Festinger's Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

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Festinger's Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
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Wilson Russell Experiment (see if you can guess
the results)

• 1. Ps are first asked to lift a weight. The
  weight is either 10 lbs. or 50 lbs..
• 2. They are then paid 50 cents or 1.50 for their
  work.
• 3. Next they are asked to estimate how high they
  lifted the weight.
• 4. According to Festingers theory of cognitive
  dissonance, which two groups would be the most
  accurate? A) The 10 lbs. for 50 cents and the 50
  lbs. for 1.50 groups, or B) the 50 lbs. for 50
  cents and 10 lbs. for 1.50 groups.

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I. BackgroundA Most influential statement in 40
years

• 1. Makes non-intuitive predictions, e.g., If I
  want to make you like sorting garbage, Id have
  someone you hate get you to sort it.
• 2. Simple and accounts for a large amount of
  previously unexplained phenomenon, e.g.,
  earthquakes and other disasters.

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TYPICAL DISASTER SCENARIO
CORE
PERIPHERY
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• 3. Gut feeling (we all have experienced it),
  e.g., course loads and teacher ratings, reading
  about things after we purchase them, mad
  professor.
• 4. Integrates Field Research with laboratory
  research, e.g., When Prophecy Fails.
• 5. Demonstrates biological continuity with rats
  AND people.

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II. Basic Statement

• When the opposite of one cognition follows from
  the other, dissonance exists,
• i.e., If A, then B (no dissonance)
• If A, then not B (dissonance)
• e.g. 1 --see cartoon

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II. Basic Statement(Cont)

• e.g. 2. My theory is the greatest, everyone
  disagrees
• e.g. 3. Smoking can kill you, you smoke

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III. Dissonance as a drive. When people
experience dissonance, they are motivated to
reduce it.

• IV. The Magnitude o f Dissonance The greater the
  magnitude, the greater the dissonance. Magnitude
  is determined by

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A. Ratio of consonant to dissonant elements (e.g.
Smoking)

• Social
• Weight control
• Complements alcohol
• Complements coffee or tea
• Relaxation
• Reward self
• Other

• .003 chance of cancer
• 
  

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B. Relevance The greater the personal relevance,
the greater the dissonance.

• E.g. 1. Clinton dirty old man people like
  Clinton. Why?
• E.g. 2. You are smart, but you are failing your
  courses.

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V. Dissonance Reduction Three ways

• A. Add new elements, e.g. Professor is like
  When Prophecy Fails, goes on Geraldo, Donahue,
  and Oprah shows.
• B. Change original element, e.g. Im not smart or
  I didnt study hard enough or a D is not such a
  bad grade.
• C. Reduce importance, e.g., Who cares about
  grades anyway? Im just here for fun.
• Note A valid criticism of the theory is that it
  cannot predict which of the three ways a person
  will choose to reduce dissonance.

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VI. Research

• A. Post-Decision Dissonance Dissonance is
  greatest following a decision between two or more
  alternatives.
• Why?
• Alternative A Alternative B
• 
  

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1. Study by Erlich et al.

• Predicted that new car owners would read more ads
  about the car they purchased than ads about other
  cars. Why?
• See cartoon

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Yours Truly Mustang vs. Camaro
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2. Brehm (1956) Women ratings of domestic products

• High Dissonance Group - chose between the two
  most attractive items
• Low Dissonance Group - chose between most and
  least attractive items
• Control - given item they rated most attractive

• Post -Experimental Ratings

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3. Walsters Study of Regret Phase
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B. Dissonance and Attitude Change If you want
to change someones attitude, first create
dissonance the person will change his or her
attitude in order to reduce it.
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1. Series 1. Rats and people come to love the
things they suffer for.

• E.g. 1, Aronson Mills
• Dissonance Group read obscene literature
• No Dissonance Group did not read obscene
  literature
• Both Groups listened to boring tape of sexual
  behaviour of rats
• Results ?

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Alternative Explanations?

• .
• .
• E.g. 2, Gerard Matheson replicated Aronson
  Mills
• Instead of reading dirty words, they used
  electric shock
• Half the Dissonance Group was told that they
  passed, Half that they would have to wait until
  after the session
• Results Shock worked just as well and both
  Dissonance Groups liked the session more than the
  control group

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E.g. 3, Festinger and insufficient rewards in rats

• What kind of reinforcement is best for learning?
• What kind is best for resistance to extinction?
• Festinger says this is so because rats develop a
  dissonance-like preference when they go to the
  goal box and there is no food.

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2. Series 2. Dissonance and Reinforcement

• Festinger Carlsmith Study
• Dissonance Predicts 1.00 group should like the
  study more than the 20.00 group. Why?
• Reinforcement Theory Predicts the opposite. Why?
• Dissonance wins in series of studies.

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Other Research on Reinforcement

• Threat. Low or High?
• , e.g., Aronson boys with toys Korean war
  and brainwashing effects (Brehm Cohen).
• Research on insufficient justification sorting
  garbage, eating grasshoppers with a nice vs.
  insulting experimenter

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VII. Attacks on Dissonance Theory

• A. Reinforcement theory lost
• B. Self-perception theory (Bem) Individuals come
  to know their own attitudes, emotions, and other
  internal states partially by inferring them from
  observations of their own behaviour and the
  circumstances in which this behaviour occurs.
  Thus to the extent that internal cues are weak,
  ambiguous, or uninterpretable, the individual is
  functionally in the same position as an outside
  observer, an observer who must necessarily rely
  upon those same external cues to infer the
  individuals inner states. 1.00? Must have liked
  it.
• C. Impression Management Theory We try to be
  consistent to the experimenter and tell him or
  her what makes us look good. 1.00? Must have
  liked it.

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VIII. Retaliation. Dissonance and Arousal. E.g.,
Dissonance and the Pill (Zanna Cooper)
Note Hi Choice High Dissonance, Low Choice
Low Dissonance
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IX Other ResearchA. Cognitive Control of
Motivation (Zimbardo) e.g. Hunger study
Note Hi Choice Hi Dissonance, Lo Choice Lo
Dissonance
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B. Dissonance and Psychotherapy (Cooper)
Note Hi Choice Hi Dissonance, Lo Choice Lo
Dissonance
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C. Dissonance and Commitment

• People who suffer in their relations with their
  partner or with their jobs come to love them more
  (Brickman)
• We go through
• Thesis
• Antithesis
• Synthesis