Cognitive Dissonance and Its Impact on Consumer Behaviour
Abstract
The theory of “cognitive dissonance” is of great importance in consumer behaviours and marketers have lots of interest in analysing the post purchase behaviour of consumers experienced by them. This paper has explored the factors that create cognitive dissonance in consumer buying decision making particularly among the consumer goods purchaser in the city area. Some of these are family status, religious value, customs, belief etc. the study also reveals the problems and identified probable solutions to overcome these problems. This article explores the implications of cognitive dissonance on varied aspects of consumer buying behaviour. Some of the factors leading to dissonance
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(4)Dissonance in Consumer Behaviour
In dynamic business environment, marketers have always been trying to not only acquire new customer base but also retain the existing one by providing value, satisfying customers’ exchange expectations. It has been found that customer retention is highly associated with customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction not only retains the customer with the company but also affects revenue, earning per share and stock price (Williams and Naumann, 2011).
Since consumer behaviour and its extensive study has been a backbone of the marketing strategy of every firm, a detailed and comprehensive study of all its aspects become imperative for the success of an organisation. And, hence, the concept of cognitive dissonance and its effect on the consumer behaviour has been a part of various significant research studies as well. One author even termed it one of social psychology’s greatest theories (Aronson 1969).Sweeney, Hausknecht and Soutar (2000) noted, „dissonance includes both cognitive aspects, as the title „cognitive dissonance‟ implies, as well as an emotional dimension, as many definitions, including Festinger‟s original
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1.2 Why is Cognitive Dissonance Important?
Cognitive dissonance plays a role in many value judgments, decisions and evaluations. Becoming aware of how conflicting beliefs impact the decision-making process is a great way to improve your ability to make faster and more accurate choices.
1.3 Examples of Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance can occur in many areas of life, but it is particularly evident in situations where an individual's behaviour conflicts with beliefs that are integral to his or her self-identity. For example, consider a situation in which a man who places a value on being environmentally responsible just purchased a new car that he later discovers does not get great gas mileage.
The conflict
• It is important for the man to take care of the environment.
• He is driving a car that is not environmentally-friendly.
In order to reduce this dissonance between belief and behaviour, he has a few difference choices. He can sell the car and purchase another one that gets better gas mileage or he can reduce his emphasis on environmental-responsibility. In the case of the second option, his dissonance could be further minimized by engaging in actions that reduce the impact of driving a gas-guzzling vehicle, such as utilizing public transportation more frequently or riding his bike to work on
This eventually leads her to challenge her self concepts to extreme levels, causing her to either liberate herself from the façade she created or sink into the role. Easy A describes many genuine psychological phenomena and I am going to focus on three of them; Cognitive dissonance theory, how societal and cultural norms dictate our attitudes and thoughts, and different ways of persuasion. The cognitive dissonance theory is the feeling of unease that is felt when we act in opposition to our attitudes, which causes a shift of attitude in order to be consistent with our behavior. Easy A depicts strongly the theory of cognitive dissonance on numerous occasions.
The author states that the one of the many flaws in a democracy is the fact that people have the right to vote without having knowledge on the subject. He understands that people make decisions based off their morals, not on the knowledge they have on a subject. Keohane adds that as a self-defense mechanism people, when they are faced with a mental conflict that occurs where their beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information; this is called cognitive dissonance. He goes on to explain the theory of motivated reasoning, which is where people have two facts presented to them where one fact contradicts their principals, and they end up choosing the fact that is closest to their ideals. According to Keohane people with higher self-esteem are more likely to acknowledge new information than people with insecurities.
When you see a litterbug throw the rest of their half-eaten lunch on the ground or dispose of a cigarette out their Hummer window, you might be disgusted by the fact that, that someone negatively impacts the environment. Most human beings know that our negative actions towards the environment have a ripple effect like a drop in the ocean. However, not everyone cares or sees the impact that we all individually have on the earth. In the essay, Our Unhealthy Future Under Environmentalism, John Berlau, an American economist, debates that conserving and preserving our environment is unnecessary and environmentalist should chill out with this save the planet bull crap. This essay comes directly from Berlau’s book called, Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism
In chapter ten of The Outsiders, Ponyboy is as expected takes the death of Johnny and Dally extremely poorly. He cannot understand how he lost his friends so quickly and he does not know how to process all of it. Since Ponyboy is unable to accept their death he tells himself that they are not dead in order to cope with what has happened (Hinton, 2006, p. 150). Overall, too much has happened so quickly that he emotionally and mentally cannot think about the death of his friends, therefore, he perceives them as still being alive. Cognitive Dissonance Theory was formed by Leon Festinger and he concludes that “the experience of dissonance-incompatible beliefs and actions or two incompatible beliefs-is unpleasant, and people are highly motivated
Further, the magnitude in which, the person 's cognitions depends on the importance of cognitions that are consonant and dissonant. To elaborate, dissonance
In February of 2017 Kia Motors America released “Hero’s Journey”, a Super Bowl advertisement for their new eco-friendly hybrid, Niro. The commercial features Melissa McCarthy’s attempts to save the environment with humorous consequences. Through her failures, the audience learns that being an “eco-warrior” doesn’t have to be so challenging. The ad is emphasizing the need for conservation efforts but is also depicting solutions in a way that is fun and light-hearted. By using comedic satire, appeals to logos and pathos, and a consideration of problems and solutions, Kia Motors America convinces its audience that our need for instant gratification is easily achievable by purchasing their new eco-friendly Niro.
