Cognitive Dissonance Review

1) Which group rated the task as more interesting after lying, those paid $1 or $20? Why?

Those who were paid $1 because, since they were only paid one dollar, they had to justify why they lied

2) Which group of children viewed the desirable toy as less desirable after they did not play with it, those who were given a mild or severe threat to not play?Those who were given the mild threat perceived the toy as less desirable because they had to justify why they failed to play with it (e.g., “the toy wasn’t so great after all”)

3) What is the “Ben Franklin” effect and why does it occur?

Doing a favor for someone who you dislike will lead to greater liking of the previously disliked person - Behavior (doing a favor) is dissonant with one’s attitude so we change attitude about person to resolve dissonance

4) You chose one of 2 photos. Which choice will be most liked, if you have the chance to change your mind or your decision is final? Why?When decision is final – greater need to justify one’s choice (“it’s

a great photo”)

Definition of Attitude

Originally meant as indicating physical properties such as a position of the body, figure, or statue. Later, in aeronautics, it refers to orientation of an aircraft relative to the horizon.

• Leaning

• Stance

• Position

• Direction

Evaluation

Process

Stimuli

Observable Inferred

Attitude

Cognition

Affect

Behavior

Observable

A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor

Components of Attitudes

A) Affective (Emotional)

B) Behavioral

C) Cognitive (Thinking)

The “ABCs” of Attitudes – An Example

1. What is your affective reaction when you see a certain car? -- Feelings of excitement? – Anger and resentment (e.g., if you are a US car

manufacturing employee and the car is foreign made)

2. What is your cognitive reaction? – What beliefs do you hold about the car’s

attributes? – Perhaps you admire its hybrid engine that makes

it one of the most fuel efficient cars you can buy.

3. What is your behavioral reaction? 1. Do you go to a dealership and test-drive the car

and actually buy one?

Affectively Based AttitudeAn attitude based more on people’s

feelings and values than on beliefs about the nature of an object.

Sometimes we simply like something, a car for example, regardless of how many miles to the gallon it gets (e.g., prestige, image).

Occasionally we even feel great about something (or someone) despite the existence of negative beliefs (e.g., politicians)

Cognitively Based AttitudeAn attitude based primarily on

people’s beliefs about the properties of an attitude object.

Sometimes our attitudes are based primarily on the relevant facts – the objective merits of a car (e.g., how many miles to the gallon does it get?; Does it have side-impact air bags?)

Text (in favor of fluoride)

versus

Factual approach

Emotional approach

Campaign For and Against Adding Fluoride to Drinking Water

(Against fluoride)

Don’t Put Rat Poison in Your Drinking Water

Which approach would be the most effective?Which approach would be the most effective?

Text (in favor of energy

conservation in homes)

Campaign to Make Homes More Energy Efficient

Factual approach

Emotional approach

Which approach would be the most effective?Which approach would be the most effective?

Emotion and Different Types of Attitudes

Several studies have shown that it is best to fight fire with fire:

• If an attitude is cognitively based, try to change it with rational arguments

• If it is affectively based, try to change it with emotional appeals

(Source: Fabrigar & Petty, 1999; Shavitt, 1989; Snyder & DeBono, 1989)

Adapted from Shavitt, 1990.

Processor: .5GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz)

Configurable to 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz)

8GB (two 4GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 memory; four SO-DIMM slots, user accessibleConfigurable to 16GB or 32GB

Configurable to 3TB Fusion Drive or 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of flash storage (SSD)

AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics processor with 2GB of GDDR5 memoryConfigurable to AMD Radeon R9 M295X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory.

Different Approaches for Same Product (Role of Intended

Audience)

Behaviorally Based AttitudeAn attitude based on observations

of how one behaves toward an attitude object.

According to Daryl Bem’s (1972) self-perception theory, under certain circumstances, people don’t know how they feel until they see how they behave

We can form our attitudes based on our observations of our own behavior

Behaviorally Based AttitudeAn attitude based on observations of

how we behave toward an object.

People infer their attitudes from their behavior only under certain conditions

1. Their initial attitude has to be weak or ambiguous

2. People infer their attitudes from their behavior only when there are no other plausible explanations for their behavior (e.g., no force)

Communication (e.g., a speech or television ad) advocating a particular side of an issue

Persuasive Communication

How should you construct a message so that it would really change people’s

attitudes?

WHO

CommunicatorVariables

Examples:

Credibility

Attractiveness

Status

MessageVariables

Examples:

Single personal example

(e.g., emotional)versus factual

One-sided versustwo-sidedarguments

Fear appeals

AudienceVariables

Examples:

Knowledge/Interests

Personality(e.g., self-esteem)

Pre-existingattitudes

Motivation

What To Whom

Fear Appeals

Do they work?

Create a moderate amount of fear in

the message (within ethical limits)

Give audience additional information on how to deal with their fear (e.g., instructions as to where to go, when, why)

Self-esteem

Personal relevance

Perception of control

Influence of other factors

Examples of Fear Mesages

Drunk driving

Drug Use

Seat Belt Use

Skin Cancer

Condom Use

• Odds of negative outcome (low)

• Time frame may be long between behavior and negative outcome

• Abiliity fo control behavior (e.g., habit, addiction)

Why May They Not Work?

