part 2

insufficient justification

Occurs when someone performs a behavior but does not have enough external justification for doing it. Key idea:

• Not enough external reason for behavior → dissonance → attitude change.

festinger & carlsmith 1959a

• insufficient justification

• Participants completed a very boring task. Some were paid $1. Others were paid $20.

• Participants were asked to tell another person that the boring task was interesting.

$20 condition:

• Strong external justification.

• Low dissonance.

• "I said it was fun because they paid me $20."

$1 condition:

• Insufficient external justification.

• High dissonance.

• Participants reduced dissonance by changing their attitude.

• They could think, "Maybe the task actually wasn't that bad."

Key prediction:

• Less external justification → more dissonance → greater attitude change.

Critical elements:

• There was insufficient justification for the behavior.

• The behavior was freely chosen, or there was at least the illusion of choice.

effort justification

• When people put a lot of effort, discomfort, or suffering into achieving something, they tend to convince themselves that the outcome is more valuable.

• “we come to love the things we suffer for.” - festinger

• if you chose to work hard on it, you will convince yourself it was worth it (ie IKEA furniture, studying hard, sorority initiations)

insufficient punishment

Occurs when a mild punishment is enough to prevent someone from doing something.

why insufficient punishment creates dissonance

• The punishment is not strong enough to fully explain why someone avoided the behavior.

• This creates dissonance.

• The person reduces dissonance by changing their attitude toward the forbidden behavior.

Freedman 1965

• insufficient punishment'

• Children were told they could not play with their favorite toy.

• Severe threat → low dissonance.

• Mild threat → high dissonance.

• Children in the mild-threat condition later viewed the toy as less desirable.

• Effects were still present 40 days later.

Why?

• With a severe threat, children could think, "I didn't play with it because I was scared of being punished."

• With a mild threat, they could instead think, "Maybe I don't really want that toy anyway."

Key idea:

• Mild punishment → more dissonance → changed attitude.

post decision dissonance

choice justification

• Dissonance that occurs after making a decision.

• Associated with Brehm (1956).

• Dissonance happens after the decision, not before.

• Every choice has positive and negative aspects.

• "Dissonance is an almost inevitable consequence of a decision."

• More permanent or irreversible decisions can make this especially important.

choice justification examples

Choosing McDaniel instead of another college.

McDaniel positives:

• Small classes.

• Good faculty relationships.

• Quiet town.

McDaniel negatives:

• Far from home.

• Far from significant other.

After choosing McDaniel:

• Focus more heavily on its positive qualities.

• Downplay its negative qualities.

Key prediction:

• Like the chosen option more.

• Like the rejected option less.

Key idea:

• Changing your view after making a choice.

counter attitudinal behavior

Behaving in a way that is inconsistent with your existing attitude

counter attitudinal behavior example

• You think a task is extremely boring.

• You tell someone else that it is fun.

Why it creates dissonance:

• Attitude = "This is boring."

• Behavior = "This is fun."

• If there is insufficient justification, you may change your attitude to reduce dissonance

festinger and carlsmith 1959

• Participants completed a boring task.

• They were asked to tell another person that it was interesting.

• $1 created insufficient justification and more dissonance.

• Participants changed their attitudes toward the task.

Key idea:

• Behavior contradicts attitude.

self affirmation theory

• People want to see themselves as good, competent, and moral.

self affirmation theory example

• Steele (1988).

When self-esteem is threatened, people can:

Directly deal with the threat:

• Change behavior.

• Change beliefs.

• Rationalize behavior.

OR

Affirm themselves in another area:

• Focus on an unrelated positive aspect of themselves.

Example:

• "Yes, I'm a smoker, but I'm also a really good friend."

Important finding:

• People generally prefer to deal directly with the threat.

• If they cannot, they can affirm themselves in an unrelated area.

Key idea:

• "I'm a good person in another way."

self evaluation maintenance

• Focuses on what happens when someone close to us performs better than we do.

• People are motivated to maintain self-esteem.

• Tesser 1988

self evaluation maintenance factors

1. Closeness:

• The closer you are to the person → more dissonance.

2. Relevance:

• The more important the activity is to your self-esteem → more dissonance.

3. Performance:

• If the other person outperforms you → more dissonance

self evaluation maintenance example

Your best friend gets into medical school.

If you are not pre-med:

• Their success is not central to your self-esteem.

• You can happily celebrate them.

If you are also pre-med and did not get accepted:

• Their success is relevant to your self-esteem.

• You may experience dissonance or envy.

Ways to reduce dissonance:

• Reduce closeness.

• Reduce importance of the activity.

• Focus on your own strengths.

• Outperform the other person.

Key idea:

• Close person's success + important activity + they outperform you → greater threat to self-esteem.

affective forecasting errors

People often incorrectly predict how strongly or how long they will experience emotions.

affective forecasting error examples

• "If my boyfriend and I break up, I'll be miserable for months."

• "If I fail to get this job, I'll be devastated."

Gilbert et al 1998

• affective forecasting error

• romantic breakup

• People in relationships predicted their happiness would decrease significantly after a breakup.

• People who actually experienced breakups were about as happy as people currently in relationships.

Why?

• People fail to appreciate how well they will adapt.

• People fail to appreciate how they will use psychological mechanisms to reduce distress.

Key idea:

• People overestimate how unhappy future negative events will make them.

immune neglect bias

• People fail to appreciate their psychological ability to cope with negative events.

• Works like a psychological immune system.

• Underestimating your psychological ability to recover from negative events.

immune neglect bias key points

• People neglect to realize psychological mechanisms will make them feel better.

• People tend to overestimate how painful negative events will be.

• People underestimate their ability to psychologically recover.

immune neglect bias example

• "If I don't get this job, I'll be devastated for months."

• In reality, you may adapt much faster than predicted.

schemas

• Mental structures people use to organize knowledge around a topic or theme.

• A type of automatic thinking used to organize knowledge.

• organize knowledge but can also bias perception and memory.

how schemas help us

• Interpret situations.

• Decide what to pay attention to.

• Remember information.

• Understand ambiguous situations.

schema example

When you enter a classroom, your classroom schema tells you:

• Sit down.

• Look toward the front.

• Pay attention.

• Do not treat it like a party.

schema issue

• can distort what we see and remember.

• influence what people notice, think about, and remembe

schema accessibilty

• The extent to which it is at the forefront of our minds.

chronic accessibility

• A schema that is consistently accessible.

• Stereotypes are an example.

priming

• Bringing a particular schema to mind so that it becomes more accessible.

hastorf and cantril 1954

• Princeton and Dartmouth students watched the same aggressive football game.

• Students from each school perceived the game differently.

• Students noticed fewer penalties committed by their own team.

• Demonstrates how schemas and expectations influence perception and memory.