Attitude change according to Festinger, happens in the following way:-
A. It emphasises on the cognitive component.
B. Holding two opposing ideas/cognition makes an individual feel that something is out of tune.
C. The cognitive components of an attitude must be in consonance with each other
D. One of the ideas will have to be changed so that consonance can be attained
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → A, C, B, D
Festinger’s concept of cognitive dissonance explains attitude change step by step, in this order:
A. It emphasises on the cognitive component. — the concept, proposed by Leon Festinger, emphasises the cognitive component of an attitude; this is where it starts.
C. The cognitive components of an attitude must be in consonance with each other — the basic idea: the cognitive components must be ‘consonant’, logically in line with each other.
B. Holding two opposing ideas/cognition makes an individual feel that something is out of tune. — when two cognitions clash, as in ‘pan masala causes mouth cancer which is fatal’ and ‘I eat pan masala’, the person feels that something is ‘out of tune’, or dissonant.
D. One of the ideas will have to be changed so that consonance can be attained — the dissonance is removed by changing one cognition; for example, the person stops eating pan masala.
NCERT (2025-26): “Process of Attitude Change … (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.…” “think about the following ideas (‘cognitions’) : Cognition I : Pan masala causes mouth cancer which is fatal. Cognition II : I eat pan masala. Holding these two ideas or cognitions will make any individual feel that something is ‘out of tune’, or dissonant, in the attitude towards pan masala. Therefore, one of these ideas will have to be changed, so that consonance can be attained. In the example given above, in order to remove or reduce the dissonance, I will stop eating pan masala (change Cognition II). This would be the healthy, logical and sensible way of reducing dissonance.…” |