Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance

Example: Experiment for a $1

Was it Worth it?

The example of the experiment for a $1 supports Cognitive Dissonance. First of all, what is cognitive dissonance? It is the inward struggle of avoiding unease or discord with ourselves. We trick ourselves into justifying our actions so that we don't look foolish in other people's eyes. An experiment was conducted with some students and they had to put a peg in a hole for a few hours. Afterwards, half were given $20 to tell the next person that it was fun and they will love the experiment and the other half were given only $1. At the end of the experiment, the people paid $20 were interviewed and asked if they would ever do the experiment again. They said, "It was really boring" and "No, don't want to do it again." However, the people paid $1 were interviewed and said, "It was fun" and  "I would do it again, yes." Why would someone say that putting a peg in a hole for hours was fun?! The reason is a lot more simpler than one would think. The people paid $1 wanted to avoid embarrassment because they didn't get $20 for putting pegs in a hole for hours. So, they lied and said it was fun and they would do it again. They justified their actions and lied to themselves/tricked themselves in order to be at peace and eliminate the internal discord. This experiment was a great way in order to show how cognitive dissonance works.

This theory has been one of my favorites so far, but also one of the theories I have struggled with the most. I have already seen it play out in my personal communication with others. For me, this theory is more of a struggle in my walk with God and communication with him, than it is communication with other people. Sadly, it involves me trying to eliminate the unease with myself internally by justifying my sinful actions. After I have sinned (lied, cheated, cussed, or had impure thoughts), I will try to justify them by looking around and saying to myself, "That person over there told worse lies, or drops f bombs all the time. I am a better Christian than them, so what I said or did is alright." That is one of the worst attitudes to have as a Christian. I know I need to ask God for forgiveness and ask him to help take away the thought to immediately justify my actions after I sin or do something wrong. Learning this theory and understanding it has helped me in my walk with Christ. It has helped me to realize when I am beginning to justify my actions in order to trick myself into thinking what I did was OK because someone else does worse things than me. This theory really opened my eyes and has helped me to really stop and think about what I am doing and what results will stem from my actions. I am grateful to have been able to study cognitive dissonance and see how it works. It has been a tremendous help with my communication with God. I know I will never be free from having some feeling of dissonance in my life, but understanding this theory and praying for God to help me see when I am beginning to justify my actions in order to eliminate the feeling of unease in my life will help my communication with him as well as my communication with others.

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Example: Used Car Salesman

Should I Persuade Through the Central or Peripheral Route Today?

The example of a used care salesman supports the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). ELM is a theory that is about persuasion. Specifically, it is about using two different kinds of strategies in order to persuade another person into thinking or doing what you want them to do. The first strategy is called the peripheral route. This involves using irrelevant cues to make the individual make a quick decision. The second strategy is called the central route. This involves using facts and statistical data to inform the individual before they make a decision. A used car salesman is a perfect example when thinking about ELM. They use these two types of persuasion strategies everyday when trying to sell cars. Most of the time they use the peripheral route because they can tell the customer things they want to hear about the car they are looking at. The used car salesmen can talk about sports, the weather, the customer's family, etc... when trying to sell the individual a car. He can even talk about the car itself, but not give actual data about it (say the color is cool looking, it goes really fast, and the girls/guys love it). The salesman is in essence distracting the customer from the reality of the car by telling him/her it looks great and will make you popular. A used car salesman can also use the central route when trying to sell a car to a customer. This is usually rare because most used car salesmen are shady and will tell you anything to make a sale, but some will tell you actual data about the car in order to persuade you into buying it. Examples of this factual data about the car would be: the year, model, how many miles, repairs it has had done, upgrades the previous owner put it, etc... A used car salesmen is a great example of how ELM works.

I have seen ELM play out many times in my life. I have taken the peripheral and central route when trying to persuade others to see the situation from my point of view. I remember when I had to persuade my parents to let me borrow their car for a month because gas was getting expensive. I started off the conversation by telling them how gas prices had risen over the course of two weeks and it was only going to get higher. Next, I explained that my Chevy truck only gets 12 miles per gallon. Third, I said that I was having to drive about 40 miles everyday for the entire month to go to work and a non-paid internship. Fourth, I told them that my internship cut about 20 hours of paid work and that I could not afford to drive all the way out to Peoria everyday with my truck. After breaking down the situation and using statistical data to voice my argument, I had successfully persuaded my parents, using the central route, into letting me borrow one of their cars for the month. I used the peripheral route just the other day when selling a customer a pair of sunglasses at work. Basically, I told him that the sunglasses were really cool, they looked great on him, all the girls would love them, and he should just buy them. He immediately said, "I will buy them." My use of irrelevant cues persuaded the kid to buy the sunglasses. All that said, I believe ELM is important for an individuals communication. Persuasion is very important in one's life because "everything is an argument." ELM gives you two options to persuade an individual. You can either give them factual data or irrelevant cues to get your point across. Being able to know when you need to choose one route over the other will take time and may not always be easy, but it will payoff in the end. Again, ELM and its involvement in persuasion makes it an important theory to get to know. Personally, there have been times in my life when I have needed to persuade others, but haven't known how to do to achieve success. This theory shows two different ways in order to successfully persuade another person or even groups of people. That is why I like this theory and believe it will help me with my personal communication skills. It gives me two different ways in which to persuade people. Not everyone can be persuaded by the same strategy or method. That is why we need to know different techniques or theories that explain how to persuade others. Being able to understand when to use a peripheral or central route might be hard now, but after practicing and studying different scenarios, one can become a great at persuasion.