Thoughts Out of Tune

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Thoughts Out of Tune

• Festinger, L. Carlsmith, J.M.
• (1959)

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Leon Festinger

• A research psychologist
• Highly influential in his field
• Proposed famous theory of cognitive dissonance

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What is Cognitive Dissonance?

• When you simultaneously hold two or more
  cognitions which are psychologically inconsistent
• This in turn creates discomfort and stress which
  motivates you to change your attitude since
  behavior cannot be changed

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This Opinion Shift is Due to

• Mentally rehearsing the speech
• The process of trying to think of arguments in
  favor of the forced position

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Rewards

• Additional studies were conducted that offered
  momentary awards to subjects for giving
  convincing speeches contrary to their own views
• It was found that larger the rewards produced
  less attitude change than smaller rewards

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Festingers Growing Theory

• After Indias 1934 earthquake, rumors spread that
  areas outside danger zone would be hit with
  additional and greater proportions (these rumors
  had no scientific foundation).
• The rumors were not anxiety-increasing, but
  anxiety-justifying.

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The Result

• The cognition of fear was out of tune with lack
  of any scientific basis for their fear (cognitive
  dissonance!)
• They made their world fit with what they were
  feeling and how they were behaving.

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Task

• 71 male, lower division, psychology students
  participated thinking it was for measures of
  performance (done for bias responses)
• Task is scheduled for 2 hours
• Interview afterwards about their experiences

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Method

• 1st Task They were given 12 spools in a tray.
  Empty it onto the table. Refill. Empty again with
  one hand at for own pace for 30 minutes.
• 2nd Task They were given a board with 48
  squares. They were asked to turn each peg a
  quarter of a turn clockwise and repeat for 30
  minutes

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Experiment

• Subjects were randomly assigned to 3 conditions
• Control group After tasks were completed, were
  taken into another room to be interviewed
• Subjects were taken from Group A and B stating
  the person who instructed the tasks called in
  sick (cover story).

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Experiment Continued...

• The subjects that offered to join in the
  experiment were to describe the experiment as
  enjoyable, alot of fun, intriguing...
• Some subjects were paid 1 while others were paid
  20 and called into the room to wait for the
  incoming subject

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Results

• Those subjects who were paid 1 for lying about
  the tasks were the ones who later reported liking
  the tasks more, compared with both paid 20 to
  lie and those who did not lie.

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Average Ratings on Interview Questions
Question Control group 1 group 20 group
1. How enjoyable tasks were (-5 to 5) -0.45 1.35 -0.05
2. How much learned (0 to 10) 3.08 2.80 3.15
3. Scientific importance (0 to 10) 5.60 6.45 5.18
4. Participate in similar experiences (-5 to 5) -0.62 1.20 -0.25
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Festingers Explanation

• People that engage in attitude-discrepant
  behavior (the lie), but have strong justification
  for doing so (20), will experience only small
  dissonance , and therefore, not feel partially
  motivated to make change in their opinion
• Insufficient justification (1)gt greater
  dissonance

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Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Attitude-discrepant behavior
Sufficient justification for behavior
Dissonance small
Attitude change small
Insufficient justification for behavior
Attitude-discrepant behavior
Dissonance large
Attitude change large
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Questions and Criticisms

• Statistical analyses of the tape-recorded
  experiment showed no difference in the content or
  persuasiveness of lies
• Researchers such as Cooper and Fazio and refined
  Festingers Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

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Cooper and Fazios Four Steps for Cognitive
Dissonance

• 1. Attitude-discrepant behavior must produce
  unwanted negative consequences.
• 2. Personal responsibility must be taken for the
  negative consequences

• 3. Physiological arousal must be present
• 4. The person must be aware that the arousal
  experienced is being caused by the
  attitude-discrepant behavior

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Follow-up Study

• Illicit drugs and driving prevalence, beliefs
  and accident involvement among cohort of current
  out-of-treatment drug users (2000)
• By Ian P. Albery, John Strang, Michael Gossop,
  Paul Griffiths

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The aim of the study

• A cross-sectional study used to try and explain
  why drug abusers continue to drive while under
  the influence after completing a court-mandated
  treatment program for previous drug-and-driving
  infractions

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Method

• 210 current out-of-treatment illicit drug users
• 131 male. 79 female
• Ages ranged from 16-59. Mean age of 30.51 years
• They were interviewed by a team of 17 privileged
  access interviewers (PAI)

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Method continued...

• Demographic information was taken
• Dependence was measured using the Severity of
  Dependence Scale (SDS)
• Illicit drugs and driving questions They were
  split into 4 sections
• 1. Comprised items which measured driving
  exposure and experience and including length of
  full driving years and frequency in the past 12
  months

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Method continued...

