How The Use of Cognitive Dissonance In Advertisements Can Lead You To Think and Act How You Otherwise May Not

Humans have an innate drive for consistency. When consistency is broken, discomfort arises. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that when someone experiences inconsistency between their own cognitions (attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors), they relieve their discomfort (or dissonance) and regain balance by changing one of their cognitions. This can lead to irrational thoughts and behavior. Advertising companies are aware of this natural phenomena and use it to their advantage as a persuasive method. They have learned how to create cognitive dissonance in their consumer audience to influence them to purchase their product. But how exactly does this method work? And as consumers, can we avoid getting manipulated by this persuasive method?

Advertising companies must know how to create cognitive dissonance in their target audience.
In order to know how to do this, they first need to know who their target audience is. They then need to know what their motives are, their attitudes, and what influences them such as their family, friends, culture, and society. From this information, advertising companies can use what advertising angles they think will be most effective. For example, if Skippy peanut butter brand is trying to persuade mothers to purchase their brand over a cheaper generic brand, they will have to work harder to persuade a low-income group of mothers over a high-income group. In order to persuade both groups with the greater intent of persuading the low-income group of mothers, they could have a slogan such as "Give your kids the best". If this slogan sticks, both groups of mothers will feel cognitive dissonance if they go to purchase the cheaper generic brand because they will feel that they are not giving their kids the best even though it is saving them money. Since high-income mothers will more easily spend the extra couple dollars on their kids, the ad must convince low-income mothers that spending the extra couple of dollars is worth it. However, resolving the cognitive dissonance that is created by advertisements can be done in more than one way.

Advertisers must predict and influence how their target audience will resolve their dissonance.
Companies want their ads to produce a certain outcome in their target consumer audience. However, this intended outcome is not guaranteed. Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Psychology Department of the University of Maryland, Dr. Scott Roberts says there are many ways that cognitive dissonance can be resolved.

Continuing with the Skippy peanut butter advertisement example, the advertising company wants to change the attitudes of the mothers into believing that Skippy is the best brand of peanut butter for their family and worth spending the extra money. However, the mothers could resolve their dissonance about buying the cheaper brand by changing their cognition from, "This is not the best for my kids," to, "Peanut butter is peanut butter and this is just fine. Plus I am saving money with this brand that I can later use towards my kids in some other way." Advertisers know that there are many paths to resolve cognitive dissonance, so they cannot totally control how their target consumer audience may choose to do so.

However, they can better their chances of having their consumers behave in the way that they want by appealing to stronger influences. If an advertising company wants to get people to stop smoking, they can say how bad it is for their health. People already know this though and continue to smoke because they resolve their cognitive dissonance by saying, "I need this to calm down," or, "I'm trying to lose weight." Advertisements can go beyond the scope of how harmful it is to the individual by showing how it affects their families, much like the one that is on T.V today. The advertisement can depict an image of a family standing around a cigarette-shaped coffin crying and saying, "Why did they do this to themselves?" The advertisement could also show a child going up to an adult asking for "a light." This appeals to the target consumer audience's emotions by showing them how sad they can make their families or how their children will learn this harmful habit from them. Of course people can find ways to resolve their cognitive dissonance about buying a pack of cigarettes after seeing these advertisements, but this message is indeed stronger because it creates more cognitive dissonance. For example, on top of knowing how harmful it is for themselves they could think, "But I don't want to leave my family and make them sad. I'm a good, unselfish person, so I should stop smoking for them." If they were to purchase a pack anyway, they would have even more cognitive dissonance to resolve.

Unfortunately, consumers cannot escape the trap of cognitive dissonance in advertisements.
When asked if knowledge of this phenomena being used in advertisements would reduce it's affect on consumers, Roberts says it is unlikely.

Because cognitive dissonance is a fundamental experience, it is largely unavoidable. It is a physiological condition of human brains to want consistency and to do what is necessary to regain it if it is lost. As mentioned by Dr. Roberts, one way to regain consistency is to discredit the source as being false or unreliable and therefore concluding that what they are trying to persuade you of is bogus. So while we can never completely avoid the manipulation of advertisements that create cognitive dissonance, we can deny the persuasive source of the outcome it wants to see.

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Forcing Mental Consistency Forges Attidues

Have you ever noticed behaving one way while thinking another and then subsequently changing your thoughts to match your behavior? Yes, you probably have not. This is due to your brain’s unconscious and therefore unnoticeable ability to fix a problem called cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is a feeling of discomfort you get when you are not consistent within yourself, whether it be between your attitudes, ideas, values, or behaviors. A main example we see is an inconsistency between our thoughts and our behaviors. This inconsistency has been likened to hunger and thirst. Once we have this discomfort, we seek remedy. 

Since humans function best with consistency, we will make comforting rationals for inconsistent situations to reestablish consistency.

A specific psychology experiment is a good example of this phenomena and is used to teach psychology students, like myself, about this concept. A researcher brought participants into a laboratory for what they thought was a manual dexterity and concentration study. The participants were given an intentionally boring and tedious task. Afterward, the participants were asked what they thought about the task. Most, if not all, said that the task was very boring and that they did not enjoy it. The researcher then told the participants that their research assistant was not able to be there for the next participant and asked if they wouldn't mind standing in for them. The researcher also added that they would be paid. Half of the participants received one dollar and the other half received twenty dollars. The researcher additionally told them to tell the incoming participants how fun the sorting task was and to pretend like they liked doing it. After this had been completed, the participants were asked again how they felt about the sorting task. Those who were paid twenty dollars kept their same answers, that it was boring and not enjoyable. Those participants who were paid one dollar, however, changed their attitudes to say that it was not so bad and they would not mind doing the task again. Those who received one dollar changed their attitude about the task to match their behavior of telling the next participant that the task was fun. The monetary compensation was not enough of a reason to explain why they would lie to someone. In contrast, twenty dollars was enough of a reason to lie about the task to a stranger.

