PSY 240 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Tunxis Community College, Cognitive Dissonance, Impression Management
Document Summary
Self perception theory: the theory that people infer their attitudes by simply observing their behavior. We don"t change our attitudes as a way of resolving tension or justifying our behaviour, as posted by cognitive dissonance theory: instead, we see our behavior as providing important information about our tue attitudes. Impression management theory: a theory that individuals try to maintain impressions that are consistent with the perceptions they want to convey to others. According to impression management theory, people aren"t motivated to be consistent in their behaviours and attitudes, but rather to appear consistent. Self affirmation theory: describes how people can reduce the arousal caused by cognitive dissonance by affirming a different part of their identities, even if that part is completely unrelated to the cause of the arousal. Contrary to the original cognitive dissonance theory, this validation can be achieved in a number of ways, including but not limited to resolving dissonance.