Rethinking Effort in Dissonance Reduction: Integrating Motivational Intensity Theory with Cognitive Dissonance Theory

One of Festinger’s core assumptions in cognitive dissonance theory was that dissonance reduction is an effortful process whose intensity varies with the magnitude of dissonance. That is, the greater the dissonance, the stronger the motivation to reduce it, and consequently, the greater the invested effort (Festinger, 1957). For many years, this assertion was accepted without direct empirical testing. Moreover, Motivational Intensity Theory (MIT; Brehm & Self, 1989) provides well-established empirical evidence about the factors that determine motivated effort investment and explains why it is inaccurate to perceive dissonance reduction as always, an effortful process. Motivated effort is influenced by various factors, not just motivation, such as the difficulty of the task and the individual’s level of ability (which was incorporated into the original theory by Rex Wright, 1996). I argue that these principles should be applied to other mental activities, like cognitive dissonance reduction. The primary objective of this article is to propose a fusion of Cognitive Dissonance Theory, proposed by Leon Festinger, with Motivational Intensity Theory, proposed by Jack Brehm. I believe this integration significantly contributes to psychological knowledge.