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)     

Generalization of dissonance reduction: Decreasing prejudice through induced compliance.

Three studies involving a total of 318 White college students demonstrated that induced compliance can change socially significant attitudes and that the change generalizes to broader beliefs. Ss wrote an essay endorsing a pro-Black policy that was costly to Whites. In Exps 1 and 2, attitudes and general beliefs about Blacks became more favorable in both high- and low-choice conditions, provided publicity of the essay was high. Overall, choice and publicity had additive effects on attitude change. Some high-choice Ss wrote only semipositive (semicompliant) essays and did not change their essay attitudes. Yet their beliefs about Blacks still became more favorable. In Exp 3, racial ambivalence, but not prior attitude, predicted essay compliance. Ambivalent Ss were more likely to comply than were less ambivalent Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive and affective bases of opinion survey responses.

Two experiments investigated the determinants of agreement with propositions that advocated social privileges for either people in general or specific social groups. Liking for the group to which a group-specific proposition referred had a contrast effect on agreement with a related general proposition that was considered immediately after it, but had a positive influence of agreement with a general proposition that did not occur until several items later. The latter effect was eliminated by instructing Ss to base their judgments on the consequences of the policies described in the propositions. Instructions to base judgments on affective reactions to the propositions produced contrast effects of group-specific propositions on judgments of general ones regardless of whether these items were separated or together in the questionnaire. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The attitude polarization phenomenon: Role of response measure, attitude extremity, and behavioral consequences of reported attitude change.

Four studies examined the generality of attitude polarization (C. G. Lord et al, 1979). Biased assimilation of essays on 2 controversial issues was substantial and correlated with reported attitude change. Polarization was observed for reported attitude change on capital punishment and generally stronger in Ss with extreme than moderate attitudes. Polarization was not indicated in a pre–post measurement design. For affirmative action, reported polarization was not observed. The hypothesis that Ss reporting polarization would subsequently write particularly strong essays was not supported, although those reporting depolarization wrote relatively weak essays. The results suggest the relevance of individual differences in reported attitude change but do not confirm the powerful inferences frequently drawn regarding the pervasive, undesirable consequences of self-reported attitude polarization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of public and private self-consciousness on the public expression of personal beliefs.

Examined the joint effects of private and public self-consciousness (SC) on attitudinal consistency. 113 male undergraduates (categorized as high and low private and high and low public SC) reported their own attitudes toward punishment. Later, each S was asked to write an essay in which he restated his attitude. Immediately prior to writing the essay, S learned that he would also be discussing his opinion with either a partner who held an attitude opposite to his own or a partner whose attitude was unknown. As predicted, the attitudes expressed in the essays of high public SC Ss were more moderate than those expressed by low public SC Ss. One effect of this moderation strategy was to lower the correlation between privately held and publicly expressed beliefs among Ss high in public SC. In contrast, attitudinal consistency was substantial among Ss who were low in public and high in private SC. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective-cognitive consistency and thought-induced attitude polarization.

70 undergraduates whose preexperimental attitudes toward either capital punishment or censorship were identified as either high or low in affective-cognitive consistency wrote 2 essays, one on the topic for which consistency had been assessed (relevant essay) and the other on the unassessed topic (distractor essay). Findings indicate that in accord with the hypothesis that thought-induced attitude polarization requires the presence of a well-developed knowledge structure, high-consistency Ss evidenced greater polarization than low-consistency Ss only on the relevant topic after writing the relevant essay. Content analyses of Ss' relevant essays supported A. Tesser's (1978) ideas regarding mediation: High (vs low) consistency Ss expressed a greater proportion of cognitions that were evaluatively consistent with their prior affect toward the attitude object and a smaller proportion of evaluatively inconsistent and neutral cognitions. High-consistency Ss evidenced a greater tendency to assimilate discrepant information by generating refutational thoughts that discredited or minimized the importance of inconsistent information than did low-consistency Ss. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overattribution and unit formation: When behavior engulfs the person.

Conducted 2 experiments with 112 undergraduates to investigate whether there may be circumstances in which observers overattribute behavior to situational causes while adjusting insufficiently for information about an actor's dispositions. Although Ss were clearly informed of the prior attitude of a target person who wrote an attitude-congruent essay under free-choice instructions, they nevertheless attributed the essay in part to essay-congruent features of the target's situation. This did not depend on whether essays were composed by experimenters or by actual undergraduate target persons, although only essay readers, not essay writers, drew such essay-congruent situational inferences. Results are consistent with an anchoring/adjustment model of sequential attributional processes. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Between a rock and a hard place: Self-concept regulating and communicative properties of distancing behaviors.

