CMN 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Citta, Cognitive Dissonance
12 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Dissonance is distressing and thus drives people to reduce it or change our. Cognitive dissonance theory = the distressing mental state caused by perceived inconsistency between a person"s two cognitions (behaviors, opinions, attitudes towards an action) belief/behavior; aversive drive to be consistent. The more important the issue and the greater the discrepancy between our behavior and our belief, the higher magnitude of dissonance we will feel. Avoid information that"s likely to increase dissonance. Select reading materials, listen to opinions, and choosing ppl that are consistent. Conditions that heighten post-decision dissonance: more important issues. Ii. longer delay over choice between equally attractive options. Iii. great difficulty of reversing decision once it"s been made. Minimal justification for counterattitudinal action induces a shift in attitude. Ppl were told to lie to express enthusiasm in their experiment by being offered. People given enjoyed the task more bc they changed their attitude toward. Aronson concluded the issue was inconsistency between cognition and self-
