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Impact of Cognitive Dissonance Northcentral University What is cognitive dissonance? Is this a hard concept to understand? For this assignment, utilize your readings for this week to critically analyze and make a determination about who makes a stronger argument (Festinger and Carlsmith or Bem) about the impact of cognitive dissonance. Explain clearly why you feel the argument is stronger (or conversely, why the other argument is weaker) and what implications this has for the cognitive dissonance literature. Is making sense of others really that important?
In the end, no really cares anyway, because it is Just ords, because the attitude and all the persuasion in the world may never change the fact that some cares or doesn’t care. (This is my personal opinion). Now, on the other hand this paper will reflect a very different opinion. By changing healthy minds and hearts, understanding the definitions of conceptual and operational and knowing how the core of social motives does exist in this instance. In true defense does the line attack a positive or negative position if one has an argument, we see it as always negative, like going to war or as an opponent in a win or lose battle.
How do human beings make decisions? What triggers a person to take action at any given point? These are all questions that I will attempt to answer with my theoretical research into Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance, as well as many of the other related theories. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) quoted the following remarks that I thought summed this up perfectly and it is said “It is important to see that we don’t just talk about arguments in terms of war. We actually win or lose arguments. We see the person we are arguing with as an opponent. We attack his positions and we defend our own. We gain and lose ground.
We plan and use strategies. If we find a position indefensible, we can abandon it and take a new line of attack. Many of the things we do in arguing are partially structured by the concept of war. ” We often do not realize the psychological events that take place in our everyday lives. It is important to take notice of theories, such as the balance theory, the congruency theory and the cognitive dissonance theory so that one’s self-persuasion occurs knowingly. As psychologist and theorist gain a better understanding ot Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory manipulation could occur more easily than it already does in today’s society.
Leon Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory is very closely related to many of the consistency theories. The first of the major consistency theories, the balance theory, was proposed by Fritz Heider (1946, 1958) and was later revised by Theodore Newcomb (1953) (Larson, 1995). Heider and Newcomb’s theory was mostly looking at the interaction between two people (interpersonally) and the conflicts that arose between them. When two people have conflicting opinions or tension is felt between another people, it is more likely persuasion will occur.
Because if no tension was felt between the two parties, or there were no conflicting pinions there would be no need to persuade each other. If you think about it persuasion occurs only because there is tension between two facts, ideas and people, and this type of expectation can develop and change and as a matter of fact might do so. This theory suggests that we want to have balance in our lives and there is a systematic way to numerically fgure it out. The use of social expectations might lead to two attitudes collide we must strive to strike a balance between the two attitudes.
The balance varies depending on the intensity we feel about each attitude and our pre-disposed positions concerning the attitude. We either have a favorable, neutral or unfavorable opinion concerning ideas. When two attitudes collide we will attempt to downgrade the favorable position and upgrade the unfavorable position so that we feel a balance we either have position or upgrade the unfavorable position so that we feel a balance. Also, a person can have a significant relapse of the argument that can cause a mental negative representation of the specific experience. Fiske, 2010) also states that people can’t always control what they think they can, it is not always automatic. Even if a favorable, neutral or unfavorable opinion concerning ideas appen and hen two attitudes collide we will attempt to downgrade the favorable. Fiske (2010) says that people seek good enough understanding in order for someone to be a good role model. Leon Festinger’s theory, unlike the others I have described, deal with quantitative aspects, as well as qualitative. That’s what is so different and revolutionary about Festinger’s theory.
Robert Wicklund and Jack Brehm (1976), in their book Perspectives on Cognitive Dissonance, write,” Most notably, the original statement of dissonance theory included propositions about the resistance-to- hange of cognitions and about the proportion of cognitions that are dissonant, both of which allowed powerful and innovative analyses of psychological situations . The term “dissonance” refers to the relation between two elements. When two elements do not fit together they are considered dissonant. Cognitive dissonance can be broken down into a number of elements.
