I am a very anxiety prone person. This is something that I
like to avoid at all costs, like most individuals. I have come to realize that
sometimes I resort to changing my attitude, or the way I think about something
based on the anxiety I feel. According to Leon Festinger (1957) this is in line
with his Cognitive Dissonance Theory.
In essence, this theory states that when our attitudes are not inline with our
behaviors individuals tend to, or are motivated, to reduce this tension or
anxiety (Festinger, 1957). I can remember specifically, this one time I had
agreed or decided to go black Friday shopping with my sister (something I would
never do because I do not really enjoy shopping). Being the naive individual
that I can be, I thought we would go around nine or ten in the morning, since
we were both people who appreciated sleeping in (my sister more that myself,
thus leading me to my initial hypothesis of us leaving later in the morning).
After sleeping for a couple of hours, my older sister come in at four in the
morning and said we were going shopping. I was BEYOND pissed off, having only
gone to bed a coupe of hours before she came in my room and told me we were
about to leave. After hours of shopping, and NOTHING to show for I might add
(other than a belly full of free coffee and ONE reusable shopping bag), we
arrived back at our house. Once we arrived home, our parents greeted us and
asked how shopping went. Despite standing in a line for hours in the bitter
cold and being too far back in the line to get what we wanted (because they
sold out right as it was our turn), I still promptly responded with, “It wasn’t
that bad! I actually kind of liked going out for black Friday.” I instinctively
stated this without thinking.
Now that I think back to this incident I do not remember if
I did actually had a good time or if I was succumbing to the insufficient justification
perspective within cognitive
dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957). This theory stating that, an individual will freely engage
in a behavior that is not inline with their attitude without receiving a large
reward (Festinger, 1957). Specifically for me, because ONE free reusable tote
bag and a free SMALL cup of crappy coffee wasn’t enough to justify my behavior
of enjoying black Friday shopping, I had to adjust my attitude and thus I
decided that I did not mind shopping and that going out on black Friday was not
that bad – because otherwise I would feel stupid and unhappy about wasting my
time shopping on black Friday (after only receiving one reusable tote bag and
small cup or crappy coffee).
(n=470)
***Just for fun***
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Festinger, L. (1957). A
theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
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