Question

After spending a great deal of time researching vehicles, Linda makes a purchase. After having owned the vehicle for several months, she experiences dissonance and wonders if she made the right decision with her purchase. According to dissonance theory, we would expect Linda to reduce her dissonance by _____ the chosen vehicle and _____ the unchosen vehicles.

Answer 1

upgrading; downgrading

Step-by-step explanation:

In social psychology, cognitive dissonance is determined as a phenomenon or concept that produces a kind of discomfort or tenderness in an individual who holds or carries out different conflicting values, beliefs, or ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that different people hold a bias to gain or discover consonance between reality and expectations.

In the question above, for Linda to reduce her dissonance she should upgrade the chosen vehicle and therefore downgrade the unchosen vehicles.