Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance occurs when tension arises between a person's attitudes or
beliefs and a decision that contradicts those pre-existing modes of thinking. The
psychological phenomenon also occurs when a person chooses between two equally
attractive or equally unappealing options. According to the Business Dictionary's
website, the most common example of cognitive dissonance in the business world is
the occurrence of "buyer's remorse." This happens when a consumer makes a
decision to purchase an item and, shortly after, experiences guilt over the choice,
wondering if the other equally appealing item might have brought greater satisfaction.
Who came up with cognitive dissonance theory?
Cognitive dissonance was first investigated by Leon Festinger, arising out of a
participant observation study of a cult which believed that the earth was going to be
destroyed by a flood, and what happened to its members — particularly the really
committed ones who had given up their homes and jobs to work for the cult — when the
flood did not happen.
Cognitive Dissonance in Marketing
Cognitive dissonance strategies that require a consumer to reconcile two conflicting
views by buying a product can be effective in marketing, especially if the reconciliation
of opposing views protects or enhances the consumer's self-image.
For instance, you consider yourself a savvy automotive enthusiast. In the course of a
visit to a high-end auto dealership, the salesperson emphasizes that "a lot of
Americans aren't sophisticated enough to understand why this car is actually a great
buy." On the one hand, if you resist the sales pitch for this very expensive car, you
appear unsophisticated; on the other hand, if you agree, then you're progressing down
the marketing patch toward the purchase of a car you can't afford.
Faced with this kind of cognitive dissonance, many consumers will go along with the
sales pitch to avoid being viewed as an unsophisticated person without the real
knowledge required to fully appreciate the car.
What causes cognitive dissonance?
1. Forced Compliance Behavior,
2. Decision Making,
3. Effort.
Consumers want to be Perceived Favorably
Most marketing strategies that employ cognitive dissonance in the service of selling a
product rely on our desire to be perceived favorably – for example, as sophisticated,
hip, knowledgeable or affluent. We might ordinarily not buy the product because it
doesn't interest us, too expensive or for any other good reason. This understandable
desire to see ourselves favorably motivates the purchase, which is how a marketing
strategy that relies on cognitive dissonance encourages consumers to resolve the
dissonance in the situation.
The Limits of Cognitive Dissonance in Advertising
Cognitive dissonance strategies in marketing only work within limits. Generally and
somewhat counter intuitively, the stronger the consumer's view that the advertising
potentially opposes, the better the strategy can work. But if the distance between the
consumer's view and that offered through the marketing strategy is too great, the
consumer may reject the approach and the product. The end result can be active
disdain for the product or the company that makes the product, along with the ad itself.
Marketing and Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance can occur across multiple product lines as well as a competitor's
products. Marketers work to combat dissonance by providing consumers with ways of
narrowing down product choices and separating products from the competition.
Advertising and promotional campaigns can help raise consumer confidence about
making product purchases and reduce the chances of buyer's remorse that may cause
consumers to return products in favor of those offered by the competition.
Dissonance-Fighting Tools
Marketing campaigns may seek to manage consumer doubts about making product
purchases with the use informative advertising. This allows marketers to bring in
testimonials and independent studies confirming the quality construction and features
of a company's products. Marketers may also use persuasive marketing, including
humor or celebrity appearances in commercials, as a means of encouraging
consumers to associate positive emotions with purchasing the company's products.
When consumers feel good about purchasing a company's products, there's a lower
chance that dissonance will occur.
Managing the Buying Process
A buyer can experience remorse over a product purchase at any point in the sales
experience, including well after the consumer makes the purchase decision. Marketers
seek to prop up the buyer's emotional status through reassuring post-purchase
services, including a money-back guarantee or free product service for the life of the
purchase. For example, many auto dealerships across the country maintain service
departments to make vehicle repairs and offer free safety inspections of vehicles
purchased through the dealerships for as long as the cars are on the road. These
incentives can set companies apart from competitors and allow buyers to make less-
stressful purchasing decisions.
. How is cognitive dissonance resolved?
Dissonance can be reduced in one of three ways: a) changing existing beliefs, b) adding
new beliefs, or c) reducing the importance of the beliefs.
Critical Evaluation
There has been a great deal of research into cognitive dissonance, providing some
interesting and sometimes unexpected findings. It is a theory with very broad
applications, showing that we aim for consistency between attitudes and behaviors, and
may not use very rational methods to achieve it. It has the advantage of being testable
by scientific means (i.e., experiments).
However, there is a problem from a scientific point of view, because we cannot
physically observe cognitive dissonance, and therefore we cannot objectively measure it
(re: behaviorism). Consequently, the term cognitive dissonance is somewhat subjective.
There is also some ambiguity (i.e., vagueness) about the term 'dissonance' itself. Is it a
perception (as 'cognitive' suggests), or a feeling, or a feeling about a perception?
Aronson's Revision of the idea of dissonance as an inconsistency between a person's
self-concept and a cognition about their behavior makes it seem likely that dissonance
is really nothing more than guilt.
There are also individual differences in whether or not people act as this theory predicts.
Highly anxious people are more likely to do so. Many people seem able to cope with
considerable dissonance and not experience the tensions the theory predicts.
Finally, many of the studies supporting the theory of cognitive dissonance have low
ecological validity. For example, turning pegs (as in Festinger's experiment) is an
artificial task that doesn’t happen in everyday life.
