A Numerical Trip to Social Psychology: Long-Living States of Cognitive Dissonance

Abstract Background: Receiving a gift from pharma reps or meeting them is correlated with an amount of bigger, more expensive and sometimes less rational prescriptions. French General Practitioners (GPs) tend to express an unfavorable opinion towards the pharmaceutical industry; they however adopt rather favorable behavior with pharmaceutical representatives. Yet no study has sought to understand the reasons for this discrepancy. The aim of this study was exploratory: why do some general practitioners receive pharmaceutical representatives when they express an unfavorable opinion regarding the pharmaceutical industry?Method: Qualitative descriptive study by semi-structured face to face interviews with French GPs of the south-east of France. A general inductive analysis was carried out. Data were analysed by researchers from different disciplines (psychology, sociology and general practice).Results: Ten GPs were interviewed for an average time of 50 minutes. The analysis yield to three forces competing to keep meeting pharmaceutical representatives despite unfavorable opinions towards it: practical reasons such as a substitute for continuous training; social and cultural reasons such as propriety toward representatives; psychological mechanisms such as cognitive dissonance and hidden curriculum. Cognitive dissonance is a well-supported social-psychology theory explaining how it is possible to maintain a behavior despite an unfavorable opinion. Since meeting pharma reps is implemented during traineeship, it could be considered as a part of the hidden curriculum. The strengths of this work are the confrontation of medicine, social psychology and sociology with the original approach of the interpretative phenomenological approach.Discussion: The GPs/representative relationship is complex, involving psychological mechanisms which are unknown to the medical profession. GPs use reps as a convenient continuous education tool furthermore in a private practice setting in which GPs feel they lack time. Lifting the veil of individual ambivalence raises questions which are more social and political than individual.

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Dissonance and Attitude Change

10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.296 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jeff Stone ◽

John J. Taylor

Keyword(s):

Social Psychology ◽

Cognitive Dissonance ◽

21St Century ◽

Attitude Change ◽

The Self ◽

Cognitive Mechanisms ◽

Cognitive Dissonance Theory ◽

Early 21St Century ◽

Dissonance Theory ◽

And Behavior

Cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) was first introduced by Leon Festinger. Cognitive dissonance is the process by which people detect an inconsistency between cognitions, such as attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. When individuals become aware of an inconsistency between cognitions, they experience a state of psychological discomfort that motivates them to restore consistency. Factors such as the importance of the cognitions and the magnitude of the discomfort play a role in determining how people restore consistency. Festinger described three primary ways people can reduce dissonance: change a cognition; add new cognitions; or change the importance of the inconsistent cognitions. Many early studies showed that when people are unable to change their behavior, they will change their attitudes to be more in line with the inconsistent behavior. Over the years, CDT has undergone many challenges and revisions. Some revisions focus on the importance of cognitions about the self in the processes by which dissonance motivates attitude change. Others focused on the consequences of the behavior and various cognitive mechanisms that underlie the experience of dissonance. In the early 21st century, research has examined the underlying motivation for dissonance-induced attitude and behavior change, and how people prefer to reduce dissonance once it is present. And, as with the entire field of social psychology, dissonance researchers are also raising concerns about the replicability of classic dissonance effects and focusing their attention on the need to improve the methods the field uses to test predictions going forward.

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Bias and Belief

The Truth About Denial ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190062262.003.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-66

Author(s):

Adrian Bardon

Keyword(s):

Social Psychology ◽

Cognitive Dissonance ◽

Interest Group ◽

Confirmation Bias ◽

Motivated Reasoning ◽

Political Sophistication ◽

Psychological Condition ◽

Group Interest ◽

Self Interest ◽

The Subject

This chapter introduces key psychological concepts pertinent to denial, such as cognitive dissonance, motivated reasoning, and confirmation bias. It also addresses the relation between denial and ideology. It explains different social psychology approaches to understanding the phenomena of denial and ideological denialism. Ideological denialism is a unique psychological condition wherein the subject is motivated to embrace a certain conclusion about issues of public relevance for reasons relating to self-interest, group-interest, culture, personality, and/or identity. A discovery of great importance is that the tendency to ideological denial is neither a consequence of being uninformed nor a consequence of one’s lacking political sophistication.

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When Prophecy Pales: The Fate of Dissonance Theory

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1965.16.3c.1261 ◽

1965 ◽

Vol 16 (3_suppl) ◽

pp. 1261-1275 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Karl E. Weick

Keyword(s):

Social Psychology ◽

Cognitive Dissonance ◽

Important Class ◽

Thought Processes ◽

Cognitive Dissonance Theory ◽

Psychological Implication ◽

Logical Constraints ◽

Dissonance Theory

This paper explored common objections to cognitive dissonance theory, propositions within the theory that have been neglected by critics, and issues within social psychology that have been sharpened by debate over dissonance theory. It is concluded that the theory elaborates one important class of quasi-logical constraints on thought processes, psychological implication, and that dissonance research is moving beyond demonstrations to more crucial issues such as exposure to information.

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Cognitive dissonance: progress on a pivotal theory in social psychology. Edited By Eddie Harmon-Jones & Judson Mills. American Psychological Association distributed by The Eurospan Group, 1999, ISBN 1-55798-565-0

Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health ◽

10.1002/cbm.420 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 11 (S1) ◽

pp. S34-S37

Author(s):

Liz Jamieson

Keyword(s):

Social Psychology ◽

Cognitive Dissonance ◽

American Psychological Association ◽

American Psychological

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Cognitive Dissonance in the Professional Activity of an Accountant

Auditor ◽

10.12737/1998-0701-2021-7-8-49-54 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (8) ◽

pp. 49-54

Author(s):

N. Mislavskaya

Keyword(s):

Social Psychology ◽

Cognitive Dissonance ◽

Professional Community ◽

Professional Behavior ◽

Professional Activity ◽

Knowledge Based ◽

Methodological Component

Th e article focuses on the issue of increasing the activity of members of the professional community in the field of accounting science and practice regarding the methodological component of accounting knowledge. Based on the fundamental approaches of the logic of scientifi c research and the postulates of social psychology, the author identifi es the problem and comes to the conclusion that there is a psychological background to the professional behavior of colleagues, as a result, a contradiction is revealed between the true attitude of accountants to the ongoing reformation changes and their publicly expressed position. Th e very awareness of the causes of what is happening is an indispensable condition for restoring the atmosphere of free scientifi c and practical discussions.

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