Sayali voted for her employee and convinced her friends, and family to vote for him. She is aware that he is a rude and dishonest man. The discomfort Sayali feels can best be explained by __________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Theory of Cognitive dissonance
Sayali holds two cognitions that do not fit together: ‘I voted for him and got others to vote for him’ and ‘He is a rude and dishonest man’. When two cognitions are dissonant, the person feels a mental discomfort, the sense that ‘something is not quite right’.
Option (1) Self-fulfilling prophecy — Incorrect. Here the target of a prejudice behaves in a way that justifies it; a group described as ‘dependent’ may actually behave in a way that proves the description true. Sayali’s discomfort has nothing to do with being the target of a prejudice.
Option (2) Two-step concept — Incorrect. S.M. Mohsin’s two-step concept explains attitude change through a source: the target first identifies with the source, and then the source’s own attitude change leads the target to change. There is no such source here.
Option (3) Theory of Cognitive dissonance — Correct. Leon Festinger’s concept says that the cognitive components of an attitude must be ‘consonant’, logically in line with each other. If two cognitions are dissonant, the person feels discomfort and one of them changes in the direction of consonance. Supporting a man she knows to be dishonest produces this very discomfort.
Option (4) Balance theory — Incorrect. Fritz Heider’s balance theory is described as the P-O-X triangle, the relationships between the person (P), another person (O) and the attitude object (X); an imbalance among the three leads to attitude change. The case describes two clashing cognitions of one person, which is dissonance.
NCERT (2025-26): “Process of Attitude Change … (a) The concept of balance, proposed by Fritz Heider is sometimes described in the form of the ‘P-O-X’ triangle, which represents the relationships between three aspects or components of the attitude. P is the person whose attitude is being studied, O is another person, and X is the topic towards which the attitude is being studied (attitude object).…” “(b) The concept of cognitive dissonance was proposed by Leon Festinger. It emphasises the cognitive component. Here the basic idea is that the cognitive components of an attitude must be ‘consonant’ (opposite of ‘dissonant’), i.e., they should be logically in line with each other. If an individual finds that two cognitions in an attitude are dissonant, then one of them will be changed in the direction of consonance.…” “…Both balance and cognitive dissonance are examples of cognitive consistency. Cognitive consistency means that two components, aspects or elements of the attitude, or attitude system, must be in the same direction. Each element should logically fall in line with other elements. If this does not happen, then the person experiences a kind of mental discomfort, i.e. the sense that ‘something is not quite right’ in the attitude system. In such a state, some aspect in the attitude system changes in the direction of consistency, because our cognitive system requires logical consistency.” “(c) The two-step concept was proposed by S.M. Mohsin, an Indian psychologist. According to him, attitude change takes place in the form of two steps.…” |