Scientific Method



Cognitive consistency theories - people try to hold a system of attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that are subjectively and psychologically consistent

Consistency Theories

• Balance theory

• Congruence theory

• Cognitive dissonance theory

• Self-discrepancy theory

• Self-completion theory

• Self-evaluation theory

• Self-affirmation theory

Heider’s (1946) Balance Theory

Balance: occurs when we agree with people we like and when we disagree with people we don’t like

Imbalance is aversive

The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance - feeling of discomfort caused by performing an action that runs counter to one’s customary (typically positive) conception of oneself.

When we experience cognitive dissonance, the resulting discomfort motivates us to find a way to restore cognitive balance or consistency.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory -Partially based on Festinger’s experience with a doomsday group in 1954 “When Prophecy Fails”

Reducing Cognitive Dissonance

• Changing our behavior

• Changing our attitudes or beliefs

• Adding new attitudes or beliefs

• Seeking new information

• Distorting, rationalizing or justify

• Denial

Justifying our behavior by adding new cognitions

When we experience cognitive dissonance, the resulting discomfort motivates us to find a way to restore cognitive balance or consistency.

External Justification - A reason or an explanation for dissonant personal behavior that resides outside the individual.

Internal Justification - The reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself.

Counterattitudinal Advocacy- Stating an opinion or attitude that runs counter to one’s private belief or attitude.

If there is little external justification, you will experience dissonance and come to believe the stated opinion or lie

Festinger & Carlsmith (1959)

Engage in boring peg-turning task for 1 hour

Paid $1 or $20 to lie to next participant about the experiment, or no lie control group

Afterwards asked whether they liked the task

Zimbardo et al. (1965)

Army Reservists were asked to eat a fried grasshopper by either an pleasant friendly officer (Mr. Nice) or a cold and unpleasant officer (Mr. Nasty)

About 50% of the participants in each condition ate the grasshopper, but those asked to do by Mr. Nasty rated the grasshoppers more favorably

Insufficient Punishment-The dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification for having resisted a desired activity or object, usually resulting in individuals’ devaluing the forbidden activity or object.

Forbidden Toy Study

Aronson and Carlsmith (1963) asked each child to rate the attractiveness of several toys.

An experimenter then pointed to a toy that the child considered among the most attractive and told the child that he or she was not allowed to play with it.

Half the children were threatened with mild punishment if they disobeyed; the other half were threatened with severe punishment.

When the experimenter left the room for a few minutes, none of the children played with the forbidden toy.

Self-Persuasion- A long-lasting form of attitude change that results from attempts at self-justification.

Justifying of Effort- The tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain.

Aronson and Mills (1959) explored the link between effort and dissonance reduction.

Participants who underwent little or no effort to get into the group regretted that they had agreed to participate.

Participants who went through a severe initiation, however, convinced themselves that the same discussion was a worthwhile experience.

 Post decision Dissonance - Dissonance aroused after making a decision, typically reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluating the rejected alternatives.

Types of Dissonance

Justifying difficult decisions (Brehm, 1956)

The more important the decision, the greater the dissonance.

Decisions also vary in how permanent they are—how hard they are to revoke.

The irrevocability of a decision increases dissonance and motivation to reduce it.

Self-Discrepancy Theory-The idea that people become distressed when their sense of their actual self differs from their ideal self.

Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory - The idea that one’s self-concept can be threatened by another individual’s behavior and that the level of threat is determined by both the closeness of the other individual and the personal relevance of the behavior.

Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory - The idea that one’s self-concept can be threatened by another individual’s behavior and that the level of threat is determined by both the closeness of the other individual and the personal relevance of the behavior.[pic]

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