Chapter 5: SelfJustification

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Chapter 5Self-Justification
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Self-justification

• People are motivated to justify their actions,
  beliefs and feelings

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Cognitive dissonance

• Theory of human motivation developed by Leon
  Festinger
• A state of tension occurs whenever an individual
  holds two cognitions (ideas, beliefs, opinions,
  attitudes) that are psychologically inconsistent

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Cognitive dissonance (continued)

• Two cognitions are dissonant if the opposite of
  one follows from the other
• Dissonance is unpleasant people are motivated to
  reduce it
• Similar to the need to reduce other drives, such
  as hunger and thirst

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Reducing cognitive dissonance

• Change one or both cognitions so that they are
  more compatible with each other
• Add cognitions that bridge the gap between the
  original cognitions

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Dissonance and rationalizing

• The theory does not assume people are rational
• The theory suggests that people are rationalizing
• People are motivated, not to be right, but to
  believe we are right

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Dissonance andinterpreting information

• People are not passive receptacles of information
• Our interpretations are deeply impacted by how
  committed we are to a belief or course of action
• We will distort objective reality in order to
  reduce dissonance

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Dissonance reductionand rational behavior

• The theory does not assert that people are
  incapable of rational behavior
• Rather, it contends that people are capable of
  justifying irrational behavior
• Some people have a greater tolerance for
  dissonance, but all engage in dissonance
  reduction, depending on circumstances

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Dissonance and decision-making

• Making a decision produces dissonance
• Negative aspects of the chosen object are
  dissonant with having chosen it
• After making a decision, people seek information
  that is reassuring to validate their choice and
  reduce dissonance

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Foot-in-the-door technique

• Using small favors to encourage people to accede
  to larger requests
• The small request provides justification for
  complying with the larger request

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Irrevocability

• Once you have committed to a decision, the need
  to justify it becomes compelling
• Before your decision is final, there is no need
  to create justification

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Moral behavior

• If you want to soften moral attitudes, tempt
  people enough that they perform a misdeed
• If you want to harden moral attitudes, tempt
  them, but not enough to actually perform the
  misdeed

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Inadequate justification

• External justification
• Internal justification

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External justification

• Dissonance created by making an untrue public
  statements can be reduced if there is a
  sufficient reason for the statement
• For example, a white lie, told so as not to
  hurt someones feelings

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Internal justification

• If there is NOT a sufficient reason for an untrue
  public statement, dissonance must be reduced some
  other way
• Attitude change (in the direction of the
  statement) often results, as that is an efficient
  way to reduce dissonance

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Saying is believing paradigm

• When there is inadequate justification for an
  untrue public statement, we must change our view
  in order to reduce dissonance
• Many research studies have demonstrated that
  minimal rewards for untrue public statements
  result in attitude change

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Types of external justification

• People can be induced to say and do
• things that contradict their beliefs by
• Threats of punishments
• Rewards including money, praise, acceptance
• Being asked as a favor by a friend

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Inadequate justification

• A small reward may be sufficient to induce
  someone to do something
• However, a small reward results in more
  dissonance
• The resulting dissonance may require additional
  rationalization in the form of attitude change

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Dissonance and self-concept

• Reformulation of dissonance theory that
  incorporates the fact that some situations
  threaten the self-concept
• Dissonance is greatest when people feel
  responsible for their actions
• And when they perceive their actions have serious
  consequences

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Inadequate rewardsapplied to education

• Several researchers have found that
• High rewards (external justifications) diminish
  effort and enjoyment
• Harsh punishments (external justifications)
  diminish internalization of values

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Justification of effort

• If a person goes through a difficult or painful
  experience in order to attain a goal or object,
  that goal or object becomes more attractive

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Justification of cruelty

• A person will generally derogate their victim in
  order to justify cruel behavior and convince
  themselves that the victim deserved what they got
• People with low self-esteem have less need to
  derogate their victim
• If the victim can retaliate, there is less need
  to derogate them

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Psychology of inevitability

• Inevitability makes the heart grow fonder
• People tend to make the best of something they
  know is definitely going to happen

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Psychology of inevitability(continued)

• Making the best of an inevitable situation can be
  an adaptive strategy
• However, it also leads to denial or avoidance
  when action would have been appropriate (such as
  preparing for a disaster)

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Importance of self-esteem

• People with low self-esteem experience less
  dissonance when behaving counter-attitudinally
  than people with high self-esteem
• Narcissistic people become aggressive if their
  self-concept is threatened

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The role of discomfort

• Cognitive dissonance is a motivational theory
  suggesting that threats to self-concept cause
  (psychological) discomfort, similar to
  (physiological) thirst or hunger

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Evidence of discomfort

• Study participants report discomfort when
  experiencing dissonance
• Study participants experiencing dissonance
  perform poorly on a complex task, similar to
  those experiencing thirst or hunger

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Physiologicaleffects of dissonance

• Researchers have demonstrated that dissonance can
  have physiological implications
• Study participants perceived themselves as less
  hungry or tired or in pain when given inadequate
  external justification (eliciting dissonance)

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Practical applications

• Dissonance theory is appealing because it
  explains phenomena that defy commonsense
  explanations
• Dissonance theory can account for a great many
  phenomena

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Practical applications (examples)

• Explaining why rumors spread
• Explaining major changes in attitudes
• Explaining passivity toward disasters
• Explaining cult membership
• Motivating weight loss
• Motivating AIDS prevention
• Motivating water conservation