A clarification of selective exposure: The impact of choice

Selective exposure as a reaction to cognitive dissonance has long eluded researchers working in the realm of dissonance theory. It is proposed here that the difficulties in selective exposure paradigms have resulted from inadequate designs, and more particularly, it is likely that many of the previous findings are due to confoundings. The present experiment manipulates the variable of choice with the intent of controlling for a variety of possible confounds. The experiment shows a simple, theoretically predicted effect: Selective exposure, favoring supporting over nonsupporting information, increases to the degree that an onerous task is undertaken with volition.     

Reflecting on Six Decades of Selective Exposure Research: Progress,Challenges, and Opportunities

For over 60 years, researchers have explored the validity of the selective exposure hypothesis, which states that people will seek out consonant, and avoid dissonant, information. In early cognitive dissonance‐based research, selective exposure received mixed support. More recently, researchers have begun to delineate the factors that regulate the occurrence of selective exposure in a multitude of contexts. In this review, we discuss a number of such moderators as well as the ebb and flow of research over the years. We propose that many of these factors can be conceptualized as influencing capacity and/or motivations to process information, and we discuss how this framework can help categorize past, and suggest future, moderators. Finally, we highlight that other research domains should be considered when exploring selective exposure effects, and that researchers should consider how findings from the selective exposure literature can fruitfully be applied to other domains.     

Cognitive Discrepancy,Dissonance, and Selective Exposure

Abstract

Although cognitive dissonance is regarded as one of the most recognized causes of selective exposure [N. J. Stroud, Niche News (Oxford University Press, 2011)], the mechanism for such causation is still unclear. By inducing dissonance in a web-based experiment, this study demonstrates how cognitive dissonance relates to information preferences—the intention to seek congruent information and the intention to seek incongruent information. The findings suggest that perceived hostility with respect to one’s belief (cognitive discrepancy) can enhance the intention to seek out for attitude-consistent information. More importantly, individuals were found to have the intention to avoid counterattitudinal information, but only when they experienced some sort of psychological discomfort (dissonance). In other words, while cognitive discrepancy leads individuals to crave for confirming information, only those who encounter negative emotions are likely to employ avoidance of disconfirming information as a dissonance-reduction strategy.     

On the relationship of data to theory: A reply to Ronis and Greenwald

Ronis and Greenwald (Dissonance theory revised again: Comment on the paper by Fazio, Zanna, and Cooper. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 15, 1979, 62–69) question our integrative formulation of dissonance and self-perception processes. We argue that our formulation provides an explanation of both the full range of results in the literature and our own experimental data, while neither dissonance nor self-perception theory can singly explain the existing data.     

Selective exposure to information and cognitive dissonance

Despite numerous attempts, the selective exposure prediction of Festinger's (A theory of cognitive dissonance. Evanston, Ill.: Row, Peterson, 1957) theory of cognitive dissonance has not been consistently demonstrated. In previous studies, this failure can be attributed to design deficiencies, and other related problems. The present study manipulated dissonance by having subjects write a counterattitudinal essay under conditions of high or low choice. Information in the form of pamphlets and discussion groups was offered to the subjects such that they could choose information that was consonant and dissonant with the decision to write the essay. The information was offered either before or after an attitude measure on the essay topic, as the attitude measure could also be a source of dissonance reduction. The results indicate that the high choice manipulation yielded greater attitude change than the low-choice manipulation. High-choice subjects desired consonant information more and dissonant information less than did low-choice subjects. This effect was found for both measures of information desire (pamphlets and discussion groups). Low-choice subjects who received the attitude questionnaire before the information measures wanted information more than if offered the information before the attitude questionnaire, implying a sensitizing effect produced by the attitude questionnaire for the low-choice subjects. The various effects are discussed as providing support for predictions from Festinger's dissonance theory.     

Selective Exposure,Decision Uncertainty,and Cognitive Economy: A New Theoretical Perspective on Confirmatory Information Search

We propose that a variety of findings on selective exposure effects (confirmatory information search) and their different underlying psychological processes can be integrated utilizing a new model based upon perceived decision uncertainty and cognitive economy. The proposed model assumes that (a) perceived decision uncertainty is negatively related to the extent of engagement in confirmatory information search; (b) that decision makers are fundamentally motivated to preserve cognitive energy; and (c) that the cognitive processing of decision‐consistent information requires fewer cognitive resources than the processing of decision‐inconsistent information. By employing these three basic assumptions on cognitive economy and confirmatory information processing, we can integrate classic motivational (dissonance) and cognitive (informational) accounts of selective exposure.     

Connecting terror management and dissonance theory: Evidence that mortality salience increases the preference for supporting information after decisions

From the perspective of terror management theory, reminders of mortality should intensify the desire to pursue cognitive consistency. The authors investigated this notion with regard to dissonance theory starting from the finding of research on "selective exposure to information" that after having made a decision, people prefer consonant over dissonant information. The authors found that following mortality salience, people indeed showed an increased preference for information that supported their decision compared to information conflicting with it. However, this only occurred with regard to a worldview-relevant decision case. For a fictitious decision scenario, mortality salience did not affect information seeking. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

We live to create dissonance: is it possible to be a Christian and racist?

