Week 7: Cognitive Dissonance

Question 1

_________________ refers to people’s evaluations of their own self-worth - that is, the extent to which they view themselves as good, competent, and decent.

Answer 1

Self-esteem

Question 2

___________ __________ is the discomfort that people feel when they behave in ways that threaten their self-esteem.

Answer 2

Cognitive dissonance

Question 3

There 3 basic ways to reduce cognitive dissonance:
1. ____________ our behaviour to bring it in line with the dissonant cognition
2. ____________ our behaviour by changing one of the dissonant cognitions
3. ____________ our behaviour by adding new cognitions

Answer 3

Change, Justify, Justify

Question 4

_________________ _________________ is when dissonance is aroused after making a decision, typically reduced by an enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives.

Answer 4

Postdecision dissonance

Question 5

Weiwei has a choice between selecting a Pidove doll or a Pidove card, both costing about SGD $10.00. Weiwei likes both the doll and the card, but decides to ultimately choose the doll. What might occur after making this choice?

Answer 5

Postdecision dissonance

Question 6

Derek is trying to quit smoking. He is experiencing difficulty in trying to quit and ultimately decides that smoking actually isn’t that unhealthy and continues to smoke. This change in his cognition is likely due to ___________________ __________________.

Answer 6

cognitive dissonance

Question 7

The more permanent and irrevocable a decision is, the ___________ the need to reduce dissonance.

Answer 7

stronger

Question 8

________________ is a strategy whereby a salesperson induces a customer to agree to purchase a product at a low cost, subsequently claims it was an error, and then raises the price; frequently, the customer will agree to make the purchase at the inflated price.

Answer 8

Lowballing

Question 9

_________________ ___________ ________________ is the tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain.

Answer 9

Justification of effort

Question 10

______________ ______________ is a reason or an explanation for dissonant personal behaviour that resides outside the individual (i.e. to receive a large reward or avoid a severe punishment).

Answer 10

External justification

Question 11

_______________ _____________ is the reduction of dissonance by changing something about one self (e.g., one’s attitude or behaviour).

Answer 11

Internal justification

Question 12

_________________ _________________ is when one acts or behaves in a way that is inconsistent or opposite with their own private belief or attitude.

Answer 12

Counterattitudinal behaviour

Question 13

The ____________________ ________________ ________________ effect refers to the tendency of one feeling more positively towards one person after we have done them a personal favour.

Answer 13

justification of kindness

Question 14

________________ ______________ refers to the dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification for having resisted a desired activity or object, usually resulting in individuals devaluing the forbidden activity or object.

Answer 14

Insufficient punishment

Question 15

In counterattitudinal behaviour, when people are rewarded for doing something they do not want to do, a larger magnitude of reward would result in ___________ cognitive dissonance.

Answer 15

lesser

Question 16

In avoiding temptations, where people are threatened with punishment for doing something they want to do, a smaller magnitude of threat would result in _____________ cognitive dissonance.

Answer 16

more

Question 17

______________ ______________ refers to the arousal of dissonance by having individuals make statements that run counter to their behaviours and then reminding them of the inconsistency between what they advocated and their behaviour.

Answer 17

Hypocrisy induction

Question 18

Mandy’s mother tells her that if she is caught eating ice-cream, she will be grounded for the next two weeks. Jolyn’s mother tells her that if she is caught eating ice-cream, she will be reprimanded for it. If both Mandy and Jolyn don’t eat ice-cream, dissonance theory will predict that:

a. Mandy will feel like eating ice-cream more strongly than Jolyn will.
b. Jolyn will feel like eating ice-cream more strongly than Mandy will.
c. Both Mandy and Jolyn will equally feel like eating ice-cream.
d. Both Mandy and Jolyn will equally dislike eating ice-cream.

Answer 18

a. Mandy will feel like eating ice-cream more strongly than Jolyn will.

Question 19

After spending 2 years of tedious work fixing up an old house themselves, Abby and Brian are even more convinced that they made the right choice to buy the place. Their feelings are an example of:

a. counterattitudinal behavior.
b. insufficient punishment.
c. the Ben Franklin effect.
d. justifying their effort.

Answer 19

d. justifying their effort.

Question 20

Briana undergoes treatment for drug addiction. After she leaves the clinic, Briana is most likely to stay off drugs if the treatment at the clinic was:

a. involuntary (she was ordered to undergo treatment) and a difficult ordeal.
b. involuntary (she was ordered to undergo treatment) and an easy experience.
c. voluntary (she chose to undergo treatment) and an easy experience.
d. voluntary (she chose to undergo treatment) and a difficult ordeal.

Answer 20

d. voluntary (she chose to undergo treatment) and a difficult ordeal.

Question 21

Which of the following areas of the human brain have been found to be active during dissonance?

a. The striatum and other specific areas within the prefrontal cortex
b. The amygdala and emotional circuits of the brain
c. The midbrain and specific areas within the parietal cortex
d. The cerebellum and specific areas within the temporal cortex

Answer 21

a. The striatum and other specific areas within the prefrontal cortex

Question 22

______________ ____________ is the idea that people can reduce threats to their self-esteem by affirming themselves in areas unrelated to the source of the threat.

