In two studies, we investigated the roles of explicit memory and attentional resources in the process of behavior-induced attitude change. Although most theories of attitude change (cognitive dissonance and self-perception theories) assume an important role for both mechanisms, we propose that behavior-induced attitude change can be a relatively automatic process that does not require explicit memory for, or consciously controlled processing of, the discrepancy between attitude and behavior. Using a free-choice paradigm, we found that both amnesics and normal participants under cognitive load showed as much attitude change as did control participants.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Aesop.
(1961).
Aesop without morals: The famous fables and a life of Aesop
(DalyL.W., ed. & trans.).
New York: Barnes and Co.
2.
AschS.E.
(1956).
Studies of independence and conformity: A minority of one against a unanimous majority.
Psychological Monographs,
7(9, Whole No. 416).
3.
BaddeleyA.
(1986).
Working memory.
New York: Oxford University Press.
4.
BarghJ.A.
(1989).
Conditional automaticity: Varieties of automatic influence in social perception and cognition. In
UlemanJ.S.BarghJ.A. (Eds.),
Unintended thought (pp. 3–51).
New York: Guilford Press.
5.
BarghJ.A.TotaM.E.
(1988).
Context-dependent automatic processing in depression: Accessibility of negative constructs with regard to self but not others.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
54, 925–939.
6.
BemD.J.
(1965).
An experimental analysis of self-persuasion.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,
1, 199–218.
7.
BrehmJ.W.
(1956).
Post-decision changes in the desirability of alternatives.
Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,
52, 384–389.
8.
BrehmJ.W.CohenA.R.
(1962).
Explorations in cognitive dissonance.
New York: Wiley.
9.
BrockT.C.GrantL.D.
(1963).
Dissonance, awareness and motivation.
Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,
67, 53–60.
10.
ChaikenS.LibermanA.EaglyA.H.
(1989).
Heuristic and systematic information processing within and beyond the persuasion context. In
UlemanJ.S.BarghJ.A. (Eds.),
Unintended thought (pp. 212–252).
New York: Guilford Press.
11.
ElliotA.J.DevineP.G.
(1994).
On the motivational nature of cognitive dissonance: Dissonance as psychological discomfort.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
67, 382–394.
12.
FestingerL.
(1957).
A theory of cognitive dissonance.
Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson.
13.
FestingerL.
(1964).
Conflict, decision, and dissonance.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
14.
FletcherP.C.ShalliceT.DolanR.J.
(1998).
The functional roles of prefrontal cortex in episodic memory: I. Encoding.
Brain,
121, 1239–1248.
15.
GerardH.B.WhiteG.L.
(1983).
Post-decisional reevaluation of choice alternatives.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,
9, 365–369.
16.
GilbertD.T.
(1989).
Thinking lightly about others. In
UlemanJ.S.BarghJ.A. (Eds.),
Unintended thought (pp. 189–211).
New York: Guilford Press.
17.
GilbertD.T.PelhamB.W.KrullD.S.
(1988).
On cognitive busyness: When person perceivers meet persons perceived.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
54, 733–740.
18.
GilbertD.T.SilveraD.S.
(1996).
Overhelping.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
70, 678–690.
19.
HovlandC.I.JanisI.L.KelleyH.H.
(1953).
Communication and persuasion.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
20.
HovlandC.I.RosenbergM.J.
(1960).
Summary and further theoretical issues. In
RosenbergM.J.HovlandC.I.McGuireW.J.AbelsonR.P.BrehmJ.W. (Eds.),Attitude organization and change:
An analysis of consistency among attitude components (pp. 198–232).
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
21.
JonesE.E.
(1998).
Major developments in five decades of social psychology. In
GilbertD.T.FiskeS.T.LindzeyG. (Eds.),
The handbook of social psychology (4th ed., pp. 3–57).
New York: Oxford University Press.
22.
Kunst-WilsonW.R.ZajoncR.B.
(1980).
Affective discrimination of stimuli that cannot be recognized.
Science,
207, 557–558.
23.
LiebermanM.D.
(2000).
Intuition: A social cognitive neuroscience approach.
Psychological Bulletin,
126, 109–137.
24.
LiebermanM.D.GilbertD.T.JarchoJ.
(2000).
Automatic and controlled attribution processes across cultures. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Los Angeles.
25.
NisbettR.E.WilsonT.D.
(1977).
Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes.
Psychological Review,
84, 231–259.
26.
OcherK.N.LiebermanM.D.
(2000).
The social cognitive neuroscience approach. Manuscript submitted for publication.
27.
O'ReillyR.BraverT.S.CohenJ.D.
(1997).
A biologically-based computational model of working memory. In
MaykaeA.ShahP. (Eds.),
Models of working memory (pp. 375–411).
New York: Oxford University Press.
28.
PettyR.E.CacioppoJ.T.
(1986).
The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. In
BerkowitzL. (Ed.),
Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol.
19, pp. 123–205).
New York: Academic Press.
29.
PettyR.E.WegenerD.T.
(1998).
Attitude change: Multiple roles for persuasion variables. In
GilbertD.T.FiskeS.T.LindzeyG. (Eds.),
The handbook of social psychology (4th ed., pp. 323–390).
New York: Oxford University Press.
30.
SchacterD.L.ChiuC.Y.P.OcherK.N.
(1993).
Implicit memory: A selective review.
Annual Review of Neuroscience,
16, 159–182.
31.
SchacterD.L.HarblukJ.L.McLachlanD.R.
(1984).
Retrieval without recollection: An experimental analysis of source amnesia.
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior,
23, 593–611.
32.
SchacterD.L.OsowieckiD.KaszniakA.KihlstromJ.ValdiserriM.
(1994).
Source memory: Extending the boundaries of age-related deficits.
Psychology and Aging,
9, 81–89.
33.
SnyderM.EbbesenE.B.
(1972).
Dissonance awareness: A test of dissonance theory versus self-perception theory.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,
8, 502–517.
34.
SquireL.R.
(1992).
Declarative and nondeclarative memory: Multiple brain systems supporting learning and memory.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,
4, 232–243.
35.
SteeleC.SpencerS.LynchM.
(1993).
Self-image resilience and dissonance: The role of affirmational resources.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
64, 885–896.
36.
WechslerD.
(1981).
Manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised.
New York: Psychological Corp.
37.
WechslerD.
(1987).
Manual for the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised.
San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corp.
WegnerD.M.BarghJ.A.
(1998).
Control and automaticity in social life. In
GilbertD.T.FiskeS.T.LindzeyG. (Ed.),
The handbook of social psychology (4th ed., pp. 446–496).
New York: Oxford University Press.
40.
WilsonT.D.LindseyS.SchoolerT.Y.
(2000).
A model of dual attitudes.
Psychological Review,
107, 101–126.
41.
ZannaM.P.AzizaC.
(1976).
On the interaction of repression-sensitization and attention in resolving cognitive dissonance.
Journal of Personality,
44, 577–593.
