Editing Cognitive dissonance (section)

=== Self-perception theory===
In ''Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena'' (1967), the social psychologist [[Daryl Bem]] proposed the [[self-perception theory]] whereby people do not think much about their attitudes, even when engaged in a conflict with another person. The Theory of Self-perception proposes that people develop attitudes by observing their own behaviour, and concludes that their attitudes caused the behaviour observed by self-perception; especially true when internal cues either are ambiguous or weak. Therefore, the person is in the same position as an observer who must rely upon external cues to infer their inner state of mind. Self-perception theory proposes that people adopt attitudes without access to their states of mood and cognition.<ref name="Bem, D. 1967"/>

As such, the experimental subjects of the Festinger and Carlsmith study (''Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance'', 1959) inferred their mental attitudes from their own behaviour. When the subject-participants were asked: "Did you find the task interesting?", the participants decided that they must have found the task interesting, because that is what they told the questioner. Their replies suggested that the participants who were paid twenty dollars had an external incentive to adopt that positive attitude, and likely perceived the twenty dollars as the reason for saying the task was interesting, rather than saying the task actually was interesting.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bem DJ | year = 1965 | title = An Experimental Analysis of Self-persuasion|doi = 10.1016/0022-1031(65)90026-0 | journal = Journal of Experimental Social Psychology | volume = 1 | issue = 3| pages = 199–218 }}</ref><ref name="Bem, D. 1967">{{cite journal | vauthors = Bem DJ | title = Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena | journal = Psychological Review | volume = 74 | issue = 3 | pages = 183–200 | date = May 1967 | pmid = 5342882 | doi = 10.1037/h0024835 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.323.833 }}</ref>

The theory of self-perception (Bem) and the theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger) make identical predictions, but only the theory of cognitive dissonance predicts the presence of unpleasant [[arousal]], of psychological distress, which were verified in laboratory experiments.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Zanna MP, Cooper J | title = Dissonance and the pill: an attribution approach to studying the arousal properties of dissonance | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume = 29 | issue = 5 | pages = 703–709 | date = May 1974 | pmid = 4833431 | doi = 10.1037/h0036651 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kiesler CA, Pallak MS | title = Arousal properties of dissonance manipulations | journal = Psychological Bulletin | volume = 83 | issue = 6 | pages = 1014–1025 | date = November 1976 | pmid = 996211 | doi = 10.1037/0033-2909.83.6.1014 }}</ref>

In ''The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance: A Current Perspective''<ref name="Aronson, E. 1969 pp. 1–34"/> (Aronson, Berkowitz, 1969), [[Elliot Aronson]] linked cognitive dissonance to the [[self-concept]]: That mental stress arises when the conflicts among cognitions threatens the person's positive self-image. This reinterpretation of the original Festinger and Carlsmith study, using the induced-compliance paradigm, proposed that the dissonance was between the cognitions "I am an honest person." and "I lied about finding the task interesting."<ref name="Aronson, E. 1969 pp. 1–34">{{cite book|doi=10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60075-1|chapter=The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance: A Current Perspective|title=Advances in Experimental Social Psychology|volume=4|pages=1–34|year=1969| vauthors = Aronson E |isbn=9780120152049|publisher=Academic Press| veditors = Berkowitz L }}</ref>

The study ''Cognitive Dissonance: Private Ratiocination or Public Spectacle?''<ref name= TedeschiSchlenker1971/> (Tedeschi, Schlenker, etc. 1971) reported that maintaining cognitive consistency, rather than protecting a private self-concept, is how a person protects their public [[self-image]].<ref name= TedeschiSchlenker1971>{{cite journal | vauthors = Tedeschi JT, Schlenker BR, Bonoma TB | year = 1971 | title = Cognitive Dissonance: Private Ratiocination or Public Spectacle? | journal = American Psychologist | volume = 26 | issue = 8| pages = 685–695 | doi = 10.1037/h0032110 }}</ref> Moreover, the results reported in the study ''I'm No Longer Torn After Choice: How Explicit Choices Implicitly Shape Preferences of Odors'' (2010) contradict such an explanation, by showing the occurrence of revaluation of material items, after the person chose and decided, even after having forgotten the choice.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Coppin G, Delplanque S, Cayeux I, Porcherot C, Sander D | title = I'm no longer torn after choice: how explicit choices implicitly shape preferences of odors | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 21 | issue = 4 | pages = 489–493 | date = April 2010 | pmid = 20424088 | doi = 10.1177/0956797610364115 | s2cid = 28612885 }}</ref>