Rationalization is irrational and self-serving, but useful

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake Quilty-Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Dissonance Reduction

Abstract Rationalization through reduction of cognitive dissonance does not have the function of representational exchange. Instead, cognitive dissonance is part of the “psychological immune system” (Gilbert 2006; Mandelbaum 2019) and functions to protect the self-concept against evidence of incompetence, immorality, and instability. The irrational forms of attitude change that protect the self-concept in dissonance reduction are useful primarily for maintaining motivation.

Justify my love: Cognitive dissonance reduction among perpetrators of online and offline infidelity

2021 ◽  
pp. 026540752110377
Author(s):  
Cassandra Alexopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Differential Effectiveness ◽  
Online Infidelity ◽  
Ashley Madison ◽  
Site Targeting ◽  
Concept Change

A longitudinal survey study was conducted to examine which strategies for reducing cognitive dissonance were used among men engaging in infidelity. Data were collected in two waves, 1 month apart ( n time1 = 1514, n time2 = 425), from a sample of male users of Ashley Madison, a “married dating” site targeting users who are seeking to engage in infidelity. Because perpetrators of infidelity may justify their behaviors differently depending on whether they cheated in an online environment, both online and offline infidelity behaviors were considered. Results indicated that attitude change and self-concept change were positively related to online infidelity, while only self-concept change was positively related to offline infidelity, suggesting their differential effectiveness for various communication media. Self-concept change, attitude change, and denial of responsibility were negatively related to psychological discomfort and perceived negative impact at time 2, indicating their relative success for reducing negative psychological outcomes compared to other strategies such as adding consonant cognitions.

Do I Know What I’m Doing? Cognitive Dissonance and Action Identification Theory

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valérie Fointiat ◽  
Audrey Pelt
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Action Identification ◽  
Problematic Behavior ◽  
Target Behavior ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Identification Theory ◽  
High Level ◽  
Dissonance Reduction

AbstractOur main purpose was to explore hypotheses derived from the Identification of Action Theory in a particular situation that is, a dissonant situation. Thus, we varied the identification (low versus high-level) of a problematic behavior (to stop speaking for 24 hours) in the forced compliance paradigm. Two modes of dissonance reduction were presented: cognitive rationalization (classical attitude-change) and behavioral rationalization (target behavior: to stop speaking for 48 hours). As predicted, the results showed that high-level identity of action leads to cognitive rationalization whereas low-level identity leads to behavioural rationalization. Thus, participants identifying the problematic behavior at a low-level were more inclined to accept the target behavior, compared with participants identifying their problematic behavior at a higher-level. These results are of particular interest for understanding the extent to which the understanding of the discrepant act interferes with the cognitive processes of dissonance reduction.

Stories Enlarge the Experience of Self

2021 ◽  
pp. 249-265
Author(s):  
Benjamin K. Johnson ◽  
Michael D. Slater ◽  
Nathaniel A. Silver ◽  
David R. Ewoldsen
Keyword(s):  
Attitude Change ◽  
Media Use ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Life Stressors ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Expansion Mechanism ◽  
Narrative Engagement ◽  
Effects Of Media ◽  
Narrative Influence

Temporarily expanded boundaries of the self (TEBOTS) proposes underlying motivations for engaging with stories. TEBOTS points out that fundamental human drives for agency, autonomy, and connectedness are imperfectly attainable. As a result, human beings turn to transcendent experiences that offer self-expansion, especially engagement with mediated worlds and the stories and characters they provide. TEBOTS provides unique hypotheses about how the self-concept relates to the selection, processing, and effects of media entertainment. Confirmatory evidence for TEBOTS shows that threats to the self can increase responsiveness to narratives, and that effects are attributable to a boundary expansion mechanism. Recent studies demonstrate that boundary expansion during media use can facilitate positive outgroup perceptions and attitude change. The TEBOTS framework also provides testable propositions regarding the influence of life stressors such as finance, health, and relationships on narrative engagement and enjoyment, carrying potential implications for narrative influence on stressed populations.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory After 50 Years of Development

