TEORI DISONAN KOGNITIF/ COGNITIVE DISSONANCE THEORY

Based on the research of Leon Festinger (1957)

Objectives:

Menerangkan tentang konsep utama teoriexplain the main concepts of theory Mengenalpasti andaian2 teoriIdentify the assumptions of theory Memahami proses tekanan kognitifUnderstanding the process of cognitive

dissonance Mengaplikasi teroi dalam kehidupan harian

dan dalam penyelidikanapply the theory in everyday life and research

Main concepts Kognisi/ Cognitions:- Cara kita mengetahui, mempercayai, membuat

pertimbangan, berfikirWays of knowing, beliefs, judgments, and thought

Cognitive dissonance:- Feeling of discomfort resulting from inconsistent

attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors

Consonance relationship:- Two elements in equilibrium with each other

Dissonant relationship:- Two elements that in disequilibrium with each

other

Irrelevant relationship:- Two elements that have no meaningful relation

to each other

The process of cognitive dissonance

Inconsistent attitudes,

thoughts, and behavior

Unpleasant arousal

Feelings of disonance

change that removes

inconsistency

result in

results in

reduced by

The experience of dissonance—incompatible beliefs and actions or two incompatible beliefs—is unpleasant, and people are highly motivated to avoid it. In their efforts to avoid feelings of dissonance, people will ignore views that oppose their own, change their beliefs to match their actions (vice versa), and/or seek reassurances after making a difficult decision

Assumptions Human being desire consistency in their

beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors

Dissonance is created by psychological in consistencies

Dissonance is an aversive state that drives people to actions with measurable effects

Dissonance motivates efforts to achieve consonance and efforts toward dissonance reduction

Consistency in Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behavior

Beliefs: I have been blessed with good fortune

People who have good fortune should share with others

Attitude:I like to volunteer my time for the good of others

Behavior:I tutor at the Literacy Center twice a month

Concepts and Process of Cognitive Dissonance Magnitude of dissonance:- Quantitative amount of discomfort felt

Factors that influence magnitude of dissonance:

- 1. degree of importance – how significant the issue is

- 2. dissonance ratio – amount of consonant cognitions relative to dissonant ones

- 3. rationale – the reasoning employed to explain the inconsistency

Coping with Dissonance 1. Adding to our consonant beliefs

2. reducing the importance of our dissonant beliefs

3. changing our beliefs

4. changing our behavior

Cognitive Dissonance and Perception Theory predict: people will avoid information that increase

dissonance

Perceptual process: Selective exposure selective attention

selective interpretation selective retention

Selective exposure:Method for reducing dissonance by seeking

information that is consonant with current beliefs and actions

Selective attention:Method for reducing dissonance by paying

attention to information that is consonant with current beliefs and actions

Selective interpretation:Method for reducing dissonance by interpreting

ambigous information so that it becomes consistent with current beliefs and actions

Ingatan Terpilih/ Selective retention:Kaedah mengurangkan tekanan dengan

mengingat maklumat yang sesuai atau selari dengan nilai, kepercayaan, tindakan sendiri.

Method for reducing dissonance by remembering information that is consonant with current beliefs and actions

Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Persuasion Buyer’s remorse:- Post decision dissonance related to a purchase- The dissonance that - people often feel after deciding on large

purchase.- Eg. automobile purchase (Donnelly &

Ivancevich, 1970):- located people who were waiting for delivery of cars they had signed contracts to buy. These people divided into 2 groups. I group were contacted twice to reassure them about the wisdom of their purchase. The other group was not contacted between the contract signing and the delivery of the car.

-result: about twice as many in the group than was not contacted canceled the order

- morale: dissonance maybe activated after making a decision

Minimal Justification Offering the least amount of incentive necessary to

obtain compliance Eg. From Festinger n Carlsmith (1957) experiment:

Recruite male students to a boring, repetitive tasks: sorting into lots of twelve and giving square pegs a quarter turn to the right.

After 1 hour – experimenter ask the student to do him a favor: they need another person to continue doing the task and offered to pay the participants to recruit a woman* in the waiting room by telling her how enjoyable the task was.

Some of the men were offered 1 dollar to recruit the woman and the other were offered 20 dollar for the same behavior.

* a research assistant that help researcher examine how the men tried to persuade her.

Result: - those who received 20 dollar for recruiting the woman said that they really thought the task was boring. - 1 dollar group stated they really believed the

task was enjoyable Doing something a person does not believe in

for a minimal reward set up more dissonance than doing that same thing for a larger reward.