Cognitive Dissonance

Question 1

Festinger et al., 1956

Answer 1

• Conducted a study on cognitive dissonance on a group (the ‘seekers’) who believed the world was going to end on 21st December 1954 and would therefore flee on flying saucers.
• When the prophecy was disconfirmed, his findings showed that:
  
  • Those who were not alone commited to their beliefs
  • Those who were alone sought social support to reduce cognitive dissonance

Question 2

Cogntive Dissonance

Answer 2

Unpleasant psychological state (e.g. guilt, discomfort) caused by two or more beliefs, attitudes, behaviours.

Question 3

Balance theory

Answer 3

• Precursor to cognitive dissonance.
• Heider’s (1946) theory stipulates that there will be tension if there isn’t a balanced state among the attitudes towards people, event and configurations in which they are related

Question 4

Origin of cognitive dissonance theory

Answer 4

• Research on the communication of rumours by Prasad (1950) following an earthquake in India
  
  • People who had felt the eartquake but did not witness any damage started spreading rumours of another upcoming earthquake
  • The fear-arousing remours served to reduce the cognitive dissonance caused by the inconsistency between the cognition of fear and the knowledge that there was no visible destruction around, so nothing to fear

Question 5

A theory of cognitive dissonance

Answer 5

• Festinger, 1957
• E.g. smokers

Question 6

Dissonance research paradigms

Answer 6

4 main paradigms:

1. Free-choice paradigm: after a decision is made
2. Belief-disconfirmation paradigms: consequences of being exposed to information contradicting prior beliefs
3. Effort-justification paradigm: effects of the effort to attain something
4. Induced-compliance paradigm: effects of engaging in behaviours inconsistent with attittudes (counter-attitudinal bahaviours)

Question 7

Free-choice paradigm

Answer 7

• The choice of one of two alternatives that close in desirability causes dissonance and it motivates people to re-evaluate the alternatives to reduce it
• The closer the alternatives are, the greater are the dissonance and the attempts to reduce it
• Post-decisional dissonance due to:
  
  • rejected alternative having positive aspects the chosen alternative does not have
  • chosen alternative having negative aspects that the rejected alternative does not have

Question 8

Free-choice paradigm dissonance reduction

Answer 8

Spreading of alternatives: the chosen alternative is viewed as more desirable, the unchosen alternative is viewed as less disrable, even if the two alternatives were close in favourability before the decision

Question 9

Experimental example of free-choice paradigm

Answer 9

• Brehm, 1956:
  
  • Participants asked to rate some objects on desirability
  • Then, they had to choose an object to keep between two close in desirability
  • Finally they had to rate each of the objects again
• Findings showed that choosing between alternatives created dissonance and this was reduced by making the chosen alternative more desirable and the unchosen alternative less desirable
• Findings also showed that dissonance and consequent attempts to reduce it would be greater the more nearly the choice alternatives approached equality.

Question 10

Belief-disconfirmation paradigm

Answer 10

• Dissonance resulting from disconfirmation of one’s beliefs e.g. the prophecy failed.

Question 11

Belief-disconfirmation paradigm dissonance reduction

Answer 11

• Adding consonant cognitions (by seeking social support) in the group members who waited with other members.
• Changing their beliefs in the group members who were alone.

Question 12

Effort-justification paradigm

Answer 12

• People who go through effort to achieve something will value it more highly than those who attain it without effort.
• Effort justification is a person’s tendency to attribute a value to an outcome, which they had to put effort into achieving, greater than the objective value of the outcome.

