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Cognitive emotive dissonance
Core assumptions of cognitive dissonance theory
Assignment on cognitive dissonance
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Cognitive Dissonance
According to cognitive dissonance theory, there is a tendency for individuals to seek
consistency among their cognitions (beliefs, expectations, or opinions of a particular individual).
When inconsistency does exist between these beliefs or attitudes, psychological tension
(dissonance) occurs and must be resolved through some action. This tension most often results
when an individual must choose between two incompatible beliefs or actions and is heightened
when alternatives are equally attractive to the individual. This tension state has drive-like
properties. If dissonance is experienced as an unpleasant drive state, the individual is motivated to
reduce it. However, it is not an easy state to reduce. Dissonance can be eliminated by reducing
the importance of the conflicting beliefs, by acquiring new beliefs that change the balance, or
removing the conflicting attitude or behavior. In theory, cognitive dissonance suggests that
actions have a causal relationship upon cognitions.
My personal example of cognitive dissonance is the purchase of a 1966 Mustang I made
over the summer. This car was my dream car; it was all original, in good shape, and had all of the
features I could ever want. I didn’t have much money but I was so excited that I took out my
first loan to buy this beautiful car. However, when it came time for school in the fall, I discovered
that it was not the ideal vehicle to drive over the mountains. It was an older car, it didn’t have
seatbelts, and was very sluggish traveling over the mountain pass. I was extremely frustrated.
Dissonance existed between my belief that I had bought a dream car and that a dream car should
have seatbelts and have enough power to make it over a mountain pass. To eliminate this
dissonance, I decided to store the car at my parents house and only drive the car infrequently. I
decided that it didn’t really matter that it couldn’t drive over the pass; It was still a nice car and
didn’t want to put a whole bunch of mileage on it anyway.
Since then, I have also purchased another car that does have seatbelts and can drive
75mph over the pass. In doing so, I have changed both my behavior and my beliefs. I have
changed my belief that it is important for a dream car to have seatbelts and drive over a mountain.
It is now not as important that it has those qualities.
meaning it no longer functioned due to major engine problems. This required me to bring it to a shop to have it fixed, where I found out just how rare these cars are. Not only did the shop tech not know what the engine was, he had no instructions in his system on how to work on it. After being turned away from three different shops, I decided to learn how to do it
One study done by Leon Festinger in 1957 demonstrates the desire to resolve cognitive dissonance. In this experiment, participants had to perform a series of extremely boring tasks, such as putting spools of thread into a box, dumping them out, and then putting them back in for half an hour and turning wooden knobs (that performed no action other than turning) quarter turns until they were all turned, and then starting back at the beginning and turning them all another quarter turn until the “end” of the study. After the participants were finished with their deliberately boring task, they were asked to lie to the next set of participants (actually just confederates) and were offered either one dollar or twenty dollars to tell them that the study was exciting and enjoyable. This task created cognitive dissonance, which can also occur when reading Science Fiction. After the participants lied, they were asked to honestly rate the task they performed. Surprisingly, the participants who were paid less rated the experiment more highly than those who were paid more. The explanation behind this is that the participants who were paid more cold justify their lie with the fact that they got twenty for it, thus resolving the cognitive dissonance. On
American social psychologist and original developer of the theory of Cognitive Dissonance Leon Festinger breaks down his theory into two main parts. First, the presence of dissonance, inconsistency or unpleasantness, will psychologically motivate a person to achieve consonance, consistency or pleasantness (Festinger 3). Psychologist Elliot Aronson, key researcher in the 20th century of this theory, expands on the definition of dissonance to be more straightforward. Dissonance occurs when a person holds two ideas, beliefs, or opinions at the same time that are contradictory with one and other. Part two of the theory states that a person will attempt to avoid situations or knowledge that would possibly or pro...
Dissonance would be caused if you put in a lot of effort to accomplish something and then valued it negatively. Someone could dedicate so much time and energy into completing something, but the ending results be garbage, to escape dissonance, that person may attempt to convince themselves that the work wasn’t really that long and or hard, and that you actual enjoyed the work. This method of reducing dissonance is called effort justification. Aronson and Mills demonstrated a classic dissonance experiment, to investigate the relationship between dissonance and effort. In the experiment, female students volunteered to be involved in a discussion on the psychology of sex. The mild embarrassment condition read to the male experimenter out loud sex-related words like “virgin” and “prostitute.” The severe embarrassment condition had to read very explicit sexual passage and filthy words out loud. The control condition went right into the main study. All conditions listened to boring discussion about sex in lower animals. At the end the females were asked to rate how interesting the discussion was and the people involved. The most positive rating came from the severe embarrassment condition. The experiment showed if a voluntary experience that requires a good deal of effort, but does not turn out good, by redefining the experience as interesting will reduce dissonance, justifying the effort
Cooper, Joel. Cognitive Dissonance: Fifty Years of a Classic Theory. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2007. Print
The most obvious is the way my two thoughts on whether I should stay at school or go see my family are conflicting and causing me dissonance and me trying to reduce dissonance. Another clear point is the reason for my decision. This reason is one Festinger calls the Personal Responsibility for Bad Outcomes. One reason I chose to go to Terre Haute with my mom is because I knew if I told her that I didn’t want to go that, not only would it hurt her feelings, but she would be disappointed in me. Knowing that I made my mom feel bad would make me feel very guilty and I could not handle being responsible for that. Cognitive Dissonance would say that I reduced my dissonance by changing the importance of staying at school. I reduced the postdecision dissonance I felt by adding consonant elements to the choice I
“Humans are not a rational animal, but a rationalizing one” (“Class 20”). This was asserted by the much acclaimed, significant, and influential social psychologist Leon Festinger as referencing to his theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Social psychology is “a branch of psychology particularly concerned with understanding social behaviors such as” incentive and compliance (Sheehy). Festinger’s contributions to the social and cognitive branches of psychology as well psychology overall prove themselves worthy to today. This theory specifically challenged many common notions that were seemingly already accepted by behaviorists everywhere during his time (Tavris and Aronson). Its reality awakens its verifications. Consecutively, its “enormous motivational power” affects many on a daily basis (Tavris and Aronson). In the final analysis, the theory of Cognitive Dissonance by Leon Festinger is fundamental to behaviorism while directly changing the way human beings across the planet think and do.
really neat car that not many other people had. Than the next thing I would do
Cognitive dissonance is defined as a state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes regarding behavioral decisions and attitude change (Festinger, 1957). In a study of cognitive dissonance, Festinger (1957) predicted that the larger the reward given to a subject, then the smaller the subsequent opinion will change. To test this prediction, Festinger (1957) gathered seventy-one male students from Stanford University that were enrolled in the psychology program. The goal of the study was to research the cognitive consequences of forced compliance.
(Festinger 1957). When multiple “cognitions” — information or opinions about about the self, one’s actions, or the environment — contradict each other, an individual experiences a psychologically uncomfortable state known as “dissonance” (Festinger, 1957, p. 3). Festinger suggests that an individual is motivated to reduce dissonance as one is motivated to reduce hunger. (Festinger 1957). The theory of cognitive dissonance predicts that decisions perceived as important, which involve a long process of evaluating alternatives, and are irreversible will arouse greater levels of dissonance (Griffin, Ledbetter and Sparks, 2015).
That goddam Chevrolet, they ought to prohibit the manufacture of that car!" (36). When he has the flashback, he is most proud of the fact that the vehicle looks good, not that it is reliable and functions as designed. This shows that he values the outside appearance more than actual
The human psyche frequently experiences the phenomena of internal contradiction, followed by an internal struggle for some semblance of balance or consistency (Hall, 1998). Cognitive dissonance acts as motivation for people to behave in a manner that effectively reduces said dissonance and restores balance. Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance explores this occurrence and the subsequent actions that people take in order to create a balance between their ideals.
Car accidents are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 35. Wearing a seat belt can prevent death in about half of these accidents. Did you know that every 15 seconds someone is injured in an automobile accident if they are not buckled up, or that every 13 minutes someone is killed in a crash. Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety related behavior. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration seatbelts saved nearly 12,000 lives in the United States in the year 2000. The NHTSA estimates that more than 9,000 U.S. car accident fatalities in 2000 would have been avoided if the victims had been wearing seatbelts. Sixty three percent of the people killed in accidents were not wearing seat belts. The NHTSA a...
The psychology of interpersonal relationships. New York: Wiley & Co. McLeod, S. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html Myers, D. G. (2011). Exploring the psychology of the human mind.
Since the first car was developed in 1885, car makers have been striving to create the car that will outshine over the others. There has never been a car to do it better than the Model T. Practical, reliable, and affordable are adjectives that describe the Model T since it came out in 1908. With little over 20 horsepower and a top speed of 45 miles an hour, this simple car propelled the Ford Motor Company to a level of success that had never been seen before(History, “Model T”). Henry Ford and the Model T revolutionized the car industry, as well as people's lives in the 1920s. The influences from the Model T can be found everywhere from the assembly line, to road development, to the middle class even in today’s world.