Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Change behavior.

- Not always possible. - Applied in political campaigns. - May not be easy. Example; quit smoking.

Cognitions (Concept)

- Our thoughts. Several types of thoughts, according to Festinger. - we look at thoughts & behavior in comparison towards each other. - Consonance. - Dissonance Thought. - Irrelevant.

Evaluation of C.D.T: Criticisms

- Testability; you have to be able to prove the theory false, for it to be a good theory. - No matter what the results were, they could always be explained in the C.D.T platform. - Other theories can explain the same results.

Assumptions of Cognitive Dissonance Theory.

- There are 5 assumptions. - Ontological Assumptions.

Ontological

- No choice. People react to stimuli. - Social event, communication.

Explanations (3)

- Not all dissonance is created equal. Sometimes it is greater than others. - The more dissonance we experience, the more motivated we are going to be to reduce that dissonance.

Study for Forced Induced Compliance. (research)

- $1.00 and the $20 study. College students to come in & do a really boring task. - Each group then were told to lie to next participant, saying the activity was fun. - $20 lied, they did not feel any dissonance. - $1.00 felt the dissonance so, they changed their attitudes about how boring the study was.

# of dissonant cognitions times importance. Goes on top.

# of Consonant Cognitions times importance. Goes in the bottom.

Selective Exposure

- Active process. - We actively go seek out information that is consonant with our beliefs and our behaviors. Example; If you are a smoker, you hang out with people who smoke. If everyone does, it so can i.

Change Attitude.

- Add consonant cognition; come up with reason why to keep smoking. - Alter importance of cognitions.

Selective Interpretation

- Ambiguous information and how we tend to interpret this. - You interpret information based on your cognitions, beliefs and behavior. Example: You found articles about how cancer is not linked to smoking. However, they may not be true but you will interprete them as true.

Expenditure of Effort. (research)

- Aronson & Mills, in 1959. - People who go through harsh initiations end up liking the person who caused such pain, better. - Fraternities and Sororities, hazings. - Boot camp or military camp.

On top of fraction: # of dissonant cognitions times importance. All thoughts we have about smoking, make us believe smoking is bad:

- Causes cancer. - Ages you prematurely. - Second hand smoke. Times the importance for you not getting cancer. It varies, to the importance of a 13 year old.

Evaluation of C.D.T: Positive

- Counter Intuitive. - Festinger, Rwen & Schater in 1956. - The study about the cult people, the world didn't ned but they thought that their prayers has saved the planet, so they became more followers.

Applications of C.D.T

- Health Communication. - Advertising. - Politics

On Bottom: # of Consonant Cognitions times importance.

-Things you tell yourself or others as to why they keep smoking? - Stress reliever, hunger suppressant, Not addicted, social influence. - Take these and multiple it by importance: It is important to me to have a stress reliever.

Low dissonant cognition (housewives study, Brehn 1956)

Between the one they rated high and the one they rated low.

Do we want to increase or decrease the importance of dissonant cognitions?

Decrease: "this things are not as important to me"

People strive to be consistent with their cognitions. They want to be consistent with their thoughts, attitudes and behaviors. (1)

Example: if i care about the children future. i do things that show my beliefs.

Greater Dissonance leads to...

Greater motivation to reduce dissonance.

Magnitude of Dissonance

How we determine how much dissonance we are experiencing or the magnitude of it ...?

Do we want to increase or decrease the importance of consonant cognitions?

Increase: make that overall number as large as possible.

Definition of Cognitive Dissonance.

Occurs when there is an imbalance among cognitions & behaviors. - Psychological Discomfort = tension, unpleasant.

Dissonant Cognitions leads to ...

Psychological Tension or cognitive dissonance.

Because of the theory, this should cause you cognitive dissonance (psychological tension)

That is unpleasant for you and you should be aware of it.

Irrelevant Thoughts. (Cognition, concept)

Thoughts & behavior that have nothing to do with each other. Example: i think exercising is good for you, but i wonder what we are having for dinner.

Dissonance Thoughts. (Cognition, concept)

Thoughts & behaviors that we have are inconsistent. Example: I believe exercising is important but, i'm gonna seat on the couch & watch TV.

