托福口语 Task 3

In psychology, the concept of 'cognitive dissonance' refers to the mental discomfort experienced when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time. This discomfort often leads individuals to attempt to reduce the inconsistency by changing their beliefs, justifying their behavior, or adding new cognitions. For example, if someone values health but smokes cigarettes, they may experience dissonance. To resolve this, they might convince themselves that smoking is not as harmful as studies suggest, or they might quit smoking to align their behavior with their beliefs.

Professor: So, let me illustrate this with a classic study. In one experiment, participants were asked to perform a very boring task—turning pegs on a pegboard for an hour. Afterward, they were asked to tell the next participant that the task was fun and exciting. Some were paid $1 for lying, while others were paid $20. The key finding: those paid only $1 actually changed their attitude and reported that the task was enjoyable, whereas those paid $20 maintained that the task was boring. Why? Because the $20 provided a strong external justification for lying, so they felt no dissonance. But the $1 group had no sufficient external reason, so they experienced dissonance—they had said something contrary to their true feelings. To reduce the discomfort, they convinced themselves that maybe the task really wasn't so bad after all. They changed their belief to match their lie.