festinger - case study 5

Question 1

what year was the experiment conducted

Answer 1

1959

Question 2

who was leon festinger

Answer 2

an american psychologist

Question 3

state all the variables

Answer 3

iv: amount of reward used ($1 or $20)

dv: strength of attitude when making a statement conflicting with their personal beliefs

cv: task performed

Question 4

research design

Answer 4

3 group experimental

Question 5

hypothesis

Answer 5

people have an inner need to ensure their beliefs and behaviours are consistent

Question 6

details of the procedure:

Answer 6

1. participants performed a pegboard task for 1.5 hours believing that was the experiment while an observer “made notes”
2. afterwards the experimenter explained there were 2 groups in the experiment, one had no prior instructions, and their group had to falsely identify the task and enjoyable
3. some participants were offered $1 and some were offered $20 to talk to the next participants about how fun the tasks were to complete, most agreed

4, the experimenter took the participant to meet a confederate undergraduate student, who pretended to be the next participant

5. the participant was asked to talk about the experiment and convey positive points
6. participants answered questions about their perception, learning experience, importance and willingness to participate again

Question 7

selection of participants

Answer 7

71 male students from the introductory psychology class at stanford university, were selected through convenience sampling

Question 8

findings

Answer 8

1. supported festigers theory of cognitive dissonance
2. belief change
3. post experiment attitudes

Question 9

describe belief change

Answer 9

participants who were given $1 incentive to lie about the experiment experienced high levels of cognitive dissonance, and to reduce it they changed their belief about the task to believe it was fun

participants who were offered $20 did not experience much cognitive dissonance as the reward justified their behaviour, there is less of a need to change their beliefs

Question 10

describe the post experiment attitudes

Answer 10

$1 participants had a more positive belief towards the experiment than $20 participants

this suggests the individuals changed their internal beliefs to reduce cognitive dissonance

Question 11

contribution to psychology / strengths

Answer 11

1. can be scientifically tested
2. strong reliability: their is an opportunity for alternative studies to produce similar results

Question 12

limitations

Answer 12

1. explicit attitudes were measured but implicit attitudes were not recorded
2. deception was used, so participants could not give informed consent
3. it is argued as having poor validity as it doesn’tt occur in real life