The Need to Justify Our Actions The Costs and Benefits of Dissonance Reduction
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CHApTer 6
The Need to Justify Our Actions 25 to the dissonant information that DNA testing suggests that a few of those bad guys you put away might be innocent? Will you welcome this evidence with an open mind, because you would like justice to be done, or will you reject it, because it might show that you were wrong? Unfortunately—but not surprisingly for those who understand dissonance theory—many prosecutors in America make the latter choice: they resist and block the efforts by convicted prisoners to reopen their cases and get DNA tests (Tavris & Aronson, 2007). Their dissonance-reducing reasoning is something like this: “Well, even if he wasn’t guilty of this crime, he was surely guilty of something else; after all, he’s a bad guy.” But at least one prosecutor chose to resolve that dissonance in a more courageous way. Thomas Vanes had routinely sought the death penalty or extreme prison sen- tences for defendants convicted of horrible crimes. One man, Larry Mayes, served more than 20 years for rape before DNA testing cleared him of the crime. “When [Mayes] requested a DNA retest on that rape kit,” he wrote, “I assisted in tracking down the old evidence, convinced that the current tests would put to rest his long- standing claim of innocence. But he was right, and I was wrong. Hard facts trumped The members of the Heaven’s Gate cult were just plain folks of all races, backgrounds, and walks of life. Yet almost all of them eventually committed suicide because of their commitment to the cult and its beliefs, an extreme result of the mechanism of cognitive dissonance that all of us experience. M06_ARON6625_08_SE_C06.indd 25 07/03/12 3:31 AM
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The Need to Justify Our Actions Use It! You have a friend who drives after binge drinking. You keep telling him that it is dangerous to do it. He says he can handle it. How could you get him to change his behavior? Hint: Think about the research on getting students to prac- tice safe sex (use condoms); think about the hypocrisy paradigm. Summary
What is theory of cognitive dissonance, and how do people avoid dissonance to maintain a stable, positive self-image? ■
The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance Most people need to see themselves as intelligent, sensible, and decent folks who behave with integrity. This chapter is about the behavior changes and cognitive distortions that occur when we are faced with evidence that we have done something that is not intelligent, sensible, or decent—the mental effort we expend to maintain that positive self-image. •
According to cognitive dissonance theory, people experience dis- comfort (dissonance) when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their conception of themselves (self-image). To reduce the dissonance, people either (1) change their behavior to bring it in line with their cognitions about themselves, (2) justify their behavior by changing one of their cognitions, or (3) attempt to justify their behavior by inventing new cognitions. One common kind of new cognition is self-affirmation, fo- cusing on a positive quality to offset feelings of having acted foolishly. When people’s self-esteem is temporar- ily enhanced, they are less likely to cheat or commit other unethical acts, and more likely to work hard to improve their grades, so as to keep their behavior con- sonant with their self-concept. But people are not good at anticipating how they will cope with future negative events; they show an impact bias, overestimating how bad they will feel, because they don’t realize that they will be able to reduce dissonance. •
rational behavior versus rationalizing behavior
Humans often process information in a biased way, one that fits our preconceived notions. The explanation for this is that information or ideas that disagree with our views arouse dissonance. And we humans avoid disso- nance even at the expense of rational behavior. •
Decisions arouse dissonance because they require choosing one thing and not the other. The thought that we may have made the wrong choice causes discomfort—postdecision dissonance— because it would threaten our self-image as one who makes good decisions. After the choice is final, the mind diminishes the discomfort through so- lidifying the case for the item chosen or the course of action taken. That is how dissonance reduction can change a person’s values and morality: once an unethi- cal act is committed, the person experiencing disso- nance justifies it, thereby increasing the likelihood of committing it again. •
Dissonance, culture, and the brain Dissonance seems to be hardwired in the brain; different parts of the brain are activated when people are in a state of mental conflict or have made a choice. Because postdecision dissonance has been observed in monkeys but not other species, many researchers believe it must have an evolutionarily adap- tive purpose in primates. However, although cognitive opinion and belief, as they should. It was a sobering lesson, and none of the easy-to- reach rationalizations (just doing my job, it was the jurors who convicted him, the appellate courts had upheld the conviction) completely lessen the sense of respon- sibility—moral, if not legal—that comes with the conviction of an innocent man” (quoted in Tavris & Aronson, 2007, p. 157). Throughout our lives, all of us, in our roles as family members, workers, profes- sionals, and citizens, will be confronted with evidence that we were wrong about something important to us—something we did or something we believed. Will you step off the pyramid in the direction of justifying that mistake . . . or will you strive to correct it? M06_ARON6625_08_SE_C06.indd 26 07/03/12 3:31 AM
CHApTer 6
