Define self-justification from a social psychological perspective

Module Two is all about self-justification, conformity, and compliance-related behaviors.

What are the social-psychological processes associated with our tendencies to justify our actions, behaviors, and feelings? Is conformity good or bad? Why do people conform to group pressure? Why don’t bystanders always come to the aid of victims of injury or crime? How do our biases affect our consistency and commitment in decision-making? These are but a few of the compelling questions we will be exploring in this module.

In Chapter Three of The Social Animal, the main tenets of cognitive dissonance theory are presented briefly and provide a framework for understanding the cognitive and motivational components that underlie self-justification processes. Throughout the chapter, the broad implications of the theory are discussed, as is its application to a multitude of real-world situations and social phenomena.

In Chapter Four of The Social Animal, we take a deep dive into the topic of conformity, defined as a change in a person’s behavior or opinions because of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people. As a society, Americans are ambivalent about the merits of conformity—nonconformists or individualists are valued, while deviates and oddballs are scorned. On the other hand, conformists and “sheep” are devalued, while the “team player” is lauded. When the chips are down, however, we tend to value conformity over nonconformity.

Leveraging off your budding understanding of the nature of compliance and conformity-related behaviors, in Chapter Three of Influence: Science and Practice we explore the nature and importance of our perceptions of consistency in our actions and decision-making. You’ll discover the importance of commitment, and how commitment is used to automatically shape people’s decision-making behaviors.

In Chapter Six of Influence: Science and Practice, we will consider the power of authority in eliciting compliance-related behaviors.

There’s a lot to think about in this module, and it’s my hope that you are beginning to get a sense of the power of social psychological principles that can be powerfully adapted (for good or evil) by those who seek to influence our behaviors. I hope you enjoy Module Two!

Learning Objectives

You do not have to answer these questions, this is just more information to help with quiz questions.

By the end of this module, students will be able to:

1. Define self-justification from a social psychological perspective.

2. Relate cognitive dissonance to the idea of self-justification and describe practical applications of cognitive dissonance theory.

3. Describe the factors that increase or decrease one’s tendencies to conform.

4. List three levels of conformity and provide examples of approaches to elicit conformity at each level.

5. Discuss the power of authority in eliciting compliance-related behaviors

6. Illustrate four factors that cause commitment-related behaviors to affect a person’s self-image and consequent future actions.

7. Discuss the relationship between commitment and consistency.

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