Lecture 13

• Cognitive dissonance is a state of psychological discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs
• Insufficient justification: occurs when an individual engages in behavior inconsistent with their beliefs or values

  • Without a strong enough justification, leading to feelings of guilt, shame, or anxiety
• In an example given, a person is paid $1 to lie about a boring task, experiencing cognitive dissonance because they feel they should have been paid more for lying, which can be resolved by changing behavior (e.g., asking for more money) or beliefs (e.g., deciding the task was not so boring)
• Central Route to Persuasion: involves people being influenced by the strength and quality of arguments

  • when facts about that argument are presented & you use those facts to form your opinion
• The Source of a message: influences its credibility and persuasive power of one's talking

  • based on expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness (ex. Sleeper Effect)
  • you will believe info depending on who's saying it
• The Message: content, structure, and style influence persuasion

  • the way that the information is getting presented, changes what you feel about it
  • emotion induction or fear is very effective for persuasion (ex. gory pictures on cigarette package)
• Constructing a persuasive message involves considerations like:

  • making people feel good vs. scared
  • big vs. small discrepancy
  • one-sided vs. two-sided appeal
  • primacy vs. recency
• Audience plays a role in changing attitudes, while Cognitive Dissonance is discomfort from holding contradictory beliefs, motivating individuals to resolve the conflict by changing attitudes when behavior can't be taken back
• Hazing exists partly due to cognitive dissonance, as individuals justify effort and pain endured to join a group by elevating the group's value and their commitment to it
• Central Route to Persuasion: People being influenced by strength and quality of arguments
• • Peripheral Route to Persuasion: When influenced by other, non-central cues 
• Central Route to Persuasion: When people are motivated to think carefully about the issue (this might be rare)

  • Most effective when make strong arguments 
  • Weak arguments will backfire; people will counter argue
• Peripheral Route to Persuasion: When people are not motivated, or are distracted or busy

  • Most effective when include cues that people use to make decisions without a lot of thought
  • Associating the product with cool and attractive people
• Mere Exposure Effect: When individuals develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them

  • The more we see something, the more we like it 
  • This effect suggests that repeated exposure to a stimulus increases a person's liking for it
• • Three factors of any message to be considered

  1. Source: who is saying message 
  2. Message: elements of message 
  3. Audience: who is receiving message
• Source: refers to the individual or entity that is delivering the message, influencing its credibility and persuasive power based on their expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness

  Characteristics of the source influencing persuasion
• Sleeper effect (Hovland & Weiss, 1951) 

  -Reality 1: Doctor getting paid $75,000 to have patients use BirthX 

  -Reality 2: Doctor getting paid $0 to have patients use BirthX 

  • Right away: You listen to Doctor 2 and not Doctor 1 
  • 6 mos later: You listen to both a medium amount 
  • Remember the MESSAGE, forget the SOURCE
• Message: encompasses the content, structure, and style of the information being communicated, affecting its clarity, appeal, and effectiveness in persuading or informing the audience

  Characteristics of the message influencing persuasion
• Big Discrepancy: consists of messages that significantly diverge from the audience's preexisting beliefs or attitudes, which can lead to greater resistance and require more effort for the message to be persuasive or accepted

  • Exercise for 60 minutes every day 
  • Works best if it is a credible source( Eg.; Message from physiology (or other) professor)
• Small Discrepancy: messages that present information or viewpoints slightly different from the audience's existing beliefs or attitudes, facilitating easier acceptance and persuasion due to minimal resistance

  • Exercise once or twice a week 
  • Works if it is not a very credible source (Eg.; Message from a random person/friend) 
• One-Sided Appeal: present arguments that solely support the speaker's position or perspective, targeting audiences already in agreement or unaware of opposing viewpoints, effectively reinforcing existing beliefs

  • Mention only “pros” 
  • If audience already agrees with the message, and will not find out the cons, a one-sided appeal is best
• Two-Sided Appeal: acknowledge and address both the speaker's position and opposing viewpoints, enhancing credibility and persuasiveness, especially with audiences who are aware of the controversy or hold opposing views

  • Address “cons” too 
  • If audience already opposes the message, or knows the cons or will find them out, a two-sided appeal is best
• Primacy: Information presented early has more influence 

  Eg.; defense's opening statement more effective if comes before the prosecution’s
• Recency: Information presented last can sometimes overwrite information that came first 

  • Eg.; If prosecution’s testimony is one week later, then decide right away, recency wins
• • Audience: When we change our own attitudes
• Hazing: exists due to cognitive dissonance, as individuals seek to justify the effort and pain they endured to join a group by elevating the group's value and their commitment to it

  • This rationalization process helps resolve the dissonance between the negative experience of hazing and the desire to be part of the group, reinforcing the group's cohesion and the individual's loyalty
  • you find a way to excuse the hazing because you want to make it seem worth it
• Peripheral Route to Persuasion: occurs when influenced by non-central cues

  • when people are not motivated or are distracted
  • most effective when it includes cues that people use to make decisions without a lot of thought
• Cognitive Dissonance: discomfort experienced by an individuals when holding 2 or more contradictory beliefs, values, or ideas simultaneously

  • change the way you think/attitudes to make you feel better about behaviour
  • when we can't take back the behaviour, we'll change the attitude
• Prophecy from Planet Clarion Call to City: cult that was awaiting a message from planet clarion over a lot of time

  • but when everything failed when the message didn't arrive, people went even harder in their beliefs to justify all the time/effort put into the cult
• Dissonance reduction is strongest when people feel they have a choice over their behaviour

  • ex. writing essays in favour of tuition increases