Festinger Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Pdf

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Festinger Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Pdf Festinger theory of cognitive dissonance pdf Continue Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance has been widely recognized for his important and influential concepts in motivation and social psychology. The dissonance theory here applies to the problem of why partial remuneration, delayed remuneration, and effort costs during training lead to increased resistance to extinction. The author argues that there is a stalemate in learning theory, mainly because some of its basic assumptions are clearly opposed to established experimental results. The book puts forward a new theory that seems to reconcile this data and assumptions. This new theory may take into account data that other theories have difficulties with: it integrates empirical phenomena that have been considered unrelated and is supported by experiments designed specifically to verify its effects. These experiments are fully described in the text. Psychological stress experienced by a person who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time Part of the series onPsychology Outline History Subfields Basic Types abnormal behavioral genetics Biological Cognitive / Cognitiveism Comparative cross-cultural differential development of evolutionary experimental mathematical neuropsychology Personality Positive quantitative social social Applied Psychology Applied Behavior Analysis Clinical Community Consumer Counseling Critical Educational Environmental Ergonomics Forensic Industrial and Organizational Legal Military Music Professional School of Health Sports Traffic Lists Discipline Organization Psychology Publishing Research Methods Theory Theory Topics portalvte In psychology, cognitive dissonance occurs when a person adheres to conflicting beliefs, ideas, or values, and are usually experienced as psychological stress when they engage in an action that goes against one or more of them. According to this theory, when two actions or ideas are psychologically inconsistent with each other, people do their best to change them until they become consistent. Discomfort is caused by the fact that a person's faith contradicts new perceived information, in which he tries to find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce discomfort. In The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (1957), Leon Festinger suggested that people strive for internal psychological sequencing in order to function normally in the real world. A person who experiences an internal discrepancy tends to become psychologically uncomfortable and motivated to reduce cognitive dissonance. They tend to make changes to justify stressful behavior, either by adding new pieces of cognition psychological dissonance (rationalization) or avoiding circumstances and information can increase the amount of cognitive dissonance (confirmation of bias). Coping with the nuances of conflicting ideas or experiences is mentally stressful. It takes energy and effort to sit with those seemingly opposite things that all seem true. Festinger argued that some people would inevitably allow dissonance by blindly believing in everything they wanted to believe. The relationship between knowledge To function in the reality of modern society, people constantly adjust the conformity of their mental relationships and personal actions; such constant adjustments, between cognition and action, lead to one of three relationships with reality: Consonant relationships: Two cognitions or actions corresponding to each other (for example, not wanting to get drunk when for dinner, and ordering water, not wine) Irrelevant relationships: Two cognitions or actions unrelated to each other (e.g., not wanting to become drunk when wearing a shirt) not wanting to get drunk when, but then drink more wine) The magnitude of dissonance Term dissonance refers to the level of discomfort caused to a person. This may be due to a connection between two different internal beliefs, or an action that is incompatible with a person's beliefs. Two factors determine the degree of psychological dissonance caused by two contradictory knowledges or two contradictory actions: the importance of cognition: the greater the personal value of the elements, the greater the amount of dissonance in relation. When the importance of these two dissonant elements is high, it is difficult to determine which action or thought is correct. Both had truths, at least subjectively, in the human mind. So when ideals or actions are being clashed, it is difficult for a person to decide which takes precedence. Cognition ratio: share of dissonant and consonant elements. There is a level of discomfort in each person that is acceptable for life. When a person is within this level of comfort, dissonance factors do not interfere with functioning. However, when dissonance factors are plentiful and insufficient in line with each other, goes through the process of regulation and bring the ratio to an acceptable level. As soon as the subject decides to keep one of the dissonant factors, they quickly forget the other to restore peace of mind. There is always some degree of dissonance within the person as they go about making decisions, due to the changing quantity and quality