Health Psychology, 2nd Edition

CHANGING BEHAVIOUR 211

Using cognitive dissonance to promote condom use

Cognitive dissonance theory (see Chapter 8) proposes that we are strongly

motivated to avoid and eradicate contradictions in our world views. Consequently, it

should be possible to motivate change by generating salient contradictions

between beliefs and actions. In an experiment conducted by Stone et al.(1994)

participants were randomly allocated to one of four conditions: (1) receiving

information about condom use (information only); (2) receiving information and

giving a talk promoting condom use that might be used in school health education

(commitment); (3) being made aware of past failures to use condoms by recalling

these failures (failure awareness); and (4) a combination of the commitment and

failure awareness conditions. All participants were then given an opportunity to buy

condoms cheaply. As the graph below shows, significantly more people in the

combined commitment and failure awareness condition bought condoms (82 per

cent) than in the failure awareness condition (50 per cent) or the commitment

condition (34 per cent). The study also demonstrates that information alone is not

enough. Significantly fewer people in the information-only condition bought

condoms (44 per cent). This study illustrates how, applying cognitive dissonance

theory, a cognitive contrast was created between people’s representation of

appropriate behaviour (which they were committed to by becoming an advocate of

that position for school students) and their own health behaviour. This technique

does not rely on a direct appeal, as in the case of persuasive argument designed to

change people’s perceptions of the outcomes of their action. It depends instead on

the power of the salient contradiction between committed beliefs and the person’s

own past actions. Allowing people to take action that endorses their beliefs adds

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Condition

Information only Commitment Failure awareness C + FA

%buying

condoms