A similar situation of cognitive dissonance was seen in an experiment conducted by Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) where the volunteers who were paid one dollar believed they enjoyed the task they were paid to do while the volunteers paid twenty dollars found it less enjoyable. The volunteers who were paid only one dollar resolved their cognitive dissonance by believing that the task was more interesting and enjoyable than it actually was. This scenario shows that an external reward can greatly affect a person’s thoughts, actions, and beliefs and cause the person to resolve their cognitive dissonance in a way that has them finding the activity that they were paid for more enjoyable in order to justify their decision to complete it, regardless of the low reward. Writers who seek to explain what cognitive dissonance is to their readers could utilize this example.

 A real-world example of cognitive dissonance would be the way that a new car salesperson could utilize the technique to make customers more content with their purchase and in turn less likely to return their vehicle. The salesperson could use cognitive dissonance to help soften the buyer’s thoughts towards keeping the car by giving the buyer a more positive view of the car. This could be done through making the decision to purchase the car seem more reasonable by telling the customer about the great deal they are currently getting on the car, taking the customer on test drives to soften their views towards the car, and by making returning it seem like a bad idea. The sales person could make returning it seem like a bad idea by telling the customer that if they were to return the car they would get less back than they paid for it due to their use of the car and restocking fees. The salesperson could quote the return value of the car in order to harden the customer against the idea of returning the car. The salesperson could also reward the customer for not returning the car by providing free benefits at different ownership milestones; for example, at the three-month milestone the customer would receive a free car wash, at six months a free oil change, and at a year a free alignment check. These actions would make the customer feel rewarded for keeping the car and hardened against the idea of returning it due to the loss of value. While this example uses a car salesperson, writers could use this particular situation in their own writing in any situation where a character is selling another character something. Cognitive dissonance could be used to explain why a character bought a certain item and chose to keep it.

Cognitive dissonance is a psychological concept that many fictional writers neglect in their writing due to a lack of knowledge of the term or concept. Yet, with this understanding writers can provide a more in-depth understanding of their characters’ choices to their readers.

References

Festinger, L. (1961). The psychological effects of insufficient rewards. American Psychologist, 16(1), 1–

                11. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1037/h0045112

Festinger, L., and Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Journal of

                Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58, 203–211.