Research conducted on vicarious dissonance and the difference effects authority figures have when influencing attitude change.

1. People experiencing dissonance in response to an
authority’s actions will demonstrate more attitude
change than people experiencing dissonance in
response to a non-authority’s actions.
122 participants (77 female, 46 male)
• Average age 19.56 (SD = 2.52)
• 98 Caucasian, 11 African American, and 13 other
Dissonance Manipulation. Participants were randomly assigned to
separate groups:
• Friend (Non-authori ty) Control: Asked to write about a friend
that they respect and read a story about a different person
(student) being racist.
• Teacher (Authority) Control: Write about a teacher that they
respect and read a story where a different teacher being racist.
• Friend (Non-authori ty) Dissonance: Write about a friend that
they respect and read a story about that person being racist.
• Teacher (Authority) Dissonance: Write about a teacher that
they respect and read a story about that person being racist.
Attitude Assessments. All participants completed the following
attitude assessments after initially writing about the person (Pre) and
after reading the story (Post).
• Positive and Negative Affective Schedule (PANAS). A 20-item
measure used to determine emotional state.
• Inclusion of Other in Self Scale (IOS). A visual Likert-like scale
asking participants to rate their closeness to a person.
Holding inconsistent beliefs or behaving in a
manner inconsistent with one’s beliefs can lead to a
state of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957).
People tend to respond to this dissonance by
changing their attitudes or their behaviors.
Recent research has suggested that watching
others behave in an inconsistent or inappropriate
manner can cause dissonance, particularly when one
identifies with the person behaving inappropriately
(Norton, Cooper, Monin, & Hogg, 2003). This
phenomenon is known as vicarious dissonance.
The goal of the current study was to investigate
how authority might impact vicarious dissonance.
Authorities are generally held to a higher standard
than non-authorities. Authorities benefit from being
perceived as fair (Rustichini & Villeval, 2012) and are
seen as legitimate only when engaging in acceptable
behaviors (Yau, Smetana, & Metzger, 2008).
Therefore, inconsistent behavior on the part of an
authority figure might lead to different amounts of
dissonance and attitude change than similar behavior
from a non-authority.
People were more likely to change their attitude about a
respected person behaving in an appropriate way if that person was
an authority compared to a non-authority.
These results are consistent with previous research (Rustichini
& Villeval, 2012; Yau, Smetana, & Metzger, 2008) that suggests
authorities benefit from being perceived as fair and engaging in
appropriate behaviors.
This supports the idea that individuals hold authority figures to a
different standard than their friends.
Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to test whether the
assessments changed as a function of time (Pre to Post) or condition.
PANAS Negative Affect. There was not a significant interaction
between time and condition, F(3, 118) = 1.67, p = .18. However, there
was a significant effect of time, F(1, 118) = 75.04, p < .001.
Inclusion of Other in Self. There was a significant interaction
between time and condition, F(3, 118) = 66.72, p < .001. IOS ratings
decreased from Pre to Post in the Teacher Dissonance condition, F(1,
31) = 129.78, p < .001, but not in any other conditions, all p > .05.
Introduction
Hypothesis
DiscussionResults
Method
Error bar represent 95% confidence intervals.
Kendrick Settler & Patrick J. Cushen, PhD
Murray State University, Department of Psychology
Inclusion of Other in Self Ratings by Group
0
1
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3
4
5
6
7
Friend
Control
Teacher
Control
Friend
Dissonance
Teacher
Dissonance
AverageIOSScores
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Friend
Control
Teacher
Control
Friend
Dissonance
Teacher
Dissonance
AverageNegativePANASScore
Pre Post
Negative Affect Ratings by Group
Influence of Authority on Attitude Change Due to Vicarious Dissonance
Festinger,L.(1957).Atheory ofcognitive dissonance.Evanston,IL:Row,
Peterson.
Norton,M., Cooper,J.,Monin,B., &Hogg,M. (2003) Vicarious dissonance:
attitude change from the inconsistencyofothers.Journal ofPersonality and
Social Psychology,85,47-62.
Rustichini,A.& Villeval, M. C.(2014).Moral hypocrisy,powerand preferences.
Journal ofEconomic Behavior and Organization,107,10-24.
Yau,J., Smetana, J.G., & Metzger,A.(2009).Young Chinese children’s authority
concepts.Social Development,18,210-229.
References