As Brehm and Cohen (1962) write, “A dissonant relationship exists between two cognitive elements when a person possesses one which follows the obverse of another that he possesses. A person experiences dissonance, that is, a motivational tension, when he (or she) has ognitions among which there are one or more dissonant relationships” (p. 4). Cognitive dissonance can occur interpersonally as well as between two or more people. With individual cognitive dissonance the individual longs for consistency within their own mind. Second, there exists dissonance between two or more people.
This occurs when two people have differing opinions about a particular issue. This phenomenon may nave something to do witn varying degrees ot knowledge about the issue or different belief systems being enacted. An example of this can be seen by taking a look at the cultures of the West versus cultures of the East. Cultures of the East value loyalty and honor. Cultures of the West have different value systems that often collide with those of the East. Between two parties, dissonance may arise from: (1) logical inconsistency; (2) because of cultural mores: (3) because of a specific opinion; and (4) because of past experience.
To reduce cognitive dissonance a person can either reduce the dissonant cognition, or its relative importance can be reduced (Wicklund and Brehm, 1976, p. 5). Although the theory assumes that dissonance will be eliminated or reduced, only the thought about taking action to do so is a given. The means employed by any given individual to meet these ends is still open to speculation. Action taken depends solely on the many variables involved, such as ego involvement, commitment, past experiences and so on.
We all react differently to dissonant cognitions that we are confronted with. My research attempts to examine the different reactions that people have had to different opinions I have declared which involve them heavily. The area I have chosen to look at is the habits which many of my close friends engage in: smoking. This is often a difficult topic to discuss ecause it is an addictive habit and very personal to many people. Full well knowing these facts, I attempted to delve in the minds of my friends and put many of the theories afore mentioned to use in the practical world.
The theory of Cognitive Dissonance states that when individuals are presented with information that implies we act in a way that contradicts our moral standards, we experience discomfort this is considered Cognitive Dissonance, A psychological term used to describe mental conflict that occurs when beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information; arouses unease or tension; relieved by one of several defensive aneuvers: rejecting, explaining away, or avoiding new information; persuading self that no conflict really exists; reconciling differences; or resorting to any other defensive means of preserving stability or order in conception of world and of self; first introduced in 1950s; has become major point of discussion and research in psychology (as cited in Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia, 1996).
This theory was developed by Leon Festinger (1957), is concerned with the relationships among cognitions. Cognition, for the purpose of this theory, may be thought of as a piece of nowledge, thoughts, feelings, or beliefs. Knowledge may be about an attitude, an emotion, a behavior, or a value. For instance, the fact that you like the color red is cognition. People have a massive amount of cognitions at the same time, and these will receive this kind of expectation. The theory of Cognitive Dissonance states that when individuals are presented with information that implies we act in a way that contradicts our moral standards, we experience discomfort.
This is considered Cognitive Dissonance, A psychological term used to describe mental conflict that ccurs when beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information; arouses unease or tension; relieved by one of several defensive maneuvers: rejecting, explaining away, or avoiding new information; persuading self that no conflict really exists; reconciling differences; or resorting to any other defensive means of preserving stability or order in conception of world and of self; first introduced in 1950s; has become major point of discussion and research. Reterences (1999, 10). Cognitive Dissonance. StudyMode. com. Retrieved 10, 1999, from http:// www. studymode. om/essays/Cognitive-Dissonance-2174. tml Fiske, S. T. (2010). Social beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology (2nd Ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1980. Print’s in psychology (as cited in Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia, (1996). Matt-y, D. , & Arnold, T. J. (2013). A CONCEPTUAL STUDY ON POST-PARTICIPATION DISSONANCE. AMA Winter Educators’ Conference Proceedings, 24301-302. Oshikawa, S. (1968). The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance and Experimental Research. Journal of Marketing Research OMR), 5(4), 429-430. When does an unconventional form become an innovation? (2012).