Answer 22

Self-affirmation theory

Question 23

__________________ _________________ ________________ is the idea that people experience dissonance when someone close to us outperforms us in an area that is central to our self-esteem. This dissonance can be reduced by becoming less close to the person, changing our behaviour so that we now outperform them, or deciding that the area is not that important to us after all.

Answer 23

Self-evaluation maintenance theory

Question 24

Suppose Juan, a premed student, is in a long-term, romantic relationship but chooses to flirt with someone else. He experiences dissonance because he sees himself as loving and trustworthy, and his flirtatious behavior is incongruent with that self-perception. According to dissonance theory he could reduce his dissonance by ____, whereas according to self-affirmation theory he could reduce his dissonance
by ____.

a. convincing himself that the flirting was harmless/thinking about how proud he is to be a premed student
b. thinking about how proud he is to be a premed student/convincing himself that the flirting was harmless
c. convincing himself that the flirting was harmless/breaking up with his girlfriend
d. breaking up with his girlfriend/convincing himself that the flirting was harmless

Answer 24

a. convincing himself that the flirting was harmless/thinking about how proud he is to be a premed student

Question 25

Jack is a 25-year-old Caucasian male who is attractive but moderately obese. He reads an article regarding a new analysis of almost a million people from around the world, which shows that obesity can trim almost 10 years off one’s life expectancy. He immediately decides to eat healthy and start working out. However, at a friend’s dinner party the same day, he finds himself having beer, pizza, and fried chicken. He thinks to himself, “It’s okay, I am a good-looking guy". Which of the following explains Jack's justification of his actions? a. He engaged in cognition-change. b. He engaged in behavior-change. c. He engaged in self-deception. d. He engaged in self-affirmation.

Answer 25

d. He engaged in self-affirmation.

Question 26

Imagine that you and your sister are both psychology majors and that you are very close to your sister. Suppose you learn that your sister’s GPA in psychology classes is a lot higher than yours. According to self-evaluation maintenance theory, which of the following is least likely to occur? a. You will decide that you are not that interested in psychology. b. You will become less close to your sister. c. You will bask in your sister’s reflected glory and congratulate her on her high GPA. d. You will study really hard for the next psychology test to do better than your sister.

Answer 26

c. You will bask in your sister’s reflected glory and congratulate her on her high GPA.

Question 27

_________________ is defined as the combination of excessive self-love and a lack of empathy towards others.

Answer 27

Narcissism

Question 28

_______ _______ theory is the theory that holds that self-esteem servers as a buffer, protecting people from terrifying thoughts (i.e. death) about their own mortality.

Answer 28

Terror management

Question 29

The three assumptions of the cognitive dissonance theory are: 1. We are naturally inclined to seek __________ between our actions and attitudes. 2. When our attitudes and behaviours ________ each other, we experience cognitive dissonance. 3. We are motivated to reduce dissonance by changing either our __________ or _________.

Answer 29

1. consistency 2. contradict 3. attitudes or behaviours

Question 30

Cognitive dissonance is most powerful and upsetting when people behave in ways that threaten the core aspects of the self, such as _____ and _____.

Answer 30

rationality and morality

Question 31

__________ _________ is when a person finds an internal cause to explain a behaviour where there is no (or not enough) external cause.

Answer 31

Insufficient justification

Question 32

The insufficient justification effect ________ cognitive dissonance by justifying a behaviour internally when there is insufficient external justification.

Answer 32

reduces

Question 33

______ ______ is the feeling of discomfort that occurs when someone observes a member of their social group act in a way that goes against their beliefs or values.

Answer 33

Vicarious dissonance

Question 34

In Festinger & Carlsmith's (1958) experiment, participants that were paid $1.00 to lie to other participants enjoyed the menial task more than the participants that were paid $20.00 to lie to other participants. This is an example of a person changing their ______ to reduce cognitive dissonance.

Answer 34

attitude

Question 35

________ ______ _______ is a psychological phenomenon that occurs after making a difficult decision. It's when a person evaluates the chosen option more positively and the rejected option more negatively.

Answer 35

Spreading of alternatives

Question 36

The more important a decision is (i.e. deciding which person to marry vs which game to buy), the ______ the dissonance after.

Answer 36

stronger

Question 37

The less permanent a decision is, the _____ the dissonance is after.

Answer 37

weaker

Question 38

There are 2 conditions for the insufficient justification effect to occur: 1. ________ _______: Minimum compensation for the action in question 2. _______ ________: The action must be perceived as voluntary or up to use to decide

Answer 38

1. Low incentive 2. Free choice

Question 39

_______ ______ refers to publicly expressing a viewpoint that contradicts one's private beliefs, potentially leading to internal cognitive dissonance and a subsequent shift in the individual's attitude or behavior.

Answer 39

Counterattitudinal advocacy