1 of 13

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

MODULE 4.2

LEARNING TARGETS:

  • Explain how role-playing affects attitudes.
  • Explain how cognitive dissonance is used to reduce tension when our actions don’t fit our beliefs.

2 of 13

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

  • Unpleasant state of psychological tension or arousal (discomfort) that occurs when our attitudes & behaviors are inconsistent
  • When Attitudes and Behaviors are in conflict
    • It is uncomfortable for us
    • We seek ways to decrease discomfort caused by the inconsistency
    • Easiest way to do this is change our views/attitudes to match our actions

​

3 of 13

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE� (LEON FESTINGER)

  • The theory that people act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) they feel when their thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent with their actions
  • When our attitudes are inconsistent with our behaviors, we change our attitudes to reduce the tension/dissonance.
  • It’s what we tell ourselves to justify that we just did a behavior that goes against what we truly believe (rationalization)

1919-1989

4 of 13

INSUFFICIENT-JUSTIFICATION EFFECT

  • Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) – See video of this experiment.
    • gave subjects a boring task, then asked subjects to lie to the next subject and say the experiment was exciting
    • paid ½ the subjects $1, other ½ $20
    • then asked subjects to rate boringness of task
    • $1 group rated the task as far more fun than the $20 group
    • each group needed a justification for lying
      • $20 group had an external justification of money
      • since $1 isn’t very much money, $1 group said task was fun
    • The less coerced and more responsible we feel for a troubling act, the more dissonance/tension we feel & the more pressure we feel to change our attitudes to justify the act.

​

5 of 13

FESTINGER’S COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

6 of 13

How Cognitive Dissonance Leads to Attitude Change �

When your behavior conflicts with your attitudes, an uncomfortable state of tension is produced. However, if you can rationalize or explain your behavior, the conflict (and the tension) is eliminated or avoided.

  • If you can’t explain your behavior, you may change your attitude so that it is in harmony with your behavior.

Who will feel Cognitive Dissonance?

7 of 13

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE�(INSUFFICIENT JUSTIFICATION EFFECT)

Who will feel Cognitive Dissonance?

8 of 13

Cognitive Dissonance�(Insufficient Justification Effect)

9 of 13

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE�(INSUFFICIENT JUSTIFICATION EFFECT)

  • When you have a good excuse, you don’t have dissonance & can keep your attitude.
  • When you do not have a good excuse, you feel dissonance & change your attitude to match your behavior.

10 of 13

DISSONANCE-REDUCING MECHANISMS

  • Firming up an attitude to be consistent with an action (Festinger’s Studies)
    • Once we’ve made a choice to do something, lingering doubts about our actions would cause dissonance (guilt, disgust with ourselves), so we are motivated to set them aside
    • “People come to believe and love the things they have to suffer for.”
  • Avoiding dissonant information
    • We attend to information in support of our existing views, rather than information that doesn’t support them
  • Create an extraordinary excuse
    • We tell ourselves something to justify the thing that we did that goes against what we truly believe (rationalization) – “They had it coming.”

​

​

11 of 13

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE IN ACTION…

12 of 13

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: A REVIEW

    • If you have a good excuse for a behavior that does not go with your attitude then you avoid dissonance.
    • If you do not have a good excuse for a behavior that is against your attitude you must change your attitude to fit your behavior.

​

13 of 13

“FAKE IT ‘TIL YOU MAKE IT”

  • What we do, we become.
  • If your attitude is poor, act positive and before long your attitude will match your actions. ☺