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144 P. F. Luzarsfeld
sum for their recruits remembered the original experience as boring. Those who
were paid only a small amount upgraded their recollection of the original task.
The theory is as follows: the unpleasantness of lying far outweighed the small
reward; subjects had to change their memories to achieve a balanced cognitive
structure. The subjects who had received high payment for their recruiting
activities did not experience dissonance between the unpleasant task and the
reward. Similarly, students who had to endure a painful initiation rite to join
an objectively dull discussion, found it retrospectively more attractive than a
matched group, which for experimental purposes, entered without difficulty.
From a sociological point of view, experiments close to problems of propaganda
are especially interesting. What happens to those who are exposed to
information which is contrary to their own opinions? Experimental evidence here
is somewhat vague. Sometimes they seek information to strengthen their old
convictions; and sometimes they begin to explore the new lines of thought.
Especially interesting in this context are experiments in which dissonance is
increased experimentally. For example, subjects may be forced to present to
other people a position uncongenial to their own - this approaches the
case of enforced compliance. The implications of this material for the theory of
attitude change have been extensively discussed by a variety of a~thors.2~5 The
Public Opinion Quarterly has devoted a whole issue to the present state of psychological
theory in attitude change (Volume 23).
A final group of experiments raises the question of disconfirmed expectancy.
Famous is the study by Festinger and his colleagues who showed to what lengths
a small religious sect would go when their prediction that the world would end
did not materialize.2I6 Thestory has even been immortalized in a novel by Allison
Lurie. Recently, more precise experiments are available. Aronson and Carlsmith
assigned tasks to their subjects after it had been established how well the
subjects expected to perf0rm.~I7 The subjects were then given random information
as to how well they succeeded in an actual test. The authors discuss in great
detail how the students adjusted to the discrepancies which were bound to
occur. This setting was greatly refined by Malewski who introduced self-esteem
as an additional variate. His paper appeared in a Polish journal, but Malewski
gave a detailed summary in his book on behaviour and interaction (p. 88-101).
At the end of one experiment, subjects were asked their opinions of the judge
who rated their performance. The summary of the findings is a good example of
what above was called the multivariate experiment. At the same time, it shows the
important modifier role of self-esteem. Malewski's emphasis is on subjects who
had a low opinion of themselves, and low expectations, but whose performance
was highly rated by the judges. Rather than upgrade the low self-esteem which
was deeply rooted in their life histories, they decided that the judges did not
know what they were talking about.
The strongest defenders of the dissonance theory consider the quest for
cognitive consonance as something of a basic need, like hunger and sex. It is no
surprise therefore that considerable controversy has developed around counterexplanations,
in terms of other motivational theories. Malewski has launched
his attack on a most general level. He feels that the conventional theories of