Does cognitive dissonance reduction (via low reward for fasting) alter physiological responses (plasma free fatty acids) in food-deprived individuals?
Cognitive dissonance reduction can alter physiological responses to stress and deprivation, such as plasma free fatty acid levels during fasting.
An experiment and a partial replication were conducted to relate the change of motivation due to dissonance reduction and committment to physiological changes. The experimental technique was based on food deprivation studies which showed that already deprived individuals who committed themselves to further fasting under conditions of low reward decreased their self-estimates of hunger, while the reverse was true for those given high rewards. In the present study the further deprivation was actually executed, and a physiological measure, the concentration of plasma free fatty acids was taken. This was shown to be a reliable measure of autonomic nervous system activity in response to increased energy demands upon the individual, such as length of fasting. The data indicate that a person who has convinced himself that he is not so hungry tends to respond physiologically as if he were not hungry. Physiological aspects of a more enduring process, such as hunger motivation, are also affected by justification in a manner consistent with dissonance theory.
Brehm et al. (Tue,) studied this question.