Question 13

Experimental example of effort-justification paradigm

Answer 13

• Aronson and Millis (1959):
  
  • Participants had to undergo an unpleasant initiation to join a group
  • 3 experimental conditions: severe, mild or no initiation (control)
  • Listen to a (recorded) group discussion designed to be uninteresting to increase the dissonance felt in the severe condition.
  • Evaluative Ratings (0-15) of the discussion and the participants (e.g., dull-interesting).
• Findings showed:
  
  • Participants who underwent an unpleasant initiation to join the group increased their liking for the group.
  • Negative cognitions about the boring group discussion were dissonant with the cognition that they went through a painful experience to join the group.
  • This led to a drive to reduce dissonance by changing the view of the group discussion and exaggerate the attractiveness of the group

Question 14

Induced-compliance paradigm

Answer 14

• Effects of engaging in behaviours inconsistent with attitudes (counter-attitudinal behaviours).
• E.g. If I do not like someone but agree to do a favor for that person: I do not like Fred; I agreed to give him a ride to a job interview

Question 15

Induced-compliance paradigm dissonance reduction

Answer 15

• Attained through a change in beliefs or attitudes.

Question 16

Experimental example of induced-complaince paradigm​

Answer 16

• Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)​:
  
  • Participants had to conduct a very boring task
  • They were then offered either $1 or $20 to tell another participant that the tasks were enjoyable and interesting.
  • Final interview with questions about likeability.
• Findings showed that the $1 group rated the enjoyability of the task significantly higher than the $20 group:
  
  • $1 participants: the cognition that the task is boring is dissonant with the cognition that $1 is insufficient justification for lying → dissonance reduction by changing the attitude toward the task.
  • $20 participants: the cognition that the task is boring is consonant with the cognition that $20 is sufficient justification for lying → no dissonance.

Question 17

Alternative accounts to dissonance theory

Answer 17

• Self-perception theory (Bem, 1967)
• Impression-management theory (Tedeschi et al., 1971)
• These accounts generated controversy

Question 18

Self-perception theory

Answer 18

• Bem, 1967
• When our attitudes and feelings are ambiguous, we infer states by observing our own behaviour i.e. people observe there attitude as an outsider, as if they were a 3rd party
• E.g. I have no particular feelings about work, but I go to work everyday, so I must love my job!
• In the Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) experiment, the $1 participants must have rated their enjoyment of the taks higher because they observed their ambiguous attitude and self-inferred that they must have enjoyed it given they performed that task

Question 19

Self-perception theory limit

Answer 19

• Cannot account for findings from the misattribution paradigm (Zanna & Cooper, 1974)
  
  • Participants were given placebo pills and were told that the pill might induce some tenseness, relaxation or no side effects
  • They then had to write a counter-attitudinal essay
  • Tenseness pill → smallest attitude change; relaxation pill → greatest attitude change; no side effects → usual attitude change
  • The tenseness due to the dissonance (resulting from writing a counter-attitudinal essay) was misattributed to the pill, and thus there wasn’t any attitude change (no dissonance reduction).
• According to the self-perception theory, attitude change does not depend on the motivation to reduce the dissonance (tenseness) following a cognitive inconsistency (writing a counterattitudinal essay).
• The presence of an external source (the pill) to which dissonance (tenseness) could be (mis)attributed and thus reduced shouldn’t have affected the rate of attitude change.

Question 20

Impression-management theory

Answer 20

• Tedeschi et al., 1971
• Individuals attempt to appear credible by showing consistency so that they can influence others.
• Participants are not passive, rather they attempt to influence the experimenters’ impressions.
• Participants only seem to change their attitude after a counter-attitudinal behaviour so that they can manage the impressions others have of them → no genuine attitude change.

Question 21

Impression-management theory limit

Answer 21

This account cannot explain:

• Findings in which attitude was measured by someone unrelated to the experimenter.
• Physiological changes following behaviour justification.
• Results from the free-choice paradigm.

Question 22

How to reduce cognitive dissonance

Answer 22

(Festinger, 1957)

E.g. Smoking is bad ⇔ I keep smoking

• Elimination of the dissonant cognition: smoking is not harmful.
• Addition of consonant cognitions: smoking mitigates anxiety.
• Reduction of the importance of the dissonant cognition: the risks from smoking are not as severe as other risks.
• Increase of the importance of consonant cognitions: the pleasure from smoking is important to me.
• Behaviour change: stop smoking.