Another survey present that people were more inclined to buy automatic, high fueled cars than hybrids. This just goes to represent that society is playing a role in the high pollution
Also, considering that the visual is an ad for an electric car, that will also create a sense of guilt because we know as humans how badly driving vehicles powered for gas affects the world. That being said, the audience would again feel a sense of guilt owing to middle class car consumers are aware that their actions will possibly lead to the displacement and possible extinction of polar bears. Although the creators chose to focus more on pathos there is also a bit of Kairos mixed in too. Electric vehicles and the emphasis on being environmentally friendly is very popular these days considering the awareness of climate change. The creators chose to focus more on pathos because using kairos would not have made for a strong enough argument.
First of all, let’s talk about the environment. I’m sure you all know about greenhouse gases and global warming, so I won’t talk much about that, but you may not know that road vehicles produce 10% of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions. This does include vehicles other than cars like trucks, but Tesla just came out with an electric truck which is faster and can carry more weight than any petrol/diesel truck. Greenhouses gases carbon-dioxide and methane have hit their highest levels in the past 420,000 years, and the extent of arctic sea ice has declined about 10% in the last 30 years.
Derek also provides an example of Hypothesis 2: Post decision dissonance creates a need for reassurance. Festinger defines post decision dissonance as “ strong doubts experienced after making an important decision” (Griffin, et al). Derek experiences strong post decision dissonance after leaving the Aryan Brotherhood. When he leaves one of the members tells him that he will be punished. This causes dissonance within Derek, he wonders if he made the right decision, and he feels regret almost.
There is a study in which analyzes the behavior and communication of a person when they come into contact or are acknowledge about some other person or group of people. Hence, this study is known as social psychology. Many aspects fall into this topic and those aspects are presented in the film Crash. Crash a film released in 2004, depicts many aspects that fall into the social psychology realm.
First of all, let’s talk about the environment. I’m sure you all know about greenhouse gases and global warming, so I won’t talk much about that, but you may not know that road vehicles produce 10% of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions. This does include vehicles other than cars like trucks, but Tesla just came out with an electric truck which is faster and can carry more weight than any petrol/diesel truck. Greenhouses gases carbon-dioxide and methane have hit their highest levels in the past 420,000 years, and the extent of arctic sea ice has declined about 10% in the last 30 years. This is all because of global warming, and if we start switching to electric cars, we could make a big difference and maybe, just maybe the effects of global warming will decrease.
A lot of people love to hear about energy efficient and environmentally friendly options out there. The electric vehicles today serve great benefits in keeping emissions down and using a more friendly alternative energy source. In my opinion they have made an impact on the environment, but a major benefit in using this alternative resource is less cost to fuel the vehicle. Gasoline is very expensive today, and using the energy that is used to power our home, is much less expensive and more available than gas. The environment, as claimed by environmentalists, suffers due to the emissions of automobiles today.
Descartes Methodological Doubt and Meditations Methodological doubt is an approach in philosophy that employs distrust and doubt to all the truths and beliefs of an individual to determine what beliefs he or she is certain are true. It was popularized by Rene Descartes who made it a characteristic method of philosophy where a philosopher subjects all the knowledge they have with the sole purpose of scrutinizing and differentiating the true claims from the false claims. Methodological doubt establishes certainty by analytically and tentatively doubting all the knowledge that one knows to set aside dubitable knowledge from the indubitable knowledge that an individual possesses. According to Descartes, who was a rationalist, his first meditation
Mercedes remains in the end a company that values of professionalism and business men lifestyle where all its advertisement show the owner of Mercedes as wearing suit and enormously wealthy in order to instill the psychology and idea of the market they are trying to reach. Marketing would not be profitable if the business didn’t segment the market into segments that they can then market accordingly to demographics as well as social lifestyle. With this in mind, a sustainable car would be better targeted to a segment with high income that can as well high social class that would be more prone to be active towards a certain goal. With business men being always on the travel in order to attend meetings and showcase products, a sustainable cars that can achieve a heavy millage might attract that