MEASURING COGNITIVE DISSONANCE- AN INFERENCE FROM PSYCHOLOGY AND MARKETING

Abstract

Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable psychological state that an individual experiences when there is an inconsistency between the cognitions which are actions, attitude or beliefs. Such an uncomfortable state motivates the individual to opt for ways to reduce it. Cognitive dissonance- a theory of psychology has been applied in many areas of study including marketing. The current paper aims to analyze the measures of with which dissonance has been measured in psychology as well as marketing to present a comprehensive view of the construct of cognitive dissonance. The researcher has examined more than 35 landmark research studies since the inception of the theory in 1957 to 2014. The measurement of dissonance has been segregated on the basis of experiment based studies and operational measures. Through experimental studies the dissonance has been measured based on forced choice, induced compliance, attitude change or information seeking. The operational measures have also been used by developing scales of measurement based on dimensions such as correctness of decision, psychological discomfort, right choice of store, emotional dimension, wisdom of purchase, concern over deal, reassess purchase and many more. However, some of the measures are either overly dependent on a certain dimension or are trivial and manipulated.