Investigated 2 properties of distancing behaviors—a class of deliberate and inadvertent behaviors that insulate persons from the consequences of negative self-discrepant behavior and signal that they should not be associated with that behavior. In Phase 1, high-choice Ss in a multiple audience variation of the induced compliance paradigm who read counterattitudinal essays on affirmative action in the presence of a Black woman did not show typical dissonance-induced attitude change. Phase 2 found that this absence of attitude change was significantly related to the extent to which Ss distanced themselves from their essays before reading them. In Phase 3, distancing behaviors also served as discounting cues for naive observers and were significantly related to their ratings of Ss' attitudes. These results are discussed in terms of the self-regulatory and communicative roles of distancing behaviors in social interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physiological arousal, dissonance, and attitude change: Evidence for a dissonance-arousal link and a "Don't remind me" effect.

Two experiments, with 80 undergraduates, replicated and extended research by R. T. Croyle and J. Cooper (see record 1984-11595-001) indicating that cognitive dissonance involves physiological arousal. In Exp I, Ss wrote counterattitudinal essays under conditions of high or low choice and, to assess arousal effects owing to effort, with or without a list of arguments provided by the experimenter. In high-choice conditions only and regardless of effort, Ss showed both arousal (heightened galvanic skin response) and attitude change. Arousal, however, did not decline following attitude change. The more effortful task (no arguments provided) produced increased arousal but not greater attitude change. In Exp II, the opportunity to change one's attitude following a freely chosen counterattitudinal essay was manipulated. As in Exp I, arousal increased following the essay but did not decline following a postessay attitude change opportunity. When Ss were not given an attitude change opportunity, however, arousal did decline. It is suggested that if dissonance is a drive state, drive reduction typically may be accomplished through gradual cognitive change or forgetting. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in relative hemispheric alpha abundance and cognitive responses to persuasive communications.

Exp I found that 40 right-handed undergraduates who were characterized by relative left-hemisphere EEG activity over the parietal areas also produced a less affectively polarized profile of thought listings about a persuasive communication. This individual difference emerged only when Ss were confronted by the forewarning and message; the basal patterns of interhemispheric EEG activity, which were obtained prior to the announcement of the attitudinal recommendation, did not portend distinguishable profiles of cognitive responding. Exp II with 8 Ss replicated the major findings of Exp I using different topics and a within-Ss rather than a between-Ss design. Analyses suggested that thinking about an attitude issue rather than responding to a persuasive communication was sufficient to obtain the above relationship between interhemispheric EEG alpha abundance and cognitive response. Exp III with 7 Ss used a time-to-think procedure to assess interhemispheric EEG patterning as a function of the affective polarization of topic-relevant thinking. Results support the expectation that as Ss thought longer about attitude issues they exhibited a shifting of relative hemispheric EEG activity from the left toward the right parietal areas. The significance and limitations of these findings for research on attitude change and the utility of including psychophysiological approaches to elusive research problems in personality and social psychology are discussed. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple audience problem: A strategic communication perspective on social perception.

Examined how communicators send mixed messages containing an explicit surface content and a covert hidden content. In Study 1, Ss wrote constrained essays presenting either an introverted or extraverted personality. Although authors reported manipulating essay credibility and readers reported relying on credibility to make their judgments, readers succumbed to correspondence bias. In Studies 2 and 3, Ss again prepared either constrained essays (Study 2) or constrained videotapes (Study 3) and included in them a hidden message that would be understood by only their friends but not by strangers. Observers then read these essays or watched these videotapes. Friends detected and decoded the hidden messages, whereas strangers did not. We discuss these findings in terms of social perception and strategic communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Agreement, attraction, and self-esteem.

Explored the role of increased self-esteem in mediating the relationship between attitudinal agreement and interpersonal attraction by creating conditions known to produce differential attraction and then testing for corresponding changes in self-esteem. 280 undergraduates were given a questionnaire measuring attitudes and self-esteem and were then exposed to a confederate student who (a) held either similar or dissimilar attitudes on a variety of current issues; and (b) had given them either a positive, a negative, or no personal evaluation. Posttreatment confederate evaluations and measures of self-esteem indicate that although the attraction manipulation was highly successful, no support was found for the notion that increased self-esteem was even a concomitant, let alone a determinant, of attraction. The only reliable posttreatment increase in self-esteem came from Ss who had been negatively evaluated, and appeared to be defensive in character. In addition, Ss receiving similar attitudes plus positive personal evaluations liked the stranger more, and those receiving dissimilar attitudes plus negative evaluations liked the stranger less, than did Ss who received the attitude similarity-dissimilarity manipulation only. These latter results suggest that current models of attraction in which the proportion of positive elements is the crucial factor should be reformulated. (French summary) (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptions of prose coherence: Individual differences in epistemological standards.

