1. Perspectives continued: Cognitive Dissonance and Habits
Module One
Perspectives continued: Cognitive Dissonance and Habits

2. Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive Dissonance Assumptions
A state of tension that occurs whenever an individual
simultaneously holds two
cognitions (ideas, attitudes,
beliefs, opinions) that are
psychologically inconsistent
with one another.
Most people are motivated to justify their own actions, beliefs, and feelings.
People are not rational beings; instead, people are rationalizing beings.
Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. Inconsistency among beliefs or behaviors will cause an uncomfortable psychological tension. The dissonance might be experienced as guilt, anger, frustration, or even embarrassment. This will lead people to change their beliefs to fit their actual behavior, rather than the other way around, as popular wisdom may suggest The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, or by justifying or rationalizing them.[2] It is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology.
A powerful cause of dissonance is an idea in conflict with a fundamental element of the self-concept, such as "I am a good person" or "I made the right decision." The anxiety that comes with the possibility of having made a bad decision can lead to rationalization, the tendency to create additional reasons or justifications to support one's choices. A person who just spent too much money on a new car might decide that the new vehicle is much less likely to break down than his or her old car. This belief may or may not be true, but it would reduce dissonance and make the person feel better

3. History
The classical version of this idea is expressed in the Aesop fable The Fox and the Grapes, in which a fox sees some high-hanging grapes and wishes to eat them. Unable to think of a way to reach them, he surmises that the grapes are probably not worth eating anyway (that they are not yet ripe or that they are too sour). The dissonance of the desire for something unattainable versus the lack of fulfillment is reduced by irrationally deciding that the grapes must be flawed.
This illustrates an example of cognitive dissonance: desiring something, then criticizing it because it proves unattainable.
The most famous case in the early study of cognitive dissonance was described by Leon Festinger and others in the book When Prophecy Fails.[3] 3

4. "Prophecy from planet Clarion call to city: flee that flood."
"Marian Keech“ - given messages in her house
Failed prophesy dissonance
Dissonance need for social support
The most well known and documented case of dissonance was recorded by Leon Festinger and his associates in Festinger read an interesting item in their local newspaper headlined "Prophecy from planet Clarion call to city: flee that flood.“ They were so interested, in fact, that they actually infultrated the group and observed their behavior. A housewife from Michigan, given the name "Marian Keech" in Festinger’s book, had mysteriously been given messages in her house in the form of "automatic writing" from alien beings on the planet Clarion. These messages revealed that the world would end in a great flood before dawn on December 21, The group of believers, headed by Keech, had taken strong behavioral steps to indicate their degree of commitment to the belief. They had left jobs, college, and spouses, and had given away money and possessions to prepare for their departure on the flying saucer, which was to rescue the group of true believers.
Festinger and his colleagues saw this as a case that would lead to the arousal of dissonance when the prophecy failed. Altering the belief would be difficult, as Keech and her group were committed at considerable expense to maintain it. Another option would be to enlist social support for their belief. As Festinger wrote, "If more and more people can be persuaded that the system of belief is correct, then clearly it must after all be correct." In this case, if Keech could add consonant elements (consonant being the opposite of dissonant thoughts here) by converting others to the basic premise, then the magnitude of her dissonance following disconfirmation would be reduced. Festinger and his colleagues predicted that the inevitable disconfirmation would be followed by an enthusiastic effort at proselytizing to seek social support and lessen the pain of disconfirmation.
[edit] Sequence of events
Festinger and his colleagues infiltrated Mrs. Keech's group and reported the following sequence of events:[2]
Prior to December 20. The group shuns publicity. Interviews are given only grudgingly. Access to Keech's house is only provided to those who can convince the group that they are true believers. The group evolves a belief system—provided by the automatic writing from the planet Clarion—to explain the details of the cataclysm, the reason for its occurrence, and the manner in which the group would be saved from the disaster.
December 20. The group expects a visitor from outer space to call upon them at midnight and to escort them to a waiting spacecraft. As instructed, the group goes to great lengths to remove all metallic items from their persons. As midnight approaches, zippers, bra straps, and other objects are discarded. The group waits.
12:05 A.M., December 21. No visitor. Someone in the group notices that another clock in the room shows 11:55. The group agrees that it is not yet midnight.
12:10 A.M. The second clock strikes midnight. Still no visitor. The group sits in stunned silence. The cataclysm itself is no more than seven hours away.
4:00 A.M. The group has been sitting in stunned silence. A few attempts at finding explanations have failed. Keech begins to cry.
4:45 A.M. Another message by automatic writing is sent to Keech. It states, in effect, that the God of Earth has decided to spare the planet from destruction. The cataclysm has been called off: "The little group, sitting all night long, had spread so much light that God had saved the world from destruction."
Afternoon, December 21. Newspapers are called; interviews are sought. In a reversal of its previous distaste for publicity, the group begins an urgent campaign to spread its message to as broad an audience as possible. 4

