Imagine that Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) ran a follow-up to their classic peg-turning study. In this new version, participants are either paid $10 to lie to the next participant (actually a confederate), or are given no choice and forced to lie by being told that failure to do so will result in a loss of any course credit that was to be earned for having participated in the study. The most likely results of this new experiment would be that participants who are given no choice and forced to lie (through the threat of no course credit) would _____ than participants in the $10 condition.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Participants who are given no choice and forced to lie (through the threat of no course credit) would feel coerced into lying and may be less likely to comply with the request to lie to the confederate. They may also experience more cognitive dissonance because they did not freely choose to lie. The $10 condition would likely be more effective in reducing cognitive dissonance because participants in that condition are being paid a meaningful amount of money to lie, which can reduce the discomfort caused by the dissonance between their behavior and their beliefs.

Imagine That Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) Ran a Follow-Up to Their