Attitudes and Behavior

Cognitive Dissonance: Why oh why?

We like a product more if we pay for it than if it were free

We like a product more after we buy it We like our romantic partner more after we are

committed to the relationship We like someone more after we freely agree to do a

favor for that person… We can rationalize almost any behaviour…

Attitudes and Behaviour

Attitude: subjective evaluation of objects or persons in the world

Ex: political, racial, sports, consumer,… An especially important type of attitudes are those

about social groups Components of attitudes:

Affective: emotional reaction to object Behavioural: actions taken towards or because of

object Cognitive: beliefs about object

ABC of Attitudes Attitudes Sometimes Conflict with Other Powerful

Determinants of Behavior Attitudes predict behaviour when there is…

Accessibility: Ex, activating environmental attitude & voting for Kyoto protocol

Motivational relevance: Olympics vote & sports fans Constraints: circumstances, norms that limit the

expression of that attitude

Predicting Behavior From Attitudes

Attitudes are sometimes based on vague, secondhand information

Mismatched attitudes and actual attitude targets

o Death penaltyo Predicting use of birth control pills

Predicting Behavior From Attitudes

Attitudes are sometimes based on vague, secondhand information

Mismatched attitudes and actual attitude targets

“Automatic” Behavior that Bypasses Conscious Attitudes

Prime - a stimulus presented to mentally activate a concept temporarily, and hence make it accessible

Primes strongly influence behaviour

Bargh, Chen & Burrows (1996)Independent variable: Implicit activation of

“elderly” stereotype:• Bingo, Florida, wrinkle• vs. neutral words (chair, Minnesota, tree)

Dependent variable: walking speed

Primes are stronger predictors of behaviour than self-reported attitudes

Shariff & Norenzayan (2007)Reported belief in God (attitude)God prime (Divine, spirit, prophet, sacred

etc.) vs. neutral primeMeasure of generosity: how much of $10

offered to stranger?

median split by belief in God

top halfbottom half

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Study 1: Belief in God. Difference is ns at p=.75. n=50.

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No Prime Religious Prime

Study 1

Religious Prime

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Neutral Prime

Study 2

Secular Prime

Predicting Attitudes From Behavior

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Festinger, 1957)

inconsistencies between a person’s thoughts, sentiments, and actions create an aversive emotional state (dissonance) that leads to efforts to restore consistency

Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive dissonance theory: attitude change can

occur as a result of an inconsistency between attitude and behaviour

People are motivated to maintain consistency in their beliefs and behaviours

When attitude is inconsistent with behaviour, people experience dissonance = discomfort

Dissonance can be reduced by 1) changing behaviour or 2) changing attitude

Predicting Attitudes From Behavior

Induced (forced) compliance - subtly compelling individuals to behave in a manner that is inconsistent with their beliefs, attitudes, or values, which typically leads to dissonance and to a change in their original attitudes to reduce their dissonance

Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) experiment on forced compliance

Effects of Induced Compliance

Smaller the amount, more attitude change!

Ss had to justify to themselves why they had to lie to other for so little money

“Spread of Alternatives” Study (Brehm, 1956)

• Aesop’s fox and the sour grapes

• Subjects rate desirability of potential items they could win

• Then they are given option to pick between two middle-range options with similar ratings

• They they are asked to rate them again

• Subjects significantly downgrade the rejected item!

Go Ahead, Rationalize. Monkeys Do It Too!

(Egan, Santos, & Bloom, 2007)

Monkeys show equal preferences

Monkeys choose Red OR Blue (say chose Red, rejected Blue)

Critical Test: which one would Monkeys choose? Blue OR Green?

Results

4-y. o. children choosing stickers Amnesiacs (impaired short term memories)

choosing paintings Suggests rationalization is quite basic and

may not need conscious reflection

Fig. 3. Mean % of choices of novel but equally preferred option (C) in the choice and no-choice conditions

Predicting Attitudes From Behavior

Effort Justification - tendency to reduce dissonance by finding reasons for why you have devoted time, effort, or money for something that turned out to be disappointing

Aronson and Mills (1959) ‘initiation experiment’

Self-Perception Theory

self-perception theory - people come to know their own attitudes by looking at their behavior and the context in which it occurred and inferring what their attitudes must be

No discomfort or arousal

Cognitive Dissonance: Arousal

If cognitive dissonance is aversive, it should be accompanied by a high arousal level

Anti-attitudinal essay study Subjects were induced to write essays contrary to

their attitudes Free choice group vs. no-choice group Which group should change attitude more? Which group should experience more arousal?

Arousal and Attitude Change

F 15.4

Predicting Attitudes From Behavior

Self-Affirmation and Dissonance

self-affirmation theory - taking stock of one’s good qualities and core values, which can help a person cope with threats to self-esteem (and eliminate feelings of dissonance)

Steele (1988) study of science vs. business majors