Psych 315 1nd Edition Lecture 16 Outline of Last Lecture I. Subjective Well-being Outline of Current Lecture II. Definitions of Dissonance III. Ways to reduce dissonance IV. Just sufficient and over sufficient JustificationV. Dissonance in the real worldCurrent Lecture- 1st purposed in 1950s. Sets a tone for social psych. It’s an important theory.- Consider the following study: participants paid $1 or $20 to tell another participant in the study that a boring task was in fact interesting.o Attitudes toward the boring task were measured before and after participants made their inconsistent statement.o For people paid $1 the second attitude assessment showed a change in attitude such that people thought that the task that they made an inconsistent statement about was in fact less boring than they had originally thought.o No attitude change occurred when participants were paid $20. o Why?- the 20$ was enough to justify- Original Definition of Dissonance – As aversive state of arousal that results when two or more cognitions or cognitions and behaviors are psychologically inconsistent with one another. - Dissonance is a study in which attitudes are in conflict; you can think one thing and do anothero Only get dissonance when you feel that you are challenging self. (doing something that conflicts with who you are)- Modified “Self” Definition of Dissonance – An aversive state of arousal that results with behavior or cognitions conflict with one’s positive view of oneself as good, moral, smart, etc. Ways to reduce dissonance: change Attitudes or Behavior, or add new, justifying cognitions (Smoking as example)o Change attitude: Smoking is not harmfulo Change behavior: stop smokingo Add justifying cognitions: Smoking keeps my weight down, smoking is stress reducingo May not always be able to reduce dissonanceo Smoking is a cause of dissonance because it conflicts between what is right and what you want to doThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- $1/$20 experiment: In the $20 condition, the money give provides justifying cognitions so little ifany dissonance aroused, the $1 condition provides far less in the way of justification so more dissonance aroused. Need to reduce dissonance then by changing behavior or attitude about thetask. Can’t change what you did so must change attitude to get rid of dissonance. - The failed prophecy studyo The world is going to endo Research bet that the world would not end, wanted to see what people would say when the world didn’t endo The people “saved” the world- Typical ways of creating dissonance in the labo Counter-attitudinal advocacy/Reducing the dissonance aroused? Role of choice in this way of creating dissonance; no choice = justification for one’s behavior Ask students to write essay of supporting tuition increase. People only express counter attitudes if they felt they freely wrote the essay.o Effort justification/reducing the dissonance aroused Students were trying to get into sex discussion. Group was actually very boring. Students put a lot of effort to be in the group, so they changed their attitude to justify their behavior- Hazing: lots of groups have to do hazing to get in the group. Once you get through the hazing they like the group more than a group that wasn’t hazed- You like the activity more if you put a lot of effort into ito Free choice/reducing the dissonance aroused (*most common) People have choice between two objects. When you pick an object, then they increase liking for the object they chose, and decrease liking the object they didn’t choose. - Buying a car, picking a universityo The role of importance in creating dissonance The more important the decision, the more dissonanceJust Sufficient and Over sufficient Justificationo The Forbidden Toy study Children in room of toys One toy was most attractive Couldn’t play with the toy Group 1=severe punishment Group 2=less severe punishment- Nobody played with the toy- Allowed to play with the toy- Severe group played with the toyo Why? The big threat gives plenty justification to not play with the toy- Less severe group changed attitudes toward liking the toy, so they created more dissonance - The role of the self in producing dissonance- Not all forms of inconsistency produce dissonance- Need to find a way to determine the characteristics of those that do- Aronson proposed that inconsistency must cause a person to see himself or herself in a negative light, as foolish, unwise, immoral, etc., before it will cause dissonance. - So, how does that apply to counter-attitudinal advocacy, effort justification, and free choice?- Self-affirmation and dissonance o Let people engage in self-affirmation (building self-image), if self is built up, then there’s no dissonance- Self-perception theory and cognitive dissonance: competing theorieso Self-perception- find out about self by observing selfo In counter- attitude- no dissonance- One different prediction: aversive arousalo Dissonance is supposed to be an aversive state of arousal according to dissonance theory. Is there any proof of this? - Misattribution drug studyo Told people they are going to be aroused or not, ones who thought they were aroused didn’t change attitudeso Proves dissonance involves aversive arousal - Actual Drug study (tranquilizer, mild amphetamine, control condition). o Gave people tranquilizer, amphetamineo Who changes attitude- in counter attitude? Amphetamine- rose arousal that causes dissonance- Is dissonance the same across cultures? o Originally thought to be non-existent in Eastern cultures based in research conducted in Japan. Example: Hokkaido studyo Studies using free choice method showed that dissonance could be found in Japan but participants in the studies had to be thinking about other people. Why? Who judges interdependent vs. independent selves? - Do primates experience dissonance? Yes.- Procedure of studyo Monkeys made choices by colorso Presented colored M&Ms, and the monkey would choose between two colors that were equally important to them. o Then they chose between a new color and the color they didn’t choose before- Findings of studyo They chose the new color because the other color liking went downo Similar findings in a study of human 4-year-olds- An application of dissonance in clinical