The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group.

"An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that persons who undergo an unpleasant initiation to become members of a group increase their liking for the group; that is, they find the group more attractive than do persons who become members without going through a severe initiation. This hypothesis was derived from Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance." 3 conditions were employed: reading of "embarrassing material" before a group, mildly embarrassing material to be read, no reading. "The results clearly verified the hypothesis." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudinal consequences of commitment to unpleasant behavior.

"This study tested a 'nonobvious' hypothesis derived from Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance: given the fact that a person is committed to an unpleasant behavior, he tends to increase his disliking for that behavior more if he is exposed to information against engaging in it than if he is exposed to information favorable to engaging in it… . the… hypothesis… was supported." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trivialization: the forgotten mode of dissonance reduction.

Trivialization as a mode of dissonance reduction and the conditions under which it is likely to occur were explored in 4 studies. Study 1 tested and supported the hypothesis that when the preexisting attitude is made salient, participants will trivialize the dissonant cognitions rather than change their attitudes. Study 2 tested and supported the hypothesis that following a counterattitudinal behavior, participants will choose the first mode of dissonance reduction provided for them, whether it is trivialization or attitude change. Study 3 tested and supported the hypothesis that following a counterattitudinal behavior, the typical self-affirmation treatment leads to trivialization. Study 4 demonstrated that providing a trivializing frame by making an important issue salient also encourages trivialization rather than attitude change even when there was no opportunity for self-affirmation. The implications for cognitive dissonance theory and research are briefly discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aversive conditioning: Learning or dissonance reduction?

Hypothesized that the theory of cognitive dissonance could account for the results of aversive conditioning therapy. 30 male smokers, who desired to stop the habit, were assigned to 1 of 3 conditions. The conditioning (C) group received shock contingent on smoking; the pseudoconditioning (PC) group received shock in an irrelevant situation; and the control (Con) group replicated the C group treatment, but received no shock. All groups reduced smoking significantly. Results are consistent with the hypothesis. Factors of belief, expectancy, and cognitive consistency are important in behavior therapies and process studies are required to substantiate theoretical assumptions about why psychotherapies are successful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence that the production of aversive consequences is not necessary to create cognitive dissonance.

The present authors hypothesized, in contrast to 1 influential revision of cognitive dissonance theory, that the production of aversive consequences is not necessary to create cognitive dissonance and that cognitive dissonance will occur even when aversive consequences are not produced. In Experiment 1, participants drank a pleasant- or unpleasant-tasting beverage and were given high or low choice to write a sentence that said they liked the beverage. Participants threw the paper away once they had written the sentence and then rated how much they liked the beverage. In support of the hypothesis, unpleasant-tasting beverage/ high-choice participants liked the beverage more than unpleasant-tasting beverage/low-choice participants. A 2nd experiment replicated this effect, using a different counterattitudinal action and different choice manipulation. By demonstrating that the manipulation of dissonance produced increased physiological arousal, a 3rd experiment suggested that self-perception theory could not alternatively explain the results of Experiments 1 and 2. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of the pleasantness and competence of a partner.

An experiment was conducted to test hypotheses derived from Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance concerning changes in the perception of a partner's pleasantness and competence following the discovery of unpleasant characteristics of the partner. College women who received information indicating their partner for a problem-solving task was very unpleasant rated her as less unpleasant than women who received identical information about someone who was not their partner. Those who received information indicating their partner was very unpleasant rated her as more competent than women who received information indicating their partner had fewer unpleasant characteristics. Whether they had chosen to work with the partner or were assigned had no significant effects on their ratings of her pleasantness or competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reframing paradoxical psychotherapy.

Discusses the conceptual confusion regarding paradoxical psychotherapy (PPT) and suggests an explanation of the change process inherent in the use of paradoxical techniques in terms of cognitive dissonance (CD). PPT requires a cognitive set that is distinct from that required for more conventional approaches. To many, the approach seems counterintuitive. Ethical issues such as the use of deception arise. It is argued that this counterintuitive cognitive set seems to be more a reflection of lack of conceptual clarity of the approach rather than anything inherent in the methods themselves. Empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of PPT techniques is primarily anecdotal and equivocal, due in part to the lack of a coherent theory to guide research. It is suggested that CD theory fills this conceptual void and brings paradoxical techniques within the same arena as other therapeutic techniques. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implications of payment of fees for psychotherapy.

