Most empirical research investigating the motivational properties of cognitive dissonance has focused on the arousal component of dissonance rather than on the psychological component explicitly delineated by L. Festinger (1957). In 2 induced-compliance experiments, a self-report measure of affect was used to demostrate that dissonance is experienced as psychological discomfort and that this psychological discomfort is alleviated on implementation of a dissonance-reduction strategy, attitude change. Experiment 1 yielded supporting evidence for both of these propositions. Experiment 2 replicated the 1st experiment and ruled out a self-perception-based alternative explanation for the dissonance-reduction findings in Experiment 1. Results from the 2 experiments strongly support Festinger's conceptualization of cognitive dissonance as a fundamentally motivational state.

As presented in his classic monograph, Festinger's (1957) cognitive dissonance theory is fundamentally motivational in nature. Festinger posited that the perception of an inconsistency among an individual's cognitions generates a negative intrapersonal state (dissonance), which motivates the individual to seek and implement a strategy to alleviate this aversive state. To empirically validate the motivational nature of dissonance processes, it is necessary to directly demonstrate that (a) dissonance is experienced as a negative intrapersonal state, and (b) this negative intrapersonal state is alleviated on implementation of a reduction strategy (Elkin & Leippe, 1986). A perusal of the extant dissonance literature reveals that the first requirement has been fulfilled in part, whereas the second has received a paucity of empirical attention and remains to be directly demonstrated. The present set of experiments addressed both of these foundational motivational issues—the nature of the...