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eddie Harmon-Jones ◽  
Cindy Harmon-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
The Self ◽  
Original Version ◽  
Cognitive Dissonance Theory ◽  
Original Theory ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Dissonance Theory ◽  
Self Consistency ◽  
Theoretical Developments ◽  
Dissonance Reduction

Abstract. Research and theoretical developments on the theory of cognitive dissonance are reviewed. After considering the self-consistency, self-affirmation, and aversive consequences revisions, the authors review research that has challenged each of the revisions and that supports the original version of the theory. Then, the authors review the action-based model of dissonance, which accepts the original theory's proposal that a sufficient cognitive inconsistency causes dissonance and extends the original theory by proposing why cognitive inconsistency prompts dissonance. Finally, the authors present results from experiments examining predictions derived from the action-based model and neural processes involved in dissonance reduction.

scholarly journals Exploring Cognitive Dissonance on a Ski Mountaineering Traverse: A Personal Narrative of an Expedition to ISHINCA (5530 m) in PERU

Sports ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Melissa Hart
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Personal Narrative ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Narrative Account

Through a personal narrative account, this paper explores the nature of the author’s cognitive dissonance experienced during a traverse of a high-altitude ski mountaineering objective (Nevado Ishinca 5530 m) in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca. The author experienced psychological discomfort in the ascent and a role of self in determining a continued commitment with the ski mountaineering challenge. Distraction, trivialization, act rationalization and finally attitude change were all used in attempt to reduce negative levels of cognitive dissonance. The lack of consonant cognitions to support abandoning the climb, the notion of free choice, the role of self-concept and self-esteem values motivated continued commitment until the negative levels of arousal subsided. Through a challenging mountaineering experience, I developed a greater self-awareness of the role of commitment to an objective which could be applied to other life events and experiences.

scholarly journals Cognitive Dissonance, Ego-Involvement, and Motivated Reasoning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Explanatory Variable ◽  
Motivated Reasoning ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Persuasive Messages ◽  
Ego Involvement ◽  
Advance Research

One of the enduring topics for persuasion research is motivated reasoning, when people respond to persuasive messages in ways other than seeking to form an accurate attitude. This essay advances the position that the existing research can be synthesized using the self-concept approach to cognitive dissonance with ego-involvement added as the key explanatory variable to indicate when an issue is likely tied to the individual’s self-concept and thus potentially produce cognitive dissonance. The research on motivated reasoning is reviewed with this theoretical lens with recommendations on how to use this theory to advance research on understanding and reducing maladaptive motivated reasoning.

Dissonance and Attitude Change

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.

Public Attitudes toward Blindness

1962 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 153-158
Author(s):  
Martin Whiteman ◽  
Irving F. Lukoff
Keyword(s):  
Attitude Change ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Personal Values ◽  
The Self ◽  
Differential Sensitivity ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Blind Person ◽  
Major Emphasis

By way of summary—this paper has been concerned with a number of problems related to public attitudes toward blindness. A major emphasis has been upon attitudinal components—upon their description, their mediation by different personal values, and their differential sensitivity to methods of attitude change. A second emphasis has been upon tracing through the workings of such introjected attitudes upon the self-concept of the blind person, upon his own attitudes toward the sighted, and upon the degree to which he has obtained independence in his mode of travel, in his work, and in daily activities.

Self-Esteem, Trivialization, and Attitude Change

2006 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 221-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Amélie Martinie ◽  
Valérie Fointiat
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
The Self ◽  
Experimental Phase ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Order Of Presentation ◽  
Self Consistency

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between trivialization and self-esteem. Low-self-esteem participants were expected to reduce cognitive dissonance by trivialization. In this experiment, dissonance was aroused by having participants write a counter-attitudinal essay. In the post-experimental phase, both the participants’ attitude and trivialization were measured. The order of presentation of the variables was manipulated (attitude first vs. trivialization first). The results showed that participants with low self-esteem did not change their attitude and trivialized. These results limit the scope of the self-consistency view proposing that only participants with high self-esteem feel dissonance.

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