Cognitive Dissonance Flashcards
What are the elements of cognitive dissonance?
Cognition, Attitudes, and Behavior
Inconsistency =
Dissonant cognitive elements
What is a negative drive state?
There is something bad happening to you and you want to make the bad feelings go away
What does a negative drive state give you the motivation to do?
Restore consistency among elements
Dissonance
Psychological discomfort
What does dissonance reduce?
Change behavior, Change belief, and change attitude
In cognitive dissonance, when does something have to give?
When there is insufficient justification and free choice
What are the dissonant elements of justifying difficult decisions?
Reject (behavior) is inconsistent with positive features and selection (behavior) is inconsistent with negative features (attitude)
Spreading of Alternatives
Spreading perceptual alternatives so one seems more positive and one seems more negative
Ex: weighing pros and cons of each option
Hypocrisy Paradigms
A behavior being inconsistent with a belief
Ex: Advocating less use of plastic and then going out and buying plastic products
Self Affirmation Theory
Integrity of the global self. Self affirming alleviates dissonance (thus no need for attitude change)
For there to be an attitudinal change:
It has to be in the same domain
Independent Construals
Self-related Dissonance
Interdependent Construals
Other related dissonance
Vicarious Dissonance
When one and in-group member’s inconsistent behavior violates group attitudes, we alter our own attitudes
