La rationalisation en acte à l’épreuve du paradigme du choix: Lorsque la dissonance consécutive à un choix est réduite par voie comportementale
Rationalization in Act in the Free Choice Paradigm. Post‑decisional Dissonance Could Be Reduced by Behavioral Path

Summary/Abstract: Radical Dissonance theory (Beauvois & Joule, 1996) defines rationalization as a post‑behavioral process through which a problematic behavior becomes less problematic. This reduction dissonance process can be achieved either by the classical attitude change – the so‑called cognitive rationalization – or by performing another behavior more costly than the one that caused the dissonance – the so‑called rationalization in act. This alternate path of dissonance reduction has been exclusively put to the test in the forced compliance paradigm. The aim of this research was to test the rationalization in act hypothesis in the free‑choice paradigm. In a classical free‑choice procedure, participants were led to arrange in preference order 15 CDs, before allowing them to choose between two highly preferred CDs (high dissonance) or lowly preferred CDs (low dissonance). The target‑request (to participate in a costly future research, that is the rationalization in act measure) was presented either before (original free‑choice conditions) or after (paradigmatic free‑choice conditions) the evaluation of the CDs. As predicted, we replicate the classical spreading of alternatives effect (cognitive rationalization); more interestingly, rationalization in act was higher in the paradigmatic free‑choice conditions. Implications for future experimental investigations were exposed.

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