Studied by 4 people
Attitudes and Persuasion, and Conformity
Cognitive Dissonance
A situation in which two cognitions contradict each other producing an uncomfortable state of arousal or tension.
Example of Cognitive Dissonance
A person's behavior and beliefs do not complement each other or when they hold two contradictory beliefs.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Leon Festinger)
When a feeling of discomfort motivates people to try to feel better.
- People may do this via defense mechanisms
Cognitive Dissonance Theory Example
When people smoke (behavior) and they know that smoking causes cancer (cognition)
The Psychology of Insufficient Justification
When we feel dissonance, we must justify our choice
External Justification
An explanation for dissonant behavior that resides outside the individual
Example of External Justification
The smoker might say that he only smokes socially and because other people expect him to.
Internal Justification
An explanation for dissonant behavior that resides within the person
Example of Internal Justification
The smoker may tell himself that smoking is not really that bad for his health.
$20/$1 Study (Festinger & Carlsmith)
Participants required to do extremely dull tasks for one hour
Asked to tell the next participant that the study was very interesting (i.e. lie)
IV: Participant was paid either $20 or $1
DV: Report Attitude - How interesting the experiment actually was for you
To study Cognitive Dissonance
What was the result of the $20/$1 study and why?
The $1 group changed their attitude about the study.
They were forced to rationalize their own judgments and convinced themselves that what they were doing is enjoyable because they had no other justification. External Justification.
Initiation Study (Aronson & Mills)
College students joined a group to discuss the psychology of sex
To be admitted the volunteered to go through a screening procedure:
For 1/3, a screening procedure was demanding and unpleasant (reading obscene words)
For 1/3, it was only mildly pleasant
The final 1/3 were admitted without any screening
For justifying effort
What were the results of the Initiation Study and why?
Participants who went through a severe initiation rated the group most positively because of Effort justification. When people have to work hard for a goal or exert a good deal of effort, they tend to ultimately place greater value on whatever goal they achieved
Persuasion
The process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors
Examples of persuasion
Super bowl ads
Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo)
Two routes to persuasion
Choice of route depends on amount of thought (elaboration) given to the message
Two routes to persuasion
Central Route
Peripheral Route
Central Route
Use high elaboration - thinking about and scrutinizing arguments
Examples of Central Route
Coming up with pros and cons, thinking about whether the source is credible
If argument is strong - will be persuaded
If argument is weak - will not be persuaded
Factors that lead to Central Route
Route leads to long-lasting attitude change
Personal relevance of the message
Our knowledge of the issue
If we are responsible for action
Peripheral Route
People use low elaboration - focus on superficial cues from the message
Examples of Peripheral Route
Agreeing with experts or celebrities
Being swayed by attractive sources
Counting arguments
Factors that lead to Peripheral Route
Route leads to changeable attitudes
Unmotivated or do not have ability to listen
Distracted, tired, busy, not relevant
Two Routes to Persuasion Study (Petty, et. al)
Exposed participants to a message favoring senior comprehensive exams
Everyone had plenty of time to process a message
Assessed participantsâ need for cognition (elaboration was either high or low)
Low elaboration = Peripheral
High elaboration = Central
IV: Participants were exposed to a strong or weak message favoring senior comprehensive exams
Second Study (IV): exposed participants to 3 weak arguments or 9 weak arguments
Elements of Persuasion
May forget about credibility (or lack thereof) with time, but will still remember message
Sleeper Effect
Delayed increase in the persuasive impact of a noncredible source
Over time you forget the source wasnât trustworthy. Then you might later share it, forgetting the credibility
- Element of persuasion
Example of sleeper effect
Getting news from Tiktok and retaining the info and later spreading it
Message Vividness
More persuasive than âcoldâ logical facts
Colorful, interesting, and memorable
Can be used deceptively by giving an anecdote that is an outlier
- Element of persuasion
Identifiable victim effect
Tendency to be more moved by story of one victim than abstract number of people
- If someone turns purple youâre gonna remember that other than the 100 people who didnât
- Element of persuasion
Fear Appeals
Persuasive messages that attempt to change attitudes by arousing fear of unwanted consequences
Low levels of fear
It has little or no effect
Extreme levels of fear
We shut out the message
Moderate levels of fear
Create the most attitude change
For fear appeals to effective
Must offer a realistic solution for avoiding the bad outcome
- Realistic solution: most likely your product or something to benefit you
- Fear + Instructions
Social Influence
The ways in which people are affected by the real or imagined presence of others
Conformity
The tendency to change our perceptions, opinions, and behavior in ways that are consistent with group norms
- Changes in behavior happen through implicit social information
Norms
Explicit or Implicit ârulesâ of conduct in a given context
Informational Influence
Influence due to the belief that others are behaving correctly
- You do not know the norms
- Does not involve arousal or discomfort - you may not even know youâre doing it
Where does informational influence occur?
