Participants in a study freely engage in a behaviour that is contrary to their attitudes. This behaviour causes an increase in physiological arousal, but the experimenter tells the participants that this arousal is the product of a placebo pill they have taken. Under these conditions, we would not expect the participants to change their attitudes to be more in line with their behaviour, a finding that is most consistent with theory.

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The cognitive dissonance theory suggests that people change their attitudes to reduce discomfort from conflicting attitudes and behaviors. However, if the arousal is attributed to an external source (placebo), the need to change attitudes is reduced.

Participants in a Study Freely Engage in a Behaviour That