ATTITUDESBalance Theory. Balance theory, developed
by Heider, is concerned with cognitive systems
composed of two or three elements. The elements
can be either persons or objects. Consider the
statement ‘‘I will vote for Mary Sweeney; she sup-
ports parental leave legislation.’’ This system con-
tains three elements—the speaker, P; another per-
son (candidate Mary Sweeney), O; and an impersonal
object (parental leave legislation), X. According to
balance theory, two types of relationships may
exist between elements. Sentiment relations refer to
sentiments or evaluations directed toward objects
and people; a sentiment may be either positive
(liking, endorsing) or negative (disliking, oppos-
ing). Unit relations refer to the extent of perceived
association between elements. For example, a posi-
tive unit relation may result from ownership, a
relationship (such as friendship or marriage), or
causality. A negative relation indicates dissocia-
tion, like that between ex-spouses or members of
groups with opposing interests. A null relation
exists when there is no association between elements.
Balance theory is concerned with the elements
and their interrelations from P’s viewpoint. In the
example, the speaker favors parental leave legisla-
tion, perceives Mary Sweeney as favoring it, and
intends to vote for her. This system is balanced. By
definition, a balanced state is one in which all three
relations are positive or in which one is positive
and the other two are negative. An imbalanced state
is one in which two of the relationships between
elements are positive and one is negative or in
which all three are negative. For example, ‘‘I love
(+) Jane; Jane loves (+) opera; I hate (-) opera’’ is
imbalanced.
The theory assumes that an imbalanced state
is unpleasant and that when one occurs, the per-
son will try to restore balance. There is consider-
able empirical evidence that people do prefer
balanced states and that attitude change often
occurs in response to imbalance. Furthermore,
people maintain consistency by responding selec-
tively to new information. There is evidence that
people accept information consistent with their
existing attitudes and reject information inconsis-
tent with their cognitions. This is the major mecha-
nism by which stereotypes are maintained.
Dissonance Theory. Dissonance theory as-
sumes that there are three possible relationships
between any two cognitions. Cognitions are con-
sistent, or consonant, if one naturally or logically
follows from the other; they are dissonant when
one implies the opposite of the other. The logic
involved is psycho logic—logic as it appears to the
individual, not logic in a formal sense. Two cogni-
tive elements may also be irrelevant; one may have
nothing to do with the other.
Cognitive dissonance is a state of psychological
tension induced by dissonant relationships be-
tween cognitive elements. There are three situa-
tions in which dissonance commonly occurs. First,
dissonance occurs following a decision whenever
the decision is dissonant with some cognitive ele-
ments. Thus, choice between two (or more) attrac-
tive alternatives creates dissonance because knowl-
edge that one chose A is dissonant with the positive
features of B. The magnitude of the dissonance
experienced is a function of the proportion of
elements consonant and dissonant with the choice.
Second, if a person engages in a behavior that is
dissonant with his or her attitudes, dissonance will
be created. Third, when events disconfirm an im-
portant belief, dissonance will be created if the
person had taken action based on that belief. For
example, a person who buys an expensive car in
anticipation of a large salary increase will experi-
ence dissonance if she or he does not receive the
expected raise.
Since dissonance is an unpleasant state, the
theory predicts that the person will attempt to
reduce it. Usually, dissonance reduction involves
changes in the person’s attitudes. Thus, following
a decision, the person may evaluate the chosen
alternative more favorably and the unchosen one
more negatively. Following behavior that is disso-
nant with his or her prior attitude, the person’s
attitude toward the behavior may become more
positive. An alternative mode of dissonance reduc-
tion is to change the importance one places on one
or more of the attitudes. Following a decision, the
person may reduce the importance of the cognitions
that are dissonant with the choice; this is the well-
known ‘‘sour grapes’’ phenomenon. Following
disconfirmation of a belief, one may increase the
importance attached to the disconfirmed belief. A
third way to reduce dissonance is to change behav-
ior. If the dissonance following a choice is great,
the person may decide to choose B instead of A.
Following disconfirmation, the person may change
behaviors that were based on the belief.