of knowledge and wisdom that they receive. The value itself is a subjective dimension, as reports are transmitted independently, and there is no objective way to obtain a clear measurement of the level The theory of cognitive dissonance reduction suggests that people are looking for a psychological sequence between their expectations of life and the existential reality of the world. To function in accordance with this expectation of existential consistency, people constantly reduce their cognitive dissonance to align their cognition (perception of the world) with their actions. Creating and establishing a psychological sequence allows a person affected by cognitive dissonance to reduce mental tension by actions that reduce the magnitude of dissonance realized either by changing with or by justification against or being indifferent to the existential contradiction that causes mental tension. In practice, people reduce the value of their cognitive dissonance in four ways: to change behavior or cognition (I will no longer eat this doughnut). Justify behavior or cognition by altering conflicting cognition (I am allowed to cheat my diet from time to time.) Justify behavior or cognition by adding new behavior or cognition (I will spend thirty extra minutes in high school to work out a doughnut.) Ignore or deny information that contradicts existing beliefs (This doughnut is not high in sugar food.) Three cognitive biases are components of the theory of dissonance. The prejudice that one has no bias, bias, that one is better, kinder, smarter, more moral and better than average and confirmation of bias. The fact that functioning in the real world requires consistent psychology was also stated in the results of The Psychology of Prejudice (2006), in which people facilitate their functioning in the real world by using human categories (i.e. gender and gender, age and race, etc.), through which they manage their social interactions with others. The study Cognitive Belief Models, Reducing Dissonance among Smokers: Longitudinal Analysis conducted by the Four Country Survey (ITC) International Tobacco Control Survey (2012) found that smokers use the beliefs of justification to reduce their cognitive dissonance regarding tobacco smoking and the negative effects of smoking. Continued smoking (smoking and no attempts to quit smoking since the previous round of research.) Successful quitrs (Exit during the study and do not use tobacco since the previous round of study.) Unsuccessful quitters (Exit during study, but relapsed to smoking during study.) To reduce cognitive dissonance, smokers-participants adjusted their beliefs to fit their actions: Functional beliefs (Smoking soothes me when I am stressed. an important part of my life. and smoking makes it easier for me to communicate.) Beliefs minimizing risk (Medical proof that smoking is harmful, exaggerated; you need to die from something, so why not yourself and smoke? and smoking is not more risky than many other things people do.) Selective Exposure Another method of reducing cognitive dissonance through selective impact theory. This theory has been discussed since the early days of Festinger's discovery of cognitive dissonance. He noted that people would selectively expose themselves to some media outlets in relation to others; in particular, they will avoid dissonance messages and prefer cossonal messages. Through selective exposure, people actively (and selectively) choose what to watch, view or read, which corresponds to their current mood, mood or beliefs. In other words, consumers choose consistent information and avoid information that is difficult for relationships. This can be applied to the media, news, music and any other messaging channel. The idea is choosing what is in opposition to how you feel or believe in will make cognitive dissonance. In 1992, for example, a study of single residents - those without a family or frequent visitors - was conducted in a nursing home. Citizens were shown a series of documentaries: three, which featured a very happy, successful elderly man and three, which featured an unhappy, lonely old man. After watching the documentaries, residents indicated that they preferred the media featuring an unhappy, lonely person over a happy man. This can be condemned by their feelings of loneliness, and the experience of cognitive dissonance watching
Recommended publications
  • A Paradox of Privacy: Unravelling the Reasoning Behind Online Location Sharing
    University of Southampton Research Repository ePrints Soton Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON A Paradox of Privacy: Unravelling the Reasoning behind Online Location Sharing by Aristea Maria Zafeiropoulou A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering School of Electronics and Computer Science November 2014 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE Doctor of Philosophy by Aristea Maria Zafeiropoulou With the emergence of web applications that enabled user-generated content and social interactions, the Web became a place where people can engage in a number of new activities. With the success of smart enabled devices people now actively share their location data through various applications. However, as this thesis reveals, location plays a primal role in linking and inferring new information about people, often without their knowledge or consent.
