Friedman Ronald S, Arndt Jamie
University of Missouri-Columbia.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2005 Sep;31(9):1217-25. doi: 10.1177/0146167204274077.
Building upon suggestive earlier findings, the present study sought to test more informatively the notion that reminders of mortality can intensify efforts at dissonance reduction. Toward this end, an induced-compliance experiment was conducted in which participants were given high versus low choice to write a counterattitudinal statement regarding a boring topic under conditions of either mortality salience (MS) or uncertainty salience (control). It was predicted that although dissonance reduction (via attitude change) would be provoked in the control group, MS would significantly exacerbate this effect. These predictions were borne out empirically. The findings, obtained using the historically preeminent paradigm for assessing dissonance reduction, provide firm support for the notion that MS amplifies concerns with cognitive consistency.
基于早期具有启发性的研究结果，本研究旨在更全面地检验死亡提醒会加剧减少认知失调努力这一观点。为此，进行了一项诱导依从实验，在该实验中，参与者在死亡凸显（MS）或不确定性凸显（对照组）的条件下，被给予高选择度或低选择度来就一个枯燥的话题撰写反态度声明。研究预测，虽然在对照组中会引发减少认知失调（通过态度改变）的情况，但死亡凸显会显著加剧这种效果。这些预测在实证中得到了证实。使用历史上评估减少认知失调的卓越范式所获得的研究结果，为死亡凸显会放大对认知一致性的关注这一观点提供了有力支持。
