Download Cognitive Dissonance and Obedience

CHS AP Psychology
Unit 14: Social Psychology
Essential Task 12-2: Discuss attitude
formation and how attitudes change with
specific attention to schema, primacy
effect, cognitive dissonance and the
central and peripheral routes to
persuasion.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• (Leon Festinger 1957)
• Occurs whenever a person has two
contradictory cognitions or beliefs at
the same time. They are dissonant,
each one implies the opposite of the
other.
• The less coerced and more responsible
we feel for an action the more
dissonance. The more dissonance the
more likely we are to change our
attitude
• It creates an unpleasant cognitive
tension and the person tries to resolve
in the following ways: (see next slide)
Audience Characteristics
• Most difficult to change if
– Strong commitment to present attitude
– Attitude is shared by others
– The attitude has been held since early
childhood
• Up to a point the larger the difference
between message and audience the
more likely attitudinal change will
occur
• Low self-esteem more likely to change
Resolution of Cognitive
Dissonance
1. Sometimes changing your attitude is the
easiest way to solve this.
– Example: I am a loyal friend, but yesterday I
gossiped about my friend Chris . . . Well I can’t
change my action . . . but I don’t want to
change my view of myself, so my attitude about
Chris must be wrong. He is more of an
acquaintance than a friend.
2. Increase the number of consonant
elements – the number of thoughts that
back one side.
– It was awesome gossip
3. Reduce the importance of one or both of
the sides
–
The person I gossiped with won’t really tell that
many people.
Obedience and Conformity
• Sometimes we experience Cognitive
Dissonance when we feel we have to
obey something in which we do not
necessarily believe.
• Milgram’s Obedience Study
– What would it look like if done today?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnYUl6wlBF4
– Take notes on the video in whichever format you
choose
After the Video Clip…
Respond on the back of your notes:
a)What conditions influenced
participants to obey?
b)What elements are present in your
own life that encourage obedience?
c)What are the implications of Milgram’s
findings? As a student? A citizen? Other
roles?
Asch’s Experiment
• People, 35% of the time, will conform
to incorrect answers if other people in
the group do as well.
• WHY?
• Informational Social Influence: The
influence other people have on us
because we want to be right.
• Normative Social Influence: The
influence others have on us because
we want them to like us.
Outside the Class Experiment
• Another one of Milgram’s studies was
to have a small group of people look
up at the sky.
– He wanted to see how many other
people would be willing to look.
• Try this outside the class sometime
before class tomorrow.
• Report back and tell me how it went!