Examined the relationship between beliefs about the nature of knowledge and conceptions of prose coherence by administering self-reports to 89 undergraduates. Four conceptions of coherence were identified. Two of these conceptions (informativeness and grouping) were categorized as immature because they did not provide a basis for evaluating the quality of the relationships among the various parts of a term paper. The 2 remaining conceptions (sequencing and unity) were categorized as mature because they did provide such a basis. Results show that Ss classified as having relativistic (context-oriented) beliefs about the nature of knowledge were more likely to report mature coherence conceptions than were Ss classified as having dualistic (fact-oriented) beliefs. In addition, Ss who reported mature coherence conceptions produced essays that were judged by 2 writing instructors to be more coherent than the essays of Ss who reported immature conceptions. (14 ref) (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)     

Processing deficits and the mediation of positive affect in persuasion.

Motivational and cognitive mediators of the reduced processing of persuasive messages shown by recipients in a positive mood were tested. Ss in positive or neutral moods read strong or weak counterattitudinal advocacies for either a limited time or for as long as they wanted. Under limited exposure conditions, neutral mood Ss showed attitude change indicative of systematic processing, whereas positive mood Ss showed no differentiation of strong and weak versions of the message. When message exposure was unlimited, positive mood Ss viewed the message longer than did neutral mood Ss and sytematically processed it rather than relying on persuasion heuristics. These findings replicated with 2 manipulations of mood and 2 different attitude issues. We interpret the results as providing evidence that reduced cognitive capacity to process the message contributes to the decrements shown by positive mood Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive sets, attribution, and social interaction.

Examined relationships among cognitive set variables, attribution, and behavior using 135 female undergraduates. Ss were given either positive-, negative-, or no-set information about the emotional health of a stimulus person prior to observing a videotaped social encounter. After viewing the tape, Ss were administered a free-response attribution measure or a distraction task. All Ss then engaged in actual social interaction with the stimulus person. Results indicate that (a) Ss receiving positive-set information wrote more positively valenced attributions and displayed more positive behavioral responses than did Ss receiving negative- and no-set information. (b) Ss who made attributions exhibited more pronounced behavioral responses as a function of the set manipulation than did those who did not make attributions. It is argued that the latter data reveal the important role of attribution in mediating the effects of set on behavior. Overall data are discussed as reflecting a control motivation in the production of attribution and behavior. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal consequences of person perception processes in two social contexts.

Examined whether perceiver-based perceptual processes affect social behavior. Approximately 1,100 undergraduates were exposed to a videotape that portrayed a male or female child interacting with an adult in a playroom. In Study 1, Ss who "saw" the child emit (a) primarily positive behaviors (i.e., Ss who were positively biased), (b) about equal numbers of positive and negative behaviors (i.e., Ss who were accurate), or (c) primarily negative behaviors (i.e., Ss who were negatively biased) then engaged in cooperative task activities with a 7-yr-old child. In Study 2, a subset of these Ss engaged in a discussion with another undergraduate about 3 issues on which they apparently disagreed. Systematic analyses of these interactions suggested that perceptual processes affected social behavior—negatively biased Ss tended to act in a more authoritarian manner in their encounters with the child, whereas positively biased Ss were the least effective in the discussion task. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitude accessibility following a self-perception process.

Two experiments with 170 undergraduates investigated the accessibility of attitudes from memory following self-inference from behavior. It is noted that self-perception processes have been postulated to occur only to the extent that initial attitudes are weak. Exp I examined the consequence for attitude accessibility of reviewing and considering previously performed religious behaviors that were recent and primarily unmanded vs distant in time and manded in nature. Exp II involved the performance of a new behavior that was either required or freely chosen. In each case, control Ss either did not review prior behaviors or did not perform a new behavior. Results show that in both experiments, attitude accessibility, as measured by the latency of response to attitudinal inquiries, was enhanced by the consideration or performance of unmanded behavior, but not by manded behavior. The relevance of this finding to issues regarding attitude–behavior consistency and attitudinal persistence is discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)