In the presence of ambiguity
Example of Informational Influence
You go to a foreign country and donât know the norms so you follow what everyone else is doing
Informational influence leads to
Private conformity
Private Conformity
We truly accept the position taken by others
- in your mind you have accepted this as the norm
The Sherif Study
Subjects brought into a lab to judge a visual effect involving a moving light
Asked to judge distance light travels - no right answer
On day 1: They make judgments alone (baseline day)
On day 2-4: They make judgments in group (say # out loud, as time goes on they create their own group norm (#))
On day 5: Make judgments alone again
- Informational Influence
- Know its private conformity when they say group # alone bc they believe it
Learned from Sherif Study
Tend to find norms or averages when in a group
These norms can be powerful (even though wrong) and will persist with time
Autokinetic Effect
Light looks like itâs moving (dot of light 15 ft away in dark room) - but really bc eyes are slightly moving and brain canât differentiate
Normative Influence
Influence due to the fears of negative social consequences of appearing deviant (different)
You think other people are wrong and the task is unambiguous
- Involves arousal and discomfort
- You know the norms
Example of Normative influence
Drugs and drinking
Normative influence leads to
Public conformity
Public conformity
Superficial change in overt behavior, without change in true behavior, produced by real or imagined group pressure
- Doesnât believe it
Asch Study
Subject walks into a room of other subjects (actually all are confederates)
Told it was a visual perception task - they would be judging the lengths of lines
Everyone goes around the room and makes the wrong judgment
Itâs up to the subject to conform, or give the correct answer and stand apart from the group
Asch Study results
75% had at least some trials where they went along with the group
Only 25% never conformed on a single trial
In variations where subjects privately wrote down their answers, or in which one confederate said the correct answer: almost no one conformed
- Gives support to normative influence
Compliance
The tendency to change our behavior in response to direct requests from other people
Foot-in-Door Technique
Two-step technique:
Get the person to agree with an initial trivial request
Then ask for a bigger one
People will feel pressure to be consistent with past behaviors
- Itâs hard to immediately walk away if youâve already said yes once
Household rating study
Telephoned homemakers and asked if they would answer a few questions about household products (very quick)
Three days later, called and asked if men could come look through their houses for 2 hours and take inventory of their products
- 53% consented if they were called originally
- 22% consented if not called before
- Foot-in-door technique
Low- Balling technique
Secure agreement with request, then increase request with hidden costs
The hidden costs are necessities like house utilities
Door-in-the Face Technique
Two-step technique:
Ask for large (possibly huge) request
When refused, then ask for smaller request (which is what you truly wanted)
Creates âperceptual contrastâ - Request seems smaller
Creates âreciprocal concessionsâ - Other person compromised so you should too
Student Volunteer Study (Cialdini)
First asked college students if they would volunteer to work with juvenile delinquents once a week for the next 2 years - participants said no
Then asked if students could just take the juveniles on a 2 hour field trip to the zoo
- 50% said yes (if heard first request)
- 17% said yes (if did not hear first request)
- Door-in-the Face Technique
Thatâs not all!! Technique
Solicitor makes an unreasonable offer, then makes a better one before you have a chance to refuse the first one
Obedience
When behavior is influenced due to the direct commands of an authority figure
- Most extreme form of yielding to social influence
Stanley Milgram: Obedience to Authority
Experiments conducted during the time that Adolph Eichmann was on trial for his Nazi war crimes
The Milgram Paradigm
Participant told that this is a learning experiment - participant is ârandomlyâ assigned to be the teacher
Participant must shock other person every time he gets an answer wrong (increasing the volts)
Cannot see other person, but can hear him complaining and screaming in pain (actually hearing a recording)
