QCAA Psychology - Festinger (1957)

Identify which of the following statements is not true about cognitive dissonance:

• A person will always change an attitude or behaviour to reduce psychological tension.

• There is no difference between the attitude a person holds and the behaviour they engage in.

• A person accepts a gift of chocolate-coated strawberries even though they hate the taste of strawberries.

• A person tells a lie to minimise upsetting a family member, even though they believe honesty is the best policy.

Answer explanation

Cognitive dissonance is a period of psychological tension whereby the individual's behavior and attitude does not align. Therefore — there is a difference between the attitude that they hold and the behavior that they show making this statement not true.

In their study, Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) had students complete a very boring task and offered them either $1 or $20 for telling other students that the task was ‘interesting’.

Select the option which best summarsies the results of this study.

• The $1 students rated the task as interesting, whereas the $20 students rated it as boring.

• The $20 students rated the task as interesting, whereas the $1 students rated it as boring.

• Both the $1 and $20 students rated the task as interesting.

• Both the $1 and $20 students rated the task as boring.

Answer explanation

The $1 group felt more obliged to convince to the others of their “great” experience because they were also trying to justify the time wasted for $1 to themselves.

The $1 group felt more obliged to convince to the others of their “great” experience because they were also trying to justify the time wasted for $1 to themselves.

Select all correct options

• By changing one or more of their inconsistent thoughts.

• By finding people who disagree with both their attitude and behaviour.

• By looking for additional support towards their attitude or behaviour.

• By becoming critical of the origin of one of these cognitions.

Answer explanation

In general, the theory proposes that dissonance can be alleviated in three different ways:

1. * change one or more of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to make the relationship between the two elements cohesive

2. * acquire new information that outweighs the disconnected beliefs

3. * reduce and trivialize the importance of the cognitions, i.e. beliefs, attitudes.

"The stronger an individual feels cognitive dissonance the stronger they will try to reduce it."

Identify whether this statement is true of false.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

True. Festinger's theory suggests that it can actually be distressing when we act in a way that we don’t understand or expect. Therefore, the stronger we feel this psychological tension, the greater we will try to change it.

Cognitive dissonance was first demonstrated in a famous study by Festinger and Carlsmith (1959), where participants were paid either $1 or $20 to tell the next participant that they had enjoyed being in the experiment, which had been deliberately designed to be very boring. Later, when asked how they had really felt about being in the experiment, the participants who were paid the smaller amount of money said that they enjoyed being in the experiment! The participants who had been paid more money said they had not enjoyed taking part.

Explain how discrepancies between attitudes and behaviors can lead to cognitive dissonance based on the study’s results.

Answer explanation

If an individual’s thoughts (cognition) and behaviour are in conflict, they will experience tension and discomfort (attitude). This tension can be resolved if they change their attitude or behaviour.

Someone who is experiencing cognitive dissonance will change their attitude to match their behaviour. This is the case in the Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) study seen in the participants who were paid only $1 to lie about the enjoyment of the activity even though it was boring.

Keywords:

• cognitive dissonance

• attitude

• behaviour

Tips:

To answer this question effectively, break down the keywords; discrepancies, attitude, behaviours and cognitive dissonance.

Then, make a judgement about how attitudes and behaviours not aligning can lead to a period of psychological tension, known as dissonance.

Finally, refer to the Festinger & Carlsmith (1959) study by demonstrating an example of participants experiencing cognitive dissonance when having to lie about the enjoyment of the activity even though it was boring.

Describe the use of effort justification for an individual.

Answer explanation

Effort justification is a special case of cognitive dissonance where the inconsistency experienced makes the person go to considerable effort to justify the achievement of a relatively modest goal.

Tips:

Remember that effort justification comes from the topic of cognitive dissonance. Therefore, consider how we justify our actions even though it may not necessarily align with our attitude (cognitive dissonance).

Break down the key terms of effort (vigorous attempt) and justification (the action of showing something to be right or reasonable) and how it can disrupt our view of the outcome of our behaviour.

According to Leon Fetsinger (1957), (a)   is an unpleasant feeling of psychological tension that comes when we perceive that our (b)   are inconsistent with our (c)   . People experience cognitive dissonance when they behave in a way that is ​ (d)   to their attitude. People may try to resolve the discomfort the cognitive dissonance creates by changing their attitude, changing their behaviour, or (e)   the contradiction.

• cognitive dissonance
• attitudes
• behaviour
• justifying
• contradictory
• congruent
• ignoring