Today we will examine the surprising issue of attitude consistency and a number of theories that account for it. The following theories are all based on the idea that we strive for consistency in our attitudes, beliefs and behavior. While they each have a different focus (on behavior or on attitude for example) they all express aspects of attitude consistency and can thus be labeled as consistency theories.

Balance theory, Self Perception & Cognitive Dissonance Theory. These are all cognitive consistency theories and we will examine not only the theories, but also how these theories call into question our independence of thought, and raise frightening issues about how capable of being socially influenced or malleable we might be.

Slides for today's and next Tuesday's lecture are a continuation of the slides from our last class.

1. Balance theory (Heider) Focus on attitude congruence

2. Cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger) Three types of dissonance situations:

• a) Consequence of decision (Brehm) + post decision dissonance at post time. (Knox & Inkster)
• b) Justification of effort (Aronson & Cope)
• c) External-internal justification Festinger. & Carlsmith severity of threat (Aronson & Carlsmith--toy experiment)

4. How the foot in the door and door in the face phenomena illustrate the operation of self perception theory.

Back