PSY.CognitiveDissonance

Agree or Disagree? 1.World hunger is a serious problem that needs attention. 2.Our country needs to address the growing number of homeless people. 3.If I was running my own business, I would not hire someone who admitted to being lazy 1 = strongly disagree 4=agree 2 = disagree5= strongly agree 3 = neither agree or disagree

Why did these people not evacuate before the storm?

Yes or No? 1.Do you personally do anything to lessen world hunger? 2.Do you personally do anything to help the homeless? 3.Have you worked as hard in school over the past few weeks as you have in the past?

Attitude: “Driving under the influence of alcohol is wrong” Action: Person drinks and drives DISSONANCE INCONSISTENCY How do we reduce this dissonance?

Cognitive Dissonance There are several strategies for reducing dissonance, including: –Changing the behavior to match one’s attitude. –Changing the attitude to match one’s behavior. –Cognitively minimizing the degree of inconsistency or its importance (excuses, justification)

How and why do our attitudes change? Cognitive Dissonance Dissonance: The sense of discomfort people experience when confronted by contradictory ideas. Creates an unpleasant state of tension that motivates people to change their attitudes in order to reduce dissonance. “If it is painful to accept something, then it will not be accepted.”

Festinger Study As you watch answer: Was the task boring? Who reported to the experimenter that the task was fun? Festinger Study:

How and why do our attitudes change? Cognitive Dissonance: Festinger study Subjects perform a very boring task for one hour. All agreed… BORING! Subjects then "bribed" (either $1 or $20) to tell the next group coming in that the activity was exciting What’s the dissonance? –"The task was really boring" (attitude) contradicts with "I lied and told someone that I liked the task” (behavior)

How and why do our attitudes change? Cognitive Dissonance: Festinger study Later, the subjects were asked their true feelings $20 group's attitude towards the activity did not change much because they had an obvious reason to behave inconsistently with their original attitudes –“I said that I enjoyed the task because I got $20, but I really thought it was boring” $1 people changed their attitude to “I actually enjoyed the task” because $1 was not a good enough reason to lie

Reducing Cognitive Dissonance Belief-Disconfirmation: – Reducing dissonance through justifications: What dissonance exists with smoking? Effort Justification: – EX: You’ve waited all summer for a concert and paid a ridiculously high price on Stub Hub for the tickets – The concert is terrible… cognitive dissonance?

What is Stephen Colbert using to lessen his cognitive dissonance?

For each example, state your rationalization (what you are thinking) after each scenario. You just bought a really expensive piece of clothing online, but it was final sale. No returns. The item fits a bit small. Its your senior year. You have applied to the college of your dreams. Right before graduation, you find out that you didn’t get in. Senior Prom is coming up. You owe your aunt $100, but have been offered to share a really nice rental with a friend. They are asking for $100. You spent all year studying for your AP History exam. When you finally get the scores back, you find out you have failed.

Exit Ticket Read the article provided, and answer the questions on a separate sheet of paper.