Cognitive Dissonance and the Elaboration Likelihood Model for the MCAT

Attitudes change through two main routes on the MCAT: reducing the discomfort of cognitive dissonance, and persuasion described by the elaboration likelihood model (ELM). Learn to recognize which one a vignette describes.

Components of an attitude

An attitude has three parts, often remembered as ABC:

• Affective: feelings toward the object.
• Behavioral: how you act toward it.
• Cognitive: beliefs and thoughts about it.

Cognitive dissonance

Leon Festinger proposed that holding two inconsistent cognitions, or acting against a belief, creates psychological tension. People are motivated to reduce it in one of several ways:

• Change the belief to match the behavior.
• Change the behavior to match the belief.
• Add a new justifying cognition.
• Minimize the importance of the conflict.

A classic result is that people paid very little to say a boring task was fun later rated it as more enjoyable than people paid a lot, because a small reward leaves insufficient external justification and so the attitude shifts instead.

Elaboration likelihood model

The ELM describes two routes to persuasion, depending on how motivated and able the listener is to think carefully.

Central route change tends to be more durable and more resistant to counterargument. Peripheral route change is quicker and shorter lived.

Other persuasion factors

Persuasion depends on the source (credible, attractive), the message (clear, balanced, emotional or logical) and the target (age, self-esteem, involvement). A vignette that stresses an expert endorsement for an uninterested audience points to the peripheral route.

Common traps

• Calling dissonance a persuasion route. It is an internal drive to restore consistency.
• Treating the peripheral route as ineffective. It works, but the change is less lasting.
• Mixing up the attitude components. Feelings are affective, actions behavioral, beliefs cognitive.

One-minute recap

• Attitude = affect, behavior, cognition.
• Dissonance creates tension that people reduce by changing attitudes or behavior.
• ELM: central route for careful thought, peripheral route for cues.