THEORY OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE (1957)

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Leon Festinger
THEORY OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE (1957)
BASIC HYPOTHESIS The existence of dissonance,
being psychologically uncomfortable, will
motivate the person to try and reduce the
dissonance and achieve consonance
Behavior inconsistent with the attitude
Creation of dissonance
Attitude
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Earthquake Research by Singh in India
Epicenter
In unaffected areas far away from the epicenter,
people exhibited high levels of anxiety and
spread rumors of impending further disaster. Why?
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Why was the theory of cognitive dissonance
(insufficient justification) such a big deal?
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• Traditional Persuasion Techniques
• Greater rewards lead to more responses
• B) Greater punishment leads to less responses
• Use of "credible" sources (experts, authority
  figures)
• D) Use of conformity paradigms (e.g., Asch,
  Sherif)

• Some Weaknesses of Traditional
• Persuasion Approaches
• Effects not very strong
• Short-term effects
• Limited to less important issues

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Attitude-Behavior Inconsistency
Attitude Im not going to smoke cigarettes
anymore Behavior Smoke
cigarettes
Some Options
1) Change behavior (e.g., Throw pack away)

• Change cognitions (e.g., Smoking isnt all that
  bad I dont really smoke that much)

3) Add supporting cognitions (e.g., Smoking
relaxes me it helps me think better
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COGNITIVE DISSONANCE FESTINGER CARLSMITH (1 -
20 Study)
Asked to tell participant that the task was
interesting (to lie)
Perform boring task
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Rate task
20
1
20
Boring
Interesting

• Which group rated the task as more interesting
  after lying,
• those paid 1 or 20?

Key is lack of sufficient external justification
for ones behavior
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TOY STUDY
Children rate desirability of toys
Told not to play with the most desirable toy
MILD THREAT
SEVERE THREAT
Children did not play with the desired toy
Children rate the desirability of the toys a 2nd
time after not playing with the desired Which
group viewed the desirable toy most attractive?
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ATTITUDES REGARDING MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION
Original belief No
Asked to give speech opposite of their attitude
(for legalization)
Speech watched by research team
Told speech taped and would be shown to high
school students
More positive views of legalization
Attitudes regarding marijuana legalization
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More Cognitive Dissonance Occurs When

• Choice is involved
• Individuals are responsible for any consequences
  of their behavior (and if the consequences could
  be anticipated)
• Negative consequences are believed to be likely
  to occur
• Ones self-concept is involved

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Self-Perception Theory (Bem)
Internal States (e.g., So-called private
stimuli, physiological)
Gross evaluation (e.g., I feel happy I feel
sad)
Use of external social cues for precise
discriminations (e.g., other peoples behavior or
ones own actions, statements, thoughts)
Attitudes formed
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Components of Attitudes

• Affective (Emotional)
• Behavioral
• Cognitive (Thinking)

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SELF-PERCEPTION STUDY
(Pretest) Various scales to assess attitudes on
environmental issues e.g., favorability,
attitudes (good-bad, wise-foolish) extent
consider oneself an environmentalist
cognitions regarding environmentalism
Behavioral salience survey/manipulation -- what
people actually did about environmental issues
(I occasionally pick up other peoples garbage
and take it to the trash can, I occasionally
carpool rather than drive separately, I
frequently litter.
Post-test (attitude scales on environmental
issues)
WEAK
STRONG
Those with weak initial environmental attitudes
had their attitudes affected by their responses
to the behavioral questionnaire
Low affective-cognitive consistency role
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What are the big picture implications of this
research?
Ones overt behavior
Ones verbal statements
Ones thoughts, self statements
Strive for consistency with overall attitude