CH 6 COGNITIVE DISSONANCE Leon Festinger The notion of attitudes An attitude is the manner disposition feeling or position one holds with regard to a person or thing a tendency or orientation especially of the mind We cannot necessarily directly observe attitudes Many theories try to explain how attitudes form change and relate to other cognitive processes that influence how we think act and feel Attitudes as a Balancing Act Cognitive Dissonance focuses on the balance between the pieces of information in our heads that come together to form our attitude about something According to Leon Festinger the creator of CD Cognitive Dissonance is a feeling of imbalance where we do or say or think things that don t fit are dissonant with our established beliefs opinions or values and we become uncomfortable as a result In order to lessen the uncomfortable feelings that dissonance produces we are driven to reduce or eliminate dissonance Cognitions ways of knowing beliefs judgements and thoughts Cognitive dissonance feeling of discomfort imbalance resulting from inconsistent attitudes thoughts and behaviors leon Fesinger when they find themselves doing things that don t fit with what they know or having opinions that do not fit with other opinions they hold Cognitive Dissonance Theory a theory that argues that dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling that motivates people to take steps to reduce it Consistency Theories In general are theories that deal with how our mind processes and or categorizes information stimuli As information is taken in it is grouped with similar information to form a pattern that helps make it easier to understand recall the information later Sometimes even though the information we process relates in some way to information stored in our minds it is inconsistent with the pattern attitude we have already created Because the mind processes information differently depending on the environment and type of stimuli there are several different types of Consistency Theories Principles of consistency theories 1 The mind operates as an intermediary between stimulus and response 2 When people receive information a stimulus their minds organize it into a pattern with other previously encountered stimuli If the new stimulus does not fit the pattern or is inconsistent then people will feel discomfort As a result they will then take steps to reduce the discomfort which we will cover later on Three components A person or perceiver P another person O and an issue X Balance Theory s basic premise is that people prefer a balanced relationship between P O X regardless of whether it is positive or negatively evaluated Dissing the Dissonance The inner motivation to eliminate dissonance is one of the core principles of Cog Diss Theory The motivation to eliminate Cognitive Dissonance can result in behavior and attitude change Magnitude of Dissonance how much it matters to you quantitative amount of discomfort felt 3 factors influence this 1 Importance a factor in determining magnitude of diss refers to how significant the issue is 2 Dissonance ratio if someone calls and says I hope youre ok even though youre at fsu huge dissonance ratio a factor in determining magnitude of diss the amount of consonant cognitions relative to the dissonant ones 3 Rationale Strength of reasoning a factor in determining magnitude of diss refers to the reasoning employed to explain the inconsistency Coping with Dissonance Many techniques used to decrease dissonance cognitively based Many making up things to deal with something you don t like to reduce diss Ratio Convince yourself that diss Feelings aren t as important as your thought Im at a wedding psh im happy even though fsu Is losing Distort diss info to make it fit with your original beliefs oh well ole miss barely beat vandy So its fine that they beat UF Many of the techniques used to decrease dissonance are cognitively based Mentally cognitions to reduce your dissonance ratio Distort the dissonant information to make it fit with your original beliefs Convince yourself that the dissonant feelings are NOT as important as you originally thought Coping with Cognitive Dissonance 1 Although CDT explains that dissonance can be reduced through both behavioral and attitudinal changes most research has focused on the latter 2 Many techniques to increase consistency are cognitively based and the theory suggests several ways to reduce dissonance a An individual can add or subtract cognitions to change the ratio of consonant to dissonant cognitions b An individual might try to reduce the importance of the dissonant cognitions c An individual might distort information or stimuli in an effort to reduce dissonance Cognitive dissonance and perception People avoid info that increases dissonance 4 ways 1 Selective exposure seek out info that s consistent with beliefs reduce dissonance Ex Since they won the game I haven t been on Gainesville com to look the game info don t want to see the good stuff UF did A method for reducing diss by seeking info that is consonant with beliefs and actions 2 Selective attention pay attention to info consonant with beliefs Ex We hear something against gators so we tune in more ole miss wasn t really 3rd wait what A thod for reducing diss by paying attention to info that is consonant with current beliefs and actions 3 Selective interpretation taking info and molding it to fit your needs A method for reducing diss by interpreting ambiguous info so that it becomes consistent with current beliefs and actions 4 Selective retention remembering consonant info more easily than diss info Ex If I like hilary Im gonna remember what good thing that person said about her keeping the good info in your head A method for reducing dissonance by remembering info that is consonant with current beliefs actions Any one of these techniques could be used to help you discredit the fact that your friend is still your best friend even though they happen to be a Gator but it also depends on YOUR beliefs about FSU being a Nole 3 types of cognitive relationships 1 Consonant Relationship our beliefs and behaviors coincide two elements in equilibrium with each another ex If you believe that health fitness are important goals and you work out 3 5 times a week then your beliefs about health and your own behaviors would have a consonant relationshop with one another 2 Dissonant Relationship our beliefs do not fit with our behaviors 3 two elements in dosequilibrium with
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