On the cultural guises of cognitive dissonance: the case of easterners and westerners

Cognitive dissonance and effects of self-affirmation on dissonance arousal were examined cross-culturally. In Studies 1 and 2, European Canadians justified their choices more when they made them for themselves, whereas Asian Canadians (Study 1) or Japanese (Study 2) justified their choices more when they made them for a friend. In Study 3, an interdependent self-affirmation reduced dissonance for Asian Canadians but not for European Canadians. In Study 4, when Asian Canadians made choices for a friend, an independent self-affirmation reduced dissonance for bicultural Asian Canadians but not for monocultural Asian Canadians. These studies demonstrate that both Easterners and Westerners can experience dissonance, but culture shapes the situations in which dissonance is aroused and reduced. Implications of these cultural differences for theories of cognitive dissonance and self-affirmation are discussed.     

Allure of negative feedback: self-verification strivings among depressed persons.

We propose that people with negative self-views are rejected because they gravitate to partners who view them unfavorably. In relation to nondepressed college students (n = 28), depressives (n = 13) preferred interaction partners who evaluated them unfavorably (Study 1). Similarly, in relation to nondepressives (n = 106), depressives (n = 10) preferred friends or dating partners who evaluated them unfavorably (Study 2). Dysphorics (n = 6) were more inclined to seek unfavorable feedback from their roommates than were nondepressives (n = 16); feedback-seeking activities of dysphorics were also associated with later rejection (Study 3). Finally, people with negative self-views (n = 37) preferentially solicited unfavorable feedback, although receiving such feedback made them unhappy, in comparison with people with positive self-views (n = 42; Study 4). It seems a desire for self-verification compels people with negative self-views to seek unfavorable appraisals.     

Motivational Effects of Outcome Feedback on Motor Performance

This study examined the effects of success and failure feedback on subsequent motor performance. Based upon the general motivation (or level-of-aspiration) hypothesis, initial success should lead to better subsequent performance than does initial failure, while the reverse prediction was derived from the cognitive dissonance theory. To test these rival hypotheses, two experiments were conducted on undergraduate male students (n =120) performing a motor maze task. Initial failure improved subjects’ subsequent performance, thus supporting the dissonance theory. However, this effect was observed only under low-ego-involving conditions, thereby suggesting that the effects of dissonance and ego involvement are interdependent. The findings were discussed in terms of motivational and informational/attributional effects of outcome feedback on motor performance.     

Don't mind meat? The denial of mind to animals used for human consumption

Many people like eating meat, but most are reluctant to harm things that have minds. The current three studies show that this dissonance motivates people to deny minds to animals. Study 1 demonstrates that animals considered appropriate for human consumption are ascribed diminished mental capacities. Study 2 shows that meat eaters are motivated to deny minds to food animals when they are reminded of the link between meat and animal suffering. Finally, Study 3 provides direct support for our dissonance hypothesis, showing that expectations regarding the immediate consumption of meat increase mind denial. Moreover, this mind denial in turn reduces negative affect associated with dissonance. The findings highlight the role of dissonance reduction in facilitating the practice of meat eating and protecting cultural commitments.     

Utilizing a Social‐Ecological Framework to Promote Water and Energy Conservation: A Field Experiment1

The present study utilized a social‐ecological framework to design an intervention to reduce residential water and energy use in a local community. An experimental design was used to study the influence of information leaflets, attunement labels, and socially comparative feedback on the actual levels of energy and water consumption in 166 households over a 6‐month period. The results suggest that the labels, designed to attune residents to the environmental‐impact affordances of various appliances around their homes, led to a 23% reduction in water consumption. Neither information leaflets nor socially comparative feedback produced significant reductions in water use, compared to controls. No significant reductions in energy consumption were observed for any of the intervention conditions. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications and their application to public policy promoting environmentally sustainable behavior.     

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.     

