Social Psychology

Running Head: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 1

Social Psychology Assignment

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SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2

Introduction

Psychology is an interesting study mainly because it aids in explaining the formations

of human behaviour. Human beings are prone to behaving in a specific way when they have

been exposed to certain situations. People’s thoughts, behaviours, and feelings are controlled

or influenced by the implied, actual or imagined presence of other human beings. Being

creatures whose actions are determined by reflection, human beings are influenced

by numerous variables around them that are responsible for the making of decisions. It

is important to discover the reasons why human beings react in a specific way and through

psychology, interpersonal relationships are examined in a closer and deeper way. Theories

that surround and help in explaining human behaviour are frequent, particularly those that

apply to social phenomena. This essay explores social psychology by focus and analysis on

cognitive dissonance. It is a theory in psychology that tends to explain the behaviour of

human beings through their cognitive self. When individuals feel that a certain action has

gone against their beliefs or attitudes, they are bound to change that action (Festinger,

1957). In case there is dissonance in terms of behaviour or attitudes, there has to be a change

that will aid in eliminating the dissonance. The production of a feeling that is not

comfortable creates an alteration of beliefs and attitudes that help in reducing

the discomfort felt (Girandola, 2010). Below are two personal experiences that have a

relation to cognitive dissonance theory.

I am an individual who likes and loves helping others out particularly if they

cannot help themselves. I am a benevolent individual in nature and this is deep within me as

most times I am in a situation to help an individual, I do help them. A friend of mine earlier

on came and asked for my help in the form of monetary aid. I did not think much about it and

instead stretched out my hand and gave the aid needed. I like maintaining and managing my

finance which is why I like saving. It was because of this that I did have money I could spare

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and help out a friend. Later on, the same friend came back later and asked for an additional

sum, which coincided perfectly with the fact that I had some money saved up. The funding

that I had saved up was nearly finished but I still went ahead to help him. He came back at

a later time and asked for another sum, and considering he had not yet paid off the former

two amounts even after providing ample time, I went against my beliefs and

did not offer my help. I felt uncomfortable since I did not offer my help to my friend and

this affected me because I felt guilty for not offering my help. I am an individual

who believes in helping other people because I believe it brings and attracts more

blessings. I later came to learn that my friend was going through a crisis and at the time there

was no one else he could turn to. That made me feel more uncomfortable which led me to

forsake the initial debt that he had and granted him an additional amount to help him deal

with his crisis.

Later on, another incident occurred to me; I believe in treating people in a manner that

is respectful and polite. At one time, I was having a really bad day and nearly everyone

who I came into contact with bore the brunt. I responded to people rudely and with little

concern to their feelings. At times, I would passively aggressively respond to them with little

regard to their feelings. One might think that this did help in reducing the pressure that had

built in added to the frustration but it only increased the pressure and frustration. What I did

not realize was that the individuals I was responding rudely to were people who just like me

may have had their own frustrations and were probably having a day that was worse than

mine. After re-evaluation, I decided that this was not supposed to be my response

or my attitude towards people. I embarked on doing the exact opposite and made a decision

to portray kindness in each situation regardless of how my day or week was going

and regardless of the person I was addressing. I made a conscious decision to be kind to

everyone I met, and it did have an amazing difference. It provided me with a better

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day than I had initially and allowed me to have a better closing for the day. This was a step

towards a transformation and it allowed me to appreciate other people.

Cognitive dissonance is a situation where there are conflicting beliefs, behaviours

or beliefs (Girandola, 2010). This is a theory that best explains the two experiences

mentioned above as they share a similarity in presence of conflicting beliefs and

attitudes. Feelings of discomfort were felt in both instances and this was due to the effect of

alterations in either behaviour or attitude or both. According to research conducted, people do

tend to look for consistency in their perceptions and beliefs (Festinger & Carlsmith,

1959). The problem comes in when one of the beliefs contradicts another belief that was held

previously. In the first instance, there was a belief or attitude of helping people who are in

need. That was a belief that was held previously and after the action; not helping a friend who

needed help occurred, there was a feeling of cognitive dissonance. Feelings

of discomfort result when an individual is holding two beliefs that are

conflicting. Author Festinger who has written a piece of literature by the title, “A theory

of cognitive dissonance” explains that cognitive dissonance is a tendency through which

people seek for consistency amongst their attitudes or beliefs (Festinger,

1957). Festinger suggests through experiment that human beings do hold on to an inner drive

that aids in preventing disharmony. This is defined as the cognitive consistency principle

which was proved by Festinger when he conducted an experiment based on observations

from the study of a group that believed in a premonition that did not come to pass.

