Social Psychology Week 5

insufficient punishment or deterrent effect

Aaronson and Carlsmith (1963) illustrated this effect in their classic study with five-year-olds. These children were given fun toys to play with. All the children enjoyed the toys and had favorable attitudes toward the toys. After a short period of playing with the toys the supervising adult got ready to leave the room. Before the adult left, he told the children in the mild threat condition, "I would be annoyed with you if you play with the toys while I'm gone." In the severe threat condition, the adult said, "I would be angry with you if you play with the toys while I'm gone. I would take the toys home." None of the children played with the toys while the adult was out of the room. In which condition did the children change their attitudes about the toys from positive to negative? If you guessed the mild threat condition you are correct. The children in the mild threat condition presumably told themselves, "I didn't play with the fun toys and for no good reason. Well, maybe I didn't play with the toys because I don't like them"- hence the attitude change.

Severity of Initiation Effect

According to this effect, the more severe the initiation, the more the initiate likes the group. Why? Like many cognitive dissonance effects, this is counter intuitive. However, when we think about it makes sense. In the severe initiation group, we must justify our unpleasant experiences by liking the group more. The person thinks, "why would I put myself through this discomfort if it wasn't such a great group?"

Why are people motivated to reduce dissonance

Because the dissonance state is an unpleasant arousal state.

factors which amplify the cognitive dissonance effect

First, the behavior must be seen as freely chosen. If not, the person can merely say "I engaged in this behavior because I had no choice." The no choice scenario provides plenty of justification for engaging in the counter attitudinal behavior and so you do not get the insufficient justification effect. Second, the person must not be able to justify the counter attitudinal behavior because of strong rewards or threats, for the same reasons. Third, the behavior cannot be withdrawn or undone. Finally, the behavior must produce negative consequences that were foreseeable like for example feeling discomfort from eating fried grasshoppers.

There are many different ways a person may deal with cognitive dissonance

One way, as we have been discussing is to change the attitude. For example, a person who feels dissonance about cigarette smoking may say, "I no longer like smoking." A smoker could also change the perception about the behavior. That person could say, "I don't smoke that much." Another strategy would be to add consonant cognitions. The person could say, "I just bought Phillip Morris stock." A person could also minimize the importance of the dissonant behavior by saying for example, "you only live once." Another strategy a person could use is to reduce the perceive choice by saying, "I tried to quit and I can't do it." Finally, the person can simply reduce dissonance by changing the behavior, for example quitting smoking.

the basic premise of cognitive dissonance theory is that people have a fundamental need to maintain a stable, positive sense of self."

When the behavior is incongruent with the attitude, this jeopardizes that perception of the positive and stable self. So, changes must be implemented to restore a sense of balance.

postdecisional dissonance

focusing on positive aspects of something you chose and the negative aspects of something you did not choose to illustrate this effect, think of the following scenario. You have a child who will pick a dog as a pet. Your child cannot decide on the breed of dog to select. Eventually your child picks the Dalmatian over the other breeds of dog. Your child takes the Dalamatian home and becomes attached to the pet. Later your child sees a poodle, one of the other breeds of dog your child initially considered. What will your child think of the poodle? Your child is likely to think or say, "I'm sure glad I didn't get one of those poodles. I really like Dalamatians better." So, in postdecisional dissonance, after making a decision people come to view their decision more favorably and other selections less favorably when they feel highly committed to their choice.

Cognitive dissonance

was first proposed by Leon Festinger in 1957. This theory states that when we hold an attitude that is incongruent with our behavior, we experience cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is an unpleasant drive state of diffuse physiological arousal that we are motivated to reduce. It is also known as the insufficient justification effect because when there is insufficient justification for engaging in counter attitudinal behavior, we experience dissonance.