Abstract
Three studies explored whether cognitive dissonance in smokers is reduced immediately or remains constant due to the perceived health risk. Because dissonance-reducing strategies might occur very quickly and previous research has focused only on ratings concerning health risk, we additionally analyzed response latencies and psychophysiological arousal as more implicit measurements. In Study 1, 2, and 3, participants rated their smoking-related health risks twice for different diseases. Ratings, response latencies (Study 1, 2), and psychophysiological arousal (Study 3) differed during the first testing. Differences in response latencies and psychophysiological arousal diminished during the second testing, whereas ratings did not change. The results are discussed in terms of implicit methods as measurements for cognitive dissonance and in terms of prevention and intervention programs.
References
(2001). Fuzzy gender categories: How emotional expression influences typicality. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 60, 179–191. doi: 10.1024//1421-0185.60.3.179
(1969). The theory of cognitive dissonance: A current perspective. In , Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 1–34). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
(1992). The return of the repressed: Dissonance theory makes a comeback. Psychological Inquiry, 3, 303–311. doi: 10.1207/s15327965pli0304_1
(1988). The self: A dialectical approach. In , Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 229–260). New York: Academic Press.
(1989). Conditional automaticity: Varieties of automatic influence in social perception and cognition. In , Unintended thought (pp. 3–51). New York: Guilford.
(1996). A radical dissonance theory. London: Taylor & Francis.
(1993). Cognitive rationalization and act rationalization in escalation of commitment. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 14, 1–17. doi: 10.1207/s15324834basp1401_1
(2001). The effects of message valence and listener arousal on attention, memory and facial muscular responses to radio. Communication Research, 28, 627–651.
(1977). The effect of forced compliance on attitude change and behavior change. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 3, 71–74. doi: 10.1177/014616727600300110
(1992). Dissonance and the return of the self-concept. Psychological Inquiry, 3, 320–323. doi: 10.1207/s15327965 pli0304_5
(1984). A new look at dissonance theory. In , Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 17, pp. 229–260). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
(1983). Dissonance arousal: Physiological evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 782–791. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.45.4.782
(2000). The electrodermal system. In , Handbook of psychophysiology (2nd ed., pp. 200–223). New York: Cambridge University Press.
(1986). Physiological arousal, dissonance, and attitude change: Evidence for a dissonance-arousal link and a “don’t remind me” effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 55–65. doi: 10.1037//0022–3514.51.1.55
(1994). On the motivational nature of cognitive dissonance: Dissonance as psychological discomfort. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 382–394. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.67.3.382
(1999). Working memory, short-term memory and general fluid intelligence. A latent variable approach. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology: General, 128, 309–331. doi: 10.1037//0096-3445.128.3.309
(1990). A practical guide to the use of response latencies in social psychological research. In , Research methods in personality and social psychology (pp. 74–97). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
(1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson.
(1964). Conflict, decision, and dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
(1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, 58, 203–210. doi: 10.1037/h0041593
(1997). Cognitive reactions to smoking relapse: The reciprocal relation between dissonance and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 184–195. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514. 72.1.184
(1991). Social comparison and smoking cessation: The role of the typical smoker. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 27, 239–258. doi: 10.1016/0022-1031(91)90014-W
(1991). Relapse and risk perception among members of a smoking cessation clinic. Health Psychology, 10, 42–45. doi: 10.1037//0278-6133.10.1.42
(2010). Rauchen ist uncool! Die Repräsentation der verschiedenen Aspekte des Rauchens im Selbstkonzept und ihre Bedeutung für die Veränderung des Verhaltens [
Smoking is uncool! The smoking self-concept and the impact of different smoking aspects on behavior change ]. Hamburg: Dr. Kovac.(2006). Denial of responsibility: A new mode of dissonance reduction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 722–733. doi: 10.1037/ 0022-3514.90.5.722
(1982). Person memory: The role of consistent and inconsistent person information. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 8, 433–438. doi: 10.1177/0146167282083007
(2005). Smoking expectancy associates among college smokers. Addictive Behaviors, 30, 235–245. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.05.006
(1994). Electrodermal measurement: Particularly effective for forecasting message influence on sales appeal. In , Measuring psychological responses to media messages (pp. 113–132). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(1976). Forward. In , Explorations in cognitive dissonance (pp. x–xii). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(1988). Knowledge and beliefs regarding the consequences of cigarette smoking and their relationships to smoking status in a biracial sample. Health Psychology, 7, 384–401. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.7.5.387
(2008). Werden Raucher von Warnhinweisen auf Zigarettenschachteln beeinflusst? Eine sozialpsychologische Perspektive. [
Is there any impact of cigarette warning labels on smokers? A perspective from social psychology ]. Zeitschrift für Sozialmanagement, 6, 99–108.(1989). Treatment outcome evaluation methodology in smoking cessation: Strengths and key issues. Advances in Behavior Research Therapy, 11, 201–214. doi: 10.1016/0146-6402(89)90023-4
