Comparing Canadian and United States High School Students on Cognitive Dissonance Test Scores.

Comparing Canadian and United States High School Students on Cognitive Dissonance Test Scores. Comparisons on scores for the Cognitive Dissonance cognitive dissonanceMental conflict that occurs when beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information. The concept was introduced by the psychologist Leon Festinger (1919–89) in the late 1950s. Test were madebetween 243 Canadian Canadian(kənā`dēən), river, 906 mi (1,458 km) long, rising in NE New Mexico. and flowing E across N Texas and central Oklahoma into the Arkansas River in E Oklahoma. and 1275 United States United States,officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. high school students. Somegender differences were found for the two groups and in general, theUnited States male high school students showed greater cognitivedissonance than did the females. The Canadian students were shown tohave both significantly lower dissonance scores and lie scores thantheir United States counterparts. The structure of the two societiesmight have contributed to the difference.The present study sought to make comparisons on scores for TheCognitive Dissonance Test (DISS) (Cassel et al., 2000) between Canadianand United States high school students. DISS seeks to assess the natureand degree of cognitive dissonance (feeling of discomfort Discomfort may refer to pain, an unpleasant sensation, or to suffering, an unpleasant feeling or emotion. ) present,which is often hidden deep in the unconscious unconscious,in psychology, that aspect of mental life that is separate from immediate consciousness and is not subject to recall at will. Sigmund Freud regarded the unconscious as a submerged but vast portion of the mind. , and sometimes causesserious health problems. These feelings tend to interfere with effectivelearning and human productivity. When people are made aware of thepresence and nature of cognitive dissonance, they can take action toeliminate it.Groups InvolvedThere were 243 students from three high schools in rural NorthernOntario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing.Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km2 (310,000 mi2) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it , Canada Canada(kăn`ədə), independent nation (2001 pop. 30,007,094), 3,851,787 sq mi (9,976,128 sq km), N North America. Canada occupies all of North America N of the United States (and E of Alaska) except for Greenland and the French islands of , ranging in age from 13 to 27 years of age, with a meanage of 16.58, and with a standard deviation In statistics, the average amount a number varies from the average number in a series of numbers. (statistics) standard deviation - (SD) A measure of the range of values in a set of numbers. of 1.49 years. There were146 females and 97 males. The United States high school group was fromseveral urban high schools and had 1275 members ranging in age form 14to 20, with a mean age of 16.18, and with a standard deviation of 1.37years. There were 651 females and 624 males.Gender DifferencesA t-statistic was computed between the DISS mean scores for boththe Canadian and United States students in relation to gender. For theCanadian high school students, there was no significant difference inscores for the different ages, and only two of the eight part scoresshowed a statistical difference for gender: (1) the Personal Adjustmentscore with a statistical significance of 0.034, with females showing thegreater cognitive dissonance; and (2) the School and Learning score witha significance of 0.041, with males showing the greater cognitivedissonance. For the United States high school students the followingscores showed statistically significant differences for gender asfollows: the Home and Family score was significantly different at the0.003 level, with greater cognitive dissonance for females; the Schooland Learning score was significant at the 0.038 level, with the greatercognitive dissonance for males; Social and Affiliation showed adifference at the 0.016 level, with the greater cognitive dissonance formales; and Survival and Power showed a difference at the 0.001 level,with the greater cognitive dissonance for males. As a group, the UnitedStates male high school students showed greater cognitive dissonancethan did the females.Differences Between the Two High SchoolsA t-statistic was computed between the DISS mean scores for theCanadian and United States high schools as depicted de��pict?tr.v. de��pict��ed, de��pict��ing, de��picts1. To represent in a picture or sculpture.2. To represent in words; describe. See Synonyms at represent. in Table 1 below.Every one of the DISS scores showed a statistically significantdifference at the 0.001 level with lower scores for the Canadianstudents. The Canadian students were 1.44 years older than the UnitedStates students, which may account in part for the lower cognitivedissonance mean scores. Except for Home and Family, all Canadianstandard deviations were larger than comparable deviation DEVIATION, insurance, contracts. A voluntary departure, without necessity, or any reasonable cause, from the regular and usual course of the voyage insured. 