The Need To Justify Our Actions:: The Costs and Benefits of Dissonance Reduction

Chapter 6
The Need to Justify

Our Actions:
The Costs and Benefits of
Dissonance Reduction
Slides prepared by JoNell Strough, Ph.D. & Philip Lemaster, M.A.

West Virginia University
Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Elliot Aronson | Timothy D. Wilson | Robin M. Akert All Rights Reserved.
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Multimedia Directory
Slide 15Dissonance Reduction Video
Slide 26Lowballing Video
Slide 45Hazing Video
Slide 51External Justification Video

Heaven’s Gate Cult
• Believed that a space ship was coming to

transport them
– Needed to rid selves of “current containers”
(own body)
– Spaceship failed to appear behind Hale-Bopp
Comet
– Continued with plan anyway
• Mass suicide
• Extreme example of Need to Justify
Actions
Maintaining a Stable, Positive
Self-Image
• As humans, we strive to maintain a
favorable view of ourselves
• When confronted with unfavorable view
of self
– Experience discomfort

The Theory of Cognitive
Dissonance
• Feeling of discomfort caused by
performing an action that runs counter
to one’s customary (typically positive)
conception of oneself is referred to as
cognitive dissonance.

The Theory of Cognitive
Dissonance (Festinger, 1957)
• Important and provocative social
psychological theory
• Threats to self-image
– Induces powerful, upsetting dissonance

Three Ways to Reduce
Dissonance
1. Change behavior
2. Justify behavior by changing one of
the dissonant cognitions
3. Justify behavior by adding new
cognitions

Figure 6.1
How We Reduce Cognitive Dissonance
There are three basic ways of reducing dissonance: change your behavior, change your
cognition, or add a new cognition.

Self-Affirmation
• Bolster the self-concept

• Reducing dissonance by adding a
cognition about other positive
attributes
– E.g., smoker who fails to quit
• Not very smart of me to be smoking, but,
I’m really a very good mathematician!

Self-Esteem and Cognitive
Dissonance
• High self-esteem
– Strive to keep behavior consonant with
view of self
• Work harder to reduce dissonance than
people with average self-esteem

Dissonance Reduction Video
Click on the screenshot to watch Dr. Tavris discuss how dissonance reduction is
often oriented toward protecting self-esteem.
Back to Directory
Rational Behavior Versus
Rationalizing Behavior
• Need to maintain our self-esteem
– Associated with rationalizing instead of
rational thought
• Process information so that it fits with pre-
existing beliefs

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
• Every time we make a decision, we

experience dissonance.
– Chosen alternative has some negative
aspects
– Rejected alternative has some positive
aspects

Once he is hooked on getting a truck, this young man will reason that “it certainly would
be safer than a small car, and besides, the price of gasoline is bound to drop by the time
I’m 40.”
Source: Jeremy Woodhouse/Blend Images/Age Fotostock

Postdecision Dissonance
• Dissonance aroused after making a

decision, typically reduced by
enhancing the attractiveness of the
chosen alternative and devaluating the
rejected alternatives.

Reducing Post-Decision
Dissonance
• Distort likes and dislikes
– Downplay
• Negative aspects of chosen alternative
• Positive aspects of rejected alternative

Permanence and Importance
of Decision
• More important decisions = More
dissonance
• Greater permanence = More
dissonance
– Permanence of decision
• How difficult it is to revoke

All sales are final. When will this customer be happier with her new flatscreen TV: ten
minutes before the purchase? Ten minutes after the purchase?
Source: Newscast/Alamy

Creating the Illusion of
Irrevocability
• When decisions are permanent
(irrevocable)
– Dissonance increases
– Motivation to reduce dissonance increases

Irrevocability
• Lowballing
– An unscrupulous strategy whereby a
salesperson induces a customer to agree to
purchase a product at a very low cost,
subsequently claims it was an error, and
then raises the price.
– Frequently, the customer will agree to
make the purchase at the inflated price.

Irrevocability
• Create illusion of irrevocability to
induce motivation to reduce
dissonance!

Lowballing Video
Click on the screenshot to watch Dr. Cialdini briefly explain how car salesmen
use lowballing to increase their sales.
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The Decision to Behave
Immorally
• When is it okay to lie to a friend?
• When is an act of stealing, and when is
it borrowing?

After he cheats, this student will try to convince himself that everybody would cheat if
they had the chance.
Source: Pixtal/Glow Images, Inc.

Immorally
• Moral dilemmas
– Implications for self-esteem
• Dissonance reduction
– People may behave either more ethically or
less ethically in the future

Immorally
• Example—Cheating on a test
– Dissonance
• Positive view of self inconsistent with
dishonest behavior
– How to reduce dissonance?
• Change attitude about cheating
– “Not a big deal, everyone does it”
– Future behavior—less ethical

Figure 6.2
The Cheating Pyramid
Imagine two students taking an exam. Both are
tempted to cheat. Initially, their attitudes toward
cheating are almost identical, but then one
impulsively cheats and the other does not. Their
attitudes will then undergo predictable changes.
(Created by Carol Tavris. Used by permission.)

