The influence of incentive conditions on the success of role playing in modifying attitudes.

Abstract

This experiment was designed to investigate the effects of favorable vs. unfavorable sponsorship (a hitherto neglected variable in role-playing research) and to test opposing predictions from "dissonance" theory and "incentive" theory. Each of 64 male college students was interviewed privately in his own dormitory room by a total stranger who introduced himself as a pollster working for a private research company. Each S was assigned on a stratified random basis to 1 of 8 experimental conditions in a 2 X 2 X 2 factorial design that enabled us to ascertain the main effects and interactions of 3 independent variables: (a) overt role playing vs. passive exposure to the same instructions and information; (b) unfavorable (blatantly commercial) sponsorship of the role-playing assignment vs. favorable (public welfare) sponsorship; (c) small monetary reward ($1) vs. large reward ($20) for carrying out the role-playing task. Analysis of variance of attitude scores showed that there were no significant main effects but, as predicted by incentive theory, there was a significant interaction such that more attitude change occurred when overt role playing was carried out under favorable sponsorship than under unfavorable sponsorship conditions. In general, the results fail to verify predictions from dissonance theory and tend to support an incentive theory of attitude change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)