Notes on: Aronson, Elliot. 1997. “Back to the Future: Retrospective Review of Leon Festinger’s A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance”
For what it is worth here are some notes on an article I must have reviewed for one of my classes.
Aronson, Elliot. 1997. “Back to the Future: Retrospective Review of Leon Festinger’s A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance”. American Journal of Psychology 110, 1: 127-137.
Aronson proposes a revision to strengthen the theory of cognitive dissonance; he argues that dissonance is most clear when the inconsistency is between a cognition about the self and behaviour in violation of this cognition (131). Thus the individual’s “self-concept” is crucial to what is found to be inconsistent.
Zimbardo, Philip G. and Leippe, Michael R. 1991. The Psychology of Attitude Change and Social Influence. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Factors affecting the Magnitude of Dissonance:
1. “importance of each of the cognitive elements” (108)
2. “ratio of dissonant to consonant cognitions” (108)
3. “attitude-discrepant behavior” (109)
Attitude-discrepant acts highly dissonance arousing when public (115). Due to:
1. “commitment heuristic” (115)
2. “self-concept” (115)
3. “external reality anchoring” (115)
Modes of Dissonance Reduction
1. “attempting to revoke or change decisions, attitudes, or behaviors” (117)
2. “lowering the importance of the cognitions” (117)
3. “adding consonant elements to change the dissonant-to-consonant ratio” (117)
4. drugs (117)
Which path? “people take the path of least resistance” (118).
Undeniable or important (“deeply embedded in a larger network of cognitions” (118) or significant to self-image) cognitions are most resistant (118).
If both important: “cognitive restructuring” likely (119) - use all means to reduce tension - involves the most mental activity, therefore more likely to be “internalised”