That's My Choice and I'm Sticking To It

Researchers at Yale University have found that cognitive dissonance, the psychological state in which an individual's beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors are at odds, is a mind state that not only appears in adults but in children and other primates as well. In their article, published in the November, 2007 issue of Psychological Science, Louisa C. Egan,, Laurie R. Santos and Paul Bloom explore the premise that people experience cognitive dissonance as aversive and support the premise that humans are motivated to resolve the inconsistency between their discrepant thoughts. What is most unique about this recent research isn't so much the subject matter, but the fact that the subjects studied were comprised of young children and capuchin monkeys as opposed to the adults used in previous studies.

Study participants included 30 four-year-olds (14 girls, 16 boys) in one group and six capuchins (Cebus apella) - four adults and two adolescents, from the Comparative Cognition Laboratory at Yale University in the second group. Children were recruited from a database of potential child subjects from preschools and day-care centers in the New Haven, Connecticut, area. They were tested in the laboratory or in their preschools while seated on a carpeted floor across from the experimenter. As each monkey preference test began, from inside their home cage the monkeys were allowed to watch the experimenter place an M&M on a tray outside of their cage. When the cage door opened the monkey was allowed to retrieve the M&M when it wished. Researchers measured how quickly the monkey retrieved each color of M&M to determine its preference.

According to a release from the Association for Psychological Science, study results were based on the children's responses to a choice over their favorite stickers and the monkeys' responses to a choice over their favorite color M&M. When given the option of taking the previously passed up sticker or M&M, both sets of participants devalued that item.

The results showed people tend to resolve their dissonance - feelings of discomfort toward the abandoned, yet attractive options, by rationalizing their decision through downgrading them.

"For example, if Susan is facing a very hard choice between two cars (A and B), and comes to choose Car A, this act of making this decision will cause her estimate of Car B to drop," Egan said. "She will see it as less attractive than she did originally."

The researchers feel this study provided a simpler, more direct demonstration of dissonance reduction than work previously performed, pointing out their study had found and utilized testing methods to demonstrate similar attitude changes in children and primates.

In summarizing their work, the researchers stated, "Our findings for young children challenge the idea that people's extensive experience with the negative consequences of their decisions teaches them to change their discordant attitudes. Because young children have relatively little experience with decision making, it is unlikely that the motivation to reduce cognitive dissonance can be attributed solely to past cognitive history."

Article: Children and Monkeys Rationalize Their Decisions After A Tough Choice