5. Types of Experiments Boring Task
turning pegs a quarter turn, over and over again
Recruit other participants
$ vs $7.00
those in the $7 group rated task more positively
When paid only $7, students were forced to internalize the attitude
Boring task experiment
In Festinger and Carlsmith's classic 1959 experiment, students were asked to spend an hour on boring and tedious tasks (e.g., turning pegs a quarter turn, over and over again). The tasks were designed to generate a strong, negative attitude. Once the subjects had done this, the experimenters asked some of them to do a simple favor. They were asked to talk to another subject (actually an actor) and persuade them that the tasks were interesting and engaging. Some participants were paid $20 (inflation adjusted to 2009, this equates to $148.40) for this favor, another group was paid $1 (or $7.42 in "2009 dollars"), and a control group was not asked to perform the favor.
When asked to rate the boring tasks at the conclusion of the study (not in the presence of the other "subject"), those in the $1 group rated them more positively than those in the $20 and control groups. This was explained by Festinger and Carlsmith as evidence for cognitive dissonance. The researchers theorized that people experienced dissonance between the conflicting cognitions, "I told someone that the task was interesting", and "I actually found it boring." When paid only $1, students were forced to internalize the attitude they were induced to express, because they had no other justification. Those in the $20 condition, however, had an obvious external justification for their behavior, and thus experienced less dissonance.[9]
In subsequent experiments, an alternative method of "inducing dissonance" has become common. In this research, experimenters use counter-attitudinal essay-writing, in which people are paid varying amounts of money (e.g. $1 or $10) for writing essays expressing opinions contrary to their own. People paid only a small amount of money have less justification for their inconsistency and tend to experience more dissonance. 5

6. Types of Experiments Post decision Dissonance Rate appliances
Choose one
participants increased their ratings of the item they chose, and lowered their ratings of the rejected item
Reduces the dissonance between the thought that I choose X, but Y has great qualities, too.
Post-decision dissonance
In a different type of experiment conducted by Jack Brehm, 225 female students rated a series of common appliances and were then allowed to choose one of two appliances to take home as a gift. A second round of ratings showed that the participants increased their ratings of the item they chose, and lowered their ratings of the rejected item.[11] This can be explained in terms of cognitive dissonance. When making a difficult decision, there are always aspects of the rejected choice that one finds appealing and these features are dissonant with choosing something else. In other words, the cognition, "I chose X" is dissonant with the cognition, 6

7. Dissonance Arousing Situation
Cognitive Dissonance
Dissonance Arousing Situation
New cognition or behavior implies the opposite of an old cognition (i.e., old belief).
Counter-attitudinal cognition or behavior must produce aversive consequences.
Person must accept personal responsibility for those aversive consequences.
Coping Strategies
Remove the dissonant belief
Reduce the importance of the dissonant belief
Add a new consonant belief
Increase the important of the consonant belief
A powerful cause of dissonance is an idea in conflict with a fundamental element of the self-concept, such as "I am a good person" or "I made the right decision." The anxiety that comes with the possibility of having made a bad decision can lead to rationalization, the tendency to create additional reasons or justifications to support one's choices. A person who just spent too much money on a new car might decide that the new vehicle is much less likely to break down than his or her old car. This belief may or may not be true, but it would reduce dissonance and make the person feel better. Dissonance can also lead to confirmation bias, the denial of disconfirming evidence, and other ego defense mechanisms. 7

