SOP 3004 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Cognitive Dissonance, Social Learning Theory, Electromyography

• School: University of Florida
• Department: Social Psychology
• Course: SOP 3004
• Professor: James A Shepperd

Document Summary

Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort we feel when we do or act different from the way we view, act, or feel on a subject. Is we are presented with information that says we did something that was possible stupid, cruel or absurd, we experience physical and psychological discomfort. 4 types of cognitive dissonance: justifying untruths (to others or self, justifying difficult decisions, justifying effort, justifying failure to act. Post-decisional dissonance: choosing between attractive options leads to cognitive dissonance. There is an inconsistency between the positive features of the rejected alternative and the negative features of the selected alternative. One way to reduce this type of dissonance is to magnify our positive attitude towards the alternative option. Choice of what type of research in which to participate. Effort justification working very hard is inconsistent with getting nothing in return. When this happens, people restore consistency by altering perceptions of what was gained (making it more positive)