HYPOCRISY AND IDENTIFICATION WITH TRANSGRESSIONS - A CASE OF UNDETECTED DISSONANCE

Two studies were conducted to see how changes from the typical hypocri sy paradigm affect dissonance arousal and reduction. The effects of di rectly and personally identifying participants with their transgressio ns were examined. In both studies, participants made pro-recycling adv ocacies and were then asked to recall times when they had failed to re cycle. Unexpectedly, Study 1 found that, when participants are individ ually identified with their transgressions, the hypocrisy manipulation had no significant affect on behavior. Study 2 attempted to clarify t hese unexpected results by determining whether dissonance was aroused in this identified condition and how it was reduced. Study 2 results s uggest that identified participants were experiencing dissonance but t hat the manipulation was blocking behavioral routes of dissonance redu ction. Instead of adopting pro-recycling behaviors that correct past t ransgressions, participants were adopting less positive attitudes abou t the importance of recycling. The implications these findings have fo r applying hypocrisy-induced dissonance are discussed.