8. Removing the Dissonance (cont’d)

9. Motivational Processes Underlying Cognitive dissonance
Choice causing post decision regret
Resolve:
Devalue the NOT chosen alternative and heighten the value of the Chosen
We are often asked to choose between 2 alternatives. Sometimes the choice is easy, as when one choice is far more attractive than the other (for example, do you want fresh or rotten strawberries?). Other times though, the choice becomes difficult, as both choices offer advantages and disadvantages (for example, do you want the extremely sporty, but gas guzzling Ford Mustang, or do you want the tech savvy, feul efficient, but slightly yuppie Ford Fusion?)
Once the difficult choice is made, people commonly experience what is called “post-decision regret”
Dissonance is resolved by appreciating the alternative that was chosen and by depreciating the rejected alternative. 9

10. Motivational Processes Underlying Cognitive dissonance
Insufficient Justification
Resolve:
Create a new consonant belief that reinforces the unprompted behavior
Addresses how people explain actions they commit with little or no prompting. (Why did I just volunteer to make all those friggin brownies??) DO NOT SAT FOR WHOM!!!
Resolve: action is justified by adding a belief that is consonant with, or agrees with the action (“because I’m just generous”) 10

11. Motivational Processes Underlying Cognitive dissonance
Effort Justification
Resolve:
Develop and extreme value for the extreme behavior
Sometimes we engage in behaviors that require an extreme amount of effort—effort output that is often questionnable—for example, we might ask a friend why they are choosing to fight in the octagon in an MMA fight. To justify why people would train so hard in order to receive so much punishment, people often adopt an extreme liking for the behavior. They may say that, wow! They just get such a rush from it and that they just love the whole community of MMA fighters. In short, the attractiveness of the task increases in direct proportion to the magnitude of effort that is required to complete it. 11

12. Motivational Processes Underlying Cognitive dissonance
New Information that dooms previously cherished beliefs
Resolve:
Rationalize the belief and hold more firmly to your belief in it
As we expose ourselves to other people, to education, to TV, radio and the internet we offer up opportunites for information from these sources to contradict our own beliefs and values. When this happens, we have a choice, to reject our beliefs, which is the rational thing to do, or to rationalize our beliefs…which is what we most commonly do. Recall the example of the cult group who was faced with a decision when the world did not come to an end: the choice was to abandon their beliefs in the cult and to leave, or to somehow justify staying. They chose to rationalize their beliefs by rationalizing that it must have been their devotion that saved the world from annhiliation and then proceeded to gain as many converts as possible. With every new convert, dissonance is reduced. 12

13. Motivational Processes Underlying Cognitive dissonance
IN the face of dissonance arousing event, the dissonance motivates changes in ways of believing. The good news is that the changes that follow don’t always have to be so negative (so it doesn’t only justify why people can be sadistic, why they continue to pollute the air…why they continue to follow a debunked cult)…we can also use dissonance to accomplish productive goals as well. For example, dissonance paradigms have been used to promote condom use, conservation of natural resources, reducing prejudice. Your text notes that, after walking in the rain for two hours to benefit research for MS, you are likely to have a more positive attitude about those who currently suffer from it (because you expended so much effort in the walk, you need a reason to justify it).
Above is an overview of the psychological processes underlying dissonance motivation and people’s attempts to reduce or eliminate it.
Smoking is often postulated as an example of cognitive dissonance because it is widely accepted that cigarettes can cause lung cancer, yet virtually everyone wants to live a long and healthy life. In terms of the theory, the desire to live a long life is dissonant with the activity of doing something that will most likely shorten one's life. The tension produced by these contradictory ideas can be reduced by quitting smoking, denying the evidence of lung cancer, or justifying one's smoking.[4] For example, smokers could rationalize their behavior by concluding that only a few smokers become ill, that it only happens to very heavy smokers, or that if smoking does not kill them, something else will.[5] While chemical addiction may operate in addition to cognitive dissonance for existing smokers, new smokers may exhibit a simpler case of the latter
Figure 10.3 Cognitive Dissonance Processes 13

