Self-Perception Theory
Or, what you do affects what attitudes you build
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Q: How are our general attitudes shaped? Is it in our control?
Psychologist Daryl Bem conducted an experiment that involved subjects who listened to a recording of a man describing a supposedly boring and monotonous task enthusiastically.
One group was told that the man was paid $1 for this testimonial, while the other group was told he was paid $20 for it. The $1 group believed that the man enjoyed this monotonous and nonsensical task more than how much the $20 group believed he enjoyed it.
Interestingly, the conclusions of the two observing groups, who did not have access to the participantsâ internal cognition and mood states, were able to infer their true attitudes. Because the groups were able to correctly guess how the participants felt, it was concluded that the participants must have realised what they felt by observing their own behaviour as well.
The Self-Perception Theory (SPT) is an account of attitude formation developed by Daryl Bem, proposed in 1972.
Self-Perception Theory asserts that people develop their attitudes by observing their own behaviour and concluding what attitudes must have caused it, especially when there is no previous attitude due to a lack of experience, and the emotional response is ambiguous.
Therefore, a person is in the same position as an observer who must rely upon external cues to infer their inner state of mind. Self-perception theory proposes that people adopt attitudes without access to their states of mood and cognition.
Through this, Bem proposed a different mechanism of change than the Cognitive Dissonance Theory. Dissonance theory explains how people change their attitudes when they find themselves acting in opposition to the attitudes they already hold, while self-perception theory explains how people create their attitudes in the first place.
According to Cognitive Dissonance Theory, the participants who gave the testimonials inferred their mental attitudes from their own behaviour. When they were asked: âDid you find the task interesting?â, they decided that they must have found the task interesting, because that is what they said in their testimonial.
Their replies suggested that the participants who were paid $20 had an external incentive to adopt that positive attitude. They were likely to have perceived the $20 as the reason for saying the task was interesting, rather than saying the task actually was interesting. But the participants who were paid $1 must have actually found the task interesting because the $1 external incentive wasnât strong enough.
Although the two theories appear contradictory, evidence suggests that dissonance theory and self-perception theory each explain different aspects of how people adjust their attitudes and behaviours to one another.
The theory of self-perception is counterintuitive in nature, because itâs conventional wisdom that attitudes determine behaviours. Furthermore, it suggests that people develop attitudes without accessing their internal cognition or mood states. People interpret their own behaviours in the same way they attempt to explain othersâ behaviours-through observation. Our attitudes are sometimes socially influenced and not produced out of our own free will, as we might expect.
A number of studies since have confirmed that self-perception theory exists, and furthermore, influences us in many unexpected contexts. Jeremy N. Bailenson, founding director of Stanford Universityâs Virtual Human Interaction Lab, reports on one study involving participants who are immersed in a virtual environment via a head-mounted display. Some participants watched a virtual doppelgänger identical to them exercise, some watched someone elseâs virtual doppelgänger exercise, and some watched their own doppelgänger stand still. Those who watched their âselvesâ exercise reported a higher belief that they could exercise successfully, and later reported in a follow-up questionnaire that they had worked out for almost one hour more than the other two participant groups.
This however doesnât mean that you can trick yourself into building habits by exercising, reading, studying repeatedly. Self-perception theory prevails only when the emotional response is ambiguous, and attitude change is momentary. Habit building take focus and conscious effort to build.
If you want someone to believe or feel something about themselves, first get them to do it. A salesperson might ask you for something relatively small, such as filling out a questionnaire, which is a trick. This makes it easier to ask you for a larger commitment later. The act of fulfilling the small request leads you to alter your attitude to rationalise your act. You filled out the survey, therefore you must be liking their products as well. Self-perception theory is the basis behind this foot-in-the-door tactic.
This works best when they have no particular view or belief about the area in question. If they already have a strong belief, you will need to call that belief into question, for example by giving disconfirming examples to bring them into a state of confusion. Then you can get them to try something to make them adopt a new belief system. The âGet a Macâ ad campaign was a clever tactic by Apple to play on perceived weaknesses of the PC thereby swinging the target user towards the Mac. Now all they had to do was visit a store and give the Mac a try.
Similarly, you can try the self-perception theory upon yourself to change your mood. If you have had a terrible day, and you visit your friends later, the friendly exchanges would help you change your attitude. It is challenging to maintain irritability at a party with friends. So you smile, and pretend to be happy. For most of us, our original feelings of irritability decrease after smiling and exhibiting âhappyâ behaviour. Our behaviour changes our attitude-at least for a while.
Forcing yourself to smile at strangers helps your develop kindness. Forcing yourself to run in the morning would help you develop a healthy attitude towards fitness. Being able to solve a tricky problem would make you feel pretty smart about yourself. This is far easier than changing othersâ attitudes and beliefs, but mind you, none of these are permanent changes. You are only tricking your System 1 by this-temporarily. The affect wears off as soon as you cease the activities. But it doesnât mean that you canât use this understanding to persuade others and profit from them.
The gym in the neighbourhood might give you 3 free passes to give them a try. If you visit once or twice you might start to like it and buy a 6-month package. This guarantees their payment, but this doesnât guarantee that you would be hitting the gym for six months.
Next time, when people ask you to do things (or pay money) about which you have no clear or permanent point of view, ask yourself, what could they gain from your belief in something about yourself in this matter. It would save you from a lot of pain and unnecessary gym memberships.
Tiny Thought
When thought is crucial, you often act without thinking. When action is necessary, you often keep on thinking without acting. All the problems in your life have their roots in one of the above.
From the Internet
Stop Trying to Raise Successful Kids (The Atlantic) â âKids learn whatâs important to adults not by listening to what we say, but by noticing what gets our attention. And in many developed societies, parents now pay more attention to individual achievement and happiness than anything else. However much we praise kindness and caring, weâre not actually showing our kids that we value these traits.âÂ
The Neuroscience of Anxiety (Scott Young) â âFear, anxiety and worrying have different, technical meanings. Fear is the feeling associated with imminent danger. Anxiety is the feeling of uncertain threat. Worrying is anxious and repetitive thinking.â
Quote to Note
If you want to walk an hour a day, donât start with one hour. Choosing one hour is automatically building in the excuse of not having enough time. Commit to a fail-proof five minutes instead.
â Tim Ferriss
Before You GoâŚ
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Iâll see you next Sunday,
Abhishek đ
PS: All typos are intentional and I take no responsibility whatsoever! đŹ