A Preliminary Exploration On Virtual World’s Cognitive Dissonance

As technology improves by leaps and bounds,the virtual world is constantly evolving,and virtual social psychology has become a new research direction.However,cognitive dissonance,as an important phenomenon in social psychology,is still a research gap in virtual social psychology.Based on the traditional social psychology theory of cognitive dissonance,we carried out three study with 6 experiments to explore the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance in the virtual world.In this paper we answer three questions: Do people still experience cognitive dissonance in virtual environments similar to the real world? If so,are there differences between cognitive dissonance in the virtual world and the real social environments? Does cognitive dissonance in virtual environments have an impact on real-world cognition?Study 1,we modified and reproduced the 3 classic paradigms of cognitive dissonance in the virtual world,including 3 experiments: Experiment 1A used InduceCompliance Paradigm(participant=undergraduate,N=179)to induce cognitive dissonance in participants by having them watch boring videos on a video website and then perform a "like,comment,subscribe" action on platform.The experiment observed their ratings of the videos and their willingness to participate in similar experiments.The results demonstrated that cognitive dissonance can still be induced in the virtual world through the induction-compliance method.Experiment 1B used EffortJustification Paradigm(participant=office worker,N=180)and compared participants’ ratings of product quality after purchasing items with different levels of effort on a virtual shopping platform.The results demonstrated that cognitive dissonance can still be induced in the virtual world through the effort justification method.Experiment 1C used Free-Choice Paradigm(participant=office worker,N=92)and examined the changes in participants’ preferences for specific clothing items before and after choosing and discard the items under different difficulty conditions on a virtual dressing platform.The results demonstrated that half of the participants did not make any choice changes,and the data on choice dissonance between groups was not significant.In summary,Study 1 found that cognitive dissonance induced through inductioncompliance and effort justification methods still exists in the virtual world.However,due to the virtual nature of the virtual world,the dissonance in the free choice paradigm did not replicate the same experimental effects as in the real world(Experiment 1C).Study 2,we explored whether two classic factors related to self-concept(group pressure and self-involvement)that influence cognitive dissonance can regulate the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance in the virtual world,including 2 experiments:Experiment 2A(participant=undergraduate,N=78)recreated the scenario of daily internet browsing on a virtual world platform and manipulated participants’ exposure to opposing comments under high and low group pressure conditions in order to examine the impact of group pressure in the virtual world on cognitive dissonance.The results demonstrated that the degree of individual cognitive dissonance induced by different levels of group pressure in the virtual world was not significantly different;Experiment 2B(participant=office worker,N=36)compared the cognitive dissonance differences in participants under high and low self-involvement conditions(responsibility for teamwork failure)in a cooperative battle scene on a virtual world gaming platform.The results demonstrated that the degree of individual cognitive dissonance induced by different levels of self-involvement in the virtual world was not significantly different.In summary,Study 2 found that factors related to self-concept do not significantly influence the degree of individual cognitive dissonance in the virtual world.This is inconsistent with observations in real-world conditions.The anonymity of the virtual world leads to individuals’ indifference towards social norms and personal responsibility,while the virtual gaming world provides unprecedented satisfaction and experiences for the virtual self.So,if cognitive dissonance is induced in the virtual world,will it have an impact on reality?Study 3,we explored the impact of cognitive dissonance in the virtual world on real-world cognition,focusing on stereotypes as the object of study,including 1experiment: Experiment 3(participant=undergraduate,N=40)allocated participants to violent/non-violent online gaming scenarios and manipulated the avatars they encountered in the game,as well as the gender and behavior incongruity with the avatars.We compared the scores of occupational gender stereotypes between the two groups of participants after the gaming experience.The results demonstrated that participants exposed to violent online games had significantly lower occupational gender stereotype scores than those exposed to non-violent online games,indicating that cognitive dissonance induced in the virtual world alleviated individuals’ occupational gender stereotypes.In conclusion,the results of the study indicate that cognitive dissonance exists in the virtual world(except for choice dissonance in virtual selection),but factors related to self-concept do not significantly influence individual cognitive dissonance.Moreover,cognitive dissonance induced in the virtual world may have an impact on real-world cognition.