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
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
Behavior
Evaluation
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?
– Do you go to a dealership and test-drive the car and
actually buy one?
Affectively Based Attitude
An 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 Attitude
An 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?)
Campaign For and Against Adding Fluoride to Drinking Water
Don’t Put Rat
Poison in Your
Drinking Water
Text (in favor
of fluoride)
versus
(Against
fluoride)
Factual
approach
Which approach would be the most effective?
Emotional
approach
Campaign to Make Homes More Energy Efficient
Text (in favor
of energy
conservation
in homes)
Factual
approach
Emotional
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)
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 accessible
Configurable 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 memory
Configurable to AMD Radeon R9 M295X
with 4GB of GDDR5 memory.
Behaviorally Based Attitude
An 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 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 people’s attitudes?
WHO
What
To Whom
Communicator
Variables
Message
Variables
Audience
Variables
Examples:
Examples:
Examples:
Credibility
Attractiveness
Status
Single personal
example
(e.g., emotional)
versus factual
One-sided versus
two-sided
arguments
Fear appeals
Knowledge/
Interests
Personality
(e.g., self-esteem)
Pre-existing
attitudes
Motivation
Fear Appeals
Do they work?
Create a moderate
amount of fear in the
message (within ethical
limits)
Influence of other
factors
Self-esteem
Personal relevance
Give audience additional
information on how to
deal with their fear (e.g.,
instructions as to where
to go, when, why)
Perception of control
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
• Abiliity fo control behavior (e.g., habit, addiction)
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
Specific
Strength
Accessibility
Role of
personal
experience
BEVAVIOR
Range of attitudes and
behaviors assessed
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?
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
Central
Processing
In-Depth Thought;
Detailed Analyses of
Information
Peripheral
Processing
“Lazy” Thinking;
Superficial Analyses 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 person’s
well-being?
Issue: To institute a comprehensive university exit exam
STUDY OF
ELM
MODEL
Status of Presenter
Low
Relevance
Low
High
High
Relevance
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
Behavioral Beliefs (beliefs
about the likely consequences
of a behavior and the
evaluation of the possible
outcomes
Normative Beliefs (beliefs
about the expectations of
other people and the
motivation to comply with
these expectations)
• 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
Control Beliefs (beliefs about
the existence of factors that
may help or hinder the
performance of a behavior and
the perceived power of these
factors)
• 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
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, taking birth control pills regularly is:
Extremely valuable_______________________ Worthless
Most of my close friends are using birth control pills
Definitely untrue _______________________ Definitely true
For me to be able to take a birth control pill on a regular basis would
be:
Impossible ___________________ Possible
B ~ BI = w1AB + w2 SN + w3 PC
• I plan on taking birth control pills regularly
Behavioral
Intention
Definitely not true ______________________ Definitely
true
Behavior
• I will make every effort to take birth control pills
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 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)
Other examples:
Why can this approach work?
• Defenses are down (do not recognize our attitudes are being manipulated)
• Failure to generate counterarguments
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