During a test, Jeff succumbed to temptation and copied several answers from a nearby student's paper. He felt very uncomfortable about having done this, until he convinced himself that copying answers is not wrong if classmates are careless enough to expose their test sheets. Which theory best explains why Jeff adopted this new attitude? A.) frustration-aggression theory

B.) attribution theory

C.) social exchange theory

D.) cognitive dissonance theory

E.) the two-factor theory

cognitive dissonance theory

Explanation:

Cognitive dissonance theory was given by Leon Festinger in 1957 and this theory is related to consistent dissonance in between attitude and behaviors. It involves the situation of conflicting attitudes and behaviors. It creates a mental discomfort with the person when inconsistency occurred with attitude and belief. For example when people do smoke and they know that smoking is injurious for them even they are smoking which is cognitive dissonance. We have an inner drive that holds our all attitude, behavior and avoids disharmony or dissonance that is called cognitive consistency. If there is any inconsistency between attitudes and behavior that means to change to eliminate the dissonance.

Dissonance can be reduced in three ways:

To change one or more behavior, attitudes, and belief for consistency. To acquire new information which exhibit the dissonance Reduces the importance of cognition such as belief attitudes etc.