Cognitive dissonance: Definition, effects, and examples

Third, people are likely to prefer to attain their desired ends in ways that satisfy multiple motives. For example, a person who is the perpetrator versus a third-party observer of an injustice might want to maintain BJW while avoiding feelings of guilt or social censure (see Chaikin & Darley, 1973). Derogating the victim of injustice could serve both motives better than some other strategies, such as compensating the victim. The use of the Internet offers the additional benefit of enabling both a universal and targeted program as initial activities can include screening for risk factors and tailoring the subsequent content. For example, ‘Student Bodies’ is an 8-week psycho-educational eating disorder prevention program that was developed in the United States and trialed among female adolescents (mean age 15.1 years) and their parents.

It is important for managers to understand that this can happen despite rewards for high performance. The effort-performance expectancy, abbreviated E1, is the perceived https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/cognitive-dissonance-treatment-in-sober-living/ probability that effort will lead to performance (or E ➨ P). Performance here means anything from doing well on an exam to assembling 100 toasters a day at work.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory Quiz – Teste dein Wissen

At around the same time as consistency theories were proliferating, another family of theories, rooted in neo-analytic ideas of ego-defense (Freud, 1967; Horney, 1945), gained popularity. By better understanding the consequences of perceived inequities in an organization, researchers and business stakeholders can identify potential factors of social conflict, and increase the degree of control that they exercise. Mather and Sutherland (2011) developed an arousal-biased competition theory to explain the inverted-U arousal–performance relationship. It suggests that arousal exhibits biases toward information that is the focus of our attention.

In terms of Hafer and Gosse’s (2010) organization of BJW-defense strategies, Warner et al.’s (2012) temporal distance variable probably influenced endorsement of different strategies through the availability principle. That is, temporal distance might have affected the availability of BJW-defense strategies that required different modes of thinking. The classic Hull–Spence drive theory emphasizes how arousal affects performance with little regard for any cognitive awareness by the individual. Also known as drive reduction theory, it postulates that human behavior could be explained by conditioning and reinforcement. There are also several theories on motivation that are used in sports and performance psychology. The core concept in understanding motivation from the performance perspective is how physiological and psychological arousal accompanies behavior.

Goal Theory

Have you ever asked a professor “What do I need to do to get an A in this course? ” If she responded “Do well on the exams,” you weren’t much better off for having asked. Goal theory says that we perform better when we have specific goals. Had your professor told you the key thrust of the course, to turn in all the problem sets, to pay close attention to the essay questions on exams, and to aim for scores in the 90s, you would have something concrete on which to build a strategy. A second result could be that our ratio is greater than the referent other’s. The third result could be that we perceive our ratio to be less than that of the referent other.

• And when people participate in the process, they tend to incorporate factors they think will make the goal more interesting, challenging, and attainable.
• Mather and Sutherland (2011) developed an arousal-biased competition theory to explain the inverted-U arousal–performance relationship.
• Competence and belongingness exemplify two psychological needs that arise from the self’s requirement for environmental mastery and warm interpersonal relationships.
• By better understanding the consequences of perceived inequities in an organization, researchers and business stakeholders can identify potential factors of social conflict, and increase the degree of control that they exercise.
• In Randi’s case, her goal achievement resulted in several benefits.

You could try to convince yourself that you’re actually not uncomfortable and that whatever action you’re feeling dissonance about is actually totally acceptable. You don’t actually feel that way, but by denying your emotions, you’re trying to reduce the dissonance. Since your attitudes and behaviors aren’t lining up, you are going to feel uncomfortable and conflicted and are going to act in ways to try to relieve that discomfort.

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It covers a broad range of motivational concepts from both human and animal theory and research, with an emphasis on the biological bases of motivation. When a sense of autonomy or the need for mastery is compromised, say because of the structure of the work environment, the employee may focus more on the sense of security or relatedness the job provides. He also observed a phenomenon that he called the frustration-regression process where when our higher needs are thwarted, we may regress to lower needs.

Perhaps the measurements they’re expected to use don’t fit their product/team/people. In time employees in equality-focused organizations develop weak E2s because no distinctions are made for differential outcomes. If the best and the worst salespeople are paid the same, in time they will both decide that it isn’t worth the extra effort to be a high performer.

We may consider a 10 percent pay increase desirable until we find out that it was the lowest raise given in our work group. Research on the effects of pay on productivity and intrinsic motivation has yielded seemingly contradictory results. It was hypothesized that the choice variable mediates these results.

Your goal of an A in Classical Mechanics at Cal Tech may not get you your A, but it may earn you a B+, which you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Difficult goals cause us to exert more effort, and this almost always results in better performance. In https://ecosoberhouse.com/ a fixed-interval schedule, a certain amount of time must pass before a behavior is reinforced. With a one-hour fixed-interval schedule, for example, a supervisor visits an employee’s workstation and reinforces the first desired behavior she sees.