Effect of Extraneous Cognitive Activity on Dissonance Reduction

Abstract

The hypothesis was rested that cognitive work in the form of reevaluation of alternatives is necessary for post-decision dissonance reduction. It was predicted that magnitude of dissonance reduction would be less when the relevant cognitive work was prevented by keeping the person cognitively occupied with an irrelevant task. Female Ss rated the attractiveness of art prints and were given a choice between two of them. During the post-decision period, Ss either were kept cognitively occupied with an extraneous task or did nothing. A second rating of attractiveness of the prints was then obtained. As predicted, less dissonance reduction occurred when the post-decision period was occupied with extraneous cognitive activity.