Dissonance arousal: Physiological evidence.

Robert T. Croyle · Joel Cooper

134 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Personality and Social Psychology

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Social and Intergroup Psychology Psychology of Social Influence Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether cognitive dissonance is accompanied by physiological arousal. In Experiment 1, a standard induced compliance paradigm was replicated and was found to produce the expected pattern of attitude change. In Experiment 2, physiological recordings were obtained within the same paradigm. Subjects who wrote counterattitudinal essays under high-choice conditions displayed significantly more nonspecific skin conductance responses than other subjects, but they did not change their attitudes. The results are interpreted as support for viewing dissonance as an arousal process. The results are also interpreted as indicating that the subjects misattributed their arousal to the physiological recording device. The significance of the findings for dissonance theory, misattribution phenomena, and social psychophysiological research methods is discussed.

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References

2017A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance 1962Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state.1968A Theory of Psychological Reactance 1981Psychological Reactance: A Theory of Freedom and Control 1967Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena.1981Impression Management Theory and Social Psychological Research 2013Perspectives on Cognitive Dissonance 1974Dissonance and the pill: An attribution approach to studying the arousal properties of dissonance.

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