Chapter 6: Cognative Dissonance and the Need to Protect Our Self-Esteem

3 Ways to Reduce Cognative Dissonance

Changing the behavior, justifying a behavior by changing our cognition or justifying a behavior by adding a new cognition

Bastian et al. (2012)

Do animals have minds (food animals v. nonfood animals); reveals a dissonance reduction technique

Rothgeber (2020)

People justify their meat eating despite cognative dissonance

Post-decision Dissonance

One must live with their decision so they rationalize their decision to feel good about i

Jack Brehm (1956)

Toaster rating experiment: The toaster they chose was the best toaster only because they had to live with their decision

Knox & Inkster (1968)

Horse betting experiment (the perminance of your decision will change how you feel about ti)

The IKEA Effect (Norton et al, 2012)

A sofa one built should be priced higher than a sofa one sat in—people like things more when they work harder for themExternal Justification

External Justification

Reason for dissonance behavior is outside the self (ex: you don’t want someone to feel bad so you justify lying about their new haircut appearance); doesn’t require an attitude change

Internal Justification

Make reason for dissonance behavior internally, requiring an attitude change (ex: convincing oneself that they like salad because their behavior—they force their self to eat it)

Counter Attitudinal Advocacy

stating an opinion contrary to your true belief

Moral Dilemma

We all want to feel good about ourselves

Self-Affirmation Theory

Affirming our competence to reduce dissonance

Insufficient Punishment

Dissonance aroused when individuals lack sufficient external justification

Aroson & Carlsmith (1963) and the Forbidden Toy Experiment

Compared kids’ reactions to mild v. severe punishment; different levels of punishment called for different forms of justification (internal for mild and external for severe)

Takaku (2006) and reminders of our hypocrisy

Making people aware of their dissonance causes us to forgive others more

How can self-affirming lower dissonance?

(Brehm’s lab coat experiment) By affirming one’s identity, dissonance is already reduced, so when faced with a threatening decision, the individual is unmoved

Self-Evaluation Maitenance Theory

Dissonance felt when a close relationship partner out performs us on a task that is central to our self-esteem

Self-Verification Theory

Being arouns those who verify your idea of yourself

Ex: Swann et al. (1992) and the depression questionnaire (desire to be paired with a negative counselor who would affirm their negative, low self-esteem)

Wrongness Admission

The more we take accountabilitiy for our mistakes, the more socially desirable

Terror Management Theory

We think about our death, causing us stress

Jean Twerge’s research implies that the most narcissistic generation is—

Every generation—Personality development is to blame because young people are prone to being more narcissistic while they become less narcissistic with age