Exam 6: Cognitive Dissonance and the Need to Protect Our Self-Esteem

You've recently learned that eating avocados, which you love, is bad for your health. To reduce the dissonance you experience after reading this news, you would most likely __________.

In a study of adolescent smokers, it was found that greater dependence on smoking and more difficulty in quitting was correlated with a need to have __________.

Aronson and Mills (1959) performed an experiment in which college women were invited to join a discussion group about sex. In order to join the group, participants had to undergo either a severe initiation, a mild initiation, or no initiation. Which of the following best describes this study's findings? Women who underwent __________ initiation enjoyed the discussion the __________.

Why do people often experience postdecision dissonance?

Members of the Heaven's Gate cult, who "knew" there was a spaceship following the Hale-Bopp comet, returned a perfectly good telescope they had purchased because they failed to see the spaceship they "knew" was there. Such behaviors demonstrate that __________.

When people's actions and beliefs challenge their self-worth, they experience a feeling known as __________.

According to the principle of insufficient punishment, which of the following parental techniques should be most effective in changing a child's behavior permanently (i.e., even behavior that occurs in the absence of the parent)?

When a neighbor asks if he can borrow your chemistry textbook and you do him this favor, dissonance theory would predict that you will like him more due to the Ben Franklin effect, which works because you __________.

Assume that in experiments conducted by Aronson and his colleagues, Sally was randomly assigned to write and deliver a pro-condom speech, to be shown to high school students. She also listed all the times she found it awkward or impossible to use condoms in her sexual encounters. After completing these tasks, Sally reduced her dissonance by reporting a greater willingness to use condoms in her future sexual activities. Why?

Millie spent two months deciding whether to buy a compact car or an SUV. She finally decided on the SUV. Millie mostly likely __________.

"Live fast and die young, that's what I always say," Rosie pronounces, as she stuffs down three more Ding-Dong snack cakes and opens another pint of high-fat ice cream. Rosie knows that her diet is unhealthy and harmful, of course. To reduce her dissonance, Rosie is __________.

In a study referred to in the text (Peterson, Haynes, & Olson, 2008), smokers were asked to create an anti-smoking video to be shown to high school students, invoking dissonance in the smokers. Based on other research in this chapter, how were these smokers, who particularly felt like hypocrites, most likely to behave?

After reducing postdecision dissonance, people are more likely to rate the chosen and unchosen alternatives as __________.

According to Tesser's self-evaluation maintenance theory, which of the following is NOT something you can do to reduce your dissonance?

Derek likes to bully his little brother Matt. Their mother begins to give Derek the mild punishment of a stern look every time Derek hits Matt. This is sufficient to stop Derek's bullying, and in time, Derek stops bullying Matt even when his mother is not around. According to theories of insufficient punishment, why might this happen?

The Ben Franklin effect would predict that you would most like someone __________, whereas behaviorist theories would predict that you would most like someone __________.

Two weeks after making a public statement at odds with his previous position, which politician is most likely to report to his close friends that he sticks by his most recent (contradictory) statement?

Which of the following social psychology concepts is most closely related to the idea that "saying is believing"?

Which psychologist developed the theory of cognitive dissonance?

Assume that you were a participant in the experiment conducted by Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) in which participants were paid either a large or small sum of money to tell an innocent stranger that the boring, tedious task they had just completed was really enjoyable and very interesting. Further assume that you were paid a large amount of money to tell the stranger that lie. In this situation, you would be most likely to __________.