Cognitive Dissonance and Self-Esteem

Learning Objectives

• Cognitive dissonance: discomfort when beliefs conflict or when behavior threatens self-esteem.
• Advances in cognitive dissonance theory, including its applications in various situations.
• Strategies to overcome dissonance and effects of high self-esteem.

Cognitive Dissonance Explained

• Cognitive Dissonance: Psychological discomfort experienced when holding contradictory beliefs or when actions contradict a positive self-image (Festinger, 1957; Aronson, 1969).
• Importance of maintaining a positive self-concept, leading people to rationalize behaviors that conflict with their values.

Heaven’s Gate Cult Example

• Members believed the Hale-Bopp comet was a spaceship.
• They returned a telescope when it did not reveal the spaceship, displaying cognitive dissonance by maintaining their beliefs despite evidence.
• Ultimately led to mass suicide, raising questions about rationality in extreme belief systems.

Mechanisms of Reducing Dissonance

1. Change Behavior: Alter actions to align with beliefs.
2. Justify Behavior: Change conflict cognitions or beliefs to justify actions.
3. Add Cognitions: Incorporating new beliefs to create consistency.

Decisions and Postdecision Dissonance

• Every decision prompts dissonance due to pros and cons of alternatives (e.g., college choices).
• Individuals often enhance positive aspects of their choice while downplaying the rejected options, leading to postdecision dissonance.

Example of Distorting Evaluations

• In a study, women rated two appliances similarly before making a choice, but after deciding, they rated their selection more positively and the other less positively.

Permanence and Importance of Decisions

• Higher permanence and significance of decisions lead to greater dissonance.
• Example: Post-betting confidence increase when participants were asked about their horse's winning likelihood after placing a bet.

The Lowballing Technique

• Lowballing: A sales strategy where the initial low offer is increased after commitment. Customers often still agree due to a sense of commitment.
• Reasons it works include creating a sense of urgency and commitment to the decision, leading to internal justification.

Justification of Effort

• The IKEA effect: Individuals tend to value items more when they've invested effort into creating or obtaining them.
• Justification of effort leads to increased liking for difficult-to-attain goals or items.

Counterattitudinal Behavior

- Actions contrary to one's beliefs can create dissonance, leading individuals to alter their attitudes for consistency.

Internal vs. External Justification

• Internal Justification: Change in self-attributes or beliefs in response to faced dissonance.
• External Justification: Explanation based outside oneself, often insufficient for long-term attitude change.

Dissonance in Ethics and Morality

• Moral dilemmas raise dissonance when actions conflict with ethical beliefs.
• Example: Cheating leads to cognitive dissonance which may prompt individuals to adjust their attitudes toward behavior, justifying it as common or trivial.

The Hypocrisy Paradigm

• Involves inducing dissonance by having individuals express beliefs that conflict with their actions, promoting responsible behavior change.
• Example: Students advocating for safe sex after discussing their own inconsistent behaviors.

Cultural Differences in Dissonance

• Dissonance reduction strategies vary across cultures:
  • Collectivist societies emphasize harmony, while individualist cultures focus on personal experience.

Advances in Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• Self-Affirmation Theory: Mitigating self-esteem threats through affirmation of unrelated positive attributes (e.g., emphasizing being a good mathematician despite smoking).
• Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory: Dissonance occurs when close others outperform us in valued domains. Adjustments can include distancing or redefining importance of the domain.

Example of Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory

• When playing competitive games, people may give easier clues to friends to avoid feeling inferior if friends excel.

Dangers of Excessive Self-Esteem

• Narcissism combines self-admiration with lack of empathy:
  • Associated with academic underperformance, aggression, and interpersonal issues.
• Maintaining healthy self-esteem involves learning from mistakes while fostering positive self-regard.

Conclusion on Dissonance and Self-Esteem

• Understanding cognitive dissonance informs responses to extreme behaviors and social issues, such as those exhibited in cults.
• Recognition of cognitive dissonance can lead to responsible and reflective behaviors rather than self-justifying mistakes.