Internalization of multiple perspectives or dissonance reduction?

In numerous research programs based on the concept of cognitive dissonance, participants play a role that is ostensibly in conflict with their pre-existing values. A strict reading of dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957) leads us to suppose that these role-playing, or 'forced compliance', procedures generally create results that are not implied by the theory. We spell out a theoretical position that comes to terms with these effects of role-playing, one that approaches role-playing procedures from the standpoint of the development of multiple value repertoires. From this viewpoint the outcomes of role-playing do not stem from contradictions-or cognitive dissonance-within the person's sets of values.We are indebted to the following for their expert advice and criticism of an earlier version of this manuscript: C. Daniel Batson, Guido Gendolla, Eddie Harmon-Jones, Giuseppe Pantaleo, Peter Schönbach, and Paul Silvia, and we are indebted to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for support in the form of a Senior Research Award to the second author

The Difficulty of Making Reparations Affects the Intensity of Collective Guilt

We examined how the difficulty of making reparations for the harm done to another group affects the intensity of collective guilt. Men were confronted with information documenting male privilege and were told that they would have a chance to help women and reduce patriarchy by collecting signatures on a petition. We manipulated the difficulty of making reparations by asking participants to collect 5, 50, or 100 signatures. As predicted by Brehm's (1999) theory of emotional intensity, collective guilt was a non-monotonic function of the difficulty of making reparations. Men in the moderate difficulty (50 signatures) condition expressed greater collective guilt than participants in the low (5) or high (100) difficulty conditions. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for the theory of emotional intensity, collective guilt, and collective emotions more generally

The intensity of motivation

Annual Review of Psychology http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/loi/psyc