Question

Martha doesn’t want her young son to touch the heating stove. The stove is too large to be moved out of his way, so he has to learn not to touch it—even when Martha isn’t looking. Based on the concept of insufficient justification, which of the following approaches is likely to be most effective in helping the boy internalize the choice not to play with the stove?

Answer 1

She should use the threat of a mild punishment if he chooses to touch it.

Explanation:

Insufficient justification: In social psychology, the term "insufficient justification" is also referred to as "insufficient punishment" and is described as a phenomenon that opts to synthesize different theories of "internal versus external justification" and "cognitive dissonance". It generally occurs when a person uses a few "internal motivation" to assert a particular behavior.

The insufficient justification was introduced by Carlsmith and Festinger.

In the question above, Martha uses threat related to "mild punishment" if he chooses to touch it.