Exam 6: The Need to Justify Our Actions: the Costs and Benefits of Dissonance Reduction

Based on research by Aronson and Carlsmith (1963)in which children were threatened with either mild or severe punishment for playing with a forbidden toy,which of the following situations would make a child most want to play with a toy?

The Pattersons bought their TV from a store with a thirty-day return policy,and the Stevensons bought the same TV from a different store with a policy that "All Sales Are Final!" Based on what the text reports about cognitive dissonance,which family is more likely to be satisfied with their TV?

According to Thomas Friedman's explanation of the September 11^th bombings (presented in your textbook),the events of September 11^th occurred because young Muslims perceive Islam to be superior,yet Christian and Jewish countries are advancing in many areas.In essence,these men are acting based on

According to the authors of your text,using ____ rewards or punishments leads to longer lasting attitude change than using ____ rewards or punishments.

Imagine you are about to take a very important exam that could impact your future.A friend asks you how disappointed you think you would be if you found out you did not perform very well on the exam.According to the idea of impact bias,how would your prediction likely match up with your actual reaction?

Who is most likely to convince him- or herself that he or she believes in the behavior he or she is performing?

A tobacco grower says,"I'm not the only one growing it.If I stop,someone else will be there." Assuming that the man was experiencing dissonance from the fact that he was making his living from a crop that is bad for people's health,he appears to be reducing this dissonance by

Recall that participants in an experiment conducted by Eddie Harmon-Jones and his colleagues (1996)wrote down false (positive)opinions about a foul-tasting soft drink.After writing down how good it tasted,they then threw the paper away.Compared to a control group,participants who wrote down false opinions later came to believe that the drink actually tasted pretty good.These results are noteworthy because counterattitudinal advocacy yielded attitude change,even

A Japanese psychologist by the name of Sakai observed participants partaking in dissonance-reducing behaviors.Sakai also had a fellow group member of the participant observe the dissonance reducing behavior. The observer then indicated how enjoyable he or she thought a boring task was.Results indicated that

Chloe debated for a long time about whether to take a psychology or a sociology course,both of which looked interesting.She finally chose the psychology course.Now,because she is experiencing ____,she raves about the psychology course to her friends.

Imagine you are watching a debate between two presidential candidates.You prefer Candidate A and dislike Candidate B.Both candidates offer strong arguments and weak arguments about Issue X.Which arguments would you be most likely to remember? Which arguments would you be most likely to forget? Is it likely that you change your opinion after having watched the debate? Why or why not?

Your friend Jamie shows you the gift she bought for her mother's birthday.It's an atrociously ugly fake marble statue of an angel,with the saccharine words "My Mother's an Angel" sloppily lettered on the bottom.Jamie asks you what you think,and because her feelings are easily hurt,to spare her,you say,"It's wonderful! Maybe I'll get one for my mom!" In this case,you ____ experience dissonance because there is ____ justification for your action.

The authors of your text present a study by Egan and his colleagues in which monkeys were given a choice between different colors of M&Ms-later,their preference for different colors of M&Ms was re-assessed.The researchers found that

Jennifer's dad wants to convince her to do her homework as soon as she gets home from school.To ensure that Jennifer actually does her homework immediately-whether or not he is there to keep an eye on her- Jennifer's dad should provide

According to your authors,threats of severe punishment ultimately teach people

Jan and Michelle would both like to ride a motorcycle.Jan's parents explicitly prohibit her from riding a motorcycle and tell her that she'll be grounded should she choose to disobey them.Michelle's parents express their concern for her safety and tell her that they would be very disappointed if she decided to take a ride.According to dissonance theory,two months after the warnings,who would be more likely to ride a motorcycle if given the opportunity?

Based on information provided by your text,external justification is to ____ as internal justification is to ____.

What is counterattitudinal advocacy? How is it related to notions of internal and external justification?

Why might researchers expect cultural differences in the extent to which individuals experience dissonance,in what arouses it,and in whether and how dissonance is reduced?

When someone dehumanizes a victim and successfully reduces dissonance in this way,this is likely to lead to