Denial of responsibility: a new mode of dissonance reduction

Denial of responsibility as a mode of dissonance reduction and the conditions under which it is likely to occur were explored in 3 experiments. Two experiments tested and supported the hypothesis that following a counterattitudinal behavior, participants prefer the mode of reduction made available to them first, regardless of whether it is attitude change, trivialization, or denial of responsibility. The 3rd experiment tested and supported the hypothesis that denial of responsibility reduces the negative affective state induced by dissonance. The mechanism of denial of responsibility in dissonance reduction is discussed.     

Dissonance-induced false memories: Evidence from a free-choice paradigm

People often misremember the past as consistent with the present. Recent research using an induced-compliance paradigm has revealed that cognitive dissonance is one mechanism that can underlie this memory distortion. We sought to replicate and extend this finding using a free-choice paradigm: Participants made either an easy or a difficult choice between two smartphones and, either immediately or two days later, reported their memories for their decision experience. Participants who made a difficult decision produced the spread-of-alternatives effect expected by dissonance theory, and they were also more likely than those in the easy conditions to misremember their initial decision more favourably than they had initially rated it. Overall, our findings replicate the effect of dissonance on memory distortion and, further, show that the effect generalises to other dissonance-inducing situations.     

Moral/non‐moral domain shift in young adolescents in relation to delinquent behaviour

Because moral transgressions are considered more serious than non‐moral (i.e. conventional or personal) transgressions, it is less threatening to self‐esteem to interpret one's own delinquent act as a non‐moral transgression rather than a moral transgression. This ‘domain shift’ could be a way of reducing cognitive dissonance. It was expected that adolescents who report a certain category of delinquent behaviour would evaluate hypothetical transgressions in the same category as more non‐moral than would adolescents who did not report that category of delinquent behaviour. A group of 278 students from the first (M(age)=13.1), second (M(age)=14.3) and third (M(age)=15.2) grade of intermediate secondary schools in the Netherlands participated in the research. The results showed a domain shift from the moral towards non‐moral domains in the evaluation of hypothetical situations about delinquent behaviour reported by the adolescent. At the same time, this domain shift did not occur in situations concerning delinquent behaviour not reported by the adolescent, even when delinquent behaviour occurred in the adolescent's peer group. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that the domain shift takes place as a consequence of cognitive dissonance. The results also showed that the attitude towards delinquent behaviour and the prevalence of delinquent behaviour in the peer group both predicted a unique part of the variance in reported delinquent behaviour (RDB; 28% and 10%, respectively). The level of moral reasoning (measured by the Sociomoral Reflection Measure–Short Form [SRM‐SF]) did not appear to be a significant predictor of RDB.     

« Dire une chose et en faire une autre » : de la déclaration de liberté dans le paradigme de l'hypocrisie induite

According to induced hypocrisy paradigm, participants were led to advocate a pro-attitudinal position (commitment step), such as to respect the driving rules. Subsequently they were made mindful of their own transgressions (mindfulness step). Afterwards, the target-behavior was administered: spending time in a safety road association. We manipulated the declaration of freedom either within the mindfulness step (study 1), either at the twice steps (study 2). Results indicated that declaration of freedom increased the hypocritical effect. Implications for further research in the area of hypocrisy are discussed.     

The Impact of the Antitobacco Norm on the Selected Mode of Cognitive Dissonance Reduction

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that when behavior violates an antismoking injunctive norm, dissonance is aroused, but the injunctive norm constrains how people reduce their discomfort. In Experiment 1, participants with positive or negative attitudes toward public smoking wrote an essay for or against a ban on public smoking. Whereas attitude change occurred for those whose counter‐attitudinal essay supported the antismoking norm, those whose counter‐attitudinal essay violated the antismoking norm did not change their attitudes to reduce dissonance. In Experiment 2, participants who wrote against the ban on public smoking eschewed attitude change in favor of reducing dissonance through trivialization and act rationalization. The discussion focuses on how maintaining social connections makes cognitions resistant to change when dissonance is aroused.     

Double forced compliance: a new paradigm in cognitive dissonance theory.

An experiment was conducted with a new paradigm of Festinger's (1957) theory of dissonance. This paradigm was used to test dissonance reduction following two behaviors, rather than just one as in the classic forced compliance paradigm. The first behavior involved refraining from smoking for one evening, and the second, convincing a peer that abstinence from smoking was not difficult. It was hypothesized that the dissonance reduction effect would be greater for a sample of French students who had executed both behaviors than for those who had executed only one. The results supported this hypothesis.     

“Midnight Confessions”: The Effect of Chronotype Asynchrony on Admissions of Wrongdoing

Confession evidence is highly incriminating in court. We examined the interaction between chronotype and time of day on the confession decisions of 60 participants using an experimental paradigm. Pre-identified morning- and evening-type people were randomly assigned to participate in morning or evening sessions. Results supported an interactional asynchrony hypothesis that individuals are more likely to confess during “off-peak” periods (i.e., evening-types in the morning and morning-types in the evening). This interaction was obtained for both high- and low-seriousness transgressions. These results suggest that chronotype asynchrony constitutes a significant risk factor for false confessions and the wrongful convictions that often follow.     