Confronted with the reality of the limited exposure to human diversity among their students at two Christian universities, two African American professors relate their efforts to prepare students to teach in the twenty‐first century. This article is a reflective report on the strategies and events that occurred as a result of challenging students' long‐held beliefs and attitudes. Strategies were deliberately provocative and disturbing, intended to create dissonance within the students related to Christian ideals and perceptions of non‐European Americans. Ultimately, students confronted the question: Is it possible to be a Christian and racist?     

Being dishonest about our prejudices: moral dissonance and self-justification

We applied the moral dissonance reduction framework, used to explain the maintenance of a positive self-concept in dishonest behavior, to understand self-justification of prejudice. Participants identified ambiguously negative intergroup behaviors, then evaluated those behaviors when performed by others and themselves. As predicted by moral dissonance reduction, participants were less critical of their own behavior when considering others’ behaviors before their own. In a third study directly comparing prejudiced and dishonest behavior, participants’ responses showed the greatest self-justification in the initial question about their behavior regardless of the content of the question, whereas subsequent questions showed more stability, consistent with the idea that participants adjusted their initial self-reports to avoid damage to their self-concepts.     

The relationship between cognitive dissonance and helping behavior

An experiment was conducted to study the relationship between cognitive dissonance and helping behavior. A counterattitudinal procedure was employed to arouse dissonance. For half of the participants, an experimental confederate entered the room and elicited an opportunity for them to offer help. In this situation, fewer subjects in the dissonance condition offered help than subjects in the no‐dissonance condition. The least helping occurred among dissonance subjects with the highest level of commitment to the counterattitudinal task. Those with a medium level of commitment offered significantly more help. Despite the fact that results in line with Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory (subjects' attitudinal change) were obtained in the no‐helping situation, in helping situations, dissonance subjects who offered help presented significantly less attitude change than those who did not offer it. This was considered to be a result of helpfulness reducing dissonance arousal.     

Negative affectivity: moderator or confound in emotional dissonance-outcome relationships?

This study was an examination of the impact of negative affectivity on relationships between emotional dissonance, job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion. Negative affectivity is the predisposition to view life in negative terms. Emotional dissonance originates from the conflict between expressed and experienced emotions. In organizations that require the expression of positive emotions, high negative affectivity individuals may experience conflict between expressed, positive emotions and felt, negative emotions. A moderator effect exists when high negative affectivity individuals experience greater job dissatisfaction and emotional exhaustion. Alternatively, negative affectivity may exert a confounding effect through its relationship to both emotional dissonance and its outcomes. Empirical tests showed that negative affectivity moderated the emotional dissonance-job satisfaction relationship and confounded the emotional dissonance-emotional exhaustion relationship.     

The mechanisms underlying attributive projection1

The experiment investigated the validity of the cognitive dissonance reduction and stimulus generalization explanations of attributive projection. Subjects in a high dissonance condition were informed that they possessed considerable hostility (a negative trait), while those in a low dissonance condition were told that they possessed a great deal of assertiveness (a desirable trait). The dissonance mechanism received support in that (a) subjects' reports of their anxiety indicated that an ego threat was produced only in the high dissonance condition, as expected; and (b) hostility was projected onto others to a significantly greater degree than was assertiveness. The existence of only a weak relationship between degree of ego threat produced by the personality feedback and subsequent amount of projection, however, throws into question the validity of the hypothesized defensive function of projection. No support for the generalization mechanism was obtained since the subjects did not project a greater amount of either trait onto the similar targets (college students) than onto the relatively dissimilar targets (middleaged lawyers); possible reasons for this negative result were discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.     

The application of cognitive dissonance theory to consultation

Despite the importance of the consultation role for the school psychologist, the current literature on consultation has little to offer the practitioner in terms of empirically-based consultation strategies. This paper views consultation as, at least in part, a persuasive process. Cognitive dissonance theory is an extensively researched social psychological theory that predicts when a particular persuasive attempt will be successful and which has implications for consultation.

This article summarizes those aspects of dissonance theory that are most relevant to consultation, reviews the corresponding experimental support, and suggests practical applications of dissonance research and theory to consultation. Because these applications are extrapolations from research outside of consultation, they are viewed as hypotheses.     

A Brief History of Dissonance Theory

Prior to the construction of the theory of cognitive dissonance, the dominant view in American experimental psychology held that behavior, including verbal attitude statements, was learned and shaped by rewards and/or punishments. Dissonance theory took a surprisingly different view by stating that behaviors and reasons for engaging in them could be strengthened by minimizing the very rewards or threatened punishments that produced the behaviors. Many hundreds of experimental studies later, the main argument of dissonance theory is well supported, although researchers disagree about the necessary and sufficient conditions. The present paper traces the major lines of research, including contributions from around the world, and the major controversies among some of the researchers.     

