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 pill (actually a placebo) that they have taken. Under these conditions, we would not expect participants to change their attitudes to be more in line with their behaviour, a finding that is most consistent with ________.
A)self-perception theory
B)cognitive dissonance theory
C)the fundamental attribution error
D)social exchange theory

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that when individuals experience discomfort (dissonance) from holding two conflicting beliefs or attitudes, or from behaving in ways that are inconsistent with their attitudes, they are motivated to reduce this dissonance, often by changing their attitudes to align more closely with their behavior. However, if an external justification (like being told the arousal is due to a pill) is provided for the behavior, this reduces the dissonance experienced, and thus, there is less motivation to change one's attitudes to match the behavior.

Participants in a Study Freely Engage in a Behaviour That