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ISU PSY 223 - Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Persuasion
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PSY 223 1nd Edition Lecture 10Outline of Last Lecture I. Inferring dispositions and forming impressions continued,A. Effects on impressions,II. Attitudes,III. Measurement of Attitudes,IV. Sources of Attitudes,V. Predicting Behavior from Attitudes,VI. Predicting Attitudes from Behavior,Outline of Current Lecture VII. Ch. 6 contd.,a. Cognitive Dissonance Theory,b. Self-perception Theory,VIII. Persuasion,a. Central Route,b. Peripheral Route,IX. Persuasive messages,Current LectureChapter 6 Contd. Cognitive Dissonance Theory-inconsistencies between thoughts, feelings, and behavior create cognitive dissonance (uncomfortable feelings)-Which then can cause changes in thoughts and/or feelings to rationalize behaviors3 ways cognitive dissonance has been used:1. Making tough decisionsa. Difficult choices can induce cognitive dissonanceb. Dissonance typically is resolved by emphasizing the positive and minimizing the negatives of the selected choice (and the opposite for choice not taken)These 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.i. Example: if get into ISU and not SIU—you want to hear good things about ISU and bad things about SIUii. When living in Midwest and not California—focus on why would anyone want tolive where there are earthquakes rather than nice weather2. Justifying efforta. Attempts to reduce dissonance produced by the effort or cost spent to obtain somethingunpleasant or disappointingi. Classic study by Aronson & Mills, 1959—women came into lab and they told them they would be part of discussion but they first had to go through initiation test (controlled if mild or severe initiation) and in the second part they were toldto listen on headphones and they thought they were listening to people around them, but it was just a recording and it was extremely boring. Then they rated the conversation & if they were in severe initiation then ranked it better3. Induced (forced) compliancea. Subtly getting people to act in a way inconsistent with their attitudesb. Often leads to change in attitude in order to resolve dissonancec. Occurs when there is insufficient justification for attitude-discrepant behaviori. Study: do really boring task in study and then asked them if they could tell the next person it was a lot of fun because confederate wasn’t there yet. They were told they would get paid either $1 or $20 for doing this and then rated how much they enjoyed the experiment. People being paid $1 actually said enjoyed experiment mored. Can also occur when there is insufficient deterrence for attitude-discrepant nonbehaviori. Example: won’t like toy that would get in big trouble for playing with ii. Classic Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959Necessary conditions for inconsistent to produce dissonance:- Free Choiceo Choosing to engage in a behavior that’s inconsistent with beliefs will cause dissonance- Insufficient justificationo Dissonance may occur when the reason for a behavior is weak or unclear- Negative consequenceso Feely chosen inconsistent behaviors may not cause dissonance if there was no negative consequence of behavior- Foreseeability o Dissonance may not occur if the consequence was not something that could be foreseenSelf-Perception TheoryOffers another explanation for findings from dissonance studies--argues that people didn’t change their attitudes; instead they inferred their attitudes from their behavior in the situation2 things related to self-perception:Overjustification effectMovements can affect emotions and attitudesPersuasion2 routes to persuasion:1. Central Route—use when high ability and motivation2. Peripheral Route—low ability or motivationCentral RouteProcess by which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced by the strength of its argumentsTopic is important to audienceThey have the ability to process the informationAttitude change occurs throughout high-quality arguments. If opposite then attitude won’t changeProcess can include: attending (paying attention to) the message, comprehend the message, andthen accept the messagePeripheral RouteProcess by which a person does not think carefully about a communication and is influenced instead by superficial cuesPerson isn’t motivatedPerson doesn’t have to abilityAttitudes are changes through feelings and superficial associations (think someone is an expert because wearing lab coat or think someone is attractive so listen)Persuasive messages have 3 components:1. Source of messagea. Influences:i. Credibility—expertise/competence/trustworthinessii. Likeability/attractiveness—similarity, physical attractivenessb. Sometimes noncredible sources have influencei. The sleeper effect1. An effect that occurs when messages from unreliable sources initially exert little influence, but over time cause individuals’ attitudes to shift2. A phenomenon that over time people separate the message from the messengera. Conditions needed:i. The message needs to be persuasive and have a big impactii. A discounting cue: for effect to occur, the source of the message should not be trusted and should be given after the message (example: government ad “paid for byopponent”)1. Since source becomes forgotten, the message gains more credibility iii. Hovland & Weiss study—Nuclear Submarine Study (1951)—participants had attitude change when surveyed again in 4 weeks even though didn’t think nuclear submarine study would be made soon initially 2. Content of messagea. What makes an effective message? Depends on whether audience is taking a central route or peripheral routei. Length—if peripheral, long message may seem impressive. If central, length onlyworks if argument is goodii. Most change comes from moderate amounts of discrepancy (not too extreme)iii. Should you refute the opposition? Yes ex. Recycling signs—when acknowledge other side then almost doubled success of recyclingiv. If 2 opposing sides, going first or second depends on how soon they will be voting1. If wait one week, after both people go, primacy effect (go with who went first)2. If one person goes then wait 1 week and the other person goes and people vote after that then recency effect (go with 2nd person)v. Should you use fear message? Can be effective, but most effective when include instructionsvi. Should you use subliminal message? No it won’t influence that much3. The audience or target


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ISU PSY 223 - Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Persuasion

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