cognitive dissonance Flashcards
cognitive dissonance theory
psychological discomfort that people feel when: (1) they behave in ways that inconsistent with their conception of themselves, (2) have two cognitions in conflict. We seek to escape discomfort brought by dissonance by: (1) changing our behavior to bring it in line with dissonant cognition, (2) justify our behavior through changing on of the dissonant cognitions, (3) justify our behavior by adding new cognition.
post decision dissonance
second guessing after making a choice. People reduce dissonance by inflating both positive aspects of choice and negative aspects of NON choice.
permanence of dissonance
the more important the decision, the greater the dissonance
knox and inskter
asked betters what each horse’s likelihood of winning. IV: when the person was asked, either before $2 bet or after. DV: the degree of certainty they believed the horse they betted on would win. Results found that the decision was more permanent once money is put down.
insufficient justification effect
a person finds an internal cause for an explanation to a behavior because there isn’t an external cause
cognitive dissonance and effort justification
dissonance between the amount of effort exerted into achieving a goal or task. By adjusting and increasing one’s attitude or subjective value of the goal dissonance is resolved
cognitive dissonance
we hate inconsistency and seek to escape discomfort brought about by dissonance. Multiple ways to change how we think about problematic behavior: (1) change perception of behavior, (2) minimize importance of conflict, (3) reduce perceived choice, (4) self affirmation in other domains
self affirmation
acts that affirm one’s self-wroth
self discrepancy
individuals are likely to experience discomfort when they are holding conflicting/incompatible beliefs about themselves
Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)
based on dissonance theory, subjects that were paid $1 for lying rated the experience more positively than those given $20 for lying.
impact bias
the tendency for people to overestimate the length or the intensity of future feeling states. i.e. it will take longer to recover emotionally than it actually does
Aronson and Mills (1959)
students that went through embarrassing initiation ceremony were far more likely to decide they liked the group members because of cognitive dissonance.
hypocrisy induction
when a person preaches one thing but does another, the person experiences feelings of dissonance.
ben franklin effect
a cognitive bias that causes people to like someone more after they do that person a favor, especially if they previously disliked that person or felt neutral toward them.
