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Author Website

http://uky.edu/~zentall

Abstract

According to Festinger (1957), cognitive dissonance occurs when one’s behavior or belief is inconsistent with another belief and one modifies one of the beliefs in an attempt to reduce the dissonance. In nonhuman animals, we have examined a version of human cognitive dissonance theory called justification of effort, according to which the value of reward following more difficult tasks increases, presumably to justify (to oneself or to others) performing the more difficult task. We have examined the justification of effort effect in animals and found a pattern similar to the one in humans but we propose a simpler underlying mechanism: contrast between the greater effort and the resulting reward that follows. The contrast model predicts that any relatively aversive event will result in a preference for a reward (or for the signal of a reward) that follows. Much evidence supports this model: Signals for reward are preferred if they are preceded by having to make a greater number of responses, encountering a longer delay, or experiencing the absence of food (when food is presented on other trials). Contrast has also been found when the signals are associated with greater rather than less food restriction. We have also found a shift toward the preference of a food location that requires greater effort to obtain. Analogous effects have been found in humans (both children and adults) using similar procedures.

Author Biography

Thomas R. Zentall is Professor of Psychology at the University of Kentucky. His research interests focus on cognitive behaviors in animals including memory strategies, concept learning, and social learning. http://uky.edu/~zentall

DOI

10.51291/2377-7478.1111

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Article Thread

Zentall, Thomas R. (2016) Cognitive dissonance or contrast?. Animal Sentience 12(1)

Vonk, Jennifer (2017) What can research on nonhumans tell us about human dissonance?. Animal Sentience 12(2)

Eisenreich, Benjamin R. and Hayden, Benjamin Y. (2017) Choice-induced preference: A challenge for contrast. Animal Sentience 12(3)

Harmon-Jones, Cindy; Haslam, Nick; and Bastian, Brock (2017) Dissonance reduction in nonhuman animals: Implications for cognitive dissonance theory. Animal Sentience 12(4)

Harmon-Jones, Eddie (2017) Clarifying concepts in cognitive dissonance theory. Animal Sentience 12(5)

Zentall, Thomas (2017) Cognitive dissonance or contrast? It could be both. Animal Sentience 12(6)

Hall, Geoffrey (2017) Experiment versus analogy in the search for animal sentience. Animal Sentience 12(7)

Brodbeck, David R. and Brodbeck, Madeleine I. R. (2017) Cognitive continuity in cognitive dissonance. Animal Sentience 12(8)

Smith, Travis R. (2017) Establishing that contrast is cognitive dissonance. Animal Sentience 12(9)

Bodily, Kent D. (2017) Reductionism and accounts of cognitive dissonance. Animal Sentience 12(10)

Furlong, Ellen; Silver, Zachary; and Furlong, Jack (2018) Anthropocentrism as cognitive dissonance in animal research?. Animal Sentience 12(11)