• 2. Measured frequency of personal illicit drugs
  and driving behaviour during the previous 12
  months and what types of drugs used prior to
  driving
• 3. Concentrated on driving accident involvement
  while under the influence and when not under the
  influence.

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Method continued...

• 4. Measured the individuals beliefs and
  perceptions of the impairing effects of drugs on
  driving.
• Two final items measured personal frequency of
  driving-related convictions and whether the drug
  user had ever been told by a doctor or drug
  workers of the effects drugs could have on
  driving performance

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ResultsDriving Demography

• 68 of the sample held drivers licenses on
  average for 11.32 years. Males were
  over-represented at 81 vs. females at 19
• 119 subjects reported having driven a vehicle at
  some point, 51 of whom did not hold a full
  drivers license
• Frequency of driving showed 48 to have not driven
  at all and 49 two or more times a week.

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Illicit Drug Use

• The most commonly used drugs were cannabis,
  alcohol, and heroin
• SDS scores were high on all drugs showing high
  dependency across the board

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Illicit Drug and Driving Behavior
Percentage use by drivers
Drug Type
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Accident Involvement

• 41.4 who had consumed drugs prior to driving,
  reported having at least one road accident
• Of these, 62.5 reported at least one accident
  after having consumed drugs before driving
• Drivers involved in drug-impaired driving
  accidents were less likely to be involved in
  non-impaired accidents

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Drug-Driving Beliefs and Perceptions

• This study showed that perceptions of accident
  involvement and impaired driving skills after
  drinking alcohol in comparison to other drugs for
  frequent and sometimes frequency of illicit drugs
  and driving (IDDF) groups were consistently more
  negative than for drivers who reported never IDDF

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Discussion

• Festinger explained this mentality and finding as
  denial because he stated that driving while using
  drugs after enduring a lengthy treatment program
  would likely create a great deal of uncomfortable
  cognitive dissonance that could be resolved by a
  major attitude shift about the drugs.

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Discussion continued...

• It may also be that lack of awareness of outcomes
  drug-driving, unlike drink-driving is to blame
• However, reports from IDDF testing showed
  frequent drug-driver users to be aware and said
  to have been informed previously on drug-driving
  yet still continue to perceive alcohol a bigger
  risk

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Are You The Master Of Your Fate?

• Rotter, J.B. (1966)

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Julian Rotter

• One of the most influential behaviorists in
  psychology's history
• Proposed that individuals differ a great deal in
  where they place the responsibility for what
  happens to them

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Locus of Controls

• When you interpret the consequences of their
  behavior to be controlled by luck, fate, or
  powerful others, this is an external locus of
  control
• When people interpret their own behavior and
  personality characteristic as responsible for
  behavioral consequences, it is an internal locus
  of control

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The Social Learning Theory of Locus of Controls

• Behaviors in childhood that were followed by rein
  forcers establish an expectancy of a desired
  reinforcer
• Rotter claimed that the totality of your specific
  learning experiences creates in you a generalized
  expectancy about whether reinforcement is
  internally or externally controlled

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Method

• Rotter designed a scale containing paired
  statements. One statement reflecting an internal
  locus while the other external
• You choose a statement which you believed to be
  more true rather than the other (personal belief)
• Contains 23 items with 6 filler questions

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Method continued...

• Rotter called his test the I-E Scale
• He examined I-E Scale scores in relation to
  individuals interactions with various events in
  their lives. They found significant correlations
  between the scores and situations involving
  gambling, political activism, persuasion,
  smoking, achievement motivation, and conformity

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ResultsGambling

• Individuals identified as internals by the I-E
  Scale tended to prefer betting on sure things and
  liked intermediate odds
• Externals would wager more money on risky bets
  and would tend to engage in shifts in betting
  called gamblers fallacy (betting more on a
  number that has not come up for a while on the
  basis that it is due)

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Political Activism

• Findings indicated that those who participated in
  marches and joined civil rights groups were
  significantly more oriented toward an internal
  locus of control
• This derived from questioning of African American
  students in the U.S. About activities related to
  the civil rights movement (1960s)

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Persuasion

• 2 groups were taken. (one highly external, the
  other highly internal)
• Both shared similar views about fraternity and
  sorority systems on campus and asked to change
  another students attitude about the organizations
• Internals were more successful and more resistant
  to manipulation

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Smoking

• Smokers tend to be significantly more external
  that nonsmokers
• Individuals who quit smoking after the original
  Surgeon General s warning appeared on cigarette
  packs were more internally oriented, even though
  both internals and externals believed the
  warning to be true

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Achievement Motivation

• A study of 1,000 high school students that found
  a positive relationship between an internal score
  and 15 out of 17 indicators that included plans
  for college, time spent on work, and how
  interested the parents were in the students work

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Conformity

• A test developed by Solomon Asch, in which a
  subjects willingness to agree with a majoritys
  incorrect judgment was evidence for conforming
  behavior
• Subjects were allowed to bet with money (provided
  by the experimenters) on correctness of judgments
• Internals conformed significantly less than the
  externals did

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Discussion

• Three potential sources for the development of
  internal-external orientations are suggested
  Cultural differences, socioeconomic differences,
  and variations in styles of parenting
• In cultural differences Ute Indians, Mexican
  Americans, and Caucasians were compared. The Ute
  Indians were more external and whites more
  internal

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Discussion continued...