The Need to Justify Our Actions 27 dissonance seems to be universal, occurring in non-West- ern cultures as well as Western ones, the content of what creates dissonant cognitions and the process and intensity of dissonance reduction do vary across cultures, reflecting the difference in cultural norms. How is the justification of effort a product of cognitive dissonance, and what are some practical applications for reducing dissonance? ■
Self-Justification in everyday Life Researchers have studied the forms of dissonance reduction and their applica- tion in many spheres of life. •
People tend to increase their liking for something they have worked hard to at- tain, even if the thing they have attained is not something they would otherwise like. This explains the intense loy- alty that initiated recruits feel for their fraternities and military institutions after undergoing hazing. •
When we per- form an action because of the ample external reward to do it, then the action has little or no effect on our attitudes or beliefs. However, if the reward is not big enough to jus- tify the action, we find ourselves experiencing cognitive dissonance because there is little external justification for what we did. This activates an internal justification process to justify the action to ourselves. The internal process of self-justification has a much more powerful effect on an individual’s long-term values and behaviors than does a situation where the external justifications are evident. When people publicly advocate something that is counter to what they believe or how they behave, called counterattitudinal advocacy, they will feel dis- sonance. Counterattitudinal advocacy has been used to change people’s attitudes in many ways, from their preju- dices to self-defeating beliefs and harmful practices such as bulimia. •
Another way of getting people to change is not by administering severe punishment, but insufficient or mild punishment, as the forbidden-toy experiment demonstrated. The less severe the threat or the smaller the reward, the less external justification the person has for compliance, and thus the greater the need for internal justification. The resulting self-persuasion becomes internalized and lasts longer than temporary obedience to avoid a punishment. •
Inducing hypocrisy— making people face the difference between what they say and what they do—is one way to use the human tendency to reduce dissonance to foster socially beneficial behav- iors. In the case of an AIDS-prevention experiment, par- ticipants videotaped speeches about the importance of using condoms and they were made aware of their own failure to use them. To reduce dissonance, they changed their behavior—they purchased condoms. •
Justifying good deeds and harmful acts A clever application of cognitive dissonance theory is to get some- one to like you by having them do you a favor. The reason this works is that the person needs to internally justify the fact that they did something nice for you. The converse is true as well. If you harm another person, to reduce the threat to your self-image that could come from doing a bad deed, you will tend to justify what you did by deni- grating your victim: the person deserved it, or he or she is not “one of us” anyway. In extreme cases such as conflict and war, many people will embrace the cognition that the victim or enemy deserved everything they got because they are less than human. How can people avoid the traps of self-justification and other dissonance-reducing behavior? ■
Some Final Thoughts on Dissonance: Learning from Our Mistakes Much of the behavior described in this chapter may seem startling: people coming to dislike oth- ers more after doing them harm, people liking others more after doing them a favor, people believing a lie they’ve told only if there is little or no reward for telling it. These behav- iors would be difficult for us to understand if it weren’t for the insights provided by the theory of cognitive dissonance. There are times when dissonance reduction is counterpro- ductive because it solidifies negative values and behaviors, and this applies to everyone from members of small cults to national leaders. Although the process of reducing dis- sonance is unconscious, it is possible to intervene in the process. Knowing that humans are dissonance-reducing animals can make us more aware of the process. The next time we feel the discomfort of having acted counter to our values, we can consciously pause the self-justification pro- cess to reflect on our action. Chapter 6 Test 1. Based on the “Ben Franklin effect,” you are most likely to increase your liking for Tony when a. Tony lends you $10. b. you lend Tony $10. c. Tony returns the $10 you loaned him. d. Tony finds $10. 2. After spending two years fixing up an old house them- selves, which involved many hours of tedious work, Abby and Brian are even more convinced that they made the right choice of house. According to the dissonance theory, this is an example of M06_ARON6625_08_SE_C06.indd 27 07/03/12 3:31 AM
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The Need to Justify Our Actions a. counterattitudinal advocacy. b. insufficient punishment. c. the Ben Franklin effect. d. justifying their effort. 3. Your friend Amy asks you what you think of the shoes she just bought. Privately, you think they are the ugliest shoes you have ever seen, but you tell her you love them. In the past, Amy has always valued your honest opinion and doesn’t care that much about the shoes, which were inexpensive. Because the external justification for your fib was , you will probably . a. high, decide you like the shoes b. high, maintain your view that the shoes are ugly c. low, decide you like the shoes d. low, maintain your view that the shoes are ugly 4. Meghan has been accepted to two top graduate schools. According to cognitive dissonance theory, under which of the following conditions will she experience the most dissonance? a. When she is thinking about the pros and cons of both programs before making up her mind. b. When she is pretty sure which program she wants to attend but has not yet notified the school of her decision.
