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o become more strongly opposed to cheating than before.
He may feel badly about failing, but will feel good about his integrity and strength of his
convictions.
These next applications are similar to dissonance due to the investment of time, money, or effort,
but in these cases, the person gets little or nothing in exchange for the investment. If we give
money to a charity, we convince ourselves that it is a worthy cause. If we work for a political
candidate, we convince ourselves that the candidate is a good and competent person. If we paint
our room, we convince ourselves that we have made a big improvement. If we gave money to a
charity we didn’t trust, worked for a candidate who is a scoundrel, or made the room dingy by
painting it, our time, money, or effort would have been wasted, and our self-esteem would suffer
because we did something stupid, so we seek to justify our behavior by convincing ourselves that
our time, money, or effort served a good cause.
In 1978, nine hundred members of the People’s Temple in Guyana fed a poisonous drink to their
children, drank it themselves, and lay down on the ground to die. People were attracted to the
Temple’s charismatic leader, Jun Jones, and were initially drawn to his meetings in San Francisco
by Jones’ emotional message of love and hope. Small demands were made on new members, like
giving one percent of their incomes and giving one night a week to a cause. At this point,
dissonance due to inadequate justification could occur. The dissonant cognitions were, “I’m
giving of my time and money. Why am I doing this?”