Self Perception Theory (vs Cognitive Dissonance) + Examples

if you've seen any of my videos about affirmations or body language you might have heard about this piece of advice before you walk into a room look in the mirror and smile it doesn't matter if it's a fake smile smile for long enough and your mood will start to improve it sounds silly but it actually works in the 1970s James lar conducted a series of experiments on participants in which he asked them to Tin their facial muscles in a way that would make them smile or frown after the experiment he assessed their attitudes the people who were asked to smile during the experiment reported that they were happier than those who were asked to frown but why does this work it seems counterintuitive that our behaviors would influence our attitudes that the smile could actually cause happiness but that's the idea presented by the self-perception theory this Theory seems counterintuitive but multiple studies all the way back to the 1970s actually prove that your behaviors can influence your attitude Daryl Bim was the first psychologist to write about self-perception Theory Bim Theory suggests that people develop Attitudes by observing behaviors maybe the behaviors were a new experience or a person's attitude weren't completely formed before the behavior occurred bim's Theory also suggests that the assessment is based on external factors rather than internal factors he said that your behavior weighs more than your mood when it comes to your attitude so how did he come to this conclusion well in the late 196s he used the idea that the way people assess another person's attitude is a mirror of their own attitude his first study on self-perception Theory asked participants to listen to one of two scenarios one group listened to a scenario in which a man gave a false testimony for $1 the other group listened to a scenario in which the man gave a false testimony for $20 both groups were asked to assess the man's attitude towards lying the first group actually was more likely to believe that the man lied because he enjoyed lying the theory is because he was paid less he must have actually enjoyed it more well this isn't a situation that most people find themselves in the participants in the study were not given any insight into the man's financial situation the nature of the testimony or just other factors that would contribute to the man's behavior so Bim concluded that the participants assessed their own attitudes based on the behavior that they were presented with and there's actually a few other studies on self-perception Theory the original experiments on self-perception Theory took place in the 1970s but notable studies on the same Theory have continued all the way until 2010 in fact one study in 2010 involved behaviors more extreme than just lying for a dollar rosan guano and her team looked at people who joined extreme terrorist organizations so how does self-perception theory play out here the researchers believed that attitudes may follow behaviors throughout their involvement in the organization as the members commit more violent and extreme behaviors they suggested that they may change their attitudes to justify their actions another thing to note here is the difference between self-perception Theory and cognitive dissonance so do you think our Behavior influence our attitudes actually a lot of people think it's the other way around that our attitudes influence our Behavior so self-perception Theory challenges a lot of current ideas about how people make decisions and justify their actions one of these ideas in particular is called cognitive dissonance and you've probably heard of cognitive dissonance before it's actually more widely known than self-perception Theory this theory states that when we're faced with two differing opinions or attitudes about something they feel uncomfortable and because of that we change one of them most likely people adjust their attitudes or their beliefs in order to reduce that discomfort so cognitive dissonance usually occurs before a choice is made or maybe a behavior is exhibited this is one way in which the self-perception theory differs from the theory of cognitive dissonance another difference is that there appears to be no discomfort or conflict when people change their attitudes after exhibiting certain behaviors well when it comes down to these two which one is true the debate between cognitive dissonance and self-perception theory has been going on since the 1970s some experiment appeared to prove that cognitive dissonance was Superior however other experiments said the opposite so that raises a question can both of these ideas exist well some experts say yes psychologists believe that people are more likely to experience cognitive dissonance when they are set in their beliefs and attitudes if the behavior is new however or the person's attitudes are less set in stone they're more likely to go by the process described in self-perception theory now this goes back to the central idea of self-perception theory if someone is unsure about their motives or their attitudes or their beliefs usually they will look to their previous behaviors to determine how they feel about something has their past behaviors supported a new belief that they might be supporting that's the basic idea of self-perception theory another thing I want to talk about is something called yes Ladders because even though self-perception theory is quite controversial it's actually widely used as a marketing and persuasion technique have you ever heard of the foot in the door technique or something called a yes ladder both of these ideas use a customer's initial Behavior to influence their later attitudes so here's how it works in a really simple manner A salesperson knocks on a customer's door with the intention of making a sale they're trying to sell something the customer does not want to immediately buy nobody does so the salesperson just asks a little question can I come in and chat this is just a small favor and it's easy for the customer to justify this just by saying yes as the conversation continues the salesperson slowly climbs up the yes ladder the customer agrees to checking out the product then they say yes to trying it out and then maybe they say yes to signing up for a trial even though the customer originally did not want to make a purchase their behaviors say otherwise this is the basic idea of the self-perception theory we look to our past behaviors to form our beliefs now the customer adjusts their attitude to justify their behavior in short attitude follows Behavior it seems a little tricky but it can help people see that they're capable of more than what they think so as I end this video if you don't think you're capable of walking into a room and making friends try not not to psych yourself out go into a room and start introducing yourself to people remember to smile real big in that mirror as you meet new people even if it's scary you will start to prove to yourself that you're an outgoing extroverted person this is just a simple example you don't have to let your beliefs about yourself hold yourself back from what you want to do especially if those beliefs are different when faced with something that you're scared of self-perception theory says just go out and do it you can always change your attitudes and your beliefs later once you assess your behaviors and what you've actually accomplished