Michael and Suzanne hold the same position on tuition raise.
They were told to give speeches advocating higher tuition.
Michael was given 50 CZK and Suzanne was given 1000
CZK for doing that.
What do you think who is more likely to accept higher tuition
now?
Festinger, L., Riecken, H. W., & Schachter, S. (1956).
When Prophecy Fails. New York: Harper & Row.
Bob
I want to be
muscular! I'll
work out more!
PLAN
REALITY
I am strong
and muscular
After 4
months
of work
out
I have healthy
lifestyle
Cognitive dissonance has occurred
 Cognitive = involving thinking
 Dissonance = disharmony, discord
 Cognition* = beliefs, attitudes, behavior * (in this context)
Cognitive dissonance = unpleasant state that occurs whenever a
person holds two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent
This unpleasant state is highly motivational. It drives
us toward reducing the dissonance.
Question:
Who thinks that people are rational animals?
Answer:
We are not rational animals. We are rationalizing
animals.
 The presence of a cognitive inconsistency of sufficient
magnitude will evoke an aversive motivational state dissonance
­ that drives cognitive work aimed at reducing the
cognitive inconsistency. (Festinger, 1957)
 Magnitude = number of Dis/Con
psychological importance of Dis/Con
 The routes of dissonance reduction:
Subtracting dissonant cognitions
Adding consonant cognitions
Decreasing the importance of dissonant cognitions
Increasing the importance of consonant cognitions
Research has shown that dissonance
processes can:
 Reduce prejudices
(Leippe & Eisenstadt, 1994)
 Increase water conservation
(Dickerson, Thibodeau, Aronson, & Miller, 1992)
 Increase the purchasing of condoms
(Stone, Aronson, Crain, Winslow, & Fried, 1994)
 Reduce hunger and thirst
(Brehm, 1962)
 Reduce pain
(Zimbardo, Cohen, Weisenberg, Dworkin, & Firestone, 1969)
... they can also lead to changes in attitudes
toward a variety of objects and issues such
as:
 Boring tasks
(Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959)
 Delicious chocolate
(Harmon-Jones, Brehm, Greenberg, Simon, & Nelson, 1996)
 Eating grasshoppers
(Zimbardo, Weisenberg, Firestone, & Levy, 1965)
 Sour beverages made with vinegar
(Harmon-Jones et al., 1996)
 Increasing tuition at one's university
(Elliot & Devine, 1994)
 Mandatory comprehensive final exams
(Simon, Greenberg, & Brehm, 1995)
 Attitude change in American POWs* in
Chinese camps
* Prisoner of war
 (Festinger, Carlsmith, 1959)
 "The boring task" experiment
Subjects received $1 or $20 reward for lying
about enjoyableness of the task
$1 $20 Control
1.35 -.05 -.45
6.45 5.18 5.60
1.20 -.25 -.62
How enjoyable were tasks?
(rated from -5 to +5)
Were tasks scientifically important?
(rated from 0 to +10)
Are you willing to participate in
similar experiments?
(rated from -5 to +5)
Counterattitudinal advocacy
 (Brehm, 1956)
 "You can keep one toaster" experiment
1. Women rated toasters
2. Then given chance to take one of them
3. Suddenly...
... the chosen toaster is way better
the unchosen toasters are way worse
Postdecisional spreading of alternatives
 (Aronson, Mills, 1959)
 "Petting vs. erection initiation" experiment
 Women joined the sex discussion group via
easy OR hard "initiation process". Then they
heard boring presentation. The "hard
initiation group" members reported more
positive attitudes toward the discussion
group.
 The power of rites of passage
 (Aronson, Carlsmith, 1963)
 "Severe vs. mild punishment for playing with a
forbidden toy" experiment
 Children prohibited from playing with an
attractive toy by a mild threat subsequently
found the toy less attractive that did children
prohibited by a severe threat.
 Practical application:
"Good boy vs. Bad boy framing"
 Attitude change in American POW's in Korean War
 Stan's Oldsmobile
 Justifying untruths
 Justifying difficult decisions
 Justifying effort
 Justifying failure to act
 Counterattitudinal advocacy
 Postdecisional spreading
Cognitive dissonance = unpleasant state that occurs whenever a
person holds two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent