Cognitive Dissonance And Dissonance Reduction

The present study aimed to explore the role of internal consistency and consistency between individuals and almost others in cognitive dissonance and dissonance reduction. The study based on the idea which was pointed out by Aronson that people want to see themselves as (1) able to predict their own behavior, (2) competent, and (3) moral. The study adopt induced compliance normal form and created situations to carry out the 5 experiments.All the subjects were undergraduates and graduate students of East China Normal University. Overall model, self-concept discrepancy, psychology discomfort, positive affect, and negative affect were the indicators of cognitive dissonance and dissonance reduction.In Study 1, participants gave the boring experiment evaluation that consisted with their real feelings at first, they perceived cognitive dissonance when they were aware that their behavior were inconsistent with others. In Study 2, participants who were aroused self-concept (moral sense) and gave a high evaluation to a boring experiment perceived cognitive dissonance. In Study 3, dissonance reduced when those individuals were aware that their behavior were consistent with others. In Study 4, subjects who had a high expectation to a test perceived cognitive dissonance if they got low scores. In Study 5, cognitive dissonance reduced when those individuals were aware that their scores were not different from others.All the studies demonstrated the role of internal consistency and consistency between individuals and almost others in cognitive dissonance and dissonance reduction. The result of Study 1 showed that cognitive dissonance would appear when individuals were aware that their behavior were inconsistent with others. The result of the other studies showed that cognitive dissonance would reduce when individuals were aware that their behavior or performance were consistent with others.