Cognitive Dissonance theory the opposite of cognitive consistency theory, arises from a participant observation study of a cult that believed the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood. Members gave up their homes and jobs to work for the cult. But when the flood did not happen, the fringe members were more open to recognize that they had made fools of themselves and to “put it down to experience,” whereas the really committed members were more likely to reinterpret the evidence to show that they were right all along and that the earth was not destroyed because of their faithfulness.
Cognitive dissonance theory was first proposed by Leon Festinger in 1957. It suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and behaviors in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance). This is known as the principle of cognitive consistency. When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors (dissonance), something must change to eliminate the dissonance.
What Causes Cognitive Dissonance?
Forced Compliance behavior
Forced compliance occurs when someone is forced to do something publicly, that they won’t do in private, dissonance is created between their cognition ("I didn’t want to do this”) and their behavior ("I did it"). As they have done something that is inconsistent with their beliefs. The behavior can’t be changed since it is already in the past, so dissonance will need to be reduced by reevaluating their attitude or belief towards what they have done.
Decision Making
Life is filled with decisions, and decisions are all about choices. Decisions (as a general rule) cause dissonance. as you can’t enjoy the advantages of the foregone alternative, and you must accept the disadvantages of the chosen alternative. For example If you take the job, at a location in the beautiful countryside, you would miss your loved ones; and if you turn it down, you would yearn for the natural beauty which you could have enjoyed.
Effort
We tend to value most highly those goals or items which we have acquired with considerable effort. This is probably why we would experience dissonance if we evaluated them negatively. If we have spent years of effort achieving something which turns out to be useless then, in order to avoid the dissonance, we will try to convince ourselves that we didn’t really spend years of effort or that the effort was really quite enjoyable, or that it wasn’t really a lot of effort.
Dissonance can be reduced in one of these three ways:
a) changing existing beliefs,
b) adding new beliefs, or
c) reducing the importance of the beliefs.
Example of Cognitive Dissonance
Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) investigated whether making people perform a dull task would create cognitive dissonance through forced compliance behavior. They used 71 male students as participants to perform a series of dull tasks (such as turning pegs for an hour). They were then paid either $1 or $20 to tell a waiting participant (a confederate) that the tasks were really interesting. Almost all of the participants agreed to walk into the waiting room and persuade the confederate that the boring experiment would be fun.
Later, when the participants were asked to evaluate the experiment, those who were paid only $1 rated the boring task as more fun and enjoyable than those who were paid $20 to lie. Being paid only $1 was not a sufficient enough incentive for turning pegs and lying, so those who were paid $1 experienced dissonance. To overcome this inner conflict, they convinced themselves that the task was interesting and enjoyable. Being paid $20 appeared to be a good enough reason for turning pegs and lying, and hence, there was no dissonance and no need to change their belief.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Balance Theory
Cognitive dissonance theory, proposed by Festinger, focuses on the discomfort felt when holding conflicting beliefs or attitudes, leading individuals to seek consistency. Heider’s Balance Theory, on the other hand, emphasizes the desire for balanced relations among triads of entities like people and attitudes, with imbalances prompting changes in attitudes to restore balance. Both theories address cognitive consistency, but in different contexts.
Decades before the theory of cognitive dissonance was coined, Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, used this phenomenon to turn foes into friends. The fact is, people come to like the person to whom they have done a favor more than those who help them. When someone doesn't like us but is forced to do us a favor, they invest time, energy, or resources in us. This can lead to cognitive dissonance, and to reduce this dissonance, the giver either begins to like us, or deny the favor. Most people choose the first option, creating the Benjamin Franklin effect.
Cognitive Dissonance meaning
Cognitive Dissonance explained with examples
Theory of Cognitive Dissonance was proposed by Leon Festinger.