5. cognitive dissonance

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  • Created by: mc8g19
  • Created on: 09-11-20 16:35
what is cognitive dissonance?
discomfort that people feel when two cognitions are in conflict, or when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their conception of themselves
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what are ways to reduce cognitive dissonance?
1) change behaviour
2) justifying behaviour by changing one of the dissonant cognitions
3) justify behaviour by adding new cognitions
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what is self affirmation?
bolster the self concept, e.g reduce dissonance by adding a cognition about other positive attributes
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what is post decision dissonance?
dissonance aroused after making a decision, reduced by enhancing the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and devaluing the reflected alternatives
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what study looked at reducing post decision dissonance?
Brehm (1956)
students rank several common products and were given choice between two of them
group 1 = high dissonance, choice between closely related
group 2 = low dissonance, choice between low and high rank
only students in high condition increased
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what is irrevocable commitment?
foreseeable negative consequences that creates strong cognitive dissonance
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what is justification of effort?
tendency for individuals to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to attain
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what is external justification?
reason for dissonant behaviour that resides outside of the individual
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what is internal justification?
the reduction of dissonance by changing something about oneself
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what is an example of external vs internal justification study?
Aronson and Mills, 1959
asked to join a group that would be meeting regularly, either had demanding initiation, mild or no
the more effort we put into the group, the more likely they were to like it
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what is counter attitudinal advocacy ?
stating an opinion that runs closer to ones private beliefs or attitude
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what does punishment have to do with cognitive dissonance?
if the threat of punishment for engaging in a forbidden behaviour is severe, there is sufficient external justification for refraining however, if punishment is les severe, there is insufficient external justification, creates a greater need for internal
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what study looked at forbidden toys?
Aronson and Carlsmith (1963)
children rated toys, banned from playing with their most highly rated, either threat mild or severe punishment, for severe forbidden remained highly attractive had external justification. for mild they were still less attract
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what study looked at using cognitive dissonance as a way to justify cruelty?
participants were told to tell the confederate they thought he was shallow, participants convinced themselves that they didnt like him so they felt more comfortable doing it
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what is self affirmation theory?
people can reduce threat to self esteem by offering themselves sin areas unrelated to source of threat
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what is self evaluation maintenance theory?
we experience dissonance when someone close to us outperforms us in an area that is central to self esteem, reduced by less close to the person, changing behaviour to outperform them or deciding no longer important
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what study looked at self evaluation maintenance theory?
students given easy or difficult cues to partner, when told it was a game, easier clues to friend that stranger, when told it was a task, they gave harder clues to friends than stranger, to avoid dissonance of friend doing better than them
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what are ways to reduce cognitive dissonance?

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1) change behaviour
2) justifying behaviour by changing one of the dissonant cognitions
3) justify behaviour by adding new cognitions

Card 3

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what is self affirmation?

Back

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Card 4

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what is post decision dissonance?

Back

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Card 5

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what study looked at reducing post decision dissonance?

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