14. An Example The Stanford Prison Experiment
Pay close attention to the actions and words of the student-participants who were chosen to be the guards
Identify the dissonance and how it was reduced

15. Phillip G. Zimbardo, Inc.

16. Recall from first lecture on evolutionary influences on motivation
Reward and Habit Formation
Recall from first lecture on evolutionary influences on motivation
We are biologically programmed to pay attention to those things in our environment that bring us rewards
How do we remember rewards?
History: Olds and Milner, 1954
James Olds (May 30, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois - August 21, 1976 in California) was an American psychologist who co-discovered the pleasure center of the brain with Peter Milner while he was a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University in He is considered to be one of the founders of modern neuroscience
The pleasure center was discovered in the 1950s by two brain researchers named James Olds and Peter Milner who were investigating whether rats might be made uncomfortable by electrical stimulation of certain areas of their brain, particularly the limbic system.[3] In the experiment, an electrical current was given to rats if they entered a certain corner of a cage, with the theory that they would stay away from that corner if the effect was uncomfortable. Instead, they came back quickly after the first stimulation and even more quickly after the second. In later experiments, they allowed the rats to press the stimulation lever themselves, to the effect that they would press it as much as seven-hundred times per hour. This region soon came to be known as the “pleasure center”.
If a rat is given the choice between stimulating the forebrain or eating, it will choose stimulation to the point of exhaustion.[4]

17. The “reward pathway” in the brain
The neural circuits shown here in purple make up the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. Axons in this pathway run from an area in the midbrain through the medial forebrain bundle to the nucleus accumbens and on to the prefrontal cortex. Recreational drugs affect a variety of neurotransmitter systems, but theorists believe that heightened dopamine activity in this pathway—especially the portion running from the midbrain to the nucleus accumbens—is responsible for the reinforcing effects of most abused drugs.
The nucleus accumbens, part of the limbic system, plays a role in sexual arousal and the "high" derived from certain recreational drugs. These responses are heavily modulated by dopaminergic projections from the limbic system.

18. Dopamine Addictions Dopamine Release and Incentives
Incentives (stimuli that foreshadow the imminent delivery of rewards) triggers dopamine release.
Dopamine Release and Reward
Dopamine release teaches us which events in the environments are rewarding.
Dopamine and Motivated Action
Dopamine release activates voluntary goal-directed approach responses.
Addictions
Addictive drugs are potent reinforcers because their repeated usage produces hypersensitivity to dopamine stimulation.
Dopamine release is associated with a multitude of brain event events that are paramount to motivating action, especially habitual action:
We know that environmental triggers that signal the upcoming delivery of rewards (like being placed into Milner’s box with the bar present) trigger dopamine release. Those recognized triggers we recognize in our environment are called “incentives”. One example for hockey fans is the sight of the flashing red light that goes off above the goal that signals our favorites team has just scored. For our dogs, it’s the sight of Paul taking the dog dishes into the garage where their food is stored. Perhaps you have a specific ring tone programmed into your cell for your significant other…so the sound of a particular ring is an incentive to answer the phone as quickly as possible.
All of these incentives cause dopamine to be released in the reward center of the brain. Because dopamine release occurs with the anticipation of reward, also participates in the preparatory phases of motivated behavior, including directing our attention to the rewarding object, and readying our bodies for action that is required to obtain the reward.
Secondly, release generates positive feelings as we can induce from the rodents in Olds and Milner’s study). It is the biology of reward.
It also activates voluntary goal directed approach responses and increases the likelihood of approach behavior (moving toward or initiating actions to get what we find desirable)
So, whatever behaviors we produce that cause dopamine to be released, we tend to increase, because we feel good whenever we do them.
It would make sense, then, that habit formation would depend heavily on this neural pathway that reinforces desirable behaviors and outcomes.
In fact, once dopamine release has initiated approach behavior toward the rewarding event, the person’s approach behavior continues and more often than not actually increases in intensity until the goal is attained:
So once the mice hit the bar and caused dopamine to be released, they began pressing more vigorously in order to repeat those pleasurable consequences until the bar pressing became habitual.
Overall, then, as events come and go during our day, the brain detects some events as “biologically” significant (ensure safety, satisfy hunger, thirst, mating) and releases dopamine that generates good feelings goal directed approach behavior. Furthermore, the pleasurable experiences of dopamine allows the person to learn which environmental events are associated with pleasure and approach and which environmental events are associated with stress and withdrawal. Dopamine release is therefore a neural mechanism through which motivation gets translated into action, and that action often becomes repeated, especially if the context that produces the dopamine release is repeated.

