Dissonance and Action Control

Abstract

Imagine that you have bought a car which you expect to drive faster than 120 miles per hour. After breaking it in you try to reach the car’s top speed and find that it is less than 120 miles per hour. Selling the car would cause financial loss, so you have to keep it. Will you be dissatisfied with the car from now on and think you made a wrong decision each time you drive it? Fortunately, there are certain cognitive strategies which allow you to enjoy driving the car after this experience of inconsistency between your expectation about the car’s top speed and its actual performance. You may search for positive information, for example that 110 miles per hour is still much faster than most other cars can do; that your car is safer and more comfortable than other cars, etc. Such cognitive operations will reduce the discontent you felt when experiencing the inconsistency between the car’s actual speed and your expectation about it.