V. Incentives, Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959

  1. Rewards increase Behavior, Right?

  2. Method
    1. Three Groups: Control, $1, $20
    2. All people perform boring motor task
    3. All people complete attitude scale toward task
    4. Control group is done here
    5. Paid people do a Favor

  3. The Favor
    1. My assistant is late, can you help me?
    2. Recruit another subject for study
    3. Secretly audiotape recruitment of confederate

  4. Results

  5. Interpretation
    1. Recruitment required deception
    2. Deception is inconsistent with self-concept
    3. Deception produced dissonance
    4. Dissonance relieved with Attitude Change
    5. Also note interesting incentive effects

Attitude toward Task by Experimental Condition
Control Group One Dollar Group Twenty Dollar Group
Negative Positive Negative

Interpretation

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Updated March 21, 1996; Copyright © SBB, 1996