Dissonance<i>Versus</i>Self-Perception Theories: A Radical Conception of Festinger'S Theory

Abstract

Summary The aim was to show that a radical conception of dissonance theory makes it possible to make predictions that are confirmed by the facts and that cannot be reinterpreted in terms of self-perception theory. The Ss were led to perform a tedious task and, having completed it, received negative feedback (experiment I) or positive feedback (experiment II) concerning the quality of their performance. Consistent with the radical conception of dissonance theory, the Ss found the task more interesting after negative feedback and less interesting after positive feedback. These results are contrary to those obtained on the basis of the self-perception hypothesis. An interpersonal simulation (experiment III) shows, moreover, that observers cannot anticipate these results.