151 MT2 - Dissonance & Justification

Example of change your attitude

Bought an expensive pair of shoes - being frugal is overrated (not uncomfortable no more b/c our attitudes match our behavior)

Ways to Reduce Dissonance

Change your attitude Change your perception Add consonant cognitions Minimize the importance of the conflict Reduce perceived choice

Cognitive Dissonance Theory vs. Belief in a Just World

Cognitive Dissonance Theory: Want to perceive ourselves as rational & consistent Belief in a Just World: Want to perceive the world as rational, consistent, fair

Whenever we make difficult decisions we feel..

Dissonance b/c alternative courses of actions are similarly desirable

We alter our attitudes to justify...?

Effort or suffering

Cognitive Dissonance

Feeling of psychological tension, an uncomfortable feeling We are motivated by a desire for cognitive consistency, so beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors are all compatible i.e - voting is important, but you didn't go out and vote / thinking we conserve water, but we take long showers

Example of reduce perceived choice

I had to buy them for the wedding next week - it was out of our control/had no choice

Example of minimize the importance of the conflict

I'm a nice person so what if i spend too much sometimes - Thinking about something else to make the incident seem like a small deal

Insufficient Justification

IF perceive little or no justification for your voluntary behavior, you feel pressure to change your attitude big rewards DO NOT produce greater change

Insufficient deterrence

If refrain from a desirable activity after only mild threat, produces greater attitude change mild, smallest deterrence changes attitude the most

Exposure to complementary stereotypes

Increases people's tendency to view social system as fair and just & to accept status quo

Complementary Stereotyping

Members of high and low status groups are seen as possessing complementary sets of positive and negative characteristics We tend to downgrade losers while upgrading winners Compensate by enhancing losers & downgrading winners on causally unrelated traits

Example of complementary stereotypes

Men are agentic but not communal, women are communal but not agentic Poor people are incompetent but happy & honest, rich people are competent but unhappy & dishonest

System Justification Theory

Motivated to accept and perpetuate features of existing social arrangements, even i they are accidental, arbitrary or unjust. people defend, bolster, and rationalize the status quo b/c it simply exists

Example of Justifying Difficult Decisions

Researchers went to houses to evaluate objects (toaster, radio, etc.) participants offered two highly desirable objects, the other half were giving either a highly or lowly desirable object. And then after receiving which ever product they were giving, when it was low/easy choice the values didn't change. But in the high dissonance condition where they liked both products equally, they rated the chosen item more desirable compared to the non-chosen, even though they previously rated it the same. We evaluate the item we chose and devaluate the item we didn't choose.

Example of add consonant cognitions

Shoes were expensive but I did buy them on sale - add new/info beliefs that helps resolves dissonance

Complementary Stereotyping is more likely to be endorsed when..

Situational factors increase the motivation to justify the social system Individuals are higher (vs. lower) in their chronic motivation to justify the social system

Example of Blaming the Victim

Someone gets mugged at 4AM and you say they're dumb and deserve it b/c they were even out walking around at 4AM, and that you wouldn't have been walking around.

Justifying Attitude - Discrepant Behavior

Study by Festinger & Carlsmith Participants take part in an extremely boring study, but is asked to tell the next person the experiment was enjoyable Was either offered $1 or $20 to lie, or asked not to lie. When offered $1 to lie, they said it was a great experiment, they feel the most dissonance compared to people who were offered $20 said it was just okay.

Consequences of System Justification

Tend to blame low status groups (including sometimes our own) for negative outcomes People (from both advantaged and disadvantaged groups) less likely to challenged status quo Harder to change society to be more fair if refuse to acknowledge its unfairness

People are more experienced to lie when..

The feel the most dissonance

Meritocratic Beliefs

The idea that hard work and determination leads to success If you are successful it's b/c you worked hard towards it If at first you don't succeed, try try again

Example of Meritocratic Belief

The little engine that could Rags to riches stories If you don't succeed, try try again

Example of Insufficient justification

The people who were given a dollar felt insufficient justification, b/c they were only given a dollar no way they were gonna change their attitude just for a dollar so they are under a lot of pressure and end up changing their views.

Example of change your perception

The shoes compared to a brand new car, it was actually kind of cheap - it wasn't THAT expensive

Belief in a Just World

Want to perceive the world as rational, consistent, fair Motivated to believe that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get

Justifying Effort by Changing attitudes

We alter our attitudes to justify effort or suffering When people goes through more suffering/embarrassment, they felt more dissonance, the more they like the group and think it's worth it, otherwise why else would they have gone through it

Blaming the Victim

We tend to assume the victims did something to deserve their negative outcomes. The victims must've done something for them to deserve it. Helps us view the world as a fair and just place.

Justifying Difficult Decisions

Whenever we make difficult decisions, we feel dissonance - Difficult: alternative courses of action are similarly desirable We rationalize the correctness of our decisions by exaggerating (a) the positive features of the chosen alternative and (b) the negative features of the non-chosen alternative

Example of Insufficient deterrence

kids were refrained from playing with a really attractive toy, or else they'll get a small punishment/ or else they'll get a big punishment. The researcher leaves the room, and nobody plays the toy. Brought to a new room, Kids who received mild threat didn't want to play with the toy, whereas the kid who got the severe threat ran and wanted to play with the toy. Finding just enough threat, smallest possible detergent would be the best deterrent compared to a severe one

Example of of Justifying effort by changing attitudes

pledging/hazing at frats, the more we pay for something the more we tend to like it - The more we pay = the more we like (literally or psychologically) placebo effect - the more you paid for a drug, the more people thought it worked (we want to believe it was worth it so we change our attitude for it.)