Topic 6 - Cognitive Dissonance

Question 1

What is self-esteem?

Answer 1

refers to people’s evaluations of their own self-worth

the extent to which they view themselves as good, competent, and decent

Question 2

A great deal of human behaviour stems from our need to preserve what type of self-image?

Answer 2

We will see that a great deal of human behaviour stems from our need to preserve a stable, positive self-image.

Question 3

What group believe that earth was ending but a space ship was coming to transport them?

Answer 3

Heaven’s Gate Cult

Question 4

What was the result with Heaven’s Gate Cult?

Answer 4

mass suicide occurred

Question 5

How does Heaven’s Gate Cult relate to the idea of cognitive dissonance theory?

Answer 5

human tendency to justify our actions, even after the world didn’t end and their ideas were disproved. Tendency to protect our self-esteem by making sure that our beliefs and behaviours align.

Question 6

What is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 6

the discomfort caused when two cognitions (beliefs or attitudes) conflict, or when our behaviour conflicts with our attitudes (or belief of ourselves).

Question 7

Who was the first to discuss the idea of cognitive dissonance?

Answer 7

Festinger

Question 8

Are all cognitive inconsistencies equally upsetting to humans?

Answer 8

No

Question 9

When is dissonance most painful and when are we most motivated to reduce it?

Answer 9

When one of the dissonant cognitions challenge our self-esteem or self-worth

Question 10

Why does drawing attention to our moral cognitions and actual behaviours make us uncomfortable?

Answer 10

Makes us feel like a hypocrite.

Question 11

What are Festinger’s 5 conditions for believing something in the face of disconfirmation?

Answer 11

1) Conviction
Must have some relevance to action - has to be relevant to the way they live or behave

2) Commitment
The more important these actions, the more difficult to undo, the greater the individual’s commitment to this belief.

3) Specificity
Sufficiently specific and concerned with the real world

4) Recognition of counter evidence (disconfirmatory evidence)
Recognize and build it into your narrative or cognition

5) Social support / community of believers
Must have social support and other convinced people - to maintain the belief

Question 12

What are 3 ways to reduce dissonance?

Answer 12

1) Change behaviour
2) Justify behaviour by changing one of the dissonant cognitions
3) Justify behaviour by adding new cognitions

Question 13

We experience dissonance every time that we do what?

Answer 13

every time we make a decision

Question 14

Why do we experience dissonance when we have to make decisions?

Answer 14

Chosen selections has some negative aspects; rejected alternatives have some positive aspects

cognition of being smart and capable is dissonant with any negative aspects of rejected alternatives

Question 15

What is post-decision dissonance?

Answer 15

We might worry that perhaps we didn’t make the best choice.

related to:
1) net desirability of the chosen and unchosen options
2) the importance of the decision

Question 16

How is post-decision dissonance typically reduced?

Answer 16

by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives

Question 17

How do we downplay rejected alternatives?

Answer 17

More likely to negatively evaluate the alternative (what you didn’t choose). Going forward - more likely to positively evaluate the one you chose.

Forcing these choices causes polarizing of your opinion.

Question 18

What is the impact of the importance and permanence of the decision being made?

Answer 18

more important the decision is = greater the dissonance - (more conflict and discomfort you will experience about whether or not you made the right decision)

More permanent decisions = more dissonance
(more it impacts your daily life)

Question 19

What happens to motivation in relation to dissonance?

Answer 19

As dissonance increases, so does motivation to reduce dissonance

Question 20

What did we see in terms of motivation to reduce dissonance at the horse race track?

Answer 20

Almost invariably - people who had already placed their bets gave their horses a much better chance of winning than those who had not yet placed their bets.

Question 21

Explain the sales tactic of creating the illusion of irrevocability.

Answer 21

Lowballing - induces a customer to agree to purchase a product at a very low cost, then subsequently raises the price. Ex. that price was an error, or adding in a bunch of fees at the end (common on vacation rentals). The cost creeps up, no longer a great deal.
Most of the time, the customer will agree to pay this, even once the price is inflated. Why? Because a sense of commitment to the decision and an illusion of irrevocability.

Question 22

Presenting the price in USD and then not converting to CAD until you are about to pay is an example of what?

Answer 22

illusion of irrevocability - unconscious cognitive work to reduce dissonance

Question 23

What is the justification of effort?

Answer 23

the tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain / suffered to attain.

also relates to their willingness and commitment increases as they have experienced an increase in suffering or effort put in

Question 24

What are the 2 types of justification? Explain.

Answer 24

External justification: reason/explanation for dissonant personal behaviour that resides outside the individual (ex. large reward or to avoid severe punishment)

Internal justification: reduce dissonance by changing something about oneself (ex. one’s attitude or behaviour)

Question 25

What is counter-attitudinal behaviour?

Answer 25

Acting or speaking in ways that conflict with our private beliefs or attitudes

Question 26

What happens to conformity if there is little external justification?

Answer 26

what we believe begins to conform more and more to the lie we told

“saying becomes believing”

Question 27

How does cognitive dissonance change when given vs. not given a reward?

Answer 27

When given reward - it becomes very clear to yourself that you are doing it for the reward

If not given a reward - you might actually start to believe what you’re saying - because you don’t have strong external justification, you require internal justification so that you will change your attitudes.