A group of smokers who watched a graphic film depicting lung cancer and then read pamphlets with specific instructions about how to quit smoking reduced their smoking significantly more than people who were shown only the film or only the pamphlet.

Adapted from Leventhal, Watts & Pagano, 1967.

Do Changing Attitudes Lead to Changes in Behavior?

• Norms regarding proper behavior in a given situation (& consequences)

• Availability or absence of alternatives

• Extraneous events

Factors Affecting The Consistency of Attitudes and BehaviorsATTITUDES

Specific Role of Strength personal Accessibility

Range of attitudes and behaviors assessed

BEVAVIOR

experience

Are you in favor of the Affordable Health Care Act?

VERSUS

Are you in favor of removing lifetime and annual caps on medical insurance?

Do you like the idea of requiring insurance companies to cover those with pre-existing conditions?

Do you think insurance companies should spend most of the money they collect (e.g., 80%) on heath care rather than administrative and marketing costs?

Are you in favor on having screening tests covered at no charge (e.g., cholesterol, blood pressure, colorectal cancer, Type 2 diabetes)

Have you talked positively about the ACA to friends?

Did you contact your representative to vote for the ACA?

Have you purchased insurance under the ACA?

CentralProcessing

PeripheralProcessing

In-Depth Thought; Detailed Analyses of

Information

“Lazy” Thinking; Superficial Analyses

of Information

• Ability (IQ, knowledge base, distracters, message complexity)

• Motivation (e.g., personal relevance)

Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

The Motivation to Pay Attention to the Arguments (Perceived Relevance)

One thing that determines whether people are motivated to pay attention to a communication is the personal relevance of the topic:

• How important is the topic to a person’s well-being?

Low High

Low argument

qualityHigh

argument quality

Relevance RelevanceLow High HighLow

STUDY OF ELM

MODEL

If high perceived relevance exists, argument quality is most important

Status of Presenter

Issue: To institute a comprehensive university exit exam

Behavioral BeliefsBehavioral Beliefs (beliefs about the likely

consequences of a behavior and the evaluation of the possible outcomes

Normative BeliefsNormative Beliefs (beliefs about the

expectations of other people and the

motivation to comply with these expectations)

Control BeliefsControl Beliefs (beliefs about the existence of

factors that may help or hinder the performance of a behavior and the

perceived power of these factors)

Predicting the use of birth-control pills; An example

• My taking the pill regularly will reduce my chances of becoming pregnant:

Extremely unlikely _____________________ Extremely Likely

• Reducing my chances of becoming pregnant is:

Extremely bad _______________________ Extremely good

• My close friends believe that

I should __________________________________ I should not

take birth control pills.

• On average, I really care what my close friends thinks I should do.

Not at all _________________________________ Very much

• I forget to do some very important activities.

Very rarely _______________________________ Very often

• My forgetfulness would make it very difficult for me to remember to take birth control pills

Definitely not true _______________________ Definitely true

Beliefs

Attitude toward the behavior (the specific

attitude toward a behavior, favorable or

unfavorable)

Subjective norms (beliefs about how other

people will view a behavior; social pressure)

Perceived behavioral control (ease with which

people believe they can perform the

behavior)

For me to be able to take a birth control pill on a regular basis would be:

Impossible ___________________ Possible

Most of my close friends are using birth control pills

Definitely untrue _______________________ Definitely true

For me, taking birth control pills regularly is:

Extremely valuable_______________________ Worthless

B ~ BI = w1AB + w2 SN + w3 PC

BehavioralIntention

• I plan on taking birth control pills regularly

Definitely not true ______________________ Definitely true

• I will make every effort to take birth control pills regularly

Definitely not true ______________________ Definitely

true

Behavior

Regularly taking birth control pills or

not

• Role of past behavior and habits

• Focus on the prediction of individual behavior; what about the role of others (e.g., cooperation), obtaining resources not possessed by an individual

• Assumption that people engage in elaborate cognitions before behaving

• Role of self-identity and/or moral obligations

~ Some Shortcomings the Theory of Planned Behavior ~

Attitude Inoculation

Small (“weak”) doses of arguments against one’s

position

Larger, stronger arguments given later

Less likely to change one’s attitudes

(more able to fight off the stronger attack; received an

inoculation earlier)

Advertising --- Product Placement

Quite frequent (e.g., greater than 40 products displayed in the movie Iron Man)

Why can this approach work?

• Defenses are down (do not recognize our attitudes are being manipulated) • Failure to generate counterarguments

Other examples:

Reactance Theory

Persuasion messages, if too strong, can lead to a boomerang effect

Why?

Belief than our freedom is being threatened (Psychological Reactance Theory)

DO NOT write on these walls under any circumstances**

Versus

PLEASE DON’T write on these walls** Significantly more graffiti writing on walls with the stern message