Reactions following counterattitudinal behavior which produces positive consequences.

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Abstract
Hypothesized that attitude change following a counterattitudinal behavior which produces important positive consequences would be inversely related to the amount of responsibility which could be attributed to the individual for the action. 50 female undergraduates delivered an extremely positive evaluation to a rather dull confederate during an impression formation task. The evaluation was delivered under choice (high responsibility) or no-choice (low responsibility) conditions, and Ss expected either future interactions (high importance) or no future interaction (low importance) with the confederate. Subsequent ratings of the confederate revealed that Ss became more positive toward her only in the no-choice-future-interaction condition; ratings in the other experimental conditions did not differ from control group ratings. Additionally, Ss in both no-choice conditions desired to meet the confederate more than Ss in the choice conditions. Results are interpreted in terms of a process of rationalization designed to increase personal responsibility for important beneficial actions. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

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