Should Parents Force Their Children to Attend Church? |
Bradley Wright, a Christian father, writes about his support for the Festinger-Carlsmith study. He speaks of how to use Carlsmith and Festinger’s study in one’s everyday life. He wanted to use the concepts discussed and defined in the study to get his kids to go to church with hopefully long-lasting effects - that they will learn to want to go to church every week and grow up to have similar religious habits to their parents. Wright points out that most parents force their children to go to church, causing the child to dislike church and to not be devoted to church as an adult.
Later, the father extrapolates, arguing that punishment and removal of said punishment should also work just as the reward of one dollar or twenty dollars worked in the study. The strategy that he decided to use the more subtle art of persuasion, avoiding force and strong-arming. This tactic is consistent with the study of cognitive dissonance. If one receives small rewards (or is released from small punishments) but the action they are rewarded for does not fit their attitudes, they tend to change their attitudes to reduce the tension they feel (positive feelings from the reward, negative feelings from the action.) Wright hopes that his children will change their attitudes about church. Since they can not avoid the action of going to church, according to the cognitive dissonance theory, their attitude about church will change and as they get older they will continue to go to church and have faith in God.
Later, the father extrapolates, arguing that punishment and removal of said punishment should also work just as the reward of one dollar or twenty dollars worked in the study. The strategy that he decided to use the more subtle art of persuasion, avoiding force and strong-arming. This tactic is consistent with the study of cognitive dissonance. If one receives small rewards (or is released from small punishments) but the action they are rewarded for does not fit their attitudes, they tend to change their attitudes to reduce the tension they feel (positive feelings from the reward, negative feelings from the action.) Wright hopes that his children will change their attitudes about church. Since they can not avoid the action of going to church, according to the cognitive dissonance theory, their attitude about church will change and as they get older they will continue to go to church and have faith in God.
Witnesses To Police Attack Say Cops Tried To Bribe Them To Keep Quiet |
This article is about homeless witnesses confessing to taking a bribe from policemen to keep quiet. Just like the subjects in the Festinger study were bribed to lie about how fun the experiment was, the homeless witnesses were bribed to keep quiet about the brutal beating of victim Stanislav Petrov. The purpose of both cases was to lie, but the homeless witnesses did the opposite. The difference between the two cases is the study’s subjects were paid and stayed true to their word, even if the $1 and $20 participants felt differently internally. The homeless witnesses accepted the bribe yet failed to comply to the corrupt officers’ demands. They took the money but confessed to the bribery and revealed what they saw.
The homeless witnesses are considered heroes despite taking the bribes because they told the truth. Telling the truth in this case is beneficial to a proper trial. With the witnesses’ information people could determine how guilty the cops were by knowing exactly what happened. The homeless witnesses suffered cognitive dissonance since they had a “tug of war” in their head. The witnesses promised to keep quiet with the bribe; keeping one’s word is a good thing. On the other hand, by witnessing something bad, they were withholding helpful information. They struggled with justifying breaking one of the morals. Telling the truth was better than withholding information.
The homeless witnesses are considered heroes despite taking the bribes because they told the truth. Telling the truth in this case is beneficial to a proper trial. With the witnesses’ information people could determine how guilty the cops were by knowing exactly what happened. The homeless witnesses suffered cognitive dissonance since they had a “tug of war” in their head. The witnesses promised to keep quiet with the bribe; keeping one’s word is a good thing. On the other hand, by witnessing something bad, they were withholding helpful information. They struggled with justifying breaking one of the morals. Telling the truth was better than withholding information.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory |
Festinger’s theory has been critiqued and revised forever but because it is not completely testable, it’s hard to prove or disprove. It is also criticized because it also does not provide precise predictions since every person as a different tolerance to dissonance (West, Turner). Some critics credit the attitude change observed in Festinger and Carlsmith’s experiment to other factors such as biased scanning.
Biased scanning is a process described by Irving Janis and Robert Gilmore where someone thinks of everything of one position while ignoring everything in favor of the other (West, Turner). This is similar to confirmation bias where someone looks for things that support their preexisting beliefs and ignores things that go against it. In context of Festinger and Carlsmith’s experiment, biased scanning increases the likelihood of someone accepting a new position (West, Turner).
