Cognitive Dissonance (Lecture 9&10)

The discomfort we feel when two cognitions conflict, or when our behavior conflicts with our cognitions, especially when one of the conflicting cognitions or behaviors challenges our self-esteem.

Because we have a basic human need to maintain a stable, positive self-image, so things that threaten our self-esteem make us uncomfortable.

The conflict between knowing smoking is bad for health and continuing to smoke, which creates discomfort because it challenges the person’s self-image.

The smoker might rationalize their behavior by downplaying the risks of smoking or by affirming other positive aspects of their life to maintain their self-esteem.

When high self-esteem is combined with social rejection, it can lead to aggression.

Trait Self-Esteem is stable over time, while State Self-Esteem changes momentarily based on current evaluations.

The process by which we guide our choices and actions in the present and future, requiring motivation and ability.

Beliefs that willpower can either be finite or unlimited, with the belief in unlimited willpower improving persistence and performance.

The process of structuring one's environment to remove temptations in advance, reducing the need for self-regulation in the moment.

The process of examining our own thoughts, feelings, and motives, though it is not always accurate.

When people rely on introspection but are unaware of the hidden reasons behind their feelings and behaviors.

The theory that when people focus on themselves, they evaluate and compare their behavior to internal standards.

The theory that we infer our attitudes and feelings by observing our own behavior when those attitudes or feelings are uncertain or ambiguous.

When large rewards reduce intrinsic motivation, making people believe they are performing a behavior for the reward rather than because they enjoy it.

The theory that emotional experience results from physiological arousal and seeking an explanation for that arousal.

The process where people misattribute the source of their physiological arousal, such as confusing fear for sexual attraction.

The process of evaluating our abilities and opinions in comparison to others when objective standards are unavailable.

The tendency to compare ourselves to others who are similar in ability, ideally someone slightly better than us.

Comparing ourselves to those who are better off, which may provide guidance but can also lower self-esteem.

Comparing ourselves to others who are worse off, which can boost self-esteem without providing guidance.

The process by which we view ourselves through the eyes of others and incorporate their judgments into our self-concept.

The process of adopting another person’s attitudes or beliefs, often to get along with them or strengthen shared views.

The attempt to influence how others perceive us by controlling the impressions we make.

A strategy of impression management where we use flattery or praise to make ourselves more likable to others.

The phenomenon where doing a favor for someone increases the likelihood that you will like them, due to cognitive dissonance.

The process of viewing others as less than human, often used to justify harming others in situations like war.

The tendency to overestimate the intensity and duration of our emotional reactions to future negative events.

When someone does a favor for another person, they may like that person more afterward because they justify their behavior with cognitive dissonance.

A method to make people aware of their inconsistencies by reminding them of times they acted hypocritically, motivating them to change their behavior to reduce dissonance.

To get people to change their behavior by reminding them of their inconsistency between attitudes and behavior.

People are likely to reduce dissonance by changing their behavior to align with their values.

The discomfort we feel when two cognitions conflict, or when our behavior conflicts with our cognitions, especially when one of the conflicting cognitions or behaviors challenges our self-esteem.

The tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they worked hard to attain.

Mild punishment creates insufficient external justification, which leads individuals to internally justify their behavior by devaluing the forbidden activity or object.

Severe punishment provides external justification for not engaging in a forbidden activity, leading to less internal justification and a lower chance of behavior change.

A study where children were told not to play with an attractive toy, with varying levels of threat. Children in the mild threat condition devalued the toy, while those in the severe threat condition did not.

When individuals are mildly punished, they don’t have an obvious external justification for resisting a forbidden activity, so they rationalize their behavior by devaluing the activity or object, leading to long-term behavior change.

The tendency for intrinsic motivation to decrease when a behavior is rewarded excessively, leading individuals to perceive their actions as being driven by the external reward rather than their intrinsic enjoyment.

The discomfort people feel after making a decision, where they begin to exaggerate the positives of the chosen option and the negatives of the rejected one to reduce dissonance.

When people make important decisions, they experience dissonance due to the negatives of their choice and the positives of the option they did not choose. They reduce this dissonance by altering their perceptions of the options.

A sales strategy where a salesperson induces a customer to agree to a low price, and then later raises the price, creating the illusion of permanence, and causing the customer to rationalize their choice to reduce dissonance.

The phenomenon where doing a favor for someone increases the likelihood that you will like them, due to cognitive dissonance.

The process of using dissonance-related techniques (e.g., hypocrisy induction, Ben Franklin effect, justification of effort) to persuade individuals to change their attitudes or behaviors.

Children exposed to a mild threat devalued the forbidden toy as a way to internally justify their behavior, reducing dissonance.

Children exposed to a severe threat had enough external justification to not play with the toy, and thus did not need to devalue it.

Dissonance arises when choices have both positives and negatives, leading people to adjust their thoughts by exaggerating the positives of their chosen option and the negatives of the rejected one.

A shady sales tactic where a product is initially offered at a low price, and after agreement, the price is increased, capitalizing on the dissonance created by the commitment to the initial agreement.