spreading of alternatives

degrade the victim

-I just hurt this person and they didn't deserve it = inconsistent -to resolve dissonance: I just hurt this person and they deserved it

the experience of dissonance

-after counter-attitudinal behavior, people have high negative discomfort and arousal

grasshopper study

-asked ROTC to eat grasshoppers -when eels were brought out instead - the experimenter got super angry -ppl reported liking grasshoppers more in the mean situation -i ate a grasshopper even though the person asking was mean - this is not a sufficient justification: high dissonance - the grasshopper wasn't so bad

spreading of alternatives

-emphasize positive aspects of choice and negative aspects of unchosen alternative so that the 2 seem far apart -ppl will often stick with bad choices in order to justify them -ppl try to avoid buyer's remorse

sedative vs amphetamine

-no attitude change with dissonance introducing behavior vs -more attitude change with dissonance inducing behavior

short term amnesiacs

-rate paintings -choose a painting to have -rate paintings again -amnesiacs did not differ from a non-amnesiac control group, despite the fact that amnesiacs could not recall first rating

adaptive value of dissonance

-second guessing could waste valuable time -spend resources on implementing decision -increases confidence to act

induced compliance

-unpleasant task - would not intrinsically want to do this -asked, not forced -given none to minimal reward/justification

the ben franklin effect

A person who has performed a favor for someone is more likely to do another favor for that person than they would be if they had received a favor from that person.

rationalization trap

the need to justify behavior leads to more reasons for doing it again in the future