Stimuli Signaling Rewards That Follow a Less-Preferred Event Are Themselves Preferred: Implications for Cognitive Dissonance

Comparative research, once at the center of American behaviorism, has recently broadened its base to focus more on cognitive processes and social learning. That shift has come about through influences from cognitive and developmental psychology as well as from behavioral ecology. Behavioral ecologists, who study ecological systems, are interested in the adaptive value of behavior to the animal; for this reason, they typically start by observing naturally occurring animal behavior. If nonhuman animals can be shown to have an ability (for example, imitation) that is thought to be mediated by a particularly advanced cognitive process (such as perspective taking), then one is more likely to consider the possibility that the underlying mechanism may be simpler. The present chapter takes this approach with regard to a well-studied phenomenon in human social psychology: cognitive dissonance. Contrast effects in pigeons may contribute to a number of experimental findings that have been reported with humans but which traditionally have been explained using more complex cognitive and social accounts.