• These findings suggest that a lower socioeconomic
  position predicts greater externality
• Rotter did not provide supportive research for
  styles of parenting but suggested that parents
  who administer rewards and punishments that are
  unpredictable and inconsistent develop an
  external locus of control

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Rotter Hypothesis of Internal Locus of control

• 1. Gain information from the situation in their
  life in order to improve future behavior in those
  situations or similar ones
• 2. Take initiative to change and improve the
  conditions in life

• 3. Place greater value on inner skill and
  achievement of goals
• 4. Be more able to resist manipulation by others

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Follow-up Study

• Psychological Adjustment to Cancer in a
  Collective Culture (2000)
• Lina N.N. Sun and Sunita Mahtani Stewart
• They examined the associations between social
  support, health locus of control, and
  nasopharyngeal patients

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Looking at the Variables

• Social support important predictor of emotional
  adjustment. It is used as a coping strategy and
  decreases stress. This includes support from both
  family members and medical professionals
• Perceived control Important in buffering the
  effects of stressors. Studies suggest internal
  beliefs are more adaptive

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(continued)...

• Individualistic predisposition to experience
  distress or negative affect Hong Kongs sample
  place less emphasis on independence although it
  is modernized (non-Western values). They also
  have access to good public care at nominal cost
• Cross-cultural studies suggest Chinese
  individuals to more external believers

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Methods

• 152 nasopharyngeal cancer patients (NCP)
• 105 males. 46 females.
• Age ranged from 15-78 years. Average age 45.5
• Average educational level was secondary and
  incomes reflected a middle and lower-middle class
  population

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Measures

• All measures were administered in Chinese
• Demographic information gender, age, education
  level, family income, time since diagnosis, etc.
• Social support measures Was measured on size of
  network, amount of social activity, and
  resilience (quality) of support

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Measures continued...

• Locus of control An 18-item Multidimensional
  Health Locus of Control was developed to assess
  health-related beliefs. Three constructs used
  were Internal, Chance, and Powerful
  Others
• Coping strategies COPE consists of 28 items
  measuring 12 different subscales derived on a
  theoretical basis

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Measures continued...

• Psychological well being They used the Chinese
  version of the General Health Questionnaire.
  Consists of statements describing various
  symptoms
• Neuroticism 11-item Chinese Neuroticism
  Questionnaire. Example In general are your
  feelings easily hurt with yes/no responses

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Measures continued...

• Domains and intensity of cancer-related stress
  Patients indicated their appraised level of
  stress in 4 specific cancer-related stressors
• 1. Fear and uncertainty about the future
• 2. Limitations in physical ability, appearance,
  or life style due to cancer

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(continued)

• 3. Acute pain, symptoms, or discomfort from
  illness or treatment
• 4. Problems with family or friends related to
  cancer

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Results

• Gender did not correlate with adjustment
  variables
• Use of Social Support Participants reported
  using support more frequently when stressors were
  seen as uncontrollable. Families were also the
  most frequent source of social interaction than
  with friends

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Results continued...

• The size of the social network and the frequency
  of social interaction did not matter, however,
  the quality of the support did
• The only domains that contributed variance to the
  depression score were the domains of physical
  ability, appearance, and life style limitations,
  and of problems with friends and family

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Results...

• Health locus of control and adjustment Contrary
  to prediction, internal locus of control was
  associated positively with depression

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Discussion

• These finding support that social relationships
  are important barometers of well being in Chinese
  populations, and should themselves be considered
  outcome variables
• Internal Locus of control are associated
  positively with adjustment whereas chance locus
  of control relates negatively

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Discussion continued...

• Although at certain levels it would contradict,
  Hong Kong culture is collective and their belief
  that inner causes (correct thoughts, wishes) can
  have important effects.
• Feng Shui which is part of Chance beliefs are
  typically accompanied by a set of prescriptions
  to increase control, rather than feelings of
  absence of control

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Limitations of the Study

• In-depth interviews may have revealed additional
  variables
• The issue of causality cannot be addressed as the
  study was done cross-sectional
• The patients were limited to the public hospital
  of Hong Kong and did not include any private or
  other hospitals