The negative impact of the usage of phones on family life is discussed in the article, Phones Are Changing the Texture of Family Life, by Joe Pinsker. Parents, as well as their children, acknowledge how detrimental phones can be on family life, but still continue to engage in these devices. The article states “The problem, though, is that individual effort can only be so effective when going up against technologies that have been optimized to command their owners’ attention” (Pinsker, 2018). These devices are specifically designed to capture the attention of the user in order create a want/need for usage, so it is almost impossible to completely cease the use of these devices. The conflict between a person’s attitude and behavior that is shown in this news story is what American social psychologist, Leon Festinger, addresses in his theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Each of the four studies that will be discussed in this paper apply cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) into intrapersonal relationships. The studies all show an acknowledgement of dissonance amongst each of the subjects that were studied and the actions taken after the realization of dissonance.
APPLICATION
Cognitive dissonance theory’s main idea is that when a person has two conflicting cognitions, a feeling of unpleasant arousal is made that is psychologically uncomfortable. This feeling is defined by Festinger as dissonance. After dissonance is recognized, depending on how great the magnitude of dissonance is, theory says that a need to eliminate/decrease the dissonant relationship between cognitions is created. To create a consonant relationship among cognitions, Festinger lists methods of coping with dissonance that include; denial, bolstering, differentiation, transcendence, modifying, and communicating. All of these methods do one or more of the following; “add to our consonant belief, reduce the importance of our dissonant belief, and change our belief to seemingly eliminate the dissonance in some way”(West 2018). CDT also has some critiques, utility (how useful the theory is) and testability (the theory’s likelihood of being proven false). In terms of utility, although the theory explains the actions taken after dissonance is acknowledged, it does not provide a complete explanation on how and when people will reduce dissonance. In terms of testability, CDT asserts that dissonance will motivate people to act, and when no action is taken, the theory reasons that the magnitude of dissonance was not strong enough instead of concluding that the theory was false.
Pinsker’s article says that parents and their children acknowledge the increasing use of cell phones and how unhealthy it is, but continue to use the devices. This conflict between attitude and behavior is known as dissonance. The article mentions how parents altered their behavior and refrained from using these devices in order to set an example for their children, so they could decrease usage. This action, according to Festinger is a method to cope with dissonance. The constant use of phones was not only pertinent to children, but their parents as well. The article says “The way parents interact with technology, then, shapes the way they interact with their kids. It also shapes the way that their kids interact with technology” (Pinsker, 2018). This act can be seen as the method of communicating, persuading others to change so your own actions are justified.
REVIEW
The study, A Test of Cognitive Dissonance Theory to Explain Parents' Reactions to Youths' Alcohol Intoxication, by Terese Glatz also discusses dissonance in family relationships. Specifically, the dissonance created in parents due to the consumption of alcohol by children. Previous studies have shown that parents tend to have negative attitudes towards their adolescent child drinking, but tend to respond to incidents of youth intoxication by reducing control and support. The reasons behind these actions were unknown, so in this study, CDT was used to create hypotheses about Parents’ reactions. First, the theory suggests that parents who experience a discordance between their attitudes and their child’s attitudes regarding appropriate youth behavior should respond by alter their own attitudes rather than changing their child’s behavior. From this, it was hypothesized that parents with strong cognitions against youth drinking would be more likely to change their opinion on drinking rather than increase control of their child’s whereabouts and activities (modifying). Second, CDT suggests that a reduction in dissonance will be accompanied by a reduction in discomfort. From this, it was hypothesized that parents who do encounter their child drinking and do not change their opposition to the action would experience more discomfort than those who became more tolerant towards drinking (denial). Glatz’s longitudinal study carried for five years, sampling youth from fourth to twelfth grade and their parents. Through surveys and questionnaires, Glatz measured the amount of times parents encountered youth intoxication, the level of opposition parents felt towards youth and alcohol use, level of parental discomfort, amount of parental control, youth delinquency, and the frequency of youth intoxication. The findings of this study coincided with each hypothesis. Parent’s who modified their beliefs regarding youth drinking to be somewhat consistent with the beliefs of their child experience a decrease in dissonance and discomfort. Parents who carried the same attitude regarding youth intoxication had almost no decrease in dissonance which lead to no decrease in discomfort. Like the news article, parents who altered their own attitude/behavior experienced a decrease in dissonance.
