Festinger and Carlsmith found that participants paid just $1 to lie to another student about how much they enjoyed a task displayed greater attitude change than those paid $20 to tell the same lie.These results are best explained by:
A)the foot-in-the-door phenomenon.
B)the insufficient justification effect.
C)self-perception theory.
D)the overjustification effect.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The insufficient justification effect refers to the idea that people tend to experience attitude change when their behavior is not fully justified by external rewards or punishments. In this case, the participants who were paid only $1 did not have enough external justification for their behavior of lying, so they looked for internal justification and came to believe that they actually enjoyed the task more than they originally thought. This led to greater attitude change than the participants who were paid $20, who had plenty of external justification for their behavior and therefore did not experience as much attitude change.

Festinger and Carlsmith Found That Participants Paid Just $1 to Lie