Voluntary settlement and the spirit of independence: evidence from Japan's "Northern frontier"

The authors hypothesized that economically motivated voluntary settlement in the frontier fosters independent agency. While illuminating the historical origin of American individualism, this hypothesis can be most powerfully tested in a region that is embedded in a broader culture of interdependence and yet has undergone a recent history of such settlement. The authors therefore examined residents of Japan's northern island (Hokkaido). Hokkaido was extensively settled by ethnic Japanese beginning in the 1870s and for several decades thereafter. Many of the current residents of Hokkaido are the descendents of the original settlers from this period. As predicted, Japanese socialized and/or immersed in Hokkaido were nearly as likely as European Americans in North America to associate happiness with personal achievement (Study 1), to show a personal dissonance effect wherein self-justification is motivated by a threat to personal self-images (Study 2), and to commit a dispositional bias in causal attribution (Study 3). In contrast, these marker effects of independent agency were largely absent for non-Hokkaido residents in Japan. Implications for theories of cultural change and persistence are discussed.     

Forgiveness of Self and Others and Emotional Empathy

Abstract

Festinger's (1957) cognitive dissonance theory maintains that individuals enhance their opinions of decisions after they have made them. The present experiment demonstrated this postdecision dissonance enhancement effect by using a no-decision control group to test whether predecision moderation (i.e., impression management) or postdecision enhancement (i.e., dissonance reduction) occurred. Male and female subjects (N = 62) were approached in a shopping mall and asked to estimate their chances of winning a “gumball guess” lottery-type game. In clear support of cognitive dissonance theory, those giving their responses immediately after they had taken part in the gumball guess gave significantly higher estimates of winning than those asked just before they guessed or those in the control group.     

Dissonance reduction and causal explanation in a forced compliance situation

In a free choice forced compliance situation, subjects had to perform a tedious task. Then, just before having to evaluate the task's interest, certain subjects were provided an arbitrary positive feedback regarding their performance, others a negative feedback and others no information at all concerning their performance. Afterwards, all subjects were administered a questionnaire concerning their theories of causal explanations, which enabled us to compute an externalization score. Evaluation of the task was affected by the feedback's nature: Subjects who received the negative feedback found the task more interesting. Causal theories, however, were only affected by actual performance: the most efficient subjects were those who presented the more external orientation of causal theories. These results are in agreement with the radical conception of dissonance theory.     

The reinstatement of dissonance and psychological discomfort following failed affirmations

The research in this article examined the consequences of a failed attempt to reduce dissonance through a self‐affirmation strategy. It was hypothesized that disconfirming participants' affirmations would reinstate psychological discomfort and dissonance motivation. In Experiment 1, high‐dissonance participants who affirmed on a self‐relevant value scale and received disconforming feedback about their affirmations expressed greater psychological discomfort (Elliot & Devine, 1994) than either affirmation‐only participants or low‐dissonance/affirmation disconformed participants. In Experiment 2, disconfirmation of an affirmation resulted in increased attitude change. The results of both experiments suggested that a failed attempt to reduce dissonance reinstates psychological discomfort and dissonance motivation. We discuss how the reduction of psychological discomfort may play a role in the success of affirmations in reducing dissonance‐produced attitude change. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vicarious dissonance: attitude change from the inconsistency of others

Three studies support the vicarious dissonance hypothesis that individuals change their attitudes when witnessing members of important groups engage in inconsistent behavior. Study 1, in which participants observed an actor in an induced-compliance paradigm, documented that students who identified with their college supported an issue more after hearing an ingroup member make a counterattitudinal speech in favor of that issue. In Study 2, vicarious dissonance occurred even when participants did not hear a speech, and attitude change was highest when the speaker was known to disagree with the issue. Study 3 showed that speaker choice and aversive consequences moderated vicarious dissonance, and demonstrated that vicarious discomfort--the discomfort observers imagine feeling if in an actor's place--was attenuated after participants expressed their revised attitudes.     

