Cognitive Dissonance Theory According to the Social Scientist 1 History a Leon Festinger 1957 i Social psychologists who study the theories of cognitive dissonance b Leon Festinger James M Carlsmith i Cognitive consequences of forced compliance Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology ii 1 20 Study 1 Participants are paid money to lie claiming to others that they really enjoyed a study when they in fact hated it Those who were paid 1 to lie felt more dissonance because they were unable to rationalize why they were lying Ultimately these were the participants who changed their thoughts convincing themselves that they enjoyed the study in order to achieve consonance 2 CDT is a Consistency Theory a Mind is a mediator between a stimulus and a response b People organize information into a pattern with previously encountered stimuli i When information stimulus is consistent with the pattern we feel consonant but when it does not fit we feel discomfort dissonant 1 Discomfort arises from the discrepancy between current and past stimuli a Past stimuli our thoughts feelings beliefs attitudes b Current Stimuli our behaviors 2 We are always attempting to achieve consonance because it puts us into a cognitive equilibrium cognitions 3 Goals of CDT a Explain b Predict c Control 5 Concepts i Explain attitude changes when people experience psychological inconsistency 1 Festinger To explain communication oriented toward acquiring or supporting one s i How will people s attitudes change when presented with inconsistency Will they change i Control attitude and behavior changes 4 Definitions of Cognitive Dissonance a A feeling of discomfort resulting from inconsistent attitudes thoughts and behaviors b A state of psychological discomfort or tension that motivates efforts to achieve consonance a Cognitions Ways of knowing beliefs we hold judgments we make and thoughts we have b Dissonance Disequilibrium imbalance psychological discomfort c Consonance Psychological equilibrium that results from following a cognitive pattern d Irrelevance Unrelated cognitions e Resistance to Change Determines the likelihood that a cognition will change when there is dissonance i Less resistant cognitions are easier to change ii Responsiveness to reality iii How resistant we are to change depends on the degree of pain loss or satisfaction that results from f Spreading of Alternatives Increase desirability of chosen alternative decreased desirability of rejected g Magnitude of Dissonance How dissonant are your thoughts i Quantitative amount based on the number and importance of cognitions that is affected by our behavior alternative rationale ii Dissonance Ratio iii of Dissonant Cognitions of Dissonant Cognitions of Consonant Cognitions 1 Increasing of dissonant thoughts increases ratio Increasing of consonant thoughts 2 Decreasing of dissonant thoughts decreases ratio Decreasing of consonant thoughts decreases ratio increases ratio 6 Assumptions a People like to be in psychological equilibrium i Why Because they feel most comfortable with consistency b Dissonance results from psychological inconsistencies NOT logical ones i If we perform behaviors that our mind does not agree with for logical purposes it is likely that our thoughts changed in order to induce such behaviors c Inconsistency psychological imbalance is an adverse state causing us to feel uncomfortable d The discomfort or psychological discrepancy caused by the inconsistency motivates us to reduce dissonance 7 Explanation a When cognitions behaviors are inconsistent with one another we experience cognitive dissonance that leads to discomfort in turn this discomfort motivates us to restore consonance i What happens when there is already consonance or irrelevance b We restore dissonance by changing our beliefs attitudes or behaviors i Think about the dissonance ratio in order to reduce dissonance 1 Remove dissonant cognitions 2 Increase consonant cognitions add more 3 Decrease importance of dissonant cognitions 4 Increase importance of consonant cognitions 8 Cognitive Dissonance and Perception a There are 4 Perceptual Processes and actions i Selective Exposure We seek to be around people who will be in agreement with our thoughts 1 Birds of a feather flock together 2 Avoid dissonance by making sure that information we receive is the same as our own ii Selective Attention Tendency to favor information that reinforces pre existing views while avoiding information that contradicts these views 1 Tunnel vision 2 Individuals may reinterpret the contradictory information in order for it to coincide with pre existing views restoring consonance 3 Individuals may disregard the contradictory information all together to reduce dissonance iii Selective Interpretation We choose how we interpret information signals that we receive that we are unsure about fundamental beliefs preexisting attitudes and beliefs 1 Using our beliefs as a lens to interpret information 2 Avoid dissonance by interpreting information that we receive as in accordance with our iv Selective Retention We remember information most acutely that is consistent with our 1 Example If we have a strong belief that it is unacceptable to receive a grade of a C or lower in a class and then we do so we might not choose to remember that information and pretend that it never happened v Minimal Justification We need to offer a person the least amount of incentive in order for them to change 9 Research a CDT is very heuristic there have been 100 s of studies in various paradigms i Induced Compliance Carlsmith Festigner 1 Includes idea of minimal justification 2 1 2 study ii Free Choice Paradigm Brehm 1956 iii Belief Disconfirmation Paradigm Festinger et Al 1956 iv Effort Justification Paradigm Aronson Mills 1959 v Hypocrisy Paradigm Aronson et al 1991 vi Misattribution Paradigm Zanna Cooper 1974 b Proposed Explanations for Dissonance Effects i Self Consistency Aronson 1968 1992 ii Aversive Consequences Cooper Fazio 1984 iii Self Affirmation Steele 1988 Steele et al 1993 iv Goals Harmon Jones 2002 10 Implications Applications a Persuasion Attitude Behavior Change i Health Communicaiton ii Environmental Communication iii Social Marketing iv Commercial Marketing v Politics 11 Criticisms a Alternative Explanations i Self Perception Theory ii Biased Scanning iii Impression Management Theory b Controversy about Motivation Explanation i Self Affirmation ii Aversive Consequences iii Self Consistency iv Goals
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