Page 227 - The Social Animal

Self-Justification 209

Thus, Joe might begin to take a different look at some of the events
that have taken place in Cuba during the past 50 years. He might
start looking into Castro’s politics and decisions and become more
disposed toward seeing wisdom that he hadn’t seen before. He might
also begin to be more receptive to information that indicates the ex-
tent of the corruption, brutality, and ineptitude of the previous gov-
ernment. To repeat: If an individual states a belief that is difficult to
justify externally, that person will attempt to justify it internally by
making his or her attitudes more consistent with the statement.
I have mentioned a couple of forms of external justification. One
is the idea that it’s all right to tell a harmless lie to avoid hurting a per-
son’s feelings—as in the case of Joe Lawyer and his partner. Another
is drunkenness as an excuse for one’s actions. Still another form of ex-
ternal justification is reward. Put yourself in Joe’s shoes for a moment,
and suppose that you and I both were at that cocktail party and I am
an eccentric millionaire. As the conversation turns to Cuba, I pull you
aside and say, “Hey, I would like you to come out strongly in favor of
Fidel Castro and Cuban communism.” What’s more, suppose I hand
you $5,000 for doing it. After counting the money, you gasp, put the
$5,000 in your pocket, return to the discussion, and defend Fidel Cas-
tro to the hilt. The next morning when you wake up, would you expe-
rience any dissonance? I don’t think so. Your cognition “I said some
things about Fidel Castro and Cuban communism that I don’t believe”
is dissonant with the cognition “I am a truthful and decent person.”
But, at the same time, you have adequate external justification for hav-
ing made that statement: “I said those favorable things about Cuban
communism to earn $5,000—and it was worth it.” You don’t have to
soften your attitude toward Castro to justify that statement because
you know why you made those statements: You made them not be-
cause you think they are true but to get the $5,000. You’re left with the
knowledge you sold your soul for $5,000—and it was worth it.
This has been called the “saying is believing” paradigm. That is,
dissonance theory predicts that we begin to believe our own lies—but
only if there is not abundant external justification for making the
statements that run counter to our original attitudes. Let’s now elab-
orate on our earlier discussion of conformity. Recall in Chapter 2 we
found that the greater the reward for compliance, the greater the
probability that a person will comply. Now we can go one step fur-
ther: When it comes to producing a lasting change in attitude, the