Some affective consequences of social comparison and reflection processes: the pain and pleasure of being close

A self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model of social behavior was described. According to the comparison process, when another outperforms the self on a task high in relevance to the self, the closer the other the greater the threat to self-evaluation. According to the reflection process, when another outperforms the self on a task low in relevance to the self, the closer the other the greater the promise of augmentation to self-evaluation. Affect was assumed to reflect threats and promises to self-evaluation. In three studies, subjects were given feedback about own performance and the performance of a close (friend) and distant (stranger) other on tasks that were either low in self-relevance (Study 2) or that varied in self-relevance (Studies 1 and 3). In Study 1 (N = 31), subjects' performance on simple and complex tasks after each feedback trial served as a measure of arousal. Being outperformed by a close other resulted in greater arousal than being outperformed by a distant other. In Study 2 (N = 30), evaluative ratings of words unrelated to task performance served as an indirect measure of affect. Results indicated that when relevance is low, more positive affect is associated with a friend's outperforming the self than either a friend's performing at a level equal to the self or being outperformed by a stranger. In Study 3 (N = 31), subjects received feedback while their facial expressions were monitored. Pleasantness of expression was an interactive function of relevance of task, relative performance, and closeness of comparison other. The results of all three studies were interpreted as being generally consistent with the SEM model.     

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.     

The Influence of Feedback on Mood: Linear Effects on Pleasantness and Curvilinear Effects on Arousal

We investigated the effects of feedback (grades) on two primary mood dimensions - Pleasantness and Arousal. We hypothesized that (a) cognitive comparisons of feedback to multiple standards yield cognitive appraisals of feedback sign, and that (b) feedback sign has a linear effect on harm/benefit appraisal, which influences mood Pleasantness, and a curvilinear effect on need for action appraisal, which influences Arousal. In Study 1 (N = 281), grades (a proxy for the sign of feedback-norm discrepancy) had a linear relationship with Pleasantness and a U-shaped relationship with Arousal. In addition, subjects who received grades had higher Arousal than control subjects. Study 2 (N = 226) replicated the results of Study 1 and showed that after controlling for the relationship of grades with Pleasantness and Arousal, the sign of feedback-expectation discrepancy (a second standard) also had a linear relationship with Pleasantness and a U-shaped relationship with Arousal.     

Interactive voice response for relapse prevention following cognitive-behavioral therapy for alcohol use disorders: a pilot study

Relapse after alcoholism treatment is high. Alcohol Therapeutic Interactive Voice Response (ATIVR) is an automated telephone program for posttreatment self-monitoring, skills practice, and feedback. This pilot study examined feasibility of ATIVR. Participants (n = 21; 57% male) had access to ATIVR for 90 days following outpatient group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to make daily reports of mood, confidence in sobriety, urges to use substances, and actual use. Reports of relapse or risk were followed with additional questions. Participants received personalized therapist feedback based on responses, and could access recorded CBT skill reviews. Pre-post assessments included: alcohol consumption (Timeline Follow-Back), self-efficacy (Situational Confidence Questionnaire), and perceived coping ability (Effectiveness of Coping Behaviors Inventory). Participants called on 59% of scheduled days and continued making calls for an average of 84 days. Following ATIVR, participants gave feedback that ATIVR was easy to use and increased self-awareness. Participants particularly liked the therapist feedback component. Abstinence rate increased significantly during ATIVR (p = .03), and both self-efficacy and coping significantly improved from pre-CBT to post-ATIVR (p < .01). Results indicate ATIVR is feasible and acceptable. Its efficacy should be evaluated in a randomized controlled trial.     

Cognitive dissonance as a function of self-esteem and logical inconsistency

An experiment was conducted to test the importance of self-esteem in the arousal of cognitive dissonance. Recently, Aronson (1969) suggested that the reason an attitude-discrepant speech can arouse dissonance is that it is an indecent act committed by an individual who likes to think of himself as a good and decent person. Looking at counterattitudinal behavior as a discrepancy with one's self-concept rather than as a logical discrepancy between behavioral and attitudinal cognitions differs from Festinger and Carlsnuth's (1959) original notion In the experiment reported, subjects volunteered to take a personality inventory and received either neutral, very favorable, or very unfavorable feedback In this way, subjects' level of self-esteem was raised or lowered Following this procedure, subjects were induced to record a speech that was known to be discrepant with their private beliefs. They were offered either a small or a large inducement for their statements. It was predicted that, regardless of their level of self-esteem, subjects would manifest the inverse relationship between incentive magnitude and attitude change predicted by dissonance theory The major analysis of the results, and the concomitant internal analysis, generally supported the prediction With one qualification, the results were held to be consistent with Festinger and Carlsmith's version of dissonance arousal and inconsistent with the self-esteem analysis     

Are we aware of the external factors that influence our food intake?