Considers the question of how the payment of fees by clients for psychotherapy and related psychological services influences therapeutic outcomes. Psychoanalytic theory and cognitive dissonance theory suggest that clients who pay for psychotherapy will benefit more than those who pay nothing. This question and related issues are discussed with reference to observations and experimental studies that have explored how fees influence psychotherapy. Presently, sufficient evidence does not exist either to support or refute most of the hypotheses that have been generated, including the one that clients who pay a fee benefit more than those who pay nothing. Explanations for this void in the research literature and suggestions for expanding the understanding of this domain are provided. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive Dissonance in Groups: The Consequences of Disagreement.

As L. Festinger (1957) argued, the social group is a source of cognitive dissonance as well as a vehicle for reducing it. That is, disagreement from others in a group generates dissonance, and subsequent movement toward group consensus reduces this negative tension. The authors conducted 3 studies to demonstrate group-induced dissonance. In the first, students in a group with others who ostensibly disagreed with them experienced greater dissonance discomfort than those in a group with others who agreed. Study 2 demonstrated that standard moderators of dissonance in past research-lack of choice and opportunity to self-affirm, similarly reduced dissonance discomfort generated by group disagreement. In Study 3, the dissonance induced by group disagreement was reduced through a variety of interpersonal strategies to achieve consensus, including persuading others, changing one's own position, and joining an attitudinally congenial group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive dissonance.

Notes an incidence of cognitive dissonance that Benjamin Franklin experienced in 1736 at age 30 yrs before the hypothesis of cognitive dissonance was stated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive dissonance reduction as constraint satisfaction.

A constraint satisfaction neural network model (the consonance model) simulated data from the two major cognitive dissonance paradigms of insufficient justification and free choice. In several cases, the model fit the human data better than did cognitive dissonance theory. Superior fits were due to the inclusion of constraints that were not part of dissonance theory and to the increased precision inherent to this computational approach. Predictions generated by the model for a free choice between undesirable alternatives were confirmed in a new psychological experiment. The success of the consonance model underscores important, unforeseen similarities between what had been formerly regarded as the rather exotic process of dissonance reduction and a variety of other, more mundane psychological processes. Many of these processes can be understood as the progressive application of constraints supplied by beliefs and attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive reactions to smoking relapse: The reciprocal relation between dissonance and self-esteem.

Perceptions of health risk associated with smoking, commitment to quitting, and self-concept were assessed among 174 smokers (mean age 42 yrs) before, during, and after their participation in cessation clinics. Consistent with expectations derived from cognitive dissonance theory, results indicated that relapsers' perception of risk declined after they resumed smoking, although the decline was significant only for relapsers with high self-esteem; high self-esteem relapsers experienced a significantly greater decline in commitment to quitting than did low self-esteem relapsers; and decline in risk perception among relapsers was associated with maintenance of self-esteem. The implications of these results for dissonance theory and the study of smoking relapse and cessation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increasing cognitive dissonance by a fait accompli.

Festinger's theory (see 32: 347) states "that a person who is completely forced to behave in a manner he would avoid if possible, experiences no dissonance. On the other hand, a fait accompli—i.e., an event outside of the person's control—might conceivably create dissonance if that same event would have led to the opposite behavior had it been predictable at a prior choice point." An experiment is reported in which a fait accompli does appear to have increased cognitive dissonance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Smoking behavior in offspring of heart disease patients: A response to cognitive dissonance.

Offspring of heart disease patients, with their variety of health concerns, were compared to a control group with respect to cigarette smoking behavior. Contrary to common-sense expectations, a significantly greater proportion of both male and female offspring were current smokers, and smoked to a greater degree (heavy) than control Ss. The MMPI, however, did not discriminate between Ss on the basis of smoking behavior. In accordance with previous research, it was theorized that the differences observed could be attributed to the higher state of cognitive dissonance associated with cigarette smoking in the offspring group. The fact that a relationship existed between quitting and age, for male and female offspring, suggests that more research is required to study the effects of extreme states of cognitive dissonance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repression and guilt in relation to aggression.