Is there any "free" choice? Self and dissonance in two cultures

Four experiments provided support for the hypothesis that upon making a choice, individuals justify their choice in order to eliminate doubts about culturally sanctioned aspects of the self, namely, competence and efficacy in North America and positive appraisal by other people in Japan. Japanese participants justified their choice (by increasing liking for chosen items and decreasing liking for rejected items) in the standard free-choice dissonance paradigm only when self-relevant others were primed, either by questionnaires (Studies 1-3) or by incidental exposure to schematic faces (Study 4). In the absence of these social cues, Japanese participants showed no dissonance effect. In contrast, European Americans justified their choices regardless of the social-cue manipulations. Implications for cognitive dissonance theory are discussed.     

Cognitive dissonance,double forced compliance,and commitment

Double forced compliance situations are studied to analyse how attitudes change after the performance of two behaviours, rather than just one as in standard forced (or induced) compliance situations. In the present experiment, subjects were asked to execute two successive counterattitudinal behaviours: writing an essay in favour of selective admission to the third year of university (first behaviour) and giving a convincing speech in favour of selective admission (second behaviour). The first behaviour was always performed in a high‐commitment context (free choice, publicness, and consequences), whereas the second was performed in a high‐commitment context as well as in a low‐commitment context (free choice, anonymity, and no consequences). The following hypotheses were tested. (1) If the second behaviour is performed in a high‐commitment context, it will increase the dissonance induced by the first. (2) If the second behaviour is performed in a low‐commitment context, it will decrease the dissonance induced by the first. The results confirmed both hypotheses, which comply with the radical version of dissonance theory (Beauvois & Joule, 1996 , 1999 ). As a whole, these results are incompatible with competing theories of Festinger's theory of dissonance (1957), and in particular with self‐perception and impression‐management theories. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influencing Republicans’ and Democrats’ attitudes toward Obamacare: Effects of imagined vicarious cognitive dissonance on political attitudes

The field of experimental social psychology is appropriately interested in using novel theoretical approaches to implement change in the social world. In the current study, we extended cognitive dissonance theory by creating a new framework of social influence: imagined vicarious dissonance. We used the framework to influence attitudes on an important and controversial political attitude: U.S. citizens’ support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 36 Republicans and 84 Democrats were asked to imagine fellow Republicans and Democrats, respectively, making attitude discrepant statements under high and low choice conditions about support for the ACA. The data showed that vicarious dissonance, established by imagining a group member make a counterattitudinal speech under high-choice conditions (as compared to low-choice conditions), resulted in greater support for the Act by Republicans and marginally diminished support by Democrats. The results suggest a promising role for the application of vicarious dissonance theory to relevant societal issues and for further understanding the relationship of dissonance and people’s identification with their social groups.     

Dealing with dissonance: A review of cognitive dissonance reduction

This article provides an overview of research about cognitive dissonance reduction. Over the past 60 years, researchers have produced significant theoretical and empirical contributions from cognitive dissonance theory. One of the challenges that remains for dissonance theory going forward is a deeper examination of the process of dissonance reduction. I describe the various reduction strategies that have been investigated followed by models that have been proposed to understand an individual's use of dissonance reduction strategies. I then highlight a series of factors that can help us move research about dissonance reduction forward. These factors can be broadly subsumed under characteristics of the reduction mode and characteristics of the dissonance arousal. I conclude by suggesting that examination of these factors in studies that present multiple reduction modes to participants will provide a better understanding of the process of dissonance reduction.     

Cognitive dissonance induced by writing a counterattitudinal essay facilitates performance on simple tasks but not on complex tasks that involve working memory

This article examines how performance is facilitated with simple tasks and is impaired with complex ones in individuals experiencing dissonance. Experiment 1 measured the performance of dissonance participants at a simple reaction time task. Reaction times were shortest in the dissonance condition. This facilitation effect was interpreted as resulting from increased arousal with dissonance. In Experiment 2, participants performed a more complex secondary memory task that required to memorize and to recall short and long series of numbers. Participants in the dissonance condition performed less well than participants in the no-dissonance condition only under a high memory load and did not differ with a low load. It is suggested that dissonance requires some working memory resources. Accordingly, it is assumed that the arousal properties of dissonance facilitate performance with simple task that do not involve working memory and require a dominant response, but that dissonance impairs performance with tasks that strongly involve working memory.     

Cognitive Dissonance in Groups

Cognitive dissonance theory, as originally set out by Festinger ( 1957 ), described dissonance as an intraindividual phenomenon in a social context. Much of the research on dissonance has focused on the intraindividual aspect of dissonance. The limited research that has looked at cognitive dissonance in groups has done so from a range of different perspectives. These perspectives seem to result in contradictory predictions about the role of social information on the arousal and reduction of cognitive dissonance, despite generally sharing a model of the social self based on, or consistent with, social identity theory (Tajfel, 1978 ). Thinking about how these group‐based models of cognitive dissonance fit together may better illuminate the nature of dissonance and also suggest productive avenues for research to integrate these various perspectives on dissonance.