When exemplification fails: Hypocrisy and the motive for self-integrity.

Investigated how the dissonance that follows a hypocritical behavior is reduced when 2 alternatives are available: a direct strategy (changing behavior to make it less hypocritical) or an indirect strategy (the affirmation of an unrelated positive aspect of the self). In Exp 1 (n?=?112 undergraduates), after dissonance was aroused by hypocrisy, significantly more participants chose to reduce dissonance directly, despite the clear availability of a self-affirmation strategy. In Exp 2 (n?=?27 female undergraduates), Ss again chose direct resolution of their hypocritical discrepancy, even when the opportunity to affirm the self held more importance for their global self-worth. Discussion focuses on the mechanisms that influence how people select among readily available strategies for dissonance reduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)