Other researchers note that cognitive dissonance is cofounded by self concept and impression management. Impression management is the way people make themselves seem when around others. According to Elliot Aronson, dissonance occurs when self-concept and behavior are inconsistent (West, Turner).
On the other hand Daryl Bern believes that it has nothing to do with dissonance and has to do with self-perception. Self perception means that people form conclusions about their attitudes based on their behavior (West, Turner). Claude Steele believes that the Self-Affirmation Theory is at work in the experiment. The Self-Affirmation Theory states that dissonance results from behaving in a manner that threatens your morality (West, Turner).
Some researchers believe that Festinger and Carlsmith’s cognitive dissonance is just missing parts or could be improved. Wicklund and Brehm think that choice is missing and believe that when people can make a choice they’ll be more motivated to change their position (West, Turner). Joel Cooper and Jeff Stone believe that being in a group also affects dissonance. They believe that people in a group with qualities that resemble them will be more willing to respond the same way as the group does (West, Turner).
Biased scanning is a process described by Irving Janis and Robert Gilmore where someone thinks of everything of one position while ignoring everything in favor of the other (West, Turner). This is similar to confirmation bias where someone looks for things that support their preexisting beliefs and ignores things that go against it. In context of Festinger and Carlsmith’s experiment, biased scanning increases the likelihood of someone accepting a new position (West, Turner).
Other researchers note that cognitive dissonance is cofounded by self concept and impression management. Impression management is the way people make themselves seem when around others. According to Elliot Aronson, dissonance occurs when self-concept and behavior are inconsistent (West, Turner).
On the other hand Daryl Bern believes that it has nothing to do with dissonance and has to do with self-perception. Self perception means that people form conclusions about their attitudes based on their behavior (West, Turner). Claude Steele believes that the Self-Affirmation Theory is at work in the experiment. The Self-Affirmation Theory states that dissonance results from behaving in a manner that threatens your morality (West, Turner).
Some researchers believe that Festinger and Carlsmith’s cognitive dissonance is just missing parts or could be improved. Wicklund and Brehm think that choice is missing and believe that when people can make a choice they’ll be more motivated to change their position (West, Turner). Joel Cooper and Jeff Stone believe that being in a group also affects dissonance. They believe that people in a group with qualities that resemble them will be more willing to respond the same way as the group does (West, Turner).
Reconsidering Festinger and Carlmith's (1959) Classic Experiment Testing |
Eddie Harmon-Jones, a psychology major at University at Wisconsin-Maddison, published a report summarizing all the greatest criticisms to the Carlsmith-Festinger experiment on Cognitive Dissonance. Rijsman, a psychologist, says that the definition of a boring experiment is not possible and that is opinion biased, thus is not credible. Rijsman also states that when the task was explained, the precise wording and tone of voice may have altered the subjects view. (Harmon-Jones, 193).
Linder, another psychologist believes that the excitement of being part of an experiment may have altered one’s answers. “Persons perceived that they freely engaged in the roleplaying were more stimulated” (e.g., Linder, Cooper, & Jones, 1967). Girandola and Joule found the a person's attitude (whether they feel this is forced upon them or not) will change the effect of dissonance (Beauvois & Joule, 1996, 1999).
It would be better to provide the participants a choice of some sort, that will show conflict in one's beliefs and attitude. Generally most criticisms are based on the fact that a “boring task” is opinionated and the results that the participants give may be based on attitude, and preconceptions. Even some researchers that do not have criticisms still believe that the experiment can be improved.
Linder, another psychologist believes that the excitement of being part of an experiment may have altered one’s answers. “Persons perceived that they freely engaged in the roleplaying were more stimulated” (e.g., Linder, Cooper, & Jones, 1967). Girandola and Joule found the a person's attitude (whether they feel this is forced upon them or not) will change the effect of dissonance (Beauvois & Joule, 1996, 1999).
It would be better to provide the participants a choice of some sort, that will show conflict in one's beliefs and attitude. Generally most criticisms are based on the fact that a “boring task” is opinionated and the results that the participants give may be based on attitude, and preconceptions. Even some researchers that do not have criticisms still believe that the experiment can be improved.