Participants in an experiment conducted by Davis and Jones (1960) were instructed to provide hurtful feedback to another person (actually a confederate, of course).After providing such mean assessments of his performance, participants then evaluated him privately.After providing this criticism, these participants' evaluations of the confederate were more ________ because the ________.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This is an example of cognitive dissonance, where the participants' attitudes and behaviors were in conflict. To reduce this dissonance, the participants convinced themselves that the victim deserved the mean feedback, leading to more negative evaluations. Option A is incorrect because there is no mention of regret in the experiment, and even if there was, it may not necessarily lead to more positive evaluations. Option C is incorrect because the victim's behavior after the insult is not mentioned and is unlikely to be a big factor in the participants' evaluations. Option D is incorrect because while the participants may feel guilty, it is not clear why this would lead to more positive evaluations of the victim.

Participants in an Experiment Conducted by Davis and Jones (1960)