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Chpt 6: The Need to Justify Ourselves (Ways of reducing dissonance…
Chpt 6: The Need to Justify Ourselves
Cognitive dissonance
How to reduce dissonance (largely unconscious)
Justify their behaviour by changing 1 of their cognitions
Attempt to justify behaviour by adding new cognitions
Change behaviour to bring it in line with cognitions abt themselves
Self-affirmation
person focuses on 1 or more of his good qualities to lessen the dissonant sting caused by doing smth foolish
the discomfort ppl feel when 2 cognitions conflict or when their behaviours are inconsistent with their self-concept
Impact bias
we tend to overestimate the intensity & duration of our emotional reactions to future -ve events
in fact, how long our disappointment lasts depends on how successfully we reduce the dissonance
once we are committed to our beliefs, we distort new info in a way that confirms them-->ppl rmb plausible arguments agreeing with their own position & implausible argments agreeing with the opposing position
Dissonance
Decision-making
Post decision dissonance
your cognition that you are smart is dissonant with all the -ve things you chose and dissonant with all the +ve things you didn't choose
hence, you enhance attractiveness of your choice & devaluating the choice you rejected-->this is called
spreading of alternatives
eg. attractiveness & desirability of home appliances experiment
Chosen alternative is seldom entirely +ve, rejected alternative seldom entirely -ve
Permanence of decision
eg. horse betting study, photography class study (students were happier when their choice was final rather than if they were given more options)
Lowballing
why it works
feeling of commitment triggers anticipation of an exciting event: (would be disappointing if anticipated event was thwarted)
final price is only slightly higher than prices elsewhere
there is somewhat a commitment that exists
illusion of irrevocability
the more permanent & less revocable & the more important the decision, the stronger is the need to reduce dissonance
Decision to behave immorally
cheating pyramid
eg. attitudes toward cheating experiment
Dissonance & the Self-concept
Eg. cheating experiment & "Don't be a cheater" signs
Self-affirmation
inflated praise towards kids with low self-esteem may backfire, discouraging them from taking on new challenges, fearing they won't be able to meet expectations
changing -ve self-perceptions can improve self-esteem and academic performance of African Americans/minorities
must be grounded in reality--> person has to focus on his actual strengths and strive to make them consistent with his actions
ppl with highest self-esteem experience most dissonance & work a lot harder to reduce the dissonance
Ways of reducing dissonance
Punishment & Self-persuasion
Self-persuasion
insufficient punishment
dissonance when lack sufficient external justification for resisting an activity/object
the less severe the threat, the higher the need for internal justification-->persuade himself he doesn't like it
eg. forbidden toy experiment
not limited to tangible rewards & punishment
eg. we prefer eating grasshoppers at request of someone unpleasant rather than a friend we like
the more severe the threat, higher likelihood to extinguish behaviours BUT only if under surveillance
Hypocrisy induction
eg. dangers of STDs and promoting condom experiment
ppl in the hypocrisy condition felt the most cognitive dissonance
Making ppl aware of the dissonance bet what they are doing & what they are preaching to others
External vs Internal Justification
counterattitudinal advocacy
eg.Festinger's pegs experiment
students paid $1 for lying rated task as more enjoyable as insufficient external justification to justify lying-->had to find internal justification by persuading themselves it was fun
stating an opinion that differs from one's own beliefs
Students paid $20 for lying found it boring as they had sufficient external justification to justify the lie they told
Justifying good deeds & harmful acts
Dehumanising the enemy
dissonance when killing innocent civilians-->more likely to demean civilians
PTSD caused by inability to reduce dissonance over killing innocent victims
to reduce the threat to your self-image from harming others-->justify with "the person deserved it"
justification of cruelty effect
ppl closest to situation reduce dissonance by seeing victim as more likely to be guilty
more distant from situation= more likely to see as innocent
Ben Franklin effect
eg. Returning money experiment
ppl who had been cajoled into doing a special favour will find him attractive & convince themselves he's a wonderful person
Justification of effort
eg. Membership into group discussion on psychology of sex
Findings
Participants who gave little/no effort to enter the discussion group regretted that they had agreed to participate
participnats who went through a severe initiation convinced themselves that the same discussion was a worthwhile experience
tendency to increase liking for something they have worked hard to attain
To maintain a favourable view of ourselves, we want to believe we are logical and reasonable, consistent in our behaviours
Threatening to our self-concepts as reasonable ppl to work hard for a worthless goal
Insufficient justification effect
when extrinsic justification is inadequate, an individual will conclude that the action being done must be due to intrinsic interests
Dissonance in the brain & culture
Dissonance in the brain
possibly evolutionary benefit to sticking with a tried & true option & rejecting a novel alternative
striatum & highly specific areas within prefrontal cortex activated during dissonance
when processing dissonant info
reasoning areas of brain shut down
emotion circuits light up happily when consonance restored
across cultures
Immigrants in America
children want to be like peers; elders want them to be like them
collectivist societies
more likely to experience dissonance when behaviour shames/disappoints someone they like
dissonant-reducing behaviour less prevalent
need to maintain a favourable view of ourselves
need for coherence
motivated to believe that we are logical reasonable and consistent in our behaviours
Need to feel in charge of our own fate