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 wasnt 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 ones 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 ones choice (its
 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
A psychological tendency that is expressed
by evaluating a particular entity with some
degree of favor or disfavor
Process

Observable Inferred Observable

Cognition

Stimuli Attitude Affect Evaluatio

n
Behavior
 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 cars
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 Attitude
An attitude based more on peoples
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
Cognitively Based Attitude
An attitude based primarily on
peoples 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?)
 Campaign For and Against Adding Fluoride to Drinking Water

Dont Put Rat

Poison in Your
Drinking Water

Text (in favor versus

of fluoride)

(Against
fluoride)

Factual Emotional
approach approach

Which approach would be the most effective?

 Campaign to Make Homes More Energy Efficient

Text (in favor

of energy
conservation
in homes)

Factual Emotional
approach approach

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.
 Different Approaches for Same
Product (Role of Intended
Audience)
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Configurable to 4.0GHz quad-core

Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to
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8GB (two 4GB) of 1600MHz DDR3

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Configurable to 16GB or32GB

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256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of
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AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics

processor with 2GB of
GDDR5memory
Configurable to AMD RadeonR9
M295X with 4GB of
Behaviorally Based Attitude
An attitude based on observations
of how one behaves toward an
attitude object.

According to Daryl Bems (1972) self-

perception theory, under certain
circumstances, people dont 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 Attitude
An 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)
 Persuasive Communication
Communication (e.g., a speech or
television ad) advocating a
particular side of an issue

How should you construct a message so

that it would really change peoples
attitudes?
 WHO What To Whom
Communicator Message Audience
Variables Variables Variables

Examples: Examples: Examples:

Credibility Knowledge/
Single personal Interests
Attractiveness example
(e.g., emotional) Personality
Status versus factual (e.g., self-esteem)

One-sided versus Pre-existing

two-sided attitudes
arguments
Motivation
Fear appeals
 Fear Appeals
Do they work?

Create a moderate
amount of fear in the
Influence of other
message (within ethical
factors
limits)

Self-esteem
Personal relevance

Give audience additional Perception of control

information on how to
deal with their fear (e.g.,
instructions as to where
to go, when, why)
 Examples of Fear Mesages
Drunk driving

Drug Use

Seat Belt Use

Skin Cancer

Condom Use

Why May They Not Work?

Odds of negative outcome (low)

Time frame may be long between behavior and

negative outcome
 Adapted from Leventhal, Watts
& Pagano, 1967.

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.
 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 Behaviors
ATTITUDES BEVAVIOR

Specific Role of Range of attitudes and

Strength personal behaviors assessed
Accessibility 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? Have you talked positively about the
ACA to friends?
Do you like the idea of requiring insurance companies
to cover those with pre-existing conditions? Did you contact your representative
to vote for the ACA?
Do you think insurance companies should spend most
of the money they collect (e.g., 80%) on heath care Have you purchased insurance under
rather than administrative and marketing costs? the ACA?

Are you in favor on having screening tests covered at

no charge (e.g., cholesterol, blood pressure, colorectal
cancer, Type 2 diabetes)
 Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)

Central Peripheral
Processing Processing

In-Depth Thought; Lazy Thinking;

Detailed Analyses of Superficial Analyses
Information of Information

Ability (IQ, knowledge base,

distracters, message complexity)

Motivation (e.g., personal relevance)

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
persons well-being?
 Issue: To institute a comprehensive university exit exam
STUDY OF
ELM Status of Presenter
MODEL Low High
Relevance Relevance
Low High Low High

Low argument
quality

High argument
quality

If high perceived relevance exists, argument quality is most

important
Predicting the use of birth-control pills; An example
Beliefs
My taking the pill regularly will reduce my chances of
Behavioral Beliefs becoming
(beliefs about the likely pregnant:
consequences of a
behavior and the Extremely unlikely _____________________ Extremely Likely
evaluation of the Reducing my chances of becoming pregnant is:
possible outcomes
Extremely bad _______________________ Extremely good

Normative Beliefs My close friends believe that

(beliefs about the
I should __________________________________ I should not
expectations of other
people and the take birth control pills.
motivation to comply
On average, I really care what my close friends thinks
with these expectations)
I should do.
Not at all _________________________________ Very much

Control Beliefs (beliefs

about the existence of I forget to do some very important activities.
factors that may help or Very rarely _______________________________ Very often
hinder the performance
of a behavior and the My forgetfulness would make it very difficult for me to
perceived power of these remember to take birth control pills
factors) Definitely not true _______________________ Definitely true
 Attitude toward the For me, taking birth control pills regularly is:
behavior (the specific
attitude toward a Extremely valuable_______________________ Worthless
behavior, favorable or
unfavorable)

Subjective norms
(beliefs about how other Most of my close friends are using birth control pills
people will view a Definitely untrue _______________________ Definitely true
behavior; social pressure)

Perceived behavioral For me to be able to take a birth control pill on a regular

control (ease with which basis would be:
people believe they
can perform the Impossible ___________________ Possible
behavior)

B ~ BI = w1AB + w2 SN + w3 PC
 I plan on taking birth control pills regularly

Behavioral Definitely not true ______________________ Definitely

Intention true

I will make every effort to take birth control pillsBehavior

regularly
Definitely not true ______________________ Definitely

true

Regularly taking
birth control pills or
not
~ Some Shortcomings the Theory of Planned Behavior
~

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

 Attitude Inoculation

Small (weak) doses of

arguments against ones
position

Larger, stronger arguments

given later

Less likely to change ones

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)

Other examples:

Why can this approach work?

Defenses are down (do not recognize our attitudes are being
manipulated)
 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 DONT
Significantly write
more on these
graffiti walls
writing on walls with the
stern message