The theory of cognitive dissonance explains that people tend to act first and think later.

Acting first produces behaviors that we cannot undo. If these behaviors are inconsistent with a related cognition that we have, then we may only remedy their cognitive dissonance by changing our cognition. This allows us to explain our undoable acts by morphing our thoughts to justify the behavior. By doing this, it helps to keep our schema about ourselves consistent which brings us necessary comfort and happiness.

This explains why college kids go through the process of hazing and then remain loyal to their fraternity or sorority.

Because they had to go through grueling and embarrassing trials, they need a reason why. The reason must be that the particular greek establishment is a good one and that they really want to be a part of it. So once accepted, they rationalize that the hazing was not so bad and worth it in the end. They are subsequently very loyal to that establishment because they worked so hard to get to where they are. They better enjoy it and want to be in it since they went through such unenjoyable tasks. This is what the idea of hazing is aiming towards: gaining loyalty and enjoyment by its members. 

The theory of cognitive dissonance can be used in marketing and politics to persuade populations.

Companies want people to buy their products so they must make you believe there is a good reason to do so. If a consumer does not think a product is worth their money, they will not purchase it. If they were to purchase it, they would experience cognitive dissonance because if the product was not worth buying then why would they buy it? However, if a producer can convince you that their product is worth it, then it makes sense to the consumer to buy it. The theory of cognitive dissonance is also applied to wartime propaganda. If we think about it, the "other"is no different than we are. They have jobs, families, and homes. However in order to gain patriotic support, the "other" must be painted in a negative light so that we can make sense of our hatred and aggression towards them during war. They are drawn as rats, snakes, and pigs which must be exterminated. By planting the idea that the "other" is disposable vermin, we can be at ease with destroying them.

Still Photography is Still Alive and Well

Photography is even more relevant today than it used to be.
In the past, photographs were a novelty to have. Cameras were expensive to own and required skill to use effectively. They were also a burden to carry around with all of the equipment required. People usually went to a photographer’s studio, as shown on the right, to get posed photographs of them and their loved ones in proper clothing. Although you can still enjoy a studio experience today, cameras are accessible to virtually anyone. This allows people to take photographs anywhere of anything at anytime. Photographs today are also used not just for memories, but also as art with meaning.

While still photographs may lack the animation and sound of television and film, they can capture powerful moments and messages that force the audience to think.
They are like real-life paintings. People stand around art museums and galleries for hours contemplating the message behind the images. The same goes for photographs. They are pieces of contemplative art. Films and televisions are relatively outright in their messages. They usually do not require much thought. Because photographs do not have a voice, a beginning, middle, or an end, the audience must fill in the pieces. And that is a great mystery and discovery that many can enjoy.

The enhanced quality of the consumer camera makes it easy for anyone to capture life’s moments. 
About twenty years ago, cameras required film in order to take photographs and the film space was limited to about thirty pictures per roll. If a bad picture was taken, no one would know until the film was developed and the moment was over. Today, cameras require a memory card that can hold anywhere from hundreds to thousands of photographs at a time. This allows room not only for bad pictures to be taken but also for in-the-moment artistic inspiration to shoot different angles or poses of whatever the subject may be. If more space is needed on the memory card, simply download all of the photographs to a computer and clear the memory card or view each photograph on the camera’s display screen and delete them as desired. 

Not only are cameras better than ever, there are various innovative photographic technologies available today that were unfathomable before.
Almost every electronic device has a built in camera: laptops, cell phones, iPods, iPads, and NintendoDSi are just some. There are applications on smartphones to edit and showcase personal photography such as Snapseed and Instagram, respectively. Consumers can also purchase add-on lenses for their smartphones to change the camera's capability. In addition to device cameras, there are cameras that can go in extreme places such as underwater. All of these innovative systems allow users to personalize their photography experience to fit their lives. Because cameras and personal photography are so prevalent today, we will have many memories to show (or hide) from our children and our grandchildren that our parents and grandparents could not show us.

Unfortunately, photographs can be altered to appear to be something they really are not. While this still holds true for moving pictures, it is harder to make it believable. All it takes is a simple crop or a program like Photoshop to create a lie. This makes photographs dangerous because it can affect people on both small and large scales. For example, it can ruin someone’s reputation or it can create a false image of beauty that millions of young girls see and try to attain.

That aside, the ease of consumer photography today can inspire many people, spark a hobby, or create a job. Personally, I am appreciative that photography is where it is today. I enjoy taking pictures on my camera and my iPhone wherever I am. I am also an avid Instagram user with over 575 photos shared. Photographs are a great way to share moments, memories, and ideas. And in many cases, photographs can be funnier than videos, unless of course it is of someone falling off of a table.

Hello, World (Wide Web)

My name is Courtney and I am a Junior year Psychology major at the University of Maryland. I was born in New Hampshire and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia with my parents, younger sister, and various pets that came and went.

Today, I have many passions in life. Aside from friends and family, I love music, food (both cooking and eating it), tattoos, snowboarding, fashion, art, and movies/TV. My favorite type of music is EDM - specifically dubstep, moomba, and trap. Some of my favorite TV shows are Girls, Sex and the City, Adventure Time, American Horror Story, Weeds, Dexter, and New Girl. Some of my favorite movies are Fight Club, She's the Man, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Skyfall, Factory Girl, and Austin Powers.