(2006). Using the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing to design effective cancer communication messages. Journal of Communication, 56, 57–80. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00283.x
(1988). Perceptions of immunity to disease in adult smokers. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12, 267–277. doi: 10.1007/BF00844871
(2001). Do amnesics exhibit cognitive dissonance reduction? The role of explicit memory and attention in attitude change. Psychological Science, 12, 135–140. doi: 10.1111/1467-9280. 00323
(1988). Toward an instance theory of automatization. Psychological Review, 95, 492–527. doi: 10.1037//0033-295X.95.4.492
(1990). Cognitive dissonance may enhance sympathetic tonus, but attitudes are changed to reduce negative affect rather than arousal. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 26, 289–304. doi: 10.1016/0022-1031 (90) 90040-S
(1994). Out of mind, back in sight: Stereotypes on the rebound. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 808–817. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.67.5.808
(1969). Effects of an anticipation of forthcoming information on predecisional processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 11, 10–16. doi: 10.1037/h0026967
(2010). Cognitive dissonance induced by writing a counterattitudinal essay facilitates performance on simple tasks but not on complex tasks that involve working memory. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 587–594. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.10.018
(1998). Suppression as a stereotype control strategy. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2, 63–82. doi: 10.1207/s15327957pspr0201_4
(1998). Consequences of stereotype suppression: Stereotypes on and not on the rebound. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 34, 355–377. doi: 10.1006/jesp.1998.1355
(2003). The representation of smoking expectancies by single-word adjectives and the relationship to smoking characteristics. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 5, 682–694. doi: 10.1080/1462220031000158654
(2002). Thinking and caring about cognitive inconsistency: When and for whom does attitudinal ambivalence feel uncomfortable? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 157–166. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.82.2.157-166
(1967). Dissonance arousal and task performance in an incidental verbal learning paradigm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 7, 11–20. doi: 10.1037/h0024894
(1968). Dissonance arousal, task evaluation and task performance. Psychonomic Science, 11, 197–198.
(1972). General motivational effects of dissonance arousal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 21, 349–358. doi: 10.1037/h0032266
(1986). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. In , Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 19, pp. 123–205). New York: Academic Press.
(1998). Internal and external motivation to respond without prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 811–832. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.75.3.811
(2004). Contributions of psychophysiology to media research: Review and recommendations. Media Psychology, 6, 193–235. doi: 10.1207/s1532785xmep0602_4
(1998). Working memory capacity and suppression. Journal of Memory and Language, 39, 418–436. doi: 10.1006/jmla.1998.2590
(1994). Thought suppression and smoking cessation. Behavioral Research and Therapy, 32, 193–201. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(94)90112-0
(1972). Dual functions of consciousness. Psychological Review, 79, 383–393. doi: 10.1037/h0033135
(2000). Do messages about health risks threaten the self? Increasing the acceptance of threatening health messages via self-affirmation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 1046–1058. doi: 10.1177/01461672002611003
(1998). Stereotype efficiency reconsidered: Encoding flexibility under cognitive load. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 589–606. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.75.3.589
(2003). Implicit and explicit attitudes toward cigarette smoking: The effects of context and motivation. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 22, 13–39. doi: 10.1521/ jscp.22.1.13.22766
(2004). College-student smoking: An initial test of an experimental dissonance-enhancing intervention. Addictive Behaviors, 29, 1129–1136. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.03.005
(1995). Trivialization: The forgotten mode of dissonance reduction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 247–260. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.68.2.247
. (2010). Pressemitteilung Nr. 190 vom 28.05.2010: Drei Viertel der Bevölkerung sind Nichtraucher [
Press release No. 190, May, 28, 2010: Three quarters of the German Population are nonsmokers ]. Retrieved from www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/DE/Presse/pm/2010/05/PD10__190__239,templateId=renderPrint.psml(1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In , Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 261–302). New-York: Academic Press.
(2001). A self-standards model of cognitive dissonance. Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology, 37, 228–243. doi: 10.1006/jesp.2000.1446
(1971). Cognitive dissonance: Private ratiocination or public spectacle? American Psychologist, 26, 685–695. doi: 10.1037/h0032110
(1999). Attitudes toward smoking and the subjective importance of attributes: Implications for changing risk-benefit ratios. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 58, 65–72. doi: 10.1024//1421-0185.58.2.65
(2003). Attitude change. In , The Sage handbook of social psychology (pp. 211–231). London: Sage.
(1969). The facilitating and interfering effects of cognitive dissonance on simple and complex paired-associate learning tasks. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 5, 31–42. doi: 10.1016/0022-1031(69)90004-3
(1994). Ironic processes of mental control. Psychological Review, 101, 34–52. doi: 10.1037//0033-295X.101. 1.34
(1992). The hyperaccessibility of suppressed thoughts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 903–912. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.63.6.903
(2000). Thought suppression. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 59–91. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.59
