Chapter 6- Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance

The mental discomfort you feel when you hold two contradictory beliefs, values, or ideas, or when your behavior directly clashes with what you believe.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger, 1957)

Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or behaviors, which creates psychological tension.

Types of Cognitive Relationships

Irrelevant cognitions

Consonant cognitions

Dissonant cognitions

Irrelevant Cognitions

Two thoughts that have no connections: Ex: “I like pizza.” and “It’s raining outside.”

Consonant Cognitions

Thoughts that are consistent with each other. Ex: “Exercise is healthy.” and “I go to the gym regularly.”

Dissonant Cognitions

Thoughts that contradict each other. Ex: “Smoking causes cancer.” and “I smoke every day.”

How do people reduce dissonance?

Changing the behavior (Ex: Quit smoking)

Changing the attitude (Ex: “Smoking isn’t dangerous.”)

Adding new cognitions (Ex: “Smoking helps me relax.”)

Minimizing the importance (Ex: “Lots of people smoke and live long lives".”)

Two Major Dissonance Paradigms

1. 1. Justifying difficult decisions.

2. 2. Insufficient justification.

Justifying Difficult Decisions Paradigm

Another common source of dissonance occurs when making difficult choices. Dissonance appears when increase the attractiveness of the chosen option, and decrease the attractiveness of the rejected options

Brehm (1956) “Marketing Research” Study

Participants (housewives) ranked 10 household appliances in order of preference. Then they had to choose between: Easy decision condition (choose between #3 and #10) and then difficult decision condition (choose between #3 and #5).

What were the results of Brehm’s Marketing Research study?

Results: The easy choice showed low dissonance. There was very little changes in attitudes after the decision. The difficult choice showed high dissonance. Participants showed a greater change in attitudes: the chosen appliance became more attractive, and the rejected appliance became less attractive.

What was the study’s conclusion?

When decisions are difficult, people adjust their attitudes to justify the choice they made. This reduces dissonance.

Insufficient Justification Paradigm (Festinger and Carlsmith, 1959)

Procedure: Participants completed extremely boring tasks. After the tasks, participants were asked to lie to another participant by saying the experiment was interesting.

Conditions:

1. 1. Control Condition: Participants were not asked to lie.

2. 2. $20 Condition: Participants were paid $20 to tell the next participant the task was interesting.

3. 3. $1 Condition: Participants were paid $1 to tell the next participant the task was interesting.

What were the results of the study?

Control condition: Participants had very negative attitudes toward the experiment.

$20 lie condition: Participants still had negative attitudes toward the experiment.

$1 lie condition: Participants had more positive attitudes toward the experiment.

Why did the $1 condition like the task more?

Participants had sufficient justification.

Their reasoning: “I told someone the experiment was interesting, but I only got $1.”

Now they face dissonance: “I said the task was interesting” vs “The task was boring”

To reduce dissonance, they change their attitude:

“Maybe the experiment was actually somewhat interesting.

Key Principle of Cognitive Dissonance

The smaller the reward for lying, the greater the attitude change because people must internally justify their behavior.

What do later theories suggest dissonance may also involve?

Self-perception

Threats to self-esteem

Responsibility for negative consequences

Self-perception Theory

Instead of experiencing psychological discomfort, people simply infer their attitudes from observing their own behavior. It does not require emotional discomfort; it is purely cognitive reasoning. Example: “I said the experiment was interesting for $1,” therefore, “I must actually think the experiment was interesting.

Self-Esteem Update to Dissonance

Another explanation suggests that dissonance occurs when behavior threatens our self-image. Example: “I am a good person.” vs. “I lied to someone.” The discomfort comes from threatening self-esteem. People with lower self-esteem show weaker dissonance effects.

The “New Look” Theory of Dissonance

Dissonance occurs only when the behavior leads to negative consequences. Example: Misleading another participant into doing a boring experiment.

The important factor is: Feeling responsible for causing a negative outcome.