Cognitive

Dissonance

ID No. : 4D190084
PREPARED BY: YASMIN SAMY FOUAD
The placebo Effect Theory
According to this theory. if someone has a difficult choice to
make, he will inevitably be in a state of mental turmoil
before and after the decision has been made, as he
wonders which alternative to choose and whether his
choice is right. Festinger termed this mental state 'cognitive
dissonance'. In order to return to a more settled state of
mind the person will try to find justifications for his decision
and will maximize the positive aspects of his choice and the
negative aspects of what he has rejected

- (FESTINGER,1957)
Your So , if someone must choose between two good jobs. he will search for
justifications to support his decision and will emphasize the advantages of the
chosen job and the disadvantages of the rejected one. If the choice is easy or if
the person is forced into a decision, he will not experience cognitive
dissonance.
 
Totman (1987) believes also if a patient has a difficult decision about her
treatment. whether or not to make a surgery, he will wonder if it is all
worthwhile and fall in a state of cognitive dissonance.
also, if a patient is having to make an awkward journey to the physiotherapy
department several times a week. if the treatment is somewhat uncomfortable.
or if he is expected to spend considerable time carrying out exercises at home
when he would rather be doing something else.

- TOTMAN (1987)
In order to resolve his uncomfortable state of mind he will need to find
justifications for his actions. This may be achieved. partly at a
subconscious level. by experiencing an improvement in his symptoms
for this will confirm that his decision to have the treatment was indeed
the correct one.
 
Totman reports that, the favorable consequences of a (dummy)
treatment were substantially increased if patients had to make a
difficult decision concerning whether or not to receive it'. He suggests
that the experiment by Park and Covi (1965), where patients still
responded to a placebo even though they were told that it was a
'sugar pill', may have been because they had to justify doing such a
'silly' thing as to take it.

- TOTMAN (1987),
- PARK AND COVI (1965),
Thus it is better to involve the patient in her treatment, giving her the
responsibility to decide whether to cooperate and even making life a
little bit difficult for her, may be influential in harnessing the placebo
effect, for by committing herself to the treatment the patient has made
a psychological investment.

Zimbardo (1969) found that cognitive dissonance could reduce pain.

A speculation on how the placebo effect works, Spiro (1986) states:
'Understanding the mechanisms will not help very much in under-
standing how, for whom, and if the placebo works. Do we not already
know the remarkable feature, the triumph of the placebo, that one
person can help another simply by trying'.

- ZIMBARDO (1969)
- SPIRO (1986)
 Thank you

- YASMIN SAMY FOUAD