4. Cognitive Dissonance and Self-Perception

does attitude shape behavior or behavior shape attitudes?
Theory of Cognitive Dissonance - most people assume that attitudes shapes behavior, but Leon Festinger showed with Dissonance Theory that it is the other way around
Cognitive Dissonance - inconsistent motivation - simultaneously hold 2 thoughts that are psychologically incompatible
e.g. Jewish Folklore - giving harassers a penny for calling him a Jew - created inconsistent motivation
e.g. Students doing boring task lied for $1 but not really for $20 - students who lied for $1 tried to convince themselves that the task was actually quite fun to reduce the dissonance, but those who lied for $20 didn't need to reduce the dissonance, they had a reason for lying - they got paid $20!
2 main prongs - the act of holding 2 incompatible thoughts creates a sense of internal discomfort (dissonance) and people try to reduce or avoid these feelings of dissonance wherever possible.
Daryl Bem developed Self Perception Theory to explain cognitive dissonance findings
Self Perception 1 - individuals come to know their own attitudes, emotions and other internal states partially by inferring them from observations of their own behavior and the circumstances in which their behavior occurs.
Self Perception 2 - to the extent that internal cues are weak, ambiguous or uninterpretable, the individual is functionally in the same position as an outside observer
e.g. students who saw themselves tell others that the task was enjoyable for only $1 inferred that they must have enjoyed the task - they behaved as an outsider

	Created by Brian Nichol over 11 years ago

Post Graduate Intro to Social Psychology Note on WEEK 2: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF-PRESENTATION AND PERSUASION, created by Brian Nichol on 18/08/2013.