The Effects Of Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is described as the psychological discomfort experienced when there is an inconsistency between our own behaviours and our attitudes (Festinger, 1957). This unpleasantness, Festinger argues will motivate people to reduce this dissonance and to try and achieve consonance (consistency).
People, according to Festinger (1957) when faced with cognitive dissonance will often change their attitudes towards an issue or situation rather than their behaviour. Stone, Wiegand, Cooper and Aronson (1997) argued that dissonance was closely related to feelings of hypocrisy. People want to maintain their self-integrity, so when faced with situations in which they may be perceived, or may feel like a hypocrite, a ‘dissonance reduction strategy’ …show more content…
Participants were asked to take part in a study that consisted of repetitive tasks that included putting spools onto a tray and then emptying the tray repeatedly. Participants were then asked to lie about their experience to other ‘participants’ (confederates), to convince them that the experiment was interesting. Festinger et al predicted that behaving in a way that did not match their attitudes (lying) would put participants in a state of cognitive dissonance. They predicted that participants would then, change their attitudes towards the experiment and convince themselves that the experiment was interesting after all, in order to reduce this dissonance. Participants, depending on their condition were offered incentives of either $1, $20, or no reward at all. They found surprisingly, that participants rewarded with $1 reported enjoying the experiment more than those in other conditions. Festinger et al explain this, arguing that those rewarded with $20 would report less enjoyment as they may have felt that their behaviour could be explained by the fact that they were offered an attractive reward for lying, therefore eliminating the need for an attitude change. Participants who were offered little reward ($1) may have found that the reward was not significant enough to justify the lie, so they reduced dissonance by changing their
People, according to Festinger (1957) when faced with cognitive dissonance will often change their attitudes towards an issue or situation rather than their behaviour. Stone, Wiegand, Cooper and Aronson (1997) argued that dissonance was closely related to feelings of hypocrisy. People want to maintain their self-integrity, so when faced with situations in which they may be perceived, or may feel like a hypocrite, a ‘dissonance reduction strategy’ …show more content…
Participants were asked to take part in a study that consisted of repetitive tasks that included putting spools onto a tray and then emptying the tray repeatedly. Participants were then asked to lie about their experience to other ‘participants’ (confederates), to convince them that the experiment was interesting. Festinger et al predicted that behaving in a way that did not match their attitudes (lying) would put participants in a state of cognitive dissonance. They predicted that participants would then, change their attitudes towards the experiment and convince themselves that the experiment was interesting after all, in order to reduce this dissonance. Participants, depending on their condition were offered incentives of either $1, $20, or no reward at all. They found surprisingly, that participants rewarded with $1 reported enjoying the experiment more than those in other conditions. Festinger et al explain this, arguing that those rewarded with $20 would report less enjoyment as they may have felt that their behaviour could be explained by the fact that they were offered an attractive reward for lying, therefore eliminating the need for an attitude change. Participants who were offered little reward ($1) may have found that the reward was not significant enough to justify the lie, so they reduced dissonance by changing their