    [Show full text]
  • Pdfmem/ Carismithjm.Pdf
    TH E SCIENTIST AND THE HUM,ANIST A Festschrift in Honor of Elliot Aronson Edited by Marti Hope Gonzales Carot Tavris Joshua Aronson \D Psychology Press T Taylor & Francis Group New Yorl< London 13 UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS DOES INTERGROUP CONTACT IMPROVE INTERGROUP HARMONY? Anthony G. Greenwald University of Washington This chapter is about Elliot Aronson and also about Gordon Allport, both of whom I met in the fall of 1959 when I became a new gradu­ ate student in Harvard's Department of Social Relations. Elliot would surely have been my PhD advisor had he not moved to Minnesota in 1962. That was when Gordon Allport took pity on me because not only Elliot but everyone else with whom I had worked during my first few years at Harvard had departed to other academic pastures. My starting motivation for PhD training was to avoid being drafted into the U.S. Army. America was not then at war, but the Cold War fueled an active military draft. By national policy, student deferments were used to encourage men toward sOcially useful careers. If there had been a draft deferment for aspiring bebop trumpet players, I would not now be writing this chapter. (What, I wonder, would have been the societal and scientific effect if there had been a draft for women, who would then have sought the deferment shelter of graduate schools at a rate similar to men?) Harvard's Social Relations Department reflected an interdisciplinary spirit that took similar form at several other universities, combining sociology, social anthropology, social psychology, and clinical psychol­ ogy.
    [Show full text]
  • Opinion Science Podcast Hosted by Andy Luttrell
    Opinion Science Podcast Hosted by Andy Luttrell Episode #20: The Cognitive Dissonance Episode August 24th, 2020 Web: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ Twitter: @OpinionSciPod Facebook: OpinionSciPod Open: Bihar Earthquake It’s 1934. Mid-January. The people in India and Nepal are going about their day when out of nowhere, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake rumbled six miles south of Mt. Everest. It was one of the worst earthquakes in India’s history. 12,000 people died, and cities were destroyed. More than 80,000 houses were damaged. Most of the destruction was in northern India and Nepal, but people also felt the quake from more than a thousand miles away, even though these areas were spared much damage at all. In the aftermath of the earthquake, a psychologist at Patna College—hundreds of miles from the epicenter—started recording the rumors that began spreading. The interesting thing was that during this time of panic and anxiety, people were spreading rumors that seemed like they only compounded their fear. One widely believed rumor was that there would be another severe earthquake on the next lunar eclipse day. Other rumors were that the water in the Ganges River had disappeared and that dangerous tornados and other calamities were on their way. What sense did it make that people would be spreading anxiety-provoking rumors at a time when there was already so much fear? Years later, this same question vexed the American psychologist Leon Festinger when he discovered a report of these old rumors. And his explanation grew into the theory of cognitive dissonance.
    [Show full text]
  • The Need to Justify Our Actions 6 the Costs and Benefits of Dissonance Reduction
    The Need to Justify Our Actions 6 The Costs and Benefits of Dissonance Reduction M06_ARON6625_08_SE_C06.indd 2 07/03/12 3:30 AM t was shocking news: 39 people were found dead at a luxury estate in FOCUS QUESTIONS rancho santa fe, california, participants in a mass suicide. All were ■ What is the theory of cognitive members of an obscure cult called Heaven’s Gate. Each body was laid out dissonance, and how do people I avoid dissonance to maintain a neatly, feet clad in brand-new black Nikes, face covered with a purple shroud. stable, positive self-image? The cult members died willingly and peacefully, leaving behind videotapes de- scribing their reasons for suicide: They believed that the Hale-Bopp Comet, a ■ How is the justification of effort a product of cognitive recently discovered comet streaking across the night skies, was their ticket to dissonance, and what are a new life in paradise. They were convinced that in Hale-Bopp’s wake was a some practical applications for gigantic spaceship whose mission was to carry them off to a new incarnation. reducing dissonance? To be picked up by the spaceship, they first needed to rid themselves of their ■ How can people avoid the traps current “containers.” That is, they needed to leave their own bodies by end- of self-justification and other dissonance-reducing behavior? ing their lives. Alas, no spaceship ever came. Several weeks before the mass suicide, some members of the cult pur- chased an expensive, high-powered telescope. They wanted to get a clearer view of the comet and the spaceship that they believed was traveling behind it.
