Cognitive Dissonance

Using Cognitive Dissonance to Encourage Water Conservation] ... CHRIS ANN DICKERSON Graduate School of Public Policy University of California at Berkeley ... RUTH THIBODEAU, ELLIOT ARONSON,' AND DAYNA MILLER University of California at Santa Cruz

This article provides an early account to document Swedens strategy to the COVID-19 pandemic and critically examines the countrys crisis response during the first six months of 2020. Sweden stood out internationally with a hands-off approach that gained much attention. Schools remained open, no lock-downs were underaken, no face masks reccommended, even in care homes, and testing-tracing-isolation was very limited. Although Swedens death rate per million was among the seven highest in the world during the period, there was no change in strategy. The article employs concepts to analyse and understand this peculiar approach and the secutity culture and political culture underpinning it. It uncovers deeper systemic defects and a breakdown in the state functions accom-panyied by secrecy and cover-ups, as well as a totalitarian element in the political culture.

Stimuli that resemble humans, but are not perfectly human-like, are disliked compared to distinctly human and non-human stimuli. Accounts of this "Uncanny Valley" effect often focus on how changes in human resemblance can evoke different emotional responses. We present an alternate account based on the novel hypothesis that the Uncanny Valley is not directly related to 'human-likeness' per se, but instead reflects a more general form of stimulus devaluation that occurs when inhibition is triggered to resolve conflict between competing stimulus-related representations. We consider existing support for this inhibitory-devaluation hypothesis and further assess its feasibility through tests of two corresponding predictions that arise from the link between conflict-resolving inhibition and aversive response: (1) that the pronounced disliking of Uncanny-type stimuli will occur for any image that strongly activates multiple competing stimulus representations, even in the ...

In diesem Aufsatz wird untersucht, wie Tiernutzung und Fleischkonsum zu einer umstrittenen Praxis werden konnten. Erst eine Analyse der Genese dieser moralischen Problematisierung ermöglicht ein Verständnis der komplexen soziokulturellen Hintergründe jener Dissonanz, die in der Sozialpsychologie unter dem Schlagwort des »Fleischparadoxes« untersucht wird. Die Geschichte dieser Problematisierung wird in vier Schritten nachvollzogen: 1) Zunächst wird argumentiert, dass das Auftreten des Paradoxes vor dem Hintergrund von Spannungen und Verschiebungen innerhalb des spezifisch modernen Diskurses über die Mensch-Tier-Differenz verstanden werden muss. Im Anschluss an Philippe Descola wird gezeigt, dass das Fleischparadox keinen grundsätzlichen ontologischen Bruch anzeigt, sondern mit sich verschärfenden Konflikten innerhalb der modernen naturalistischen Weltsicht einhergeht. Ergänzt wird dies durch Argumente Gesa Lindemanns, die auf den konstitutiven wie umkämpften Stellenwert der Tier-Mensch-Grenze für die Konzeption sowohl des modernen Individuums als auch der modernen Rechts-, Moral- und Gewaltordnung verweist. 2) In einem zweiten Schritt werden die zunehmenden Spannungen an der Tier-Mensch-Grenze mit Norbert Eliasʼ Theorie des Zivilisationsprozesses verknüpft. Eine solche Verknüpfung hat den Vorteil, dass die Veränderungen im Mensch-Tier-Verhältnis auf ein breites Spektrum historischer makro- und mikrosozialer Transformationen zurückgeführt werden können. Mit Elias lässt sich die wachsende affektive Aversion gegenüber Gewalt im Allgemeinen, aber auch die Verlagerung der Fleischproduktion »hinter die Kulissen« verstehen. Zugleich kann durch die Verortung der Zivilisationsdynamik in einem spezifischen sozialontologischen Rahmen der im Hinblick auf Elias vorgebrachte Ethnozentrismusvorwurf umgangen werden. 3) In einem dritten Schritt werden Transformationen der Wirtschaftsstruktur und die mit ihnen verbundenen Veränderungen der Kontaktmuster zwischen Menschen und Tieren betrachtet. Im Zuge von Urbanisierung und Industrialisierung ging der Kontakt zu Nutz- und Wildtieren für viele Menschen deutlich zurück, während sich parallel die Heimtierhaltung verbreitete. Im Verein mit einem generellen Wandel des Naturverhältnisses ermöglichte dieser Prozess eine zuvor ungekannte Sensibilisierung gegenüber Tierleid. 4) Das Aufkommen der Tierschutz-, später auch der Tierrechtsbewegung, sowie von vegetarischen und veganen Lebensstilen kann schließlich als ein Ausdruck der ontologischen Spannungen und der wachsenden Sensibilisierung gegenüber Gewalt und Tierleid interpretiert werden, der jedoch nur durch Vorstellungen gesellschaftlicher Veränderbarkeit und politischer Gestaltbarkeit sowie durch die Entstehung demokratischer Öffentlichkeiten möglich wurde. Nach ihrer Konstituierung und organisationalen Verankerung konnten diese Protest- und Lebensstilbewegungen dann selbst Motor einer weiteren Sensibilisierung und Problematisierung von Tierleid und Fleischkonsum werden.

