Depuis plusieurs années des stratégies de marketing social sont déployées par les gouvernements et les associations de consommation pour promouvoir des comportements de consommation durable. Ces actions de marketing social sont généralement basées une approche rationnelle du comportement humain. Deux caractéristiques émergent de cette approche. Selon une première caractéristique, le consommateur choisit délibérément des produits en fonction des informations qu'il détient. Il évalue le poids de ces informations en termes de coût/bénéfice pour prendre sa décision. Il suffit de fournir des informations adéquates et en nombre suffisant pour influencer la prise de décision. En dépit de cette idée, des recherches récentes suggèrent que le comportement peut découler automatiquement de la simple perception de la situation (Dijksterhuis & Bargh, 2001). Les indices perçus dans le contexte activent automatiquement des comportements afin de permettre à l'individu de réagir de façon rapide et adaptée. Cette approche a fait l'objet d'un premier volet de recherches menées dans le cadre de cette thèse. Les données de trois études expérimentales renforcent l'idée qu'il est possible d'influencer la valeur écologique de choix de consommation grâce à la perception d'indices liés à l'écologie. La perception d'indices écologiques favorise l'émergence de choix de produits écologiques uniquement s'ils sont connotés de façon négative (e.g., pollution). Par ailleurs, cet effet ne dépend pas d'habitudes d'éco-consommation préexistantes. La seconde caractéristique suggère que les consommateurs agissent en accord avec leur attitude. Si l'on change l'attitude, le comportement en sera affecté. De nombreuses études se sont attachées à mieux connaître le lien entre attitude et comportement. Ces études ont eu pour objet (1) de développer des techniques ou mesures permettant d'affiner la prédiction du comportement à partir de l'attitude ou (2) de tenter de dégager les variables qui modèrent la force de ce lien entre attitude et comportement. D'autres chercheurs se sont attachés à renforcer la probabilité d'émergence de comportements spécifiques en faisant prendre conscience aux individus que leurs comportements sont parfois en inadéquation avec les opinions qu'ils défendent publiquement. Cette dernière approche, dite de l'hypocrisie induite (Aronson, 1999), a été examinée dans un second volet de recherches menées dans le cadre cette thèse. Deux expériences montrent que l'hypocrisie peut ne pas avoir d'effet au niveau comportemental, voire avoir des effets négatifs. Par ailleurs, la seconde étude apporte davantage de pertinence au paradigme de l'hypocrisie induite quant à ses possibilités d'application réelle au marketing social. / For several years, social marketing strategies have been deployed by governments and consumer associations in order to promote sustainable consumer behaviors. These actions are mainly based on a rational conception of human behavior. Two characteristics emerge from this view. According to a first characteritstic, consumers deliberately choose products according to the information given to them. They assess the weight of that information in terms of cost and benefits in order to take their decision. From this point of view, providing a sufficient number of adequate information is sufficient to influence the decision process. Despite this idea, recent research suggests that behavior can rise automatically from the perception of the situation (Dijksterhuis & Bargh, 2001). Perceived situational cues automatically activate behaviors in order to allow the people to react fast and in an adapted manner. This approach was used in a first section of our research. Data from three experimental studies support the idea that the perception of ecological cues implicitly influences the ecological value of the products chosen by consumers, but only when these cues are negatively related to ecology (e.g., pollution). In addition, this effect does not depend on preexisting ecological consumer habits. The second characteristic suggests that consumers act in line with their attitude. If the attitude is changed, behavior will be affected as well. Many studies examined the relation between attitude and behavior. These studies aimed at (1) developing measurements and techniques to refine the prediction of the behavior by the attitude, and (2) trying to identify moderating variables of the attitude-behavior link. Other researchers endeavored to reinforce the emergence of specific behaviors by making people aware about the fact that their behavior is sometimes inconsistent with the opinion they advocate publicly. This last framework, known as induced hypocrisy (Aronson, 1999), was examined in the second part of our research. Two experiments illustrate that hypocrisy can sometimes have no behavioral effect, and even a negative effects. In addition, the second study brings relevance to induced hypocrisy as an applicable marketing technique.

Consumers acquire products to enhance their lives, but the happiness from these acquisitions generally decreases with the passage of time. This process of hedonic adaptation plays an integral role in post-acquisition consumer satisfaction, product disposal and replacement behavior, and the "hedonic treadmill" that partially drives the relationship between consumption and happiness. Humans are social animals, however, and we know little about the relationship between the social environment and hedonic adaptation. My dissertation addresses this gap by exploring the moderating role of social presence (Essay 1) and self-concepts (Essay 2) on hedonic adaptation to products. Essay 1 explores how social presence affects hedonic adaptation to products. Research on general happiness has shown that significantly positive life events tend to maintain their positivity for longer periods of time when they involve active social interactions. I examine a more common situation in the domain of product consumption, i.e., the presence of others during consumption, and test whether hedonic adaptation to products is moderated by public contexts. By tracking happiness with products over time, I show that a "social audience" (i.e., the presence of others and the perception that those others notice the consumer) moderates hedonic adaptation through a consumer's inference of the social audience perspective. Inferring that the social audience is admiring one's product slows down adaptation, and inferring that the social audience is negatively viewing one's product accelerates adaptation. Essay 2 explores the role the identity-relevance of a product plays in hedonic adaptation. Extant research illustrates that consumers avoid consuming identity-inconsistent products in order to avoid dissonance arising from product choices conflicting with important self-concepts. I show that dissonance can also arise from consuming identity-consistent products because of the force of hedonic adaptation. I provide evidence that consumers feel uncomfortable experiencing declining happiness with identity-consistent products and thus resist hedonic adaptation to such products in order to resolve the dissonance. / text