    [Show full text]
  • Opinion Science Podcast Hosted by Andy Luttrell
    Opinion Science Podcast Hosted by Andy Luttrell Bonus Episode: Good Accidents with Elliot Aronson September 7th, 2020 Web: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ Twitter: @OpinionSciPod Facebook: OpinionSciPod Elliot Aronson: It was one of the great accidents in my life, and I’ve had a lot of really good accidents, I think. Andy Luttrell: Hello again, or maybe hi for the first time. I don’t know. A couple weeks ago I did a deep dive on the theory of cognitive dissonance. It was the grand conclusion of the first season of this podcast, but I’m releasing some bonus episodes that are the full interviews with some of the experts in cognitive dissonance. Last week, I posted my interview with Joel Cooper, and this week I’m excited to share my conversation with Elliot Aronson. Aronson got his PhD in 1959 from Stanford University, working with Leon Festinger on some of the first experiments testing dissonance theory. From there, he went on to academic positions at Harvard, the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas, and finally at UC Santa Cruz. In 1972, he authored a celebrated social psychology textbook titled The Social Animal, now in its twelfth edition. In 2001, he coauthored the book Age of Propaganda, a book introducing the general public to persuasion research. And in 2007, with Carol Tavris, he published Mistakes Were Made (but not by me), which introduced the world to the ins and outs of cognitive dissonance and other cognitive biases. The two of them also had an article in The Atlantic last month about the role of cognitive dissonance in people’s choices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
    [Show full text]
  • Under What Conditions Does Intergroup Contact Improve Intergroup Harmony?
    17 UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS DOES INTERGROUP CONTACT IMPROVE INTERGROUP HARMONY? Anthony G. Greenwald University of Washington This chapter is about Elliot Aronson and also about Gordon Allport, both of whom I met in the fall of 1959 when I became a new gradu- ate student in Harvard’s Department of Social Relations. Elliot would surely have been my PhD advisor had he not moved to Minnesota in 1962. That was when Gordon Allport took pity on me because not only Elliot but everyone else with whom I had worked during my first few years at Harvard had departed to other academic pastures. My starting motivation for PhD training was to avoid being drafted into the U.S. Army. America was not then at war, but the Cold War fueled an active military draft. By national policy, student deferments were used to encourage men toward socially useful careers. If there had been a draft deferment for aspiring bebop trumpet players, I would not now be writing this chapter. (What, I wonder, would have been the societal and scientific effect if there had been a draft for women, who would then have sought the deferment shelter of graduate schools at a rate similar to men?) Harvard’s Social Relations Department reflected an interdisciplinary spirit that took similar form at several other universities, combining sociology, social anthropology, social psychology, and clinical psychol- ogy. (That combination existed as a Harvard department from 1946 until the early 1970s, at which time the partnering disciplines gave up 267 Y106888_C017.indd 267 2/3/10 3:00 PM 268 • Anthony G.
    [Show full text]
  • CHAPTER 2 Research Methods
    CHAPTER 2 Research Methods social psychologist, like any other sci- TYPES OF STUDIES A entist, utilizes a specific set of proce- dures to examine the phenomena of interest Descriptive to him. This is otherwise known as the sci- entific method. The scientific method is One of the first questionsdistribute researchers a way of understanding the natural world. need to ask is what type of data they are seek- It is a set of assumptions and procedures ing. Do we merely want to ask questions of that guide the way we gather data, and they the subjects? Do weor merely want to describe specify the conditions under which we can people, or a person, or an interaction? This trust the data that are obtained. For exam- basic type of research is termed descrip- ple, one principle of the scientific method tive research and encompasses very simple is standardization. It stipulates that, in an methods such as surveys, or case studies, or experiment, all aspects of the experiment naturalistic observation (whereby a subject is are the same for all experimental condi- observedpost, but is unaware of being observed; tions except the levels of the independent for example, people-watching in a mall). It is variables. Doing this helps the researcher important to note that these studies do not make the assertion that, if she obtains dif- manipulate variables, and they don’t allow us ferences on the dependent variable between to make any cause–effect statements about experimental conditions, then those must behavior. But these types of studies are good have been caused by the differencescopy, in the places to get ideas for experiments.
    [Show full text]