2. scores for theUnited States students. Many of the Canadian students had low cognitivedissonance on the eight DISS part scores, but none of the United Statesstudents had such low cognitive dissonance scores. The LIE scores weresignificantly lower for the Canadian students showing greaterunderstanding than their American American,river, 30 mi (48 km) long, rising in N central Calif. in the Sierra Nevada and flowing SW into the Sacramento River at Sacramento. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill (see Sutter, John Augustus) along the river in 1848 led to the California gold rush of counterparts. In spite of in opposition to all efforts of; in defiance or contempt of; notwithstanding.See also: Spite thereferenced lower LIE score, 90 Canadian students failed to indicateeither their age or their gender, and were dropped from the study.Table 1A t-Statistic Between DISS Means for Two High School Groups(Canada=243 & US=1275) UnitedDISS Canadian States Diffe- t- Proba-Scores Students Students rence Statistic bilityHome &Family-HOM: M 26.63 34.72 8.09 6.058 0.001 SD 18.98 19.08InnerDevelopment-INN: M 34.93 41.04 6.11 4.443 0.001 SD 20.82 19.40PersonalAdjustment-PER: M 38.83 43.79 4.96 4.173 0.001 SD 19.13 16.53Health &Well-Being-HEA: M 42.62 43.78 1.16 0.893 0.001 SD 20.56 18.20Internal &Personal-IPTOT: M 143.26 162.95 19.69 4.706 0.001 SD 68.20 58.02School &Learning-SCH: M 32.63 40.32 8.79 6.493 0.001 SD 18.00 16.68Social &Affiliation-SOC: M 31.91 39.96 8.05 7.095 0.001 SD 17.55 15.91Survival &Power-SUR: M 34.89 45.22 10.33 8.337 0.001 SD 19.53 17.30LifePursuits-LIF: M 30.07 44.80 14.73 11.650 0.001 SD 19.37 17.77External &Impersonal-EITOT: M 129.25 170.73 41.48 10.452 0.001 SD 62.21 55.58TotalDISS-DISTOT: M 272.10 331.65 59.55 7.665 0.001 SD 117.51 109.71DiscerningScore-LIE: M 7.59 9.58 1.99 9.315 0.001 SD 3.36 2.98DiscussionThe Canadian high school students clearly had less cognitivedissonance than did the students from the United States. Theirsignificantly lower LIE score shows plainly that they read andunderstood the items of the test, and answered them in an honest manner.These differences were likely the results of the fact that theseCanadian students, though a bit older, were from rural areas whereastheir United States counterparts were from urban areas.A multiple regression Multiple regressionThe estimated relationship between a dependent variable and more than one explanatory variable. analysis on the Canadian scores was used todetermine what effect age had on each one of the major CognitiveDissonance Test scores, and on different combinations of the partscores. As shown in Table 2 below, no statistically significant findingswere obtained. This suggests that the cognitive dissonance present inthe Canadian high school students did not change in relation to eitherage or grade, since age and grade are correlated cor��re��late?v. cor��re��lat��ed, cor��re��lat��ing, cor��re��latesv.tr.1. To put or bring into causal, complementary, parallel, or reciprocal relation.2. phenomena. It is clearthat cognitive dissonance is not something that increases or decreaseswith age alone, and that corrective action A corrective action is a change implemented to address a weakness identified in a management system. Normally corrective actions are instigated in response to a customer complaint, abnormal levels if internal nonconformity, nonconformities identified during an internal audit or must be taken to deal withit. The first step in dealing with any problem is to become aware of itspresence and nature, and then to take appropriate action to deal withit. The Cognitive Dissonance Test (DISS) was designed to alertindividuals of the presence and nature of cognitive dissonance they arecurrently experiencing.Table 2Multiple Regression Analysis on Age(N=243)DISS Correlated Multiple AdjustedScores Variable R R Squared ProbabilityIPTOT AGE 0.030 0.000 n.s.EITOT AGE 0.011 0.000 n.s.IPTOT+EITOT AGE 0.032 0.000 n.s.HOM+INN+PER+HEA+SCH+SOC+SUR+LIF AGE 0.198 0.006 n.s.DISTOT AGE 0.023 0.000 n.s.ReferencesCassel, R.N., Chow, P., DeMoulin, D.F., and Reiger, R.C. (2000).The Cognitive Dissonance Test (DISS). Chula Vista, California “Chula Vista” redirects here. For the area in Florida, see Chula Vista, Florida.Chula Vista is a city in southern San Diego County, California, United States. ; ProjectInnovation.Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory. of Cognitive Dissonance. New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of :Harper and Row.Part of this research was funded by the Nipissing University Nipissing University is a small liberal arts university located in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, on a 720 acre (2.9 km2) farm site overlooking Lake Nipissing. The university's unique character is defined by its location in Northern Ontario, a large faculty of education program with Internal Research Grant to the first author.Peter Chow and Wendy Wood Wendy Wood (born Gwendoline Emily Meacham) (1892-June, 1981) was a well-known campaigner for Scottish independence and founder of the Scottish Patriots. An eccentric and colourful figure, she was also an artist and writer, and her antics often created controversy. , Psychology Department, NipissingUniversity, North Bay, Ontario North Bay (, time zone EST) is a city in Northeastern Ontario, Canada (2006 population 53,966). North Bay takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing, and covers an area of 314.92km2 (121. .Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to PeterChow, Psychology Department, Nipissing University, North Bay, Ontario,Canada.