SOCIOL 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Cognitive Dissonance, Steven Pinker, Confabulation
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When paid , participants did not shift their opinion, but when paid , participants shifted their opinion to further justify their actions. Getting paid was not a good reason to lie, therefore they convinced themselves to believe their own lie to feel better about themselves. The question is whether or not the reward is enough to justify a small moral failing. This wouldn"t work if you knew it was happening. It is essential for us to be ignorant in order to be able to do this. People use this without knowing why it works. Ideal situation for cognitive dissonance: call someone up in front of a group to say the company pledge, a situation that they are uncomfortable with and don"t want to do, so they then come to believe the company pledge. This is team building, or a family activity, or other aspects of your social life. Belief change mediated by cognitive dissonance is:
