Respectable Challenges to Respectable Theory: Cognitive Dissonance Theory Requires Conceptualization Clarification and Operational Tools PMC

Finally, looking on the bright side, social psychology is not suffering a decade of crisis. It is only leading the way for the next generation of researchers who will take steps to move the discipline toward stronger and more reliable knowledge about the human mind. As a final word, and as fervent supporters of CDT, we affirm that it is definitely an elegant theory. However, science should not concern itself with the gracefulness of a theory but only about the solidity of the evidence supporting it and its own falsifiability.

• Equity Theory has been tested in different geographical contexts, producing inconsistent results.
• While organizations cannot control all employees’ perceptions of equity, they can control the structures that influence such perceptions.
• This means that operationalization of both the assessment of inconsistency and the manipulation of inconsistency is required, and that only systematic measures would allow for investigation of the relations between inconsistency, CDS and the regulation process.
• In such situations, people may be more intrinsically motivated to improve the performance of the task, rather than decrease the input (Cropanzano & Folger, 1989).
• In addition, the theory was applied to explain employees’ negative behaviour, such as theft, as the response to redistributing rewards (i.e. compensation for pay cuts) and the mechanism used to lessen the perception of inequity.
• The specificity of elicited emotions, valence or action tendencies could depend on the task, but also on the operationalization and on the design, and one could hypothesize either that the specific state or regulation of it could stem from the specificity of the induction.

In the current paper, we exposed what we considered major flaws in the theory, which are mainly conceptual shortcomings and a need for stricter operationalization. Because a better understanding of the methodological flaws is important to future theoretical progress, cognitive dissonance and addiction we suggested some ways to address these shortcomings. Our essential take home message is, first, to focus on an operational distinction for the triptych elements of CDT, that is the inconsistency, the dissonance state (CDS) and the regulation strategies.

What is Cognitive Dissonance?

The mild initiation group did not invest as much to listen to the discussion, so when they found it to be boring they did not feel cheated. In The Effect of Severity of Initiation on Liking for a Group (1956), to qualify for admission to listen in on a discussion, two groups of people underwent an embarrassing initiation of varied psychological severity. The “strong initiation” group of subjects were to read aloud twelve sexual words considered obscene. The “mild initiation” group of subjects were to read aloud twelve sexual words not considered obscene. After reading the list of words, participants were given headphones to listen in on an animal-sexuality discussion that they were told was occurring in the next room.

The research shed light on the role of individualist and collectivist cultures in customers’ reactions to cross-cultural price comparisons (Bolton, Keh & Alba, 2010). However, the countries with a collectivist culture can also vary by the degree of distributive fairness perception, as suggested by a study exploring comparison strategies and the evaluation of rewards/inputs by employees in China, Japan and South Korea (Kim, Edwards & Shapiro, 2015). Japanese workers perceive overpayment to be unfair, in contrast to Chinese and South Korean employees, which can be explained by the stronger materialism ideology embedded in the social system of the latter two countries (Kim, Edwards & Shapiro, 2015). Mixed findings of fairness perception make it possible to conclude that it is not a universal concept, as it is largely moderated by cultural and ideological differences (Lund, Scheer & Kozlenkova, 2013; Bolton, Keh & Alba, 2010; Kim, Edwards & Shapiro, 2015). The CDT field is fruitful, with hundreds of studies covering a large array of tasks and topics. However, some of the core hypotheses of CDT have not been as thoroughly examined and, in their case, the field may benefit from an increased standardization.

Components of the equity theory of motivation

Hence, a serious assessment of regulation strategies that avoid false negatives would have to include all possibilities. Because it is difficult to predict which strategy will be used, it seems unreliable to postulate the existence of CDS and its magnitude on the sole basis of the use of a regulation strategy. The use of the term inconsistency to point out the presence of unfitting relations has already been proposed in the literature (e.g., Harmon-Jones, 2002; Gawronski and Strack, 2012). However, the state of cognitive dissonance, or CDS, is not always distinguished from the term for the theory, and they should be clearly differentiated.

They emphasized afterwards that different affect assessments could capture the nature of cognitive dissonance depending on the situation (Devine et al., 1999). Despite this clarification, most researchers using the scale continue to use the index in its original form, thus dissociating CDS from the other items (Galinsky et al., 2000; Harmon-Jones, 2000; Norton et al., 2003; Monin et al., 2004; Vaidis and Gosling, 2011). In another perspective, Kenworthy et al. (2011) have suggested that guilt could be the most relevant predictor of dissonance effects instead of a specific CDS, thus making a clear distinction between the two. For their part, Gosling et al. (2006) used the Elliot and Devine’s scale but relied on negative-self oriented affect to assess dissonance instead of their dissonance specific index. While these different views co-exist in the literature, there has not been a clear debate yet on the nature and the specificity of the CDS. Altogether, according to the diversity of specific emotion studied, focusing on one specific affect or on a cocktail of affects to capture the nature of CDS seems inappropriate.

Moderating variables

Indeed, cognitions consistent with the behavior (presumed the most resistant) are supposed to decrease the magnitude of the CDS, while inconsistent ones are supposed to increase it. These variables are thus supposed to modulate the magnitude of the CDS and, in some specific cases (i.e., commitment), they bolster the resistance to change and thus orientate the occurrence of reduction strategies (Vaidis and Gosling, 2011; Vaidis and Bran, 2018). Therefore, these moderators can influence the magnitude of dissonance but do not constitute a manipulation of the inconsistency, as would be comparing an inconsistent situation to a neutral or consistent one. In summary, equity theory provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the complexities of motivation in the workplace. Rooted in decades of academic research, this theory explains how employees weigh their contributions against the rewards they receive, and how these perceptions influence their overall job satisfaction and productivity.

Equity theory is central to understanding how employees’ motivation in the workplace is influenced by their perception of fairness. According to this theory, employees maintain a mental record, akin to a ‘ledger,’ that keeps track of what they contribute to their job and what they receive in return. These contributions or ‘inputs‘ could range from the amount of effort they put into tasks, their skill level, educational https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/recommended-vitamins-for-recovering-alcoholics/ background, and overall work experience. In contrast, ‘outputs‘ or rewards can include things like salary, additional benefits, and opportunities for career advancement (1). Equity Theory has been tested in different geographical contexts, producing inconsistent results. Another piece of research demonstrated that the importance of fairness perception differed depending on culture (Lund, Scheer & Kozlenkova, 2013).

Standardization of the Induction Task

Brehm (1956) was the first to investigate the relationship between dissonance and decision-making. Being paid only $1 is not sufficient incentive for lying and so those who were paid $1 experienced dissonance. They could only overcome that dissonance by coming to believe that the tasks really were interesting and enjoyable. Being paid $20 provides a reason for turning pegs, and there is, therefore, no dissonance. Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

• The evaluation of equity is socially dependent, which entails complex psychological and cognitive processes.
• Investigating strategies for reduction has historically been the overwhelming focus of CDT research.
• Festinger’s (1957) cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and behavior in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance).
• If you took the job you would miss your loved ones; if you turned the job down, you would pine for the beautiful streams, mountains, and valleys.