Festinger

Question 1

what happens if you show ur wife 2 objects, as her to rate them , then ask her which one she would rather return and ask her to rate them again?

Answer 1

she will rate the one she kept asmore attractive

Question 2

what will a person do if 2 items of info are dissonant

Answer 2

they will try to make them make sense

Question 3

dissonance-reducing changes

Answer 3

ways in which we try to make 2 items make sense

Question 4

cognitive dissonance is a

Answer 4

motivating state of affairs that compels people to change their opinions and or behaviour

Question 5

when do we get dissonance?

Answer 5

When the expectations that we accumulate throughout our life are not fulfilled
–> depends on our expectations

Question 6

do we all have dissonance for the same events?

Answer 6

nope
since they depend on experiences
–> one person might have dissonance while another might have consonance from the same event or item

Question 7

2 main ways in which dissonacne can be reduced when you’ve had to choose which one of 2 items to keep

Answer 7

1. increased attractiveness of the item you did pick
2. decreased attractiveness of the item they did not pick

Question 8

What study did Jecker conduct?

Answer 8

Girls asked to rate the attractiveness of some records
One that was given to her and the other that would MAYBE also be given to her
Asked to rate them:
C1 –> After they made their choice but b4 knowing if they would get the other one
C2 –> After they made the choice and after they were given both records
C3 –> After they made their choice and were given only one of the records

Question 9

what did Jecker find?

Answer 9

In C1 and C2, there as no dissonance reduction so the results were fairly similar
In C3 though, there was a large systematic change to reduce dissonance
Therefore we can say that dissonance reduction does not occur in the process of making a decision but only after the decision is made and the outcome is clear

Question 10

what happens when we lie?

Answer 10

= we say something that is at variance with our private beleif
–> inconsistency
–> even if we know and understand the reason behind our lie

Question 11

what 2 factors affect how strongly we feel dissonance when lying?

Answer 11

1. the deviance between the public statement and private belief
2. the reasons behind making a false statemetn

Question 12

what are 2 ways to reduce dissonance after lying?

Answer 12

1. retracting public statement
2. change of private opinion

Question 13

what was the carlsmith study?

Answer 13

• students, motor study
• some given $1 and some given $20, then asked to lie to others
• those who received $1 were more likely to actually believe that they enjoyed it after lying to someone despite initially hating it

Question 14

what do we typically do to resist temptation?

Answer 14

convince ourselves we don’t actually want it
–> but sometimes we keep pursuing it and consequently want it more

Question 15

what happens when an individual wants something but refrains?

Answer 15

produces dissonance
–> even if we know and understand the reason for our resistance

Question 16

how can we reduce dissonance produced with temptation?

Answer 16

devalue the activity towards which one was tempted
–> this will only occur when the original justification for not engaging in the temptation was insufficient (weak deterrent)

Question 17

sour grapes effect

Answer 17

A systematic tendency to downplay the value of unattainable goals and rewards.

Question 18

when will sour grapes effect decrease?

Answer 18

when there is enough justification for refraining from the action

Question 19

what study did Aronson and carsmith perform at stanford?

Answer 19

Performed with 4y old children
Each child brought into a playroom with 5 toys on the table
Played with them for a while, then asked to rate them in order of attractiveness
The toy that the child liked second best was then left on the table and the other 4 were on the floor
Experimenter then left for 10 minutes

Question 20

what were the 3 conditions in the Aronson and Carsmith study?

Answer 20

1. No temptation: experimenter told child he could play with any of the toys and took the 2nd best toy with him when hel eft
2. Temptation: second best toy left on the table, but children told they could NOT play with it, threatened with mild punishment
3. Temptation: same as prev but threatened with stronger punishment

Question 21

what did Aronson and Carsmith find?

Answer 21

• none of the children played with the prohibited toy
• afterwards allowed to play again and asked to rate them again

no temptation = increase of attractiveness in the prohibited toy
strong punishment = increase of attractiveness in the prohibited toy
mild punishment - decrease of attractiveness in the prohibited toy