UNIVERSITY OF RIZAL SYSTEM
Morong, Rizal
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
Psychology Program
Name: Cardinoza, Andrea C. Date: October 29, 2024
Year and Section: III – C1
Topic: Cognitive Dissonance
I. Direction: Describe a situation during the past year when you felt cognitive
dissonance. How did you deal with the dissonance? Alternatively, provide
students with a situation that commonly induces dissonance and ask them
how they dealt with it. Answer it and make an illustration.
Cognitive Dissonance is the discomfort that occurs when someone holds
two contradictory beliefs or values. One example of this is the one that
happened to me last year. Last year, I promise to myself that when I receive
my money from scholarship, I need to save money so that I will have extra
money in the future. But when the time comes that I received it, I spend it
right away without thinking the promise that I made to myself. Another
example is the situation where teens often face nowadays, which is the peer
pressure. Most of the teenagers nowadays are experiencing this; they are
forced to do things that oppose their will or principle. It may be a positive but
most of the time it is negative. To deal this kind of situation, first of all, you
need to strengthen your belief or principle in life. If ever the time comes that
you are already in the situation, you can easily say no to your friends or the
people that are forcing you. You can also set boundaries so that you can
protect yourself from toxic relationships and feel confident of what and who
you are. Practicing these, you can deal with peer pressure easier than you
can.
II. Direction: Analyze each situation and solve the situation using dissonance
techniques.
1. You are the owner of a department store and want to get people to shop
in your store more.
‒ As the owner, I can create a promotion that can encourage my
buyers to buy to my store. I will offer them a loyalty program where
costumer will have a card and they will receive points accordingly
every purchase. I can also create a “Buy 1, Take 1” promo for the
items that part or the everyday necessities. When customers see
these, they will feel the sense of loyalty and will commit to shop
UNIVERSITY OF RIZAL SYSTEM
Morong, Rizal
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
Psychology Program
more to my store, reducing their dissonance between their desires
to save money and spending habits.
2. You are the owner of a gambling casino and want to get people to
gamble in your casino more.
‒ I can offer them a promo wherein their first bet is for free and then
when they decided to continue the game, they will also have a free
drink every time they will win. This will encourage the gamblers to
make an initial bet without a risk. Then once they experience he
excitement of gambling, they may feel dissonance between their
principle that gambling is bad and the enjoyment of winning.
3. You have your eye on a potential romantic partner and want to get
him/her to like you more.
‒ You can ask your potential romantic partner help to do things like
a favor, and during those times you can spend your time together
and create experiences that eventually will create a bond between
the two of you. With this, they will have a cognitive dissonance
wherein they will feel like if they don’t reciprocate the feelings and
leading them to develop a strong liking for you.
4. You are a member of an environmental organization on campus, and you
want to get students to use recycling bins more, rather than putting their
soda cans in the trash, as many seem to.
‒ I can create a policy wherein every time the students will put their
cans to the recycle bin, they will receive a stamp; they can save
those stamps and exchange it to some school supplies that they
need accordingly to its price. Once the students commit, they may
feel dissonance and motivates them to use the recycle bins to
align their behavior with that stated commitment.