Exam 6: The Need to Justify Our Actions: the Costs and Benefits of Dissonance Reduction

Over the weekend, you are going to meet your new romantic partner's parents for the first time.In particular, you want your partner's father to like you.How might you use the Ben Franklin effect to get him to like you more? Be sure you include an example.

A Japanese psychologist by the name of Sakai observed participants partaking in dissonance-reducing behaviors.Sakai also had a fellow group member of the participants observe the dissonance-reducing behavior.The observer then indicated how enjoyable he or she thought a boring task was.These results suggest that Japanese observers

Susan carefully rinses her mouth with an unpleasant-tasting mouthwash every day.One day, Susan reads an article reporting credible dental research that suggests that mouthwash is completely ineffective and that mouthwash may even be related to tooth decay.The discomfort that Susan experiences in response to this article is called

Rudy thinks that if he ever got kicked off the football team he would be depressed for months, and that his life would lose all meaning.In actuality, his response would probably not be this severe or prolonged.What is Rudy demonstrating?

Which of the following people is using an internal justification to reduce 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 you 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

In the aftermath of a dissonant behavior, people often change something about themselves as a means of reducing cognitive dissonance.This is known as

Recall that Aronson and Carlsmith (1963) told preschoolers that they were not allowed to play with a toy that the children had already rated as more attractive than other toys.Half of the children were threatened with mild punishment if they disobeyed, and the other half with severe punishment.When the experimenter left the room, none of the children played with the forbidden toy.When the experimenter returned and asked the children to rate all the toys again, those children who received

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)?

Hai has been taking expensive beta-carotene supplements for years because he believes they will reduce his risk of cancer.Hai has just learned that a well-controlled study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine showed that beta-carotene supplements do not reduce cancer risk.Hai is probably experiencing

Carla has just written out a check for $18,999 to pay for her new car.Although the salesperson had initially accepted her check, she is now told that there was a mistake and that the final total should really be $19,250.Carla writes another check to cover the difference so that she can drive out with her new car.Carla has just fallen prey to a questionable sales practice called

According to the authors of your text, what is one major danger of engaging in self-justification strategies?

The term ________ refers to a practice whereby a salesperson initially accepts a customer's offer, but then claims an error and quotes the customer a higher price.

Recall that Aronson and his colleagues asked college students either to compose a persuasive message advocating the use of condoms or to compose and deliver their message in front of a video camera.In addition, half of the participants in each group were made mindful of the times that they didn't use condoms.After completing these tasks, participants were allowed to purchase condoms at a low price.What is the significance of their findings from this experiment? They demonstrated that

Recall that Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) paid participants either $1 or $20 to tell someone else that a tedious, boring task was really interesting.Participants paid ________ modified their original attitudes because they had ________ for lying.

If you wanted to make use of the concept of insufficient punishment, how would you discipline your child when she's misbehaving? Give the child a stern look and tell her

Your friend Jamie shows you the gift she bought for her mother's birthday.It's an atrociously ugly fake marble statue of an angel, with the saccharine words "My Mother's an Angel" sloppily lettered on the bottom.Jamie asks you what you think, and because her feelings are easily hurt, to spare her, you say, "It's wonderful! Maybe I'll get one for my mom!" In this case, you ________ experience dissonance because there is sufficient ________ justification for your action.

In an experiment by Takaku (2006) on road rage, when drivers went through a driving simulation in which they accidentally cut off another driver, and then were cut off themselves, they were quicker to

Misaki feels terrible after just failing an exam in Spanish class.Now, in chemistry class, her lab partner just left the answers to the homework open on her desk while she steps into the hall to take a phone call.How is Misaki likely to behave?

Recall that in experiments presented in your text (Leippe & Eisenstadt, 1994; 1998), when white participants experienced dissonance after writing essays in favor of doubling scholarship funds for minority students, how did many of them relieve the dissonance?