When does dissonance fail? The time dimension in attitude measurement1

Results of previous research dealing with the effect of differential monetary reinforcement (for the composition of a counterattitudinal essay) upon attitude change have been contradictory Cohen (1962), for example, discovered a negative relationship between reinforcement and attitude change, results consistent with dissonance theory expectations, Rosenberg (1965) explained these findings in terms of evaluation apprehension and, eliminating this factor through the spatial and temporal separation of the conflict-induction, attitude-measurement sections of his experiment, obtained a positive relationship In the present study, an attempt was made to integrate these findings through the systematic variation of the time lag between conflict arousal and attitude measurement, a variable on which the Cohen and Rosenberg studies differed Consistent with the hypothesis, the present research disclosed a dissonance effect (p < 03) in the immediate measurement condition and a reinforcement effect (p < 002) with delayed attitude measurement. These results were employed in a discussion of the complex nature of human conceptual functioning