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)     

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)     

Acquisition of conservation through cognitive dissonance.

In 2 experiments conservers, transitional conservers, and nonconservers were directed to pretend that their judgments and explanations to a series of conservation problems were the opposite of what they really were. Ss were 210 children from nursery school, kindergarten, and 1st–3rd grades. In both studies nonconservers and transitional Ss made large and significant gains in conservation in comparison with appropriate control groups and between pre- and posttests. Conservers did not regress. Exp II, moreover, indicated that conservation gains were stable and that the newly acquired conservation was not extinguished by a 2nd dissonance treatment in which Ss gave nonconservation responses. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive dissonance, sensitivity, and evaluation.

In a test of dissonance theory the sensitivity of regular smokers to information about smoking and lung cancer was compared to nonsmokers. Smokers were more interested in such information than nonsmokers; but they did not seek out negative evidence about lung cancer and smoking, nor did they reject information about the harmful effects more than nonsmokers. No clear-cut results emerge from the analysis of dissonance reduction in relation to extraversion and neuroticism, though regular smokers were higher in extraversion than nonsmokers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive dissonance in an intergroup context.

42 student members of a campus group supporting Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election participated in a study of the effects of group membership on dissonance reduction. In a 2?×?2 factorial design, half of the Ss were asked to write arguments contrary to their attitudes, whereas the other half were required to write such arguments. Half of the Ss were then asked to advocate a position that was counter to the attitude that defined their membership in the group. The other half produced arguments that were counter to attitudes relevant to but not definitional of group membership. It was predicted that attitude change would be used as a way to reduce dissonance only by those Ss who freely wrote arguments counter to nondefinitional attitudes. Attitude change was not possible, however, for Ss who freely produced arguments counter to a definitional attitude; these Ss were expected to misattribute their arousal to the existence of a competing out-group and to reduce their dissonance by derogating that group. Results supported these predictions. The importance of group membership in affecting attitude change is discussed. (10 ref) (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)     

Cognitive dissonance: Private ratiocination or public spectacle?

Examines various interpretations of cognitive dissonance. A review of the conditions which have reliably produced dissonance indicates that the phenomenon will occur whenever an individual can be held intentionally responsible for his behaviors and is concerned with the attributions others make about him. A social-psychologically based theory of impression management is offered to account for the results of dissonance studies. According to the theory, an individual learns that he must appear consistent in order to maintain his credibility as a social communicator. Additionally, he is constrained by normative considerations. Dissonance reduction will only be observed when a person believes that an outside o imputes intentionality to both of 2 contradictory statements or actions, and the 2nd action is believed to be counternormative or harmful in nature. The theory integrates the various viewpoints of L. Festinger, D. Bem, V. Allen, and M. Rosenberg, is supported by the existing dissonance literature, is rooted in socialization processes, and offers an alternative to the traditional intrapsychic explanations of dissonance. (50 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive cognitive dissonanace revisited: A further look at the dissonance self-perception controversy.

A. Arrowood, L. Wood and L. Ross (see record 1971-00611-001) found O-Ss unable to reproduce the beliefs of target persons in an anticipatory effort-justification paradigm. 2 experiments test the possibility that this finding is the result of an inappropriate instruction set and an experimental situation which gave Os indirect access to internal cues of the target persons. 177 undergraduates served as Ss. Using the Arrowood et al. instructions, O-Ss in Exp. I failed to reproduce targets' beliefs. When slightly altered instructions were employed, another group of O-Ss successfully reproduced targets' beliefs. In Exp. II, Os were given altered instructions but not allowed to participate as Ss in the experimental situation. These noninvolved Os failed to reproduce the beliefs of target persons. Implications of these procedural artifacts are discussed regarding the Arrowood et al. study and to simulations in general. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive dissonance as a modifier of chronic smoking behavior: A serendipitous finding.

Results of a study (undertaken as a methodological analog to J. H. Resnick's 1968 investigation) with adult smokers, in which rate of puffing rather than number of cigarettes smoked was manipulated in a controlled setting, are contrary to those predicted: self-paced control Ss fared better than operantly paced experimental Ss and rated cigarettes less favorably at the end of the study. Results are explained in terms of cognitive dissonance theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What psychology knows about energy conservation.