College men and women who were opposed to electric shock in research were instructed to deliver intense shock to others (victims). Before administering shock ? the Ss read a positive communication (shock is beneficial) and the other ?, a negative communication (shock is harmful). There was significantly less recall of the negative communication. For the same-sex pairs (male S-male victim and female S-female victim) the positive communication elicited significantly more guilt and opposition to shock than did the negative communication; for opposite-sex pairs the results were reversed. These findings could be explained by cognitive dissonance theory or by an identification hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissonance arousal: Physiological evidence.

Two studies examined whether cognitive dissonance is accompanied by physiological arousal. In Exp I, a standard induced-compliance paradigm was replicated and found to produce the expected pattern of attitude change in 30 male undergraduates. In Exp II, physiological recordings were obtained from 30 additional male undergraduates within the same paradigm. Ss who wrote counterattitudinal essays under high-choice conditions displayed significantly more nonspecific skin conductance responses than other Ss, but they did not change their attitudes. Results support dissonance as an arousal process. Results also indicate that the Ss misattributed their arousal to the physiological recording device. Findings are discussed in terms of dissonance theory, misattribution phenomena, and social psychophysiological research methods. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive dissonance.

This article reviews critically the experimental evidence in support of cognitive dissonance theory as applied to complex social events. The criticisms which can be made of this literature fall into 2 main classes. 1st, the experimental manipulations are usually so complex and the crucial variables so confounded that no valid conclusions can be drawn from the data. 2nd, a number of fundamental methodological inadequacies in the analysis of results—as, e.g., rejection of cases and faulty statistical analysis of the data—vitiate the findings. As a result, one can only say that the evidence adduced for cognitive dissonance theory is inconclusive. Suggestions are offered for the methodological improvement of studies in this area. The review concludes with the thesis that the most attractive feature of cognitive dissonance theory, its simplicity, is in actual fact a self-defeating limitation. (44 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communicator credibility and communication discrepancy as determinants of opinion change.

The theory of cognitive dissonance suggests that opinion change is a function of a specific complex interaction between the credibility of the communicator and the discrepancy of the communication from the initial attitude of the recipient. In a laboratory experiment, Ss who read a communication that was attributed to a highly credible source showed greater opinion change when the opinion of the source was presented as being increasingly discrepant from their own. In sharp contrast to this was the behavior of Ss who were exposed to the same communication—attributed to a source having only moderate credibility. In this condition, increasing the discrepancy increased the degree of opinion change only to a point; as discrepancy became more extreme, however, the degree of opinion change decreased. The results support predictions from the theory and suggest a reconciliation of previously contradictory findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational basis of dissonance: The singular role of behavioral consequences.

This article provides the first empirical test of the idea that discrepancy is not needed in order to arouse cognitive dissonance. Dissonance was aroused when Ss felt responsible for some aversive consequence, regardless of whether their behavior was consistent (writing a proattitudinal essay) or inconsistent (a counterattitudinal essay) with beliefs. The data demonstrate that in both situations, dissonance is aroused. This result, based on the dissonance motivation model of J. Cooper and R. H. Fazio (1984), strongly suggests that the motivational basis for dissonance is the felt responsibility for aversive consequences. The theoretical implications of this outlook are explored, including a discussion of the many ways that it expands the applicability of dissonance theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why older adults make more immediate treatment decisions about cancer than younger adults.

Literature relevant to medical decision making was reviewed, and a model was outlined for testing. Two studies examined whether older adults make more immediate decisions than younger adults about treatments for prostate or breast cancer in authentic scenarios. Findings clearly showed that older adults were more likely to make immediate decisions than younger adults. The research is important because it not only demonstrates the consistency of this age-related effect across disease domains, gender, ethnic groups, and prevalent education levels but begins to investigate a model to explain the effect. Major reasons for the effect focus on treatment knowledge, interest and engagement, and cognitive resources. Treatment knowledge, general cancer knowledge, interest, and cognitive resources relate to different ways of processing treatment information and preferences for immediate versus delayed decision making. Adults with high knowledge of treatments on a reliable test tended to make immediate treatment decisions, which supports the knowledge explanation. Adults with more cognitive resources and more interest tended to delay their treatment decisions. Little support was found for a cohort explanation for the relationship between age and preference for immediate medical decision making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)