Cognitive Dissonance

the manner, disposition, feeling or position holds with regard to a person or thing

attitude

attitudes cannot be

directly observed

our beliefs do no fit with our behaviors

dissonant

Three types of Cognitive Relationships

Consonant, Dissonant, Irrelevant

Critiques

Dissonance as the core concept is lacking, self-concept interferes with dissonance, lack of practical utility, testability issues(hard to disprove)

Assumption 3

Dissonance is cognitively uncomfortable

Strengths

Heuristic Value(tons of research) Offers insight into relationship between attitudes, cognitions, affect and behavior, Broad Scope

Factor the influence Magnitude of Dissonance

How important the issue is, the dissonance ratio, the strength of reasoning used to justify discrepancy between feelings

Who came up with Cognitive Dissonance?

Leon Festinger

Assumption 2

Psychological inconsistencies (beliefs/behaviors don't fit) lead to dissonance

Assumption 4

We are psychologically driven to reduce dissonance

the motivation to eliminate Cognitive Dissonance can result in

behavior and attitude changes

the dissonance we experience after making a large purchase and the steps taken to justify our actions

buyers remorse

a feeling of imbalance, where we do or say or think things that don't fit with our beliefs, opinions or values and we become uncomfortable as a result

cognitive dissonance

bettors were asked how confident they were about the horse they bet on directly after placing bet

confidence in decision

our beliefs and behaviors coincide

consonant

beliefs and behaviors do not relate

irrelevant

how strong your feelings of dissonance are will influence what you do to reduce those feelings

magnitude of dissonance

selective attention

paying attention to information that is consonant

selective retention

remembering and learning consonant information more easily than dissonant information

Selective Exposure

seeking out information that is consonant with existing beliefs helps us avoid and reduce dissonance

one of the core principles of cognitive dissonance theory

the inner motivation to eliminate dissonance

Principle of Minimal Justification

Festinger/Carmicheal case with the boring task

Assumption 1

Humans want consistency between thoughts and beliefs

leaders used selective interpretation to justify why their predictions didn't come true

doomsday cults

coping with the dissonance

mentally add or subtract cognitions to reduce your dissonance ratio, convince yourself it isn't as important, distort the information to fit with your beliefs

selective interpretation

taking information and molding it to fit your needs

Cognitive Dissonance focuses on

the balance between the pieces of information in our heads that come together to form an attitude about something

in orer to lesson the uncomfortable feeling that dissonance produces,

we are driven to reduce or eliminate dissonance