Behaviors, Attitudes &
Cognitive Dissonance
Chapter 4
Does behavior determine attitudes?
• Role playing
– Role = “a set of norms that define how people
in a given social position ought to behave”
– The Stanford Prison Study (Zimbardo, 1971)
• Saying becomes believing
• The foot-in-the-door phenomenon
– The tendency for people who have 1st agreed to
a small request to comply later w/ a larger
request
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Behavior’s Influence on Attitudes (cont.)
• Evil acts and attitudes
• Social movements
Why does behavior affect attitudes?
• Self-presentation theory
• Cognitive dissonance theory
– Insufficient justification
– Dissonance after decisions
• Self-perception theory
• Comparing the theories
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Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• “tension arises when one is simultaneously
aware of two inconsistent cognitions.”