19. Utilizing the Reward System
Habits as Motivation for Behavior
Habit
Routines of behavior that are
repeated,
occur subconsciously, and
are triggered by a specific context
Example: why did I close the garage door when Paul asked me to keep it up??
Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously, without one being conscious about them.[1][2][3] Habitual behavior often goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting it, because a person does not need to engage in self-analysis when undertaking routine tasks. 19

20. Formation
Habit formation is the process by which a behavior becomes habitual
Emerge from the gradual learning of associations between our responses and the features of performance contexts that has historically co-occurred with them (physical settings, preceding actions)
Require a consistent context that serves as a cue that link s the context and the action.
Habit formation is the process by which a behaviour becomes habitual. As behaviours are repeated in a consistent context, there is an incremental increase in the link between the context and the action. This increases the automaticity of the behaviour in that context.[5] Features of an automatic behaviour are all or some of: efficiency, lack of awareness, unintentionality, uncontrollability.[6]
In the physical setting “classroom”, you probably engage in a variety of habitual behaviors…you may go to the same seat…you open your book or laptop (and facebook…and twitter…and myspace…)
You look for a screen and note the powerpoints
You get quiet when a prof turns off the lights…
If an action of “red light” occurs, that typicially preceded the habitual act of stopping one’s car 20

21. The Importance of Goals In Habit Formation
Provide the initial outcome-oriented impetus for response repetition.
To engage in a behavior, it’s highly likely that an implicit or even an explicit goal is what was driving the expression of that behavior to begin with.
Goal: “To get Leela to respond to me with a smile”
Behavior: “Weee Weee!!!”
Goals guide habits most fundamentally by providing the initial outcome-oriented impetus for response repetition. In this sense, habits often are a vestige of past goal pursuit.[10] 21

22. The Process involved in Habit formation
Recall carver’s model of self regulation
Ideal State (GOAL) C
Current Perception
Output (BEHAVIOR)

23. The Process involved in Habit formation
Modification over time that leads to habit formation
Ideal State (GOAL)
Output (BEHAVIOR)
Current Perception

24. The Process involved in Habit formation
Modification over time that leads to habit formation
CLOSE DOOR
SAFE HOUSE
OPEN DOOR

25. Your reading: Example of Cognitive Dissonance
While reading, please note the answers to the following questions:
What was the procedure (what did participants do?)
What did the authors find?

26. Discuss with your Group
What type of dissonance task was incorporated into this study? Explain how you know this.
Case to discuss: Joe has a smoking “habit” describe to him
how this habit likely developed and
why he continues to smoke although he doesn’t believe it is a good idea
Prescribe an intervention that will specifically target and help to break his HABIT only. Provide a justification for why your intervention is a sound one (data-driven)