Tension provides motivation to restore consistency. (3)

We want our thoughts, behaviors & attitudes to be in sync, and to be consistent again. Example: What ghouls i do to be consistent again? You can call the boy selling magazines again, donate money.

Ways to reduce dissonance.

We want to reduce the magnitude of the dissonance, we want to be consistent again. - We can make the top of the equation as as small as possible, or the bottom as big as possible.

Inconsistency creates tension, which is unpleasant.(2)

When we have inconsistency with out thoughts, beliefs & behaviors that causes a tension that is unpleasant. Example: a kids comes to your door to seek magazines. You say no thank you. This hold cause tension.

Motivation to restore consistency will only occur with awareness of inconsistency. (4)

You have to be aware that you are being inconsistent.

Predict: you have to describe & explain.

but the explanation allows to predict whose attitudes will change and whose not.

Festinger looks at the magnitude of dissonance with the amount of dissonance we are feeling...

in a mathematical way. So, it looks like a fraction.

The Psychological Tension we feel is cognitive dissonance...

it is unpleasant, and because is unpleasant we want to balance it out.

Persuasion and Attitude Change. (research)

- Decision making. Research by Brehn in 1956. Idea: we have to make a decision and that causes cognitive dissonance. - Study: housewives. Rating items. Example: 2 pair of shoes, you like both. You have to choose only 1, causing you cognitive dissonance. To reduce your dissonance: you at the end to like the thing you chose better.

Forced Induced Compliance. (research)

- Festinger & Carlsmith in 1959. - Has to do with justifications. - If we don't have a good justification for doing things, and we still do them, this should causes us a great deal of dissonance. - In order to reduce the dissonance, we change our attitudes, about the behavior we just engaged in.

Not a explanation theory

- Festinger wants to predict attitude change. - Persuasion theory. Used in - Public Relations, lawyers, politicians. - They want to predict how their message will affect people.

Selective Attention

- Had to do with what we pay attention to . - We can select to tend or not tend to certain information. Example; you're watching TV & a commercial about smoking come one, you get up and leave.

Cognitive Dissonance. (concept)

- Happens when we have dissonant cognitions. - When we have inconsistency in our cognitions or when we have inconsistency in our behavior, then we experience cognitive dissonance.

Selective Retention

- Has to do with memory. - We easily retain information that is consistent with out cognitions & beliefs. Example: we are more likely to remember studies that talk about how cancer is not related to smoking.

Research to Support C.D.T

- Heuristic, has generated a lot of research, in fields such as: - Persuasion and Attitude Change. - Expenditure of Effort. - Forced Induced Compliance.

Epistemological

- Knowledge gained trough observation. - Phenomenon waiting to be discovered. - Scientists discovers reality. - Use of quantitative data.

Recognized for the theory;

- Leon Festinger - A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance - Intra-personal communication theory.

Consistency is cognitive. (5)

- This is why its a intra-personal theory. - It is happening in our heads.

Axiological

- Value free. - Not looking for social change. - To predict, not to control.

C.D.T Concepts

- Very parsimonious but, the concepts explain a lot. - Cognitions. - Cognitive Dissonance.

Example: Knowing & believing smoking is bad for you...

But you do it any way. - These are inconsistent.

Consonance Thoughts. (Cognition, concept)

A thought and a behaviors are consistent with each other. Example: I believe exercising is important, so i exercise 7 times a week.

High dissonant cognition (housewives study, Brehn 1956)

It came when they have to choose between items that they had rated similar.

Psychological Tension or cognitive dissonance leads to ...

Motivation to reduce dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance & Perceptions

Perceptual things that people do, to help them reduce their dissonance when they experience it. - Selective Exposure. - Selective Attention. - Selective Interpretation. - Selective Retention.

C.D.T is a

Social Scientist part of the spectrum, all the way to the right.

Goal

To explain how consistent beliefs & behaviors lead to attitude change. To predict attitude change.

If our goal is to reduce the magnitude of dissonance, what can we do?

we can - Change Behavior. - Change Attitude.