Told by experimenter that he must continue the experiment no matter what happens
- Everyone went until at least 300 volts before they stopped (the learner complains of heart problems at 150 volts)
- About 65% of participants continued to the end of the dial
Variations of Milgrams experiment
Gender had no effect on level of obedience
- A replication with female subjects also found 65% of them used the full range of shock
In an office instead of lab
- 47% used full range of shock - bc participants are in a familiar context
When victim in same room
- 40% went full range - learner is humanized, gas chambers created for this reason
When participants ad to touch victim
- 30% went full range - learner is humanized
When experimenter was far away
- 20% went full range - authority is not as imposing
When experimenter was ordinary person
- 19% went full range - authority is not as imposing, white lab coats, uniforms, titles help increase obedience
When two confederates rebelled
- 10% went full range - role models for defiance, norms are changed
Why did people follow
Socialization of obedience
Gradual escalation
Socialization of Obedience
Parents, military, law, religion, corporate arena, even college
Gradual Escalation
Similar to foot-in-the-door technique; 15-volt increments
The sooner Ps resisted, the more likely they were to defy the orders and to terminate the experiment.
Social Facilitation
How the presence of other people affects our behavior?
Robert Zajonc suggested
presence of other people - increases arousal - increases dominant response
With familiar or simple tasks - leads to better performance
With unfamiliar or complex tasks - leads to poor/unsuccessful performance
Possibility of judgement is a big part of this
Dominant Response
Default, muscle memory, easy response
Zajoncâs Solution
Presence of another person or member of the same species
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Increased arousal
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Strengthened dominant response
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Correct response Incorrect response
Performance Enhancement Performance impairment
- Social Facilitation
Pool Player Study
Examined the performance of pool players
- Pool players were either below or above average
- Pool players were either observed by others or not
Above average pool players played better when they were observed
Below average pool players played worse when observed
Why Social Facilitation occur?
Mere Presence
Evaluation Apprehension Theory
Distraction-Conflict Theory
Mere Presence
The mere presence of others is sufficient to produce social facilitation because they heighten alertness/vigilance
Evaluation Apprehension Theory
Others must be seen as potential evaluators for facilitation to occur
Distraction-Conflict Theory
Others must distract attention needed to perform the task for facilitation to occur
What happens when we work as a group?
Social Loafing
Social loafing
People exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal
- When efforts are pooled, your individual contribution to the group canât be determined
Example of social loafing
When people are clapping in a big crowd, you are less likely to give a lot of energy, when clapping in a small crowd you will be giving the most energy
When are people less likely to social loaf?
Individual performance can be evaluated
Task is challenging
When others in situations are friends
In collectivist cultures
Groupthink
Faulty thinking by group members in which scrutiny of issues is undermined by pressure to reach consensus
- People are motivated to agree with each other
- Solution to a task is what will make the group cohesive, not what is the best decision
Characteristics of Groupthink
High cohesiveness
Group structure
High stress
High cohesiveness
Group is close and wants to maintain itself
Group structure
Group members are similar
Group is isolated from others
Directive leader
High stress
The group is threatened
Group Polarization
The tendency of group decisions to be more extreme than those made by individuals
- Whichever way the group is leaning, discussion pushes them farther in that direction
Examples of Group Polarization
Toward greater risk if tendency is to be risky
Toward greater caution if tendency is to be cautious
Note 
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