• Those paid $1 experienced cognitive dissonance (justifying lying for small reward) and rated the task as more enjoyable to reduce dissonance
• Participants paid $20 had no dissonance (justification through larger reward) rated the task as boring (truth)
• The experiment demonstrated how people resolve cognitive dissonance by altering attitudes to align with behavior (cannot change behaviour as it had already happened so they changed their atittude to justify that behaviour)

Question 7

1. dissonance comes from making ________.
2. everytime we turn a ______ into a __________, we are prone to experience dissonance.

Answer 7

1. choices
2. choice; decision

Question 8

why are decisions rarely flawless?

(talk about alternatives and their positivity/negativity)

Answer 8

chosen alternatives bound to have some negative aspects

rejected alternatives bound to have some positive aspects

Question 9

what is dilemma aka?

Answer 9

post-decisional dissonance

Question 10

what sets the stage for post-decisional dissonance aka dilemmas?

Answer 10

we experience it because we feel unsettled by selecting a choice over the other as we have to:

(a) accept flaws of the chosen option, and

(b) give up benefits of the unchosen one

Question 11

one way to reduce post-decisional dissonance is to _______ ___ __________ to justify our decision.

a) chosen option: ___________ the good and ____________ the bad

b) unchosen option: _________ the good and _________ the bad

Answer 11

spread the alternatives

a) highlight; downplay

b) downplay; highlight

Question 12

to reduce post-decisional dissonance, we distort our likes and dislikes (enhancing/downplaying the good/bad of our chosen/unchosen options) such that the chosen option feels superior to the unchosen one and our decision is logically justified.

what is this phenomenon called?

Answer 12

spreading the alternatives

Question 13

what are 2 factors may enhance the feeling of dissonance after making a choice?

Answer 13

1. permanence (difficult to reverse decision)
2. importance (who to marry)

Question 14

dissonance theory centers on 2 types of justification. what are they?

Answer 14

1. extrinsic justification: external incentives for dissonant behaviour (wealth, power, prison, death)
2. intrinsic justification: reason for dissonant behaviour that comes from willfil choices (passion, interest, amount of effort given willingly)

Question 15

define effort justification with respect to cognitive dissonance.

Answer 15

tendency to increase liking for something we worked hard to attain.

Question 16

describe the experiment by Aronson and Mills in 1959 on effort justification.

Answer 16

• Participants underwent either no or mild or severe initiation to join a sex club
• Participants listened to a boring discussion in the sex club afterward
• Those who underwent severe initiation rated the club as more interesting
• Illustrates effort justification, where individuals find a boring task more appealing after enduring effort or discomfort to engage in it

Question 17

in the experiment by Aronson and Mills in 1959 on effort justification, who is the control group?

Answer 17

participants who went through no initiation at all to join the sex club

Question 18

what is the insufficient justification effect?

Answer 18

a change in attitude when extrinsic reason for an action is inadequate and unjustified.

Question 19

according the the insufficient justification effect, when extrinsic justification is not enough, we conclude that the actions being done must be due to _________ interest.

Answer 19

intrinsic

Question 20

what experiment illustrates both insufficient justification effect and cognitive dissonance?

Answer 20

Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)

• Participants performed a boring task (turning pegs)
• They were then asked to tell the next participant that the task was enjoyable (lie) for either $1 or $20
• Those paid $1 experienced cognitive dissonance (small reward insufficient to justify lying) and rated the task as more enjoyable to reduce dissonance (insufficient justification effect)
• Participants paid $20 had no dissonance (justification through larger reward) rated the task as boring (truth)
• The experiment demonstrated how people resolve cognitive dissonance by altering attitudes to align with behavior (cannot change behaviour as it had already happened so they changed their atittude to justify that behaviour)

Question 21

what are 2 conditions that can produce the insufficient justification effect (little external justification to justify action, so we attribute it to our intrinsic interest)?

Answer 21

1. free choice
2. minimum compensation

Question 22

describe the experiment by Aronson and Carlsmith in 1963 regarding the insufficient justification effect on punishment and self-persuasion.

Answer 22

• Children performed a boring task and were then left alone with attractive toys, with instructions not to play with them
• Some children received a mild threat against playing with the toys, while others received a severe threat
• Afterward, children were left alone with the toys again
• Children in the mild threat condition played with the toys less than those in the severe threat condition, demonstrating insufficient justification for their behavior and self-persuasion to justify their actions

Question 23

a) large rewards/punishment leads to __________ justification and a __________ change,

while

b) small rewards/punishment leads to _____________ justification and a ____________ change.

Answer 23

a) extrinsic; temporary

b) intrinsic; lasting

Question 24

a) effort justification results from an imbalance between invested _________ and _______.

b) to fix the imbalance, we develop stronger ________ for the recipient of our _________.

Answer 24

a) effort; liking

b) liking; effort

Question 25

a) insufficient justification effect results from an imbalance between _______ justification (reward/punishment) and a __________.

b) to fix the imbalance, we adjust our attitudes so they can become __________ justification for that __________.

Answer 25

a) extrinsic; behaviour

b) intrinsic; behaviour