Festinger used observation as his main methodology, and it went on to provide

evidence of the existence of cognitive dissonance amongst the cult members (Festinger,

1957). The events in the experiment do match up the conditions that are supposed to be

present for cognitive dissonance to occur. Festinger did discover that individuals tend

to seek consistency amongst their actions, as when the belief did not come to pass, some of

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them might have attributed it to sheer experience while those who considered themselves as

staunch might have found another explanation as to why it did not happen to reaffirm

their belief. According to research, cognitive dissonance can be corrected through the

application of a remedy which involves the elimination of the dissonance that has

occurred (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959). According to the theory, the experienced tension and

discomfort are as a result of a mismatch of the behaviour, which in this case is failing to aid

my friend against the belief of helping individuals who are in need, yet I was in a position to

aid them. In the other experience, there was the occurrence of cognitive dissonance

when the belief of treating people kindly and politely was conflicted when the behaviour

conducted was the opposite of the attitude. The above experiences have the ability

to support the existence of cognitive dissonance as there has been conflicting attitudes

and beliefs in both experiences. Inner or internal consistency is one of a key goal in the

existence of cognitive dissonance as it provides a balance of the normal activities of an

individual. Beliefs that are conflicting or have a form of inconsistency lead to disharmony

which is what people try to avoid in the first place (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959). According

to the theory, people tend to seek cognitions that are consistent, and they take various steps to

remove the conflicting dissonance (Girandola, 2010).

In the first experience, this involved the re-evaluation of the behaviour that had

occurred and how it had forsaken a belief. After conducting this behaviour, there was the

guilt that was felt at the moment. This was followed by use of a positive form of behaviour to

reduce or eliminate the dissonance that caused the imbalance. In the second experience,

the behaviour of shouting and being disrespectful to others due to having a bad day prompted

the feelings of guilt when it went against the attitude of belief of treating people kindly and

politely regardless of the situation. Both experiences have managed to provide sufficient

evidence of this. According to research, people reduce dissonance through the change of

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 6

behaviour which in this case was started by making various decisions (Girandola, 2010). In

the first experience, the decision that was made was to forget the initial debt that was owed

and provide aid to a friend who was in dire need of help. This resulted in a positive feeling

which provided for the harmony or balance that initially lacked. In the second experience, the

decision that was reached was to treat other people politely and kindly regardless of the

situation. This resulted in the balance being achieved as it made the dissonance factor become

a non-factor (Festinger, 1957). Mental manoeuvres are implemented as dealing with

cognitive dissonance requires behaviour to be changed. One of the major ways through which

this can be achieved is the change in behaviour. The chosen alternative is increased while

the alternative that has been rejected is decreased. Once this happens, there is a situation that

can be referred to as a separation of the variables or the alternatives. Dissonance and decision

making are conjoined together because one does influence the other (Festinger & Carlsmith,

1959).

Carlsmith & Festinger, authors of the piece of literature, “Cognitive consequences of

forced compliance” indicate that social comparison is a major driver with regards to cognitive

dissonance (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959). Individuals try to search for images that are on the

outside that help them in evaluating themselves in terms of abilities and opinions. These

images are presented by other people which results in comparisons. Research conducted

by Carlsmith and Festinger through a lab test where individuals were asked to conduct

various tasks that were deemed boring revealed that the human mind can be subject to change

in decisions once an incentive has been introduced. The experiment involved different groups

that were used to test cognitive dissonance theory and they each presented different

results. One control group that was exposed to behaviour that conflicted with their attitude or

belief showed evidence of cognitive dissonance while the other did not because there was

nothing that was contradicting their decisions. The participants in the experiment were

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supposed to conduct various tasks that were deemed boring, with the control group not

getting paid while the other group being paid to tell other participants that the activity was

fun and enjoyable. Evidence showed that individuals who were provided with more incentive

in the form of more money were more likely to tell others that the activities were fun

compared to those who were given little or no incentive (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959).

Conclusion

Theory of cognitive dissonance does exist in the above experiences and it shows that

when individuals are subjected to situations that are conflicting to their beliefs or attitudes,

they experience cognitive dissonance to try and maintain a balance that is healthy.

The dissonance theory does prove to be one that is resilient and in any context is very useful

as it explains human behaviour. In addition to research, there are three main assumptions that

can be reached when talking about cognitive dissonance. They include the fact that human

beings have a sensitive aspect when it comes to inconsistencies that happen between beliefs

and actions. The other is that when dissonance is experienced, there are ways through which

it can be corrected such as the change of beliefs, change of the action perception

and action change. Lastly, the recognition of any inconsistency leads to dissonance which

will lead to motivation to resolve the imbalance.

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References

Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance, Evanston, IL: Row & Peterson.

Festinger, L. & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance.

Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58, 203 – 210.

Girandola, F. (2010). Double Forced Compliance and Cognitive Dissonance Theory. Journal

of Social Psychology. Volume 137, 1997.

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