第206回 WORKSHOP報告(10月19日) /参加者34名

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《 今回のworkshop 》
○workshop参加人数:34名(うち新人の方:3名)
○【前半】:The autumn has come!
○【後半】:Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
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≪FIRST HALF≫
The autumn has come! The temperature grows colder and it is nice weather for doing anything outside. Autumn is also the season of gorgeous fall foliage, traditional festivals, and delicious food. And the nights get longer. In Japan, it is expressed as “Long Autumn Evening”, when we spend as we like in our own way.
Let’s think of your plans in this autumn not to spend the time of this comfortable season in vain. What are you going to do? In today’s first half, shall we talk about anything about autumn? Have fun!

Questions
1) What do you think of when you think of autumn?
2) People often eat turkey during Thanksgiving. Have you eaten turkey before?
3) Are you interested in celebrating Halloween? Please answer it with reason.
4) Where do you recommend the best place to watch the leaves change color?
5) In Japan, a new semester begins in spring. There is an idea to start it in autumn to follow the global standard. Do you agree to this or not? Why?
6) If you have any plans to do in this autumn, please share them within your group. If you haven’t decided yet, what is your ideal plan?

≪LATTER HALF≫
<Agenda> Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance
From Wikipedia

In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort (psychological stress) experienced by a person who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. This discomfort is triggered by a situation in which a person’s belief clashes with new evidence perceived by the person. When confronted with facts that contradict beliefs, ideals, and values, people will try to find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort.

In A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (1957), Leon Festinger proposed that human beings strive for internal psychological consistency to function mentally in the real world. A person who experiences internal inconsistency tends to become psychologically uncomfortable and is motivated to reduce the cognitive dissonance, by making changes to justify the stressful behavior, either by adding new parts to the cognition causing the psychological dissonance or by avoiding circumstances and contradictory information likely to increase the magnitude of the cognitive dissonance.

Reduction of dissonance
[Example]
Behavior: You will eat more doughnuts.
Cognition: You think you should go on a diet.
(Factual) Information: Eating more doughnuts is bad for your health.

The creation and establishment of psychological consistency allows the person afflicted with cognitive dissonance to lessen mental stress by actions that reduce the magnitude of the dissonance, realised either by changing with or by justifying against or by being indifferent to the existential contradiction that is inducing the mental stress. In practice, people reduce the magnitude of their cognitive dissonance in four ways:

(1) Change the behavior or the cognition (“I’ll eat no more of this doughnut.”)
(2) Justify the behavior or the cognition, by changing the conflicting cognition (“I’m allowed to cheat my diet every once in a while.”)
(3) Justify the behavior or the cognition by adding new behaviors or cognitions (“I’ll spend thirty extra minutes at the gymnasium to work off the doughnut.”)
(4) Ignore or deny information that conflicts with existing beliefs (“This doughnut is not a high-sugar food.”)

[Discussion questions]

Q1. After reading the discussion materials, do you remember to experience cognitive dissonances? Do you think you have ever experienced cognitive dissonances? If you have experienced it, please share your experience on the cognitive dissonances.
At that time, did you change your behavior (1), change your conflicting cognition (2), add new behaviors or cognitions (3) or deny information (4)?

Q2. If you know that other people act in above three of four ways ( (2)-(4) ) to reduce their cognitive dissonance to lessen mental stress, what do you think of that? What’s your opinion on that? (You may think that it is cheating to run away from the factual information or that it cannot be helped to live in low-level mental stress.)

Q3. Some dishonest, exploitative company (employer), called “ブラック企業” in Japanese, may use (3) or (4) way to reduce employees’ dissatisfaction with low pay and long working hours, or anxiety for their future life.
What do you think of that? What’s your opinion on these? (You may think that it is cheating to control his employees not to quit the job even on worse condition, or that it cannot be helped to maximize his profit that is the reason to run the company.)

*Example for Q3:
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Behavior: Working long hour with low pay
Information: The working conditions are worse and the pay is unfairly lower than other companies.

The company may convince (say to) their employees that:
(3)”If you can continue to work on this bad condition, you will grow up more than on good condition.”
(4)”This is not unfair pay. See that company. Worse than you. This is rather good pay than that company, isn’t this?”
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Q4. Though the (1) way is the best way to other people (the Japanese society) in terms of rationality or correctness in most of the cases.
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For example: Going on a diet may result in good health. Changing the behavior ((1) way) can reduce expenditure of social insurance funds.
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But then the Japanese society may be in an environment of more stressful than using (2)-(4) ways, because people could not escape from the stressful fact.
What’s your opinion on this?

Q5. After this discussion for Q1-Q4, how will you act to cognitive dissonance from this time? Please discuss cognitive dissonance freely.

[End of Discussion questions]

Please see the full of the article of Cognitive dissonance on the URL below if needed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

Please also see the below web page and videos in Japanese to help your understanding.
[Web page]
仕事に対するモチベーションと報酬の多寡が生む認知的不協和:好きな事を仕事にすると何が変わるか?
https://charm.at.webry.info/201101/article_4.html

[Video]
【社会心理学】人間の本質がわかる心理実験を集めてみた *From 2:05 to 4:40

*This URL will automatically play the video 2:05 after.

[Video]
【ざっくり解説】ブラック労働による損失と認知的不協和【VOICEROID】 *From 8:00

*This URL will automatically play the video 8:00 after.