Effort justification is an idea and
paradigm in
social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...
stemming from
Leon Festinger
Leon Festinger (8 May 1919 – 11 February 1989) was an American social psychologist who originated the theory of cognitive dissonance and social comparison theory. The rejection of the previously dominant behaviorist view of social psychology ...
's theory of
cognitive dissonance
In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information, and the mental toll of it. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environmen ...
. Effort justification is a person's tendency to attribute the value of an outcome they put effort into achieving as greater than the objective value of the outcome.
Theory and research
Cognitive dissonance theory explains changes in people's attitudes or beliefs as the result of an attempt to reduce a dissonance (discrepancy) between contradicting ideas or
cognitions. In the case of effort justification, there is a dissonance between the amount of effort exerted into achieving a goal or completing a task (high effort equalling high "cost") and the subjective reward for that effort (lower than was expected for such an effort). By adjusting and increasing one's attitude or subjective value of the goal, this dissonance is resolved.
One of the first and most classic examples of effort justification is
Aronson Aronson is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Billy Aronson, American playwright
* Boris Aronson (1898–1980), American artist and set designer
* Chaim Aronson (1825–1893), Lithuanian inventor and memoirist in Tsarist Russia ...
and Mills's study. A group of young women who volunteered to join a discussion group on the topic of the psychology of sex were asked to do a small reading test to make sure they were not too embarrassed to talk about sexual-related topics with others. The mild-embarrassment condition subjects were asked to read aloud a list of sex-related words such as ''
prostitute'' or ''
virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
''. The severe-embarrassment condition subjects were asked to read aloud a list of highly sexual words (e.g. ''
fuck'', ''
cock'') and to read two vivid descriptions of sexual activity taken from contemporary novels. All subjects then listened to a recording of a discussion about sexual behavior in animals which was dull and unappealing. When asked to rate the group and its members, control and mild-embarrassment groups did not differ, but the severe-embarrassment group's ratings were significantly higher. This group, whose initiation process was more difficult (embarrassment equalling effort), had to increase their subjective value of the discussion group to resolve the dissonance.
Implications
This theory is clearly implicated in the effect of
rites of passage
A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...
and
hazing rituals on group solidarity and loyalty. The hazing rituals, prevalent in military units, sports teams and
fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America.
Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradu ...
, often include demanding and/or humiliating tasks which lead (according to dissonance theory) the new member to increase the subjective value of the group. This contributes to their loyalty and to the solidarity of the entire group.
Competing views
Critics of this theory claim it is dependent on complex
social context
The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educate ...
(which is responsible for the creation of
dissonance), but research has shown the same effects in children (who understand less about social context and therefore are less likely to be influenced by it) and even in
pigeons
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
. Alessandri, Darcheville & Zentall (2008) argue that the cause for these findings, both in
humans
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
and
animals
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...
, is the
contrast effect
A contrast effect is the enhancement or diminishment, relative to normal, of perception, cognition or related performance as a result of successive (immediately previous) or simultaneous exposure to a stimulus of lesser or greater value in the sa ...
. According to this theory, the preference is a result of the difference between the
reward
Reward may refer to:
Places
* Reward (Shelltown, Maryland), a historic home in Shelltown Maryland
* Reward, California (disambiguation)
* Reward-Tilden's Farm, a historic home in Chestertown Maryland
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Rewa ...
and the situation that leads to it. When the preliminary situation is unpleasant or strenuous, the difference between it and the reward that follows is great. When the preliminary situation is not especially unpleasant or strenuous, the difference between it and the reward is smaller. The reward that has the larger difference from its preliminary situation will be preferred since it is experienced as more positive.
In the context of
hazing and group
initiation rituals, there is support for the reward explanation since
group identity
Collective identity is the shared sense of belonging to a group.
In sociology
In 1989, Alberto Melucci published ''Nomads of the Present'', which introduces his model of collective identity based on studies of the social movements of the 1980s ...
among initiates increases as feelings of being rewarded increase. Another alternative explanation is that hazing or initiation rituals increase
physiological responses, which then cause an increase in
affiliation
Affiliation or affiliate may refer to:
* Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law
* Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship
* Affiliate marketing
* Affiliate network or affiliation platf ...
among initiates. Alternatively, hazing and initiation effects have been associated with
Bowlby's
attachment theory
Attachment theory is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory concerning relationships between humans. The most important tenet is that young children need to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for normal ...
.
See also
*
Behavioral economics
*
IKEA effect
The IKEA effect is a cognitive bias in which consumers place a disproportionately high value on products they partially created. The name refers to Swedish manufacturer and furniture retailer IKEA, which sells many items of furniture that req ...
*
Omission bias
Omission bias is the phenomenon in which people prefer omission (inaction) over commission (action) and people tend to judge harm as a result of commission more negatively than harm as a result of omission. It can occur due to a number of process ...
References
{{Reflist
Cognitive dissonance