WK 5 - Cognitive Dissonance

1950s: origins of modern social psychology

• Psychology dominated by learning theory (eg Skinner)

• Field still young but thriving in the US

• Driven by European Scholars escaping WW2

What did social psychology focus on in the 1950s?

persuasion and wartime morale

Skinner pigeon in box experiment

• pecked a dot and would receive an award

• Then he would put a missile that would go off when the dot is pecked, if he is pecking to the side there would be a small electric shock

Government was interested in this persuasion research because

they wanted people to support the war by pairing it with positive associations and painting people who don’t support the war in a negative light

Landmark labs

• Kurt Lewin (MIT)

• Carl Hovland (Yale)

The emergence of cognitive dissonance

• Leon Festinger (1957):

people dislike inconsistency 

Inconsistency -> discomfort -> drive to restore balance

How do we reduce dissonance?

rationalise or reinterpret

Dissonance acts as a…

psychological drive, not just a preference

"When Prophecy Fails" (1956) - Festinger et al

Context and Background

• A 1950s Minneapolis article described as a doomsday cult - The Seekers - led by Dorothy Martin

• Belief: Earth would be destroyed as a cataclysmic flood on Dec 21, 1995; only believers would be saved by beings from planet Clarion

• Members quit jobs, sold possessions and severed relationships in preparation

"When Prophecy Fails" (1956) - Festinger et al

Research opportunity 

• Festinger saw this as a real-world test of cognitive dissonance theory - how people handle contradiction between belief and reality

• Prediction: When the prophecy failed, members would experience severe psychological inconsistency and seek ways to reduce dissonance

"When Prophecy Fails" (1956) - Festinger et al

observation and outcome

• Researcher infiltrated the group to observe events before and after the predicted flood

• Midnight of Dec 20 passed - no spaceship, no flood. Members were devasted

• At 4am, received a 'final message': she said she has been in contact with the guards of the universe and that The group's faith and goodness saved the earth from destruction

"When Prophecy Fails" (1956) - Festinger et al

Aftermath

• Prior to Dec 21: The seekers avoided publicity

• After Disconfirmation: They actively sought public validation - contacted media, printed flyers, appeared on radio

"When Prophecy Fails" (1956) - Festinger et al

Were Festingers predictions confirmed?

Yes - When beliefs disconfirmed, people often double down to regain internal consistency

Dissonance doesn't just occur in such extreme cases…

many everyday beliefs are inconsistent eg: I value my heath vs I keep skipping the gym

Avoiding dissonance: confirmation bias

People tend to select sources of information that are consistent with their worldview

people avoid conflicting news sources…

to manage discomfort. Not just preference, they are psychological defence mechanisms against dissonance

Once dissonance is aroused…

it creates a state of tension that needs to be reduced

The greater the dissonance, the stronger…

the motivation to reduce it

3 methods of reducing dissonance

• Change behaviour to match attitude

• Change attitude to match behaviour

• Justify by adding or changing cognitions

Brehm (1956)

• Posited that choosing between multiple desirable options evokes dissonance because they typically require compromise and the rejection of positive features

Does closer preferences create higher dissonance?

Closer preferences - Harder decisions - More dissonance

Bremh found that they reduced dissonance for close preference by

• change attitudes about chosen option 

• downplayed positives of rejected option 

• add new cognitions 

Bremh - resulting in spreading of alternatives

• Increased liking of chosen option

• Decreased liking of rejection option

Bremh (1956) procedure

sophomore students ranked 7 household items. Rate each items desirability and choose one item to keep as a gift. Rate each item again

Bremh (1956) 2 experimental conditions

• Difficult choice: between 2nd and 3rd ranked items (both liked)

• Easy choice: Between 2nd and 7th ranked items (clear preference)

Bremh (1956) - Findings

rated chosen items as more desirable in difficult choice condition than easy choice condition. rated rejected option as more desirable in difficult choice condition than in easy choice condition

What were the findings when ppt were shown 2 photos of a face and they got given the photo they didn’t choose

• 80% of people don’t notice that this is the photo they have not choosed

• They are asked why did you pick that face - 72% of people come up with plausibly sounding reasons for why they find that person more attractive

Festinger & Carlsmith (1958) task

• Extremely boring pegboard sorting task

• Designed to create negative attitudes

Festinger & Carlsmith (1958) procedure

• Ppt told they might act as a confederate to convince another student the task was fun

• Most agreed, publicly stating the task was enjoyable

• Goal: create counter-attitudinal behaviour (saying task is fun when they actually found it boring)

Festinger & Carlsmith (1958) manipulation

• Financial incentive: ppt offered either $1 or $20 to lie

Festinger & Carlsmith (1958) results

• $20 condition: large external justification -> less dissonance -> smaller attitude change

• $1 condition: small external justification -> more dissonance -> greater attitude change

Bremh & Cohen (1962)

• Had people write essays supporting or condemning police

  • Small incentive ($1) -> greater attitude change

  • Large incentive ($20) -> smaller attitude change

Liking what you suffer for

• effort and punishment are undesirable & produce negative feelings

• Traditional expectation: suffering/effort -> disliking

• Cognitive dissonance: suffering/effort -> liking

Liking what you suffer for: Freely choosing to engage in an effortful or painful activity which of no value results in

dissonance. So we reduce dissonance by raising evaluation of the activity

Aronson & mills (1959)

procedure 

female students join a psychology of sexuality discussion group

Aronson & mills (1959)

Conditions 

• High embarrassment: read aloud sexually explicit words

• Low embarrassment: read aloud mild words like love and petting

Aronson & Mills (1959) after reading aloud words

• Group discussion: listen to boring tape-recorded conversation

• Rate their liking of the discussion and their group members

Aronson & Mills (1959) findings

consistent with their cognitive dissonance. Those who did highly embarrassing task enjoyed it more than low embarrassment

Norton et al (2012): Ikea effect 

people value self-made or self-assembled products more than equivalent pre-assembled items

Dissonance between effort and value

• I worked hard on this - this is crap piece of furniture

• I spent a lot of effort - this was valuable and worth while

Norton et al (2012) procedure

 ppt assembled IKEA boxes, origami or Lego structures

Norton et al (2012) results

Ppt valued their own creations more than identical creations made by others

Everday examples: Hazing

harsh initiations increases group valuation

everyday examples: Campaigning

volunteer campaigners typically have greater commitment

Refinements to the theory - original theorising

incongruent cognitions are aversive and motivate resolution

Refinements to the theory: subsequent theorising

dissonance is most powerful and upsetting when people behave in ways that threaten their self-esteem (Aronson, 1969)

Most people think they are a little bit better than

the average person and these effects are to protect the self-esteem:

Steele, 1988

Many dissonance-related effects are reduced if people are given the chance to 'bolster' their self-esteem

Example: When people are asked why do they eat meat?

 36% necessary, 17% natural so they use excuses that protect the self