Immorally
• Example—Cheating on a test
– Change behavior
• Do not ever cheat again
• Future behavior—more ethical

Immorally
• Example—Decide NOT to cheat
– Post-decision dissonance
• “Would have received better grade if
cheated”
– Reducing dissonance
• Change attitude
– To justify giving up a good grade, you
convince yourself that cheating is even worse
than you previously felt it was
• Attitude becomes more extreme

Dissonance Reduction and
Personal Values (Mills, 1958)
• Measured 6th graders attitudes about
cheating
• Gave opportunity to cheat in a game
– Easy to cheat
– Cheating almost necessary to win
– Believed cheating could not be detected

Dissonance Reduction and
Personal Values (Mills, 1958)
• Cheaters
– Became more lenient toward cheating
• Noncheaters
– Became less lenient toward cheating

Dissonance, Culture,
and the Brain
• Dissonant information
– Reasoning circuits of brain shut down
• Dissonance is reduced
– Emotion circuits activated
• Primates also show changes in what is
valued after making a decision

Dissonance and Culture
• Process of dissonance reduction

– Culturally universal
• Content of dissonance reduction
– Cultural differences
• What thoughts are added, changed differ by
culture

Justifying Your Effort
• Example
– Suppose you expend a great deal of effort
to get into a particular club and it turns out
to be a totally worthless organization
• How would you reduce this dissonance?
• How would you justify your behavior?

The harsh training required to become a marine will increase the recruits’ feelings of
cohesiveness and their pride in the corps.
Source: moodboard/Fotolia

Hazing Video
Click on the screenshot to watch a video on the topic of hazing. While hazing
may increase affiliation with a group, it can also be dangerous.
Back to Directory
The Psychology of Insufficient
Justification
• Example
– If you tell a friend that you like her ugly
dress very much, do you experience much
dissonance?
• Many thoughts are consonant (consistent)
with having told lie
– E.g., it is important not to cause pain to
people, not hurt feelings

Justification
• Believing it is important not to cause
pain to people you like provides ample
external justification for having told
lie
External Justification
A reason or an explanation for dissonant personal
behavior that resides outside the individual. E.g., in
order to receive a large reward or avoid a severe
punishment.

Justification
• What if there is no good external
justification for lying?

Justification
• Internal Justification
– The reduction of dissonance by changing
something about oneself.
– E.g., one’s attitude or behavior

The Hypocrisy Paradigm
• Induce hypocrisy
– Make person aware of conflict between
• Attitudes
• Behavior
– Hypocrisy creates dissonance
– Reduce dissonance by changing behavior
• E.g., attitudes about condoms and use of
condoms

Figure 6.6
People who are made mindful of their hypocrisy (blue bars)—in this study, being made
aware of the discrepancy between knowing that condoms prevent AIDS and other STDs
but not using condoms themselves—begin to practice what they preach. Here, more of
them bought condoms, buying more condoms than did students in other conditions—
those who were simply given information about the dangers of AIDS, or who promised to
buy them, or who were made aware that they weren’t using them. (Adapted from Stone,
Aronson, Crain, Winslow, & Fried, 1994.)

• Students in the hypocrisy condition

were subsequently more likely to buy
condoms than students in any of the
other conditions.

Justifying Acts of Kindness
• Dissonance theory predicts that when

we dislike someone, if we do them a
favor, we will like them more
– Behavior is dissonant with attitude
– Change attitude about person to resolve
dissonance
• “The Ben Franklin Effect”

Figure 6.7
The Justification of Kindness
If we have done someone a personal favor (blue bar), we are likely to feel more
positively toward that person than if we don’t do the favor (orange bar) or do the favor
because of an impersonal request (yellow bar). (Based on data in Jecker & Landy, 1969.)

Justifying Cruelty
• Cruel behavior is dissonant with view of

self as a decent human being
– Resolve dissonance by changing thoughts
about victim
• Davis and Jones (1960)
– Participants told a young man
(confederate) they thought he was shallow,
untrustworthy, boring.

Justifying Cruelty
• Participants convinced themselves

– They didn't like the victim
– He deserved to be hurt

The American guards at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison treated their prisoners with a casual
brutality that scandalized the world. What does dissonance theory predict about the
consequences for the guards of dehumanizing the enemy?
Source: HO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Newscom

Dissonance and the Iraq War
• President Bush’s decision to initiate a

“preemptive” war against Iraq was
dissonant with:
– The fact that Iraq not involved in 9/11
attack on USA
– Iraq not an immediate threat to USA

• To resolve dissonance
– Search for evidence consonant with
decision to start war
• Try to find WMD (Weapons of Mass
Destruction)
• However, WMD not found
• Dissonance reduction unsuccessful

• Resolve dissonance by adding

cognitions
– Change reason (justification) for war
• Operation “Iraqi Freedom”
– Instead of preemptive strike to protect USA
from WMD

Summary and Review
• Cognitive Dissonance
– Self-affirmation and self-esteem
– Post-decision dissonance
• Self-Justification
– Hypocrisy Paradigm
• Dissonance, Kindness, and Cruelty


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Chapter 6

The Need to Justify

Slides prepared by JoNell Strough, Ph.D. & Philip Lemaster, M.A.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

• Believed that a space ship was coming to

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

• Bolster the self-concept

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

• Every time we make a decision, we

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

• Dissonance aroused after making a

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

• Process of dissonance reduction

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

• Students in the hypocrisy condition

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

• Dissonance theory predicts that when

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

• Cruel behavior is dissonant with view of

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

• Participants convinced themselves

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

• President Bush’s decision to initiate a

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

• Resolve dissonance by adding

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Psychology, Eighth Edition ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc.