Dissonance processes as self-affirmation.

TLDR

The study investigates whether affirming a valued self‑aspect can eliminate dissonance and its cognitive effects. Three forced‑compliance experiments tested self‑affirmation after dissonant essays, varying whether the affirmed value was self‑relevant and later replicating the effect with different attitudes, values, and measures. Self‑affirmation eliminated dissonance‑reducing attitude change when the affirmed value was self‑relevant, prevented dissonance reinstatement, and replicated across contexts, indicating that the drive for consistency is not central to dissonance motivation and that self‑affirming cognitions can objectify reactions to threatening information.

Abstract

Can an experience that simply affirms a valued aspect of the self eliminate dissonance and its accompanying cognitive changes? Three experiments used the conventional forced-compliance procedure to test this question. In the first experiment, some subjects were allowed to affirm an important, self-relevant value (by completing a self-relevant value scale) immediately after having written unrelated dissonant essays and prior to recording their attitudes on the postmeasure. Other subjects underwent an identical procedure but were selected so that the value affirmed by the scale was not part of their self-concept. The value scale eliminated dissonance-reducing attitude change among subjects for whom it was self-relevant but not among subjects for whom it was not self-relevant. This occurred even though the value scale could not resolve or reduce the objective importance of the dissonance-provoking inconsistency. Study 2 showed that the self-affirmation effect was strong enough to prevent the reinstatement of dissonance. Study 3, testing generalizability, replicated the effect by using a different attitude issue, a different value for affirmation, and a different measure of dissonance reduction. These results imply that a need for psychological consistency is not a part of dissonance motivation and that salient, self-affirming cognitions may help objectify our reactions to self-threatening information.