Exam 7: Attitudes, Beliefs and Consistency

In general, people do not like to suffer, work hard, or make sacrifices. If and when they do these things, they want to feel that their efforts were worthwhile. Thus, even when people's efforts do not actually seem to have paid off, people will nonetheless try to convince themselves that they suffered for a good reason. This tendency is known as ____.

Research has shown that attitudes that are certain, stable, consistent, available, and based on direct experience are especially effective in predicting behavior. These attitudes best illustrate the term ____.

In a study conducted in Mauritius, young men participated in a painful religious ritual, watched other young men participate in the ritual, or sang and prayed. The young men who ____ donated the least amount to the temple.

According to cognitive dissonance theory, discrepancies between attitudes and behaviors produce ____.

If the idea of effort justification is to be believed, the best way to get people to commit to a particular group is to ____.