Practicing and arguing for abstinence from smoking: A test of the double forced compliance paradigm

An experiment was conducted within a new paradigm for Festinger's theory of dissonance (1957): the double forced compliance paradigm (Joule, 1986a). Double compliance was used to test dissonance reduction following the execution of not just one, as in the classical paradigm, but two forced compliance behaviours. The first behaviour involved abstinence from smoking, and the second, writing a text for or against smoking. Based on the radical conception of the theory of dissonance (Beauvois and Joule, 1981; Joule, 1986b), subjects were expected to find tobacco deprivation more difficult after having written a text against smoking than before, and easier after having written a text in favour of smoking. The results confirmed these predictions.     

The Affect Balance Scale in an American College Population

Abstract

An experiment was conducted with a new paradigm of Festinger'S (1957) theory of dissonance. This paradigm was used to test dissonance reduction following two behaviors, rather than just one as in the classic forced compliance paradigm. The first behavior involved refraining from smoking for one evening, and the second, convincing a peer that abstinence from smoking was not difficult. It was hypothesized that the dissonance reduction effect would be greater for a sample of French students who had executed both behaviors than for those who had executed only one. The results supported this hypothesis.     

An exploration of the effectiveness of in-person and online versions of the induced hypocrisy paradigm to reduce smartphone use among young drivers

Worldwide, smartphone use is a major contributing factor to road crash among young drivers. While young drivers may be aware of their heightened crash risk and the legal penalties associated with this behaviour, young drivers continue to engage with their smartphones. The development of novel interventions targeting this behaviour is therefore crucial. The current 2 × 2 between groups experimental study (N = 153, 107F, 43 M, 1 other) investigated the concept of cognitive dissonance in relation to smartphone use among young drivers aged 17–25 years (M_age = 20.66 SD = 2.26). Specifically, it applied the induced hypocrisy paradigm to this context. The induced hypocrisy paradigm elicits cognitive dissonance by asking participants to both advocate for the desired behaviour and identify their engagement in the undesired behaviour. Participants are then motivated to change their behaviour to reduce the feelings of dissonance. The current study investigated the efficacy of both the traditional in-person methodology with a new online methodology. Analyses (e.g., ANCOVA) found that the online conditions were more effective than the in-person groups at eliciting dissonance and that the intervention conditions were more effective in reducing both intention and change in behaviour (from pre- to post-intervention) than the control groups. The intervention groups were also more likely to take/request a flyer about driver distraction. While more research is needed to corroborate these findings, these initial results suggest that cognitive dissonance occurs when young drivers use their smartphones and that the induced hypocrisy paradigm may be an effective intervention. In particular, this study’s findings suggest that an online version of the induced hypocrisy paradigm has merit and may form part of future cost-effective, mass interventions.     

Psychopathic personality traits and cognitive dissonance: Individual differences in attitude change

In a study using a classic cognitive dissonance paradigm, 164 undergraduate participants were induced to deceive a fellow student; half were directly instructed to lie whereas the other half were politely requested but not instructed to lie. Participants were assessed for psychopathic traits using the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised: Short Form and the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, and for Machiavellianism using the MACH-IV. As predicted, participants low in psychopathic traits exhibited classic cognitive dissonance effects following their lie whereas participants high in psychopathic traits did not. Results for Machiavellianism were nonsignificant. These results indicate that cognitive dissonance effects in an induced compliance paradigm are reduced or eliminated among individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits.     

Dissonance et engagement : comparaison de deux voies d’intervention visant à réduire les ressources énergétiques au sein d’une collectivité territoriale

This Action Research was ordered by the Energy Department's head of a southern France local authority who wanted to reduce civil servant's overconsumption behaviors in public swimming pools. The aim was to compare two methods coming from psychosocial theories: cognitive dissonance implemented by induced hypocrisy paradigm, and commitment implemented by submission without pressure paradigm. Both methods and a “classical” condition, were assigned to three independent groups of swimming pool employees (n = 21). The processes targeted the level of behavioral intentions and the effective behavioral change, as dependant variables. These elements were measured through the type of behavioral intention, and the swimming-pools’ consumption bills. Results show that induced hypocrisy reveals a higher behavioral intention's level than a classical condition, whereas the effective behavioral change is higher in the commitment condition. Moreover, we can see a decisive role of context's organizational characteristics beyond the experimental variables induction. Theoretical and managerial consequences of the results are discussed relatively to the methodological limits enforced by the characteristics of the field.     

