Where is the “D” in dissonance? 1

Bibliographic Data

ID19281304
AuthorsPeter Suedfeld (0000-0003-2563-036X, Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights), Yakov M Epstein (Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights)
Year1971
Volume39
Issue2
Pages178-188
Publication date1971-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3506 • E-ISSN: 1467-6494
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-6494.1971.tb00035.x
OpenAlexW2067182724
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited14

S ummary The experiment tested the hypothesis that cognitive dissonance has a general drive arousal component which facilitates performance on simple cognitive tasks and impairs performance on complex cognitive tasks After writing a consonant or a dissonant essay dealing with proposed changes in university parking regulations, subjects were given either a simple or a complex task (rote memory or creativity). To maximize dissonance, free choice regarding participation was deliberately emphasized, resulting in a high proportion of subjects who refused to comply with the request Data from refusers were retained and compared with data obtained from compliers Appropriate control groups were employed in order to ascertain whether the results were attributable to the process of self‐selection among complier and refuser subjects The dissonance manipulation was successful subjects who wrote dissonant essays subsequently displayed more favorable attitudes toward the parking proposal Their performance on complex cognitive tasks was not unpaired, however, nor did they perform better on simple cognitive tasks than did subjects who experienced no dissonance Subjects who refused to write dissonant essays did better on the complex task than subjects who complied in either the consonant or dissonant conditions Data from the control groups indicated that refusers did not differ from compliers in their initial attitudes toward the proposal nor in their ability to perform the complex cognitive task The results seem to be due to the facilitating effects of refusing to comply with the dissonance instructions, and suggest that the practice of eliminating subjects who refuse to comply may result in the loss of some highly informative data

Cognition · Cognitive dissonance · Cognitive psychology · Consonance and dissonance · Self-perception theory · Task (project management) · Deception detection and forensic psychology · Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation · Psychology · Social Psychology

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