Question 28

What is the Ben Franklin effect?

Do we begin to like someone more if they do us a favor or we do them a favor?

Answer 28

Doing someone else a favour makes them more likely to like you.

Asking someone that doesn’t like you, to do a small favour creates dissonance and they will begin to like you more.

Question 29

How do moral dilemmas relate to dissonance?

Answer 29

Induces dissonance and has implications for self-esteem

Due to dissonance reduction, we try to justify our actions. No matter what he does, he will justify his actions - justifies and changes evaluation.

Question 30

How does the moral dilemma and dissonance reduction relate to future behaviour?

Answer 30

Causes a change in values and future behaviour.
If long-term, he believes that stealing is now really bad - even less likely to steal in future. If convinced that stealing is really not that bad, more likely to steal in the future.

Question 31

What happens in terms of dissonance reduction when the the threat of punishment is severe due to sufficient external justification?

Answer 31

if there is sufficient external justification for refraining from the behaviour, people will start to think that they are only acting this way to avoid punishment.

Question 32

What happens in terms of dissonance reduction when the the threat of punishment is less severe due to insufficient external justification?

Answer 32

We have a greater need to justify our actions or good behaviour or avoiding bad behaviour through internal justification. More likely to change our attitudes through self-persuasion.

Question 33

If you were a parent of a child who stole, how would you respond to prevent future theft attempts?

Answer 33

A less severe threat where insufficient punishment is provided (ex. just a correction).
○ Light repercussions; know that stealing is bad, probably won’t do that again in the future.

Need to focus on the need to preserve self-esteem and enhance internal motivation or the internal drive to do well.

Question 34

What is the hypocrisy paradigm / hypocrisy induction?

Answer 34

Hypocrisy induction: making people aware of the dissonance between what they are doing and what they are preaching to others.

Make people aware of conflict between attitudes and behaviour

This hypocrisy creates dissonance, and to reduce dissonance must change behaviour

Question 35

What are examples used in class for the hypocrisy paradigm?

Answer 35

attitudes towards and use of condoms; orangutans and the problem of palm oil

Question 36

What is the self-affirmation theory?

Answer 36

the idea that in addition to the methods of changing behaviour, changing cognition, and adding cognition, people also reduce threats to their self-esteem by affirming their competence in areas unrelated to the source of the threat

Can reduce dissonance and restore self-esteem by bolstering self-concept in different domains

Question 37

What are self-affirmations?

Answer 37

forms of self-talk that are intended to boost your self-concept

Question 38

What are known benefits of daily self-affirmations?

Answer 38

decrease health-deteriorating stress

successfully used to help people increase their physical behaviour

help us to perceive otherwise “threatening” messages with less resistance, including interventions

reduce likelihood of dismissing harmful health messages, responding instead with the intention to change for the better

increased academic achievement by mitigating GPA decline in students who feel left out at college

lower stress and rumination (on negative aspects of self)

Question 39

What is the self-evaluation maintenance theory?

Answer 39

speaks to how dissonance impacts our relationship with people close to us, and how their behaviour or success impacts how we feel about ourselves.
We experience dissonance when someone close to us outperforms us in an area central to our self-esteem.

Someone that we are very close to, say a sibling or a lover, all of a sudden is doing better than us at something we really value. When someone we care about is outperforming us in a context or skill that we care about, we experience some dissonance.

Question 40

When does the greatest amount of friction between siblings occur?

Answer 40

when siblings are close in age and one sibling is significantly better on key value dimensions, ex. popularity or intelligence.
If these things are important to their self-concept and one is better than the other, will experience some dissonance.

When performance and relevance are high, can be difficult to avoid conflicts between family members.

Question 41

How can dissonance be reduced according tot he self-evaluation maintenance theory (or in the case of close relationships)?

Answer 41

1) becoming less close to the person

2) changing our behaviour so that we now outperform them

3) deciding that the area is not that important to us after all

Question 42

How can dissonance-reducing behaviour that maintains self-esteem also be detrimental?

Answer 42

justification of destructive behaviour can be detrimental

Question 43

Understanding dissonance explains why so much of human thinking is not ______, but ________.

Answer 43

understanding dissonance explains why so much of human thinking is not rational, but rationalizing

Question 44

is the process of self-justification conscious or unconscious?

Answer 44

it is unconscious, but once we know we can justify our actions, we can monitor our thinking and behaviour

Question 45

What is the terror management theory?

Answer 45

self-esteem (feeling as though you are a strong, capable and competent person), serves as a buffer and protects people from the terrifying thought of death. Also motivates us to persevere

Question 46

What are the benefits and dangers of high self-esteem?

Answer 46

Benefits: buffers against thoughts of own mortality; motivates us to persevere when the going gets tough

Dangers: narcissism (combination of excessive self-love and a lack of empathy towards others)

Question 47

High narcissism is ties to what struggles?

Answer 47

Struggles with relationships, self-analysis, and anxiety over death. Often miss out on joy of deeply connecting with, and helping, others.

Question 48

What is the trend in narcissism - is it growing or declining over the years?

Answer 48

People are becoming more narcissistic over time.

Question 49

Explain how self-esteem is a balancing act.

Answer 49

need to protect self-esteem and learn from mistakes - balance those two things.