In the study, Using Cognitive Dissonance to Induce Adolescents' Escaping From the Claw of Online Gaming: The Roles of Personal Responsibility and Justification of Cost, Doctor Wen-Bin Chiou also discusses the negative influence of technology on youth. Much like the news article, the use of technology, specifically online gaming, creates a negative impact on young adolescent’s personal lives. This study analyzed the dissonance created the subject’s attitude toward online gaming and invested cost. This cost includes money as well as personal responsibility. Researchers tested to see if they could induce action against dissonance by attempting to increase the magnitude of dissonance. Although these adolescents acknowledged their own conflicting attitudes, they continued to participate in online gaming. According to Festinger, this method of coping is known as denial (ignoring or repressing the dissonance). In this study, two experiments were conducted that employed methods to attempt to reduce dissonance in individuals. Two groups were looked at: subjects with positive attitudes towards gaming and low attitudes about the negative consequences online gaming may have and subjects with positive attitudes towards online gaming but showed some concern for the negative outcomes associated with online gaming. It was found that subjects who indicated high regard for online gaming displayed a greater attitude change than those who did not. Festinger’s coping method of justification was found to be employed. Players provided reasoning, for and against, the negative costs/outcomes of gaming in order to reduce dissonance. Those who recognized an increase in cost of gaming were unlikely to participate in attitude discrepant behavior.
A literary review was done by Cindy Anderton, Debra Pender, and Kimberly Ander-self to understand the implications on CDT. In their review, A Review of the Religious Identity/Sexual Orientation Identity Conflict Literature: Revisiting Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Theory. Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling, there were two main questions; “what occurs when ethnic and sexual minorities begin to embrace their minority culture while rejecting the majority culture?” and “what is done when both cognitions are of equal importance?”. They looked specifically at individuals who faces discrepancies with their religion and sexual identity. After their review, they found that disaffiliation (changing one’s environment to suit that of the chosen culture) and compartmentalization (keeping religious and sexual identity separate) were the main methods of coping used by individuals who experienced dissonance. These two concepts are similar in being that both create a form separation from each cognition and do not favor one or the other. Some of the main findings from this study are that LGB society members engage in strategies that are similar to those of Festinger’s ways of coping with dissonance, but not all of them are completely the same. Disaffiliation and compartmentalization resemble Festinger’s methods of denial and communicating, but the difference is that the attitudes towards each cognition have not changed.
Like Pinsker, Doctor Edward Vinski, a professor from St. Joseph's College, applied CDT to young adolescents. He conducted the Study of a Cognitive Dissonance Intervention to Address High School Students' Cheating Attitudes and Behaviors. The goal of this study was to also induce a greater magnitude of dissonance in order to attempt to instigate methods of coping. It took place at a private junior/senior high school in New York where there was a strict Code of Honesty in place. The group of subjects were each given surveys to initially measure the rate of cheating as well as their attitudes towards cheating. Researchers used an induced hypocrisy condition to make students more mindful of their attitudes towards in order to see if it would cause them to change. This study did rely on self reported behavior, so the results may be subjective. The findings showed that even with an increased awareness of dissonance, students’ attitudes towards cheating did not significantly decrease. The results speak to one of the main critiques of CDT which is testability. CDT says that when dissonance is acknowledged, it should provoke an individual to take action in order to minimize the discomfort. When there is no action taken, theory posits that the dissonance may have not been strong enough. In terms of this study, the lack of action taken by students is justified by CDT, but also provides evidence to one of the main faults of the theory.