Premium
Changes in liking as a means of reducing cognitive discrepancies between self‐esteem and aggression 1
Author(s) -
Glass David C.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1964.tb01357.x
Subject(s) - citation , psychology , state (computer science) , library science , computer science , algorithm
Festmger's theory of cogmtive dissonance (1957) states that two cogmtions are m a dissonant relation if, considenng these two alone, they are psychologically inconsistent or contradictory The existence of dissonance motivates the mdividual to reduce dissonance by engagmg m cognitive changes, behavior changes, etc This theory has led to a considerable amount of research on the consequences of behaving m ways which are discrepant with prior behefs ( eg , Cohen, Brehm, & Flemmg, 1958, Festmger & Carlsmith, 1959, Cohen, Terry, & Jones, 1959, Brock & Buss, 1962) Recentiy, Bramel (1962, 1963) has shown the relevance of dissonance theory to the relation between self-esteem and defensive projection, an area usually considered to be withm the provmce of personahty theory He found that when an mdividual IS exposed to mformation both unfavorable to himself and dissonant with his self-image, he tends to attribute the undesirable characteristic to other people, 1 e, he tends to "project" If the same unfavorable mformation is consonant with his self-image (le., if the mdividual has a negative self-image), httle rf any projection occurs. Thus projection may be viewed as a consequence of the desire to reduce discrepancies produced by mformation that is mcompatible with a need for a favorable selfevaluation If one follows Bramel's hne of reasonmg, other processes traditionally viewed to be withm the domain of personahty theory may be made amenable to a dissonance formulation For example,