Dissonance Theory

Question 1

basic idea of dissonance theory

Answer 1

people don’t like to admit that they have been wrong, so they rationalize by bringing up new arguments for their behavior; wanting to get rid of the feeling that one was wrong, distort that by making up a story (distorting) -> wanting to get rid of the dissonance we feel; reducing psychological and physiological discomfort (mostly happens unconsciously)

Question 2

effort justification effect

Answer 2

when huge effort made to get something you justify effort to get there better than it actually is

Question 3

psychological and physiological impact - dissonance

Answer 3

psychological; self-esteem threat, need to be restored

physiological; heightened arousal -> discomfort

-> feeling at odds with our self-concept/standards; engaging in dissonance reduction through attitude change (when there is no other way to get rid of this feeling)

Question 4

other ways to restore self-esteem (besides distorting)

Answer 4

• excuses (“there was no choice”)
• justifications (it’s the job, had to do it, …)
  -> both externalize the problem (self-serving attributions)
• did behavior caused harm? - no - then it’s fine

-> using one of these instead of dissonance reduction (explains while it is hard to replicate research experiments in this area)

Question 5

cultural difference of self-inconsistency

Answer 5

• inconsistency is seen as bad in individualistic cultures (it harms self-esteem)
• in collectivist cultures dissonance is allowed
  -> meaning they feel dissonance in other occasions

Question 6

importance of arousal

Answer 6

arousal tells one when one is in trouble, so if this is not felt, no dissonance is seen -> tells what needs to be fixed
-> arousal is extremely important to dissonance feeling (decides if dissonance reduction is needed)