WHEN DO OUR ACTIONS AFFECT OUR ATTITUDES?

Joel Cooper
Princeton University

Steven J. Scher
University of the Cariboo

From the Chapter Conclusion:

It is clear that actions have effects upon attitudes. The research in cognitive dissonance theory has been the most notable approach in demonstrating the link between the two... In the current chapter, we have shown that, when conditions are right, people's actions cause changes in their attitudes. Factors such as responsibility and the type of consequences that are brought about by the actions are necessary preconditions for attitudes to be affected by actions. Was the crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde caused by the series of chance events that led Clyde Barrow to take actions that later led to his adopting the attitudes of a criminal? Perhaps we cannot seriously offer such a reconstruction of history. But we can be certain that the actions that people take can cause fundamental resturcturing of their attitudes.


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