2007/09/24 by Emily Balcetis, David Dunning · 3 citations
Neuroscience · Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · Psychology · #Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment #Media Influence and Health #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Cognitive dissonance #Psychology #Perception #Self-perception theory #Cognition #Social psychology #Cognitive psychology #Task (project management) #Control (management)
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.02000.x
openalex publication_date 2007/09/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Two studies demonstrated that the motivation to resolve cognitive dissonance affects the visual perception of physical environments. In Study 1, subjects crossed a campus quadrangle wearing a costume reminiscent of Carmen Miranda. In Study 2, subjects pushed themselves up a hill while kneeling on a skateboard. Subjects performed either task under a high-choice, low-choice, or control condition. Subjects in the high-choice conditions, presumably to resolve dissonance, perceived the environment to be less aversive than did subjects in the low-choice and control conditions, seeing a shorter distance to travel (Study 1) and a shallower slope to climb (Study 2). These studies suggest that the impact of motivational states extends from social judgment down into perceptual processes.