Psychological research in the 1970s and early 1980s contributed to understanding the determinants of energy use and energy conservation, particularly in households. This article reviews these contributions and sketches some implications for research in the 1990s. Psychological studies show that information and money, 2 of the major policy tools for conservation, are more complex and multidimensional than standard technical economic policy analysis assumes and that money is not the only important motive for conservation. These insights can be used to improve the implementation of energy conservation programs, but to have their insights applied, psychologists will need to communicate them in language familiar to policymakers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alternative responses to dissonance.

50 male and 50 female Ss were placed in an experimental situation in which they found their judgments contradicted by a respected associate of the same sex. Ss were free to resolve the dissonance by conforming to the contrary judgments of the associate, rejecting the associate as one who was less competent than he had been thought to be, underrecalling the disagreements, or, devaluating the importance of the topics about which disagreements had occurred. Female Ss made less use of rejection than did male Ss and were more inclined to tolerate the conflict. Other findings suggest that individuals are inclined to employ the 4 responses as alternative means of reducing dissonance rather than as supplementary means. Finally, correlations relating the MA scale to conformity, underrecall, and tolerance were significantly different for the 2 sexes, suggesting that the effect of anxiety upon Ss' choice of dissonance reducing response depends upon the sex of the Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships among dissonance reducing responses.

This experiment compares the use which is made of available dissonance reducing responses by Ss who have received 3 types of experimental treatments. Ss who were forced to use 2 dissonance reducing responses made less use of 3 other available means of reducing dissonance than did Ss who were forced to use only 1. The latter Ss, in turn, made less use of other available responses than did those who were not forced to use any. These and other findings suggest that dissonance reducing responses combine additively rather than disjunctively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Misattribution of dissonance and behaviour-consistent attitude change.

Examined the prediction that people who have misattributed dissonance arousal to an external source may come to question the appropriateness of this attribution and may then be motivated to alter their attitudes. This was tested by having an experimenter discredit the plausibility of an external source after misattribution had presumably occurred. 80 female undergraduates participated in the study, with 16 of these Ss serving as controls. 64 Ss were given a pill described as having either unpleasant side effects or no side effects and then were committed to write counterattitudinal essays under high-choice conditions. Some Ss were then told that a mistake had been made and that they had actually been given the other form of the pill. As predicted, Ss who had initially been led to believe that the pill had aversive side effects but were later told that it did not manifested behavior-consistent attitude change. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role playing, incentive, and dissonance.

Incentive theory is advanced as more satisfactory than dissonance theory in dealing with attitude change induced through role playing. Incentive theory and dissonance theory yield opposite predictions about attitudinal results of role playing which involves different incentive levels. Experimental studies in this area are reviewed, and alternative explanations are discussed. Results which appear to support dissonance theory can generally be attributed to the arousal of interfering negative affect by increasing reward levels. When opportunity for instigation of such interfering reactions is low, increased reward may lead to more effective biased scanning and thus to more attitude change. Complicating factors are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social comparison and dissonance reduction in self-evaluation.

This study is designed to compare and test some predictions about the self-evaluation process based on the theories of Festinger and Rotter. Contrary to suggestions by Rotter, it was found that minimal goals were no more resistant to change than were expected scores. Changes in minimal goals and expected scores tended to occur so as to minimize discrepancies with actual performance, and thus reduce dissonance in accordance with Festinger's theory. Consistent with Festinger's theory of social comparison processes, it was found that individual's self-evaluations are only influenced by reference group norms in the absence of a more objective criterion for self-evaluation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Post-decision dissonance at the polling booth.

Five female undergraduates interviewed 330 voters (who were on their way either into or out of the polls) on the day of the 1971 Ontario provincial election, and 21 undergraduates interviewed 1,218 voters on the day of the 1972 Canadian federal election. Results show that voters in both elections were more likely to believe that their candidate was the best one and had the best chance to win after they had voted than before they voted. Findings are explained in terms of dissonance reduction processes after commitment to a decision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)