notifies the school of her decision. d. Meghan will experience an equal amount of disso- nance in each of the above three circumstances. 5. You are required to sell $30 souvenir books for a club fund-raiser. How could you use the technique of lowball- ing to improve your sales?
to bargain with customers, making $30 your “final offer.”
tomer has retrieved his or her checkbook, tell him or her you made a mistake and the books are actually $5 more expensive than you thought. c. Offer the customers additional incentives to buy the book, such as free cookies with every purchase. d. Start by selling the books at $40, but tell the customer he or she will get $10 back in the mail in three weeks. 6. Suppose you are babysitting for two boys, brothers who are ages six and three. The older child often beats up his younger brother. What would be the most effective way to make him stop? a. Threaten the older child with mild punishment, like sitting in time-out for five minutes, and hope that he obeys.
sitting in time-out for five minutes, and don’t worry about whether he obeys.
spanking him. d. Talk to the younger child about ways he can defend himself.
7. Which of the following techniques relating to post-decision dissonance could a clothing store use to increase customer satisfaction? a. Cut all prices in half. b. Ask customers to make a radio ad saying how great the store is. c. Charge a membership fee to shop at the store. d. Make all sales final. 8. A school principal who wants to reduce vandalism has sev- eral students who are notorious for graffiti give a speech to the entire school about the negative aspects of damag- ing school property. Which of the following should the principal do to make it most likely that these students will stop vandalizing the school, according to research using the hypocrisy paradigm?
those who have already committed vandalism. b. He should have them deliver speeches about the positive aspects of vandalism as well as the negative aspects.
member times they have committed vandalism. d. Right after students deliver the speech, he should ask them to volunteer to help clean up the school parking lot. M06_ARON6625_08_SE_C06.indd 28 07/03/12 3:31 AM CHApTer 6
The Need to Justify Our Actions 29 1-b
2-d 3-c
4-c 5-b
6-a 7-d
8-c 9-a
10-d MyPsychLab 9. Imagine that before a test, the professor told Jake that if he is caught cheating, he will be expelled. Imagine that the professor told Amanda that if caught cheating, her only punishment will be to write a short paper about why cheating is wrong. If both students don’t cheat, what would dissonance theory predict? a. Amanda will feel more honest than Jake will. b. Jake will feel more honest than Amanda will. c. Amanda and Jake will feel equally honest. d. Neither Jake nor Amanda will feel honest, because they were both threatened. 10. Bess undergoes treatment for drug addiction. According to cognitive dissonance theory, after she leaves the clinic, Bess is most likely to stay off drugs if the treatment at the clinic was
and a difficult ordeal. b. involuntary (she was ordered to undergo treatment) and an easy experience. c. voluntary (she chose to undergo treatment) and an easy experience. d. voluntary (she chose to undergo treatment) and a dif- ficult ordeal. Answer Key M06_ARON6625_08_SE_C06.indd 29 07/03/12 3:31 AM Yüklə 2,11 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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