Physiological Correlates of Choice‐Induced Dissonance: An Exploration of HPA‐Axis Responses

Choice can produce a negatively arousing cognitive conflict (called dissonance), which is thought to motivate the chooser to spread their preferences for the relevant options (called Spreading of Alternatives, or SA). The current work aimed to determine the relationship between HPA‐axis activity and both choice‐induced dissonance and its reduction (i.e. SA) among individuals with varying cultural backgrounds. European–Americans and Asians made a choice between two equally attractive CDs either in the presence of a cue indicative of social eyes (i.e. public‐choice condition) or in the absence thereof (i.e. private‐choice condition). As predicted, European–Americans and Asians showed a reliable SA primarily in the private and public choice conditions, respectively. Importantly, a sharp decline of salivary cortisol was observed over the span of 30 min, and, moreover, this decline was reliably predicted by the magnitude of SA regardless of either culture or the choice being private vs. public. These results suggest that although choice‐induced dissonance is too weak to elicit an HPA‐axis stress response, SA is associated with variability in the decline of salivary cortisol during the laboratory task. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How to Study Choice-Induced Attitude Change: Strategies for Fixing the Free-Choice Paradigm

The theory of cognitive dissonance has been among the most influential theories in social psychology for the last 50 years. Support for the theory has come primarily from three experimental paradigms: free-choice, induced compliance, and effort justification. Recently, Chen and Risen (2010, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99 , 573–594) have argued that although the free-choice paradigm reliably finds a ‘spreading of alternatives’ (i.e., after making a choice, participants’ evaluations of the chosen item improve and evaluations of the rejected item decline), these results cannot be interpreted as evidence for dissonance reduction or attitude change. Unlike the other dissonance paradigms, participants ‘self-select’ how they are treated in the free-choice paradigm, making it impossible to know whether spreading is because of the choice process or the information that is revealed about participants’ existing preferences. The current paper has two goals. First, we will describe the criticism developed by Chen and Risen (2010) and situate the criticism within the broader study of dissonance. Second, we will offer four suggestions for how researchers can isolate the effect of the choice process and properly test for choice-induced attitude change in the free-choice paradigm.     

Self‐confidence,anxiety, and post‐purchase dissonance: a panel study

This study proposes an integrated conceptual model of the antecedents of post‐purchase dissonance. Data were gathered via a two‐stage panel study among consumers who made purchase of technology items. Study results demonstrate that consumer chronic characteristics (i.e., trait anxiety and generalized self‐confidence) not only directly influence post‐purchase dissonance positively and negatively but also are mediated by consumers' temporary feelings (i.e., state anxiety and specific self‐confidence) toward a purchase situation, and then indirectly influence post‐purchase dissonance positively and negatively. Trait anxiety positively influences state anxiety and that generalized self‐confidence and specific self‐confidence negatively influence state anxiety. Furthermore, trait anxiety appears to negatively influence specific self‐confidence, and generalized self‐confidence appears to negatively influence trait anxiety and positively influence specific self‐confidence.     

Dissonance and abstraction: Cognitive conflict leads to higher level of construal

This study investigated the effects of cognitive conflict on abstract thinking. According to action‐identification theory, an ambiguous and unfamiliar situation might propel an individual to a more abstract mindset. Based on this premise, cognitive conflict was hypothesized to put people in an abstract mindset. The induced compliance paradigm, in which participants are asked to write a counter‐attitudinal essay under either low choice (producing little dissonance) or high choice (producing more dissonance), was employed. Results showed that an abstract mindset was in fact activated in the induced compliance paradigm, and this effect was more pronounced for participants having a more concrete mindset to begin with. The results suggest that the experience of cognitive conflict is closely related to increased abstraction.     

The similarities between cognitive dissonance and guilt: Confession as a relief of dissonance

It is proposed that dissonance is similar to the feeling of guilt. If they are in fact analogous, and confession relieves guilt, then one implication is that confession would relieve dissonance. This experiment tested this prediction using a standard induced compliance paradigm. Forty-five undergraduate subjects were assigned to either a no-choice condition, a choice-confession condition, or a choice-no-confession condition. The results indicate that confession does relieve dissonance. Further, as predicted, a negative correlation was found between attitudinal shift and guilt. The implications of the findings concerning the mechanisms of confession are discussed.     

The similarities between cognitive dissonance and guilt: Confession as a relief of dissonance

It is proposed that dissonance is similar to the feeling of guilt. If they are in fact analogous, and confession relieves guilt, then one implication is that confession would relieve dissonance. This experiment tested this prediction using a standard induced compliance paradigm. Forty-five undergraduate subjects were assigned to either a no-choice condition, a choice-confession condition, or a choice-no-confession condition. The results indicate that confession does relieve dissonance. Further, as predicted, a negative correlation was found between attitudinal shift and guilt. The implications of the findings concerning the mechanisms of confession are discussed.     

Dissonance averted: Self-concept organization moderates the effect of hypocrisy on attitude change

The current work explored how self-concept representation affects how experiencing dissonance results in changing one’s attitudes in response to acknowledging hypocrisy. We found a relation between self-complexity and attitude change after admitting past hypocritical actions. Specifically, people lower in self-complexity changed their attitudes to bring them more in line with their transgressions (presumably to quell the especially strong feelings of unpleasantness resulting from their acknowledging behavior-belief discrepancies) whereas those greater in self-complexity showed more bolstering of their attitudes following hypocrisy. This relation between self-complexity and attitude change following hypocrisy was eliminated when participants were given a chance to reaffirm their sense of personal value and integrity through other means (i.e., self-affirmation). Implications for how self-concept representation may play a role in moderating a number of psychological phenomena, ranging from goal attainment to stereotype threat, are discussed.