OBJECTIVES: This research examines the extent to which people accurately report some of the external influences on their food intake. DESIGN: In two studies, specific factors (the presence and behavior of others) were manipulated in order to influence the amount of food that individuals consumed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcomes of interest were participants' spontaneously generated explanations for their food intake (Study 1; n = 122), and their ratings of the importance of several potential determinants of food intake (Study 2; n = 75). RESULTS: In Study 1, there was high concordance between the amounts eaten by members of a dyad, but very few participants indicated that they were influenced by their partner's behavior; they instead identified hunger and taste as the primary determinants of intake. Study 2 showed that participants' intake was strongly influenced by the behavior of others, but people rated taste and hunger as much more important influences on their intake. CONCLUSIONS: If external environmental factors influence people's food intake without their awareness or acknowledgment, then maintaining a healthy diet can be a challenge, with long-term consequences for health and well-being.     

Students Aggress Against Professors in Reaction to Receiving Poor Grades: An Effect Moderated by Student Narcissism and Self‐Esteem

Laboratory evidence about whether students’ evaluations of teaching (SETs) are valid is lacking. Results from three (3) independent studies strongly confirm that "professors" who were generous with their grades were rewarded for their favor with higher SETs, while professors who were frugal were punished with lower SETs (Study 1, d = 1.51; Study 2, d = 1.59; Study 3, partial η² = .26). This result was found even when the feedback was manipulated to be more or less insulting (Study 3). Consistent with laboratory findings on direct aggression, results also indicated that, when participants were given a poorer feedback, higher self‐esteem (Study 1 and Study 2) and higher narcissism (Study 1) were associated with them giving lower (more aggressive) evaluations of the "professor." Moreover, consistent with findings on self‐serving biases, participants higher in self‐esteem who were in the positive grade/feedback condition exhibited a self‐enhancing bias by giving their "professor" higher evaluations (Study 1 and Study 2). The aforementioned relationships were not moderated by the professor's sex or rank (teaching assistant vs.professor). Results provide evidence that (1) students do aggress against professors through poor teaching evaluations, (2) threatened egotism among individuals with high self‐esteem is associated with more aggression, especially when coupled with high narcissism, and (3) self‐enhancing biases are robust among those with high self‐esteem. Aggr. Behav. 39:71‐84, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Perceptual-cognitive expertise, practice history profiles and recall performance in soccer

We examined whether high- or low-performing soccer players, classified based on established measures of perceptual-cognitive expertise, differed in regard to their practice history profiles and ability to recall elements of match performance. In Study 1, we measured perceptual-cognitive expertise in elite (n= 48) and non-elite (n= 12) youth soccer players using empirical tests of perceptual-cognitive skill. We then used a quartile split to stratify elite players into either high-performing (n= 12) or low-performing (n= 12) groups based on their test scores. A group of non-elite soccer players (n= 12) acted as controls. In Study 2, we used an established questionnaire to examine retrospectively the participation history profiles of the three groups. The high-performing group had accumulated more hours in soccer-specific play activity over the last 6 years of engagement in the sport compared to their low-performing counterparts and the non-elite controls. No differences were reported for hours accumulated in soccer-specific practice or competition between the high- and low-performing groups. In Study 3, a novel test was developed to examine episodic memory recall in soccer. Although this test successfully differentiated elite from non-elite players, no differences were evident between high- and low-performing groups, implying that episodic memory recall may not be a crucial component of perceptual-cognitive expertise in soccer.     

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.