PSYCH 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Psych, Cognitive Dissonance
Document Summary
External justi cation: explaining our dissonant behaviour in terms of things outside ourselves (e. g. , to get a reward, to avoid hurting someone"s feelings) Does not contribute to unpleasant feelings of discomfort. Internal justi cation: reducing dissonance by changing something about ourselves (e. g. , attitudes, behaviour) People try to reduce cognitive dissonance in a few ways: Change cognition to be more in line with the dissonant behaviour. Change behaviour to be more in line with the dissonant cognition. Making a decision can trigger cognitive dissonance. When this happens, we typically enhance the attractiveness of the thing we chose, and devalue the thing(s) we rejected. The need to reduce post-decision dissonance is stronger when the decision is more permanent. In some cases, we change our value systems. Occurs when we express an opinion or attitude that counters our private beliefs of feelings. If we can"t nd external justi cation, we nd or create internal justi cation.
