PSYCH 2C03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Legality Of Cannabis, Tranquilizer
11 Feb 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
Social Psychology
November 22, 2017
Dissonance Theory Pt 2
Dissonance, Choice, and Reward
• Excuses and Justifications
o Counter-attitudinal essay in favor of law forbidding Communists from speaking
on college campuses
o Pre-tested participants hated this law
o IV’s
▪ Excuse (choice vs. no choice)
▪ Justification (high vs. low reward)
o DV:
▪ Attitude towards the law
o Results
▪ High reward with choice or no choice no increase in attitude
▪ Low reward with no choice no change in attitude
▪ Low reward with choice had a huge increase in attitude (they changed)
• Possible Cognitions (Low reward Condition)
o I think Communists should be allowed on campus
o I wrote an essay, for no real reward, saying that they shouldn’t be allowed on
campus
o I chose to write this essay (dissonance)
o Therefore, distortion of opinion about Communists on campus
Magnitude of Harm Done: “No One Was Hurt…”
• Nel, Helmreich, & Aronson, 1969)
o Counter-attitudinal essay in favor of legalizing marijuana
o Pre-tested their participants
o IV:
▪ Justification (high vs. low reward)
▪ Harm done (intended audience: decided vs. undecided)
o DV:
▪ Agreement with “marijuana should be legalized”
o Results
▪ Decided and undecided with high reward no change in attitude
▪ Decided with low reward no change in attitude from baseline
▪ Undecided with low reward show increase in attitude (being more
positive)
• Possible Cognitions (Low reward conditions)
o I don’t think that pot should be legalized
o I wrote an essay, for no real reward, saying that pot should be legalized
o I wrote this essay for an undecided audience
o I might change their minds! (Dissonance)
o Therefore, Distortion in opinion about pot legalization