À travers l’analyse de la vie des protagonistes, le malaise et le dysfonctionnement socio-politique, économique et culturel des post-indépendances, cette étude met en exergue les différentes formes de violences dans les romans suivants : The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Fragments d’Ayi Kwei Armah, Kill Me Quick, Going Down River Road, The Cockroach Dance et The Big Chiefs de Meja Mwangi et Dangerous Love de Ben Okri. La thématique de la désillusion s’incruste comme un leitmotiv dans tous ces romans. L’omniprésence de la désillusion permet de montrer le caractère violent de la perte des illusions. L’émergence des régimes dictatoriaux après l’indépendance dans plusieurs pays africains où la corruption, le clientélisme et l’affairisme sont érigés en mode de gouvernement entraînent une dissonance profonde et un malaise sans précédent. Si ces violences puisent, d’une part, leur origine dans la déstructuration de la vie sociopolitique, économique et culturelle causée par la colonisation, elles sont dues, d’autre part, aux dysfonctionnements de la société post-indépendante. Ces violences, ces dissonances et la tyrannie du pouvoir atteignent leur sommet dans un pays imaginaire, vraisemmblablement le Rwanda, où la cruauté des massacres et l'absurdité de l'idéologie de l'Hutu Power appelant au génocide des Tutsi dépassent l'entendement humain / Through the analysis of the daily life of the protagonists, the socio-political, economic and cultural post-independence dissonance and malaise, this study spotlights the different forms of violence as portrayed in Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Fragments, Meja Mwangi’s Kill Me Quick, Going Down River Road, The Cockroach Dance, The Big Chiefs and Ben Okris’ Dangerous Love. The theme of post-independence disillusionment is pervasive in all these novels. The omnipresence of this disenchantment enables to point out the violence which is inherent in the loss of illusion. The dictatorial regimes which emerge in many African states, after independence, lead to a great and deep dissonance and unprecedented malaise: corruption, embezzlement and nepotism become the norms of ruling. If this violence finds its roots, on the one hand, in the violent socio-political, economic and cultural disorganisation of traditional African society by colonisation, it is also, on the other hand, due to post-independence disjuncture and bitterness. Tyranny of power, dissonance and violence have plunged an imaginary country, probably Rwanda , into an extreme violence where the cruelty of the massacres and the absurdity of Hutu Power's ideology exhorting Hutu people to exterminate the Tutsi are beyond all understanding

Cette thèse explore le phénomène de whistleblowing et comment il a été encadré, principalement du point de vue anglo-saxon, à travers des lectures proches de récits culturels et une vue critique sur l'érudition existante sur whistleblowing. À travers des lectures rapprochées d'une sélection de cas, la poursuite, l'importance et l'impact de la vérité apparaîtront comme le thème central dans les récits culturelles explorées, mais aussi les moments où la vérité est rendu impuissante, en raison de sa nature coercitive comme factualité. L'impuissance de la vérité vécue par les lanceurs d'alerte ("les whistleblowers") est ce qui relie d'autre part les récits culturels à l'art tragique. Les diseurs de vérité ne sont pas reconnus, et ils entrent dans un conflit tragique parce qu'elles révèlent des vérités qui ne sont pas pratiques pour les gens au pouvoir. En d'autres termes, les whistleblowers, en disant la vérité, cherchent à élargir l'espace épistémique dans la sphère publique et à tenir les gens et le pouvoir responsables. Cependant, ils sont continuellement négativement encadrés avec des métaphores conceptuelles qui obstruent la perception d'eux en tant que conteurs de la vérité. / This dissertation posits that whistleblowing is factual truth-telling, or truthful public denunciation. In scholarship, media, and in the popular perception of whistleblowing, the truth-claim is often overlooked, and in many occasions hampered by the dominant ways it is framed (e.g. as leak, which is explored among other frames as a problematic conceptual metaphor). Interestingly, the representation of the whistleblower is different in cultural narratives. Through close readings of a selection of cases, the pursuit, importance, and impact of truth will appear as the central theme in the explored plots, but also the moments where truth becomes impotent, due to its coercive nature as factuality - a process that furthermore connects whistleblowing with the idea of the tragic. Put differently, the special literary interest of narratives of whistleblowing is to turn ignorance into knowledge, knowledge into telling, and how the unraveling of truth becomes a reversal of fortune for the truth-teller who enters a particular tragic conflict. As frame, as narrative, and as a modern phenomenon of truthful public denunciation, whistleblowing offers particular moments of truth, often about moments of falsehood, and ultimately seeks to be a moment of impetus: for the public to restore justice, and for readerships and audience of narrative and dramatic configurations to choose or to distance themselves from multiple proposals of justice emplotted - not only ethical justice, but also epistemic, hermeneutical, and testimonial justice. In other words, whistleblowers, by telling the truth, seek to expand the epistemic space in the public sphere and hold people and power accountable.

La théorie de l’engagement (Joule & Beauvois, 1998 ; Kiesler, 1971), associée à la théorie de la dissonance cognitive (Festinger, 1957 ; Fointiat, Girandola, & Gosling, 2013), fournit un cadre expérimental d’observation et de compréhension de certains effets des pratiques sociales sur la dynamique des représentations sociales (Abric, 1994 ; Flament, 1994 ; Guimelli, 1989). Notre travail s’inscrit dans la continuité des recherches opérées dans le cadre des effets de la double soumission forcée (Joule