En el marco de la Pasantía en Escuelas Especiales del área, docentes y estudiantes atendemos niños, niñas y adolescentes derivados por la institución educativa. Se busca que los estudiantes tengan un acercamiento a la psicopatología que presenta esta población, en el marco de una práctica supervisada. Por otra parte los docentes, atendemos aquellos niños que por diferentes motivos no han tenido una atención regular y para los cuales la Institución requiere una orientación por parte de los técnicos. Muchas veces la derivación se produce a punto de partida de la percepción por parte del maestro o director de que estos niños “no son para esta escuela”, sensación que suele ser compartida por los estudiantes al inicio de las pasantías. Presentamos este caso clínico con el objetivo de ilustrar el trabajo que realizamos en este marco y reflexionar sobre las complejidades propias de la clínica con niños en instituciones hoy.

Nos invitamos a pensar la pregunta ¿Qué es lo que desconcierta en estos niños que no parece encontrar un lugar en las instituciones educativas?, ¿qué surge del encuentro en el campo clínico con cuadros que desbordan las categorías psicopatológicas clásicas y requieren de abordajes e intervenciones más integrales que den cuenta de la complejidad del sujeto que viene (o es enviado) a nuestro encuentro?

Palabras Clave:
Discapacidad Intelectual – Escuelas Especiales – Psicopatología infantil

Aim:  To estimate the prevalence of tobacco smoking among physiotherapy and nursing students at the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain and to describe their perceptions, attitude and behaviour towards smoking and towards the Spanish Smoking Prevention Act.Background:  Active smoking is the first avoidable cause of death in the world while passive smoking is the third. The tobacco epidemic kills 5.4 million people a year from lung cancer, heart disease and other related illnesses. In Europe, around one-third of the Community population are smokers, with about 650 000 smoking-related deaths per year in the Community. In Spain, 56 000 people a year are estimated to die from tobacco-related illnesses.Method:  An observational, cross-sectional, descriptive study, with a sample of 345 out of 645 students (53.5% participation rate) who completed an anonymous, self-administered, standardized survey devised by the World Health Organization.Findings:  The study revealed a 26.1% prevalence of tobacco smoking (26.9% among women and 22.6% among men), which is similar to percentages of students at other Spanish universities. Smokers and non-smokers reported many differences in attitude and behaviour, some of which have potential repercussions in their career, such as in estimating the harmful effects of tobacco smoke or the status of health professionals as role models in the society they serve.Conclusion:  The results of this study will contribute to develop an anti-smoking programme at the university and to establish smoking-prevention campaigns.

ObjectiveNegative body image, a common problem among college-age women in the United States, strongly correlates with low self-esteem, disturbed eating behavior, and eating disorders. Psychoeducational programs have inconsistently shown improvement in body image, thin-ideal internalization, eating behaviors, psychosocial functioning, and self-esteem.Negative body image, a common problem among college-age women in the United States, strongly correlates with low self-esteem, disturbed eating behavior, and eating disorders. Psychoeducational programs have inconsistently shown improvement in body image, thin-ideal internalization, eating behaviors, psychosocial functioning, and self-esteem.MethodIn the current study, college women with body image concerns (N = 84) were randomly assigned to a cognitive dissonance-based, thin-ideal internalization, single-session workshop (DTI; n = 26); a psychoeducational, healthy behavior, single-session workshop (HB; n = 24); or a wait-list control (WL; n = 34).In the current study, college women with body image concerns (N = 84) were randomly assigned to a cognitive dissonance-based, thin-ideal internalization, single-session workshop (DTI; n = 26); a psychoeducational, healthy behavior, single-session workshop (HB; n = 24); or a wait-list control (WL; n = 34).ResultsComparing baseline data with 4-week follow-up data, results indicated that both DTI and HB participants reported improvement in body image, thin-ideal internalization, and eating behaviors.Comparing baseline data with 4-week follow-up data, results indicated that both DTI and HB participants reported improvement in body image, thin-ideal internalization, and eating behaviors.DiscussionResults provide evidence that both interventions effectively reduce risk factors for eating pathology. © 2004 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 36: 376–388, 2004.Results provide evidence that both interventions effectively reduce risk factors for eating pathology. © 2004 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 36: 376–388, 2004.

With age and the onset of the elderly, people are more prone to mental disorders including feeling of loneliness, anxiety, and depression, due to numerous losses such as loss of spouse, relatives, friends, occupation, social and economic status, beliefs, etc., as well as due to the reduction of physiological functions and mobility. Accordingly, this study aims to compare the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy and spiritual therapy on cognitive dissonance and feeling loneliness in the elderly living in nursing homes. This was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest follow-up (PPF) and control group design. The statistical population consisted of all the elderly, aged from 60 to 75 years living in nursing homes of Tehran, Iran, among which Kahrizak nursing home was selected using convenience sampling method. In this way, 30 aged people (three groups of 10) with an average age of 60-75 years were selected using convenience sampling along with inclusion and exclusion criteria, and were randomly assigned into two experimental and one control groups. Participants were exposed to eight 90minute sessions (2 sessions a week) of Wells' metacognitive therapy and Boalhari's spirituality therapy. The follow-up step was conducted one month after the posttest step. Utilized to collect data were Harmon-Jones dissonance arousal reducing questioner and Dehshiri et al.'s loneliness questionnaires. Data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and Bonferroni post-hoc test in SPSS-22. The results demonstrated that both metacognitive therapy and spiritual therapy groups had a significant difference with control group in terms of the components of cognitive dissonance and feeling of loneliness in posttest and follow-up steps (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between two groups of metacognitive therapy and spiritual therapy in terms of the components of cognitive dissonance and loneliness (P>0.05). Given the findings of this study, metacognitive therapy and spiritual therapy can be effective in reducing cognitive dissonance and loneliness in the elderly.

Настоящото изследване цели да проследи връзката между когнитивния и емоционален подходи, позиционирайки ги в контекста на социалната психология с посока промяна на нагласите. Теоретичното представяне има за задача да инструментализира „потока на съзнанието“ като литературен подход за репрезентация на актуалните преживявания на личността спрямо неговото развитие, интелект и социални потребности. Приемайки, че съществуващите нагласи към дадени група отдалечават индивида от Другия, който е принадлежащ към нея. От друга страна реализирането на общуване не винаги е възможно, било то заради двустранна безинициативност заради съществуващи нагласи, било то заради невъзможността /интелектуална, социална, патологична/ на субекта, принадлежащ към дадена група. Поставянето на нагласите в условията на когнитивен дисонанс дава възможността за преформулирането на отношението към конкретен субект, който се възприема като относим към дадена категория /група/. Предното ни дава основание да допуснем, че промяната на нагласите към самия субект може да доведе до индуктивно заключение, ако не за цялата, то поне за част от групата. Фундаменталните теории за развитието позволяват да допуснем вероятното актуално възприятие по отношение на действителността на субекти в условия на невъзможност за самопрезентиране, а „потокът на съзнанието“ формула, посредством която априори по отношение на субекта реципиент, да бъдат представени възприятията му за действителността, които са постериорни за инициатора на комуникацията, но не биват активни преди и в момента на реализиране комуникацията. Посоченото дава основание да определим „потока на съзнанието“ като модел на интеракция при междуличностната комуникация.
This study aims to trace the relationship between cognitive and emotional approaches, positioning them in the context of social psychology with a change of attitude. The theoretical presentation has the task of instrumentalizing the "stream of consciousness" as a literary approach to representing the actual experiences of the person towards his development, intellect and social needs. Assuming that, existing attitudes to a particular group move away the individual from the Other that belongs to it. On the other hand, the realization of communication is not always possible, either because of the two-sided lack of initiative because of existing attitudes, or because of the impossibility (intellectual, social, pathological) of the subject belonging to a group. Setting the attitudes in cognitive dissonance gives the opportunity to reformulate the attitude towards a particular subject that is perceived as relevant to a particular category/group. The foregoing gives us a reason to assume that changing attitudes to the subject itself can lead to an inductive conclusion, if not for the whole, at least part of the group. Fundamental developmental theories allows us to talk about the current perception of the reality of subjects in a state of impossibility of self-presentation, and the "stream of consciousness" formula by which apriori to the subject recipient is represented by its perceptions of reality posteriori for the initiator of communication, but are not active before and at the time of communication. That gives us a reason to define the "stream of consciousness" as a model of interaction in interpersonal communication.

In a field experiment on water conservation, we aroused dissonance in patrons of the campus recreation facility by making them feel hypocritical about their showering habits. Using a 2 × 2 factorial design, we manipulated subjects “‘mindfulness” that they had sometimes wasted water while showering, and then varied whether they made a “public commitment” urging other people to take shorter showers. The “hypocrisy” condition-in which subjects made the public commitment after being reminded of their past behavior-was expected to be dissonance-arousing, thereby motivating subjects to increase their efforts to conserve water. The results were consistent with this reasoning. Compared to controls, subjects in the hypocrisy condition took significantly shorter showers. Subjects who were merely reminded that they had wasted water, or who only made the public commitment, did not take shorter showers than control subjects. The findings have implications for using cognitive dissonance as means of changing behavior in applied settings, especially those in which people already support the desired goal, but their behavior is not consistent with those beliefs.

What does it mean to be an American? In Europe and elsewhere, it has been the prolonged association between the populous and the land that has constructed national identities. In Scotland, there are Scots, in Poland, there are Poles, in Switzerland, there are the Swiss, and in India, there are Indians, but in the United States whose population is overwhelmingly descendants from other parts of the globe, the logic of geographic national identity does not quite suffice. So how then is identity constructed?

The monograph is divided into three distinct sections, with each building on the latter. The first section is a rudimentary but necessary examination of American History which focuses specifically on two supposedly quintessential aspects of American History: American Exceptionalism and the logic of Manifest Destiny. The central pages then attempt to unravel the source and nature of American National Identity by deconstructing the prior examination of American Exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny and through that deconstruction exposing America's intrinsic cultural dissonance. The final section deals with contemporary conflicts between American National Identity and the ongoing processes of Globalization, and how these social conflicts are further exasperating the cultural dissonance within the United States.

This monograph originated from an essay I wrote in college which several professors enjoyed, and expanded its central argument. The monograph deals with how the United States developed culturally and the development of its self-image as a nation and the consequences of that development. More specifically, the essay seeks to explain the dissonance between the egalitarian ideals, which the United States and its citizens openly profess, and the simultaneous subjugation, silencing, persecution, and the demonization of minority groups and philosophical rivals, which America and its citizens have routinely engaged in since long before the nation's founding.

The monograph utilizes several disciplines to achieve its central message, including, American history, social psychology (specifically the works of Ernst Becker and Erik Erikson), cultural studies (poststructuralism), global studies (globalization and terrorism), and sociology (anomie).

Previous studies have shown great disagreement and debate over the concept of attitude, in the attempts to define as well as measure it. There have been many theories proposed to explain attitude change process, a complex social, cognitive, behavioural process, whose ubiquity and usefulness is unimaginable – our attitudes are constantly being challenged. Research derived from attitude change has broad applicability in society from political propaganda, advertising to consumer purchase decisions. In order to improve and further the applicability, our focus must be on improving the methodological standards of studies and thus endowing greater predictive power to our theories. In this paper, some of the widely studied and accepted theories will be discussed: persuasion, reactance, mere exposure and cognitive dissonance.

While studies have consistently observed an association between pornography use and depressive symptoms, data limitations have precluded understanding the nature of this relationship. Drawing on data from a representative panel study of American adults, and building on insights from stress process theory, this article demonstrates that the connection between pornography use and depressive symptoms hinges on (1) the (in)congruence between Americans' moral beliefs about pornography and their viewing practices and (2) gender. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses reveal that American men (not women) who believe viewing pornography is always immoral but watch it anyway are more likely to experience depressive symptoms compared to others who do not report this incongruence. Results also suggest the connection between viewing pornography and depressive symptoms is bi-directional, contingent on men's moral evaluation of its use. For male porn users who morally reject it, pornography use predicts depressive symptoms at low frequencies, likely stemming from cognitive stress or dissonance. For those who do not morally reject porn, however, only viewing it at the highest frequencies is associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, which suggests reverse causation―depressed men likely view higher levels of pornography as a coping aid, especially they do not view it as immoral.

Denial of responsibility as a mode of dissonance reduction and the conditions under which it is likely to occur were explored in 3 experiments. Two experiments tested and supported the hypothesis that following a counterattitudinal behavior, participants prefer the mode of reduction made available to them first, regardless of whether it is attitude change, trivialization, or denial of responsibility. The 3rd experiment tested and supported the hypothesis that denial of responsibility reduces the negative affective state induced by dissonance. The mechanism of denial of responsibility in dissonance reduction is discussed.

This essay is slated to appear in the festschrift for Alan Culpepper in Brill's Biblical Interpretation Series (2018), Anatomies of the Gospels and Beyond, edited by Mikeal Parsons, Elizabeth Stuthers Malbon, and myself. This essay applies Cognitive-Critical Biblical Analysis to the human development of material behind the texts of Paul's writings as a complement to those who have worked on the material in front of biblical texts, as Alan Culpepper has done with Gospel traditions.

This is the Draft Table of Contents for my forthcoming book (Lexington--hopefully December 2016): Eco-Nihilism: The Philosophical Geopolitics of the Climate Change Apocalypse.

I post it here to give my readers--for whom I'm tremendously grateful--a preview of the book's themes and argument.

Clinical psychology has developed into many theories enhancing different parts or dynamics of the psyche. The common link is that these theories are all dealing with intrapsychic conflict (IPC). Yet in psychotherapy, patients may have multiple levels of conflicts which do not all refer to the same structure. Analyzing patients in the limits of one theory may be a hindrance to the patient’s development. Festinger’s Theory of Cognitive Dissonance appears as a means to concentrate on the conflict itself, when it is actual, rather than only on the personality, or personalities, within an individual. It allows the exploration, not only of multiple levels within the personality, but of the multiple levels included in a conflict, such as relational, psycho-sociological, cultural, intellectual, philosophical, spiritual, relative to survival, emotions, interactions, drives, and thus addresses conflicts that arise from daily life.

Internet pornography use (IPU) remains a controversial topic within sexual behavior research fields. Whereas some people report feeling dysregulated in their use of pornography, mental health and medical communities are divided as to whether or not IPU can be addictive. The present review seeks to examine this issue more closely, with a focus on how variables other than pornography use, such as moral disapproval and moral incongruence (i.e., feeling as if one’s behaviors and one’s values about those behaviors are misaligned) might specifically contribute to self-perceived problems around pornography use. Through an examination of recent literature, the present work reviews evidence that moral incongruence about IPU is a common phenomenon and that it is associated with outcomes relevant to current debates about pornography addiction. Specifically, moral incongruence regarding IPU appears to be associated with greater distress about IPU, greater psychological distress in general, greater reports of problems related to IPU, and greater reports of perceived addiction to IPU. The implications of this body of evidence for both clinical and research communities are discussed, and future directions for research are considered.

The purpose of this study is to discover the extent to which consumers are aware of air filling in food packaging, the extent to which deceptive packaging and slack filling – which often result from package downsizing – lead to cognitive dissonance, and the extent to which feelings of cognitive dissonance and being deceived lead consumers to engage in negative post purchase behaviours. The study analysed respondents’ reactions to a series of images of a specific product. The sample consisted of consumers of FMCG products in the UK. Five photographs served as the stimulus material. The first picture showed a well-known brand of premium chocolate in its packaging and then four further pictures each showed a plate with a different amount of chocolate on it, which represented different possible levels of package fill. Consumer expectations of pack fill were positively related to consumers’ post purchase dissonance, and higher dissonance was negatively related to repurchase intentions and positively related to both intended visible and non-visible negative post purchase behaviours, such as switching brand and telling friends to avoid the product. Furthermore, consumers with low product involvement were less likely to repurchase the brand and were more willing to engage in visible and non-visible negative behaviours. The key message from this research is that consumer post purchase dissonance is likely to damage the firm. Although firms may initially achieve increased sales through deceptive packaging and slack filling, these practices risk damaging a brand’s reputation and consumer loyalty to the brand. Firms need to strike a balance between packaging size and content, and as consumer expectations are likely to vary across different products, individual companies should engage in market research and substantive market testing.

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between impulse buying and post-purchase regret in the context of grocery products which requires low involvement. Design / Methodology/ Approach – Exploratory analysis using quantitative approach is employed. The sample is drawn from the individuals who visited Reliance Fresh and Big Baazar (two important retail chains in India). The instrument measures the constructs of post-purchase regret and the impulse buying. As grocery shopping differs from the other types of shopping, some particular variations are explored. Findings – The hypothesis tested shows that there is a positive relationship between post-purchase regret and impulse purchase. It also shows that post-purchase regret changes with the change in income. As per theory, it is expected that those individuals who are more impulsive will experience greater post-purchase regret after impulse purchase than the individuals who are less impulsive. Although the correlation coefficient between impulse buying and post-purchase regret (0.150) is significant, the magnitude is very less. The square of correlation coefficient will be less than 0.5 which indicates a weak relationship between the two. Hence this relationship may be taken as weak superseding significant correlation. Originality / Value – Grocery shopping will help us in understanding the causes and how the consumption behaviour of the population changes. This article shows that we cannot generalize consumer behaviour (without including the factors in that context) because decision making and the buying behaviour gets limited. This will show directions to make strategies for low involvement products. Also very few studies have shown how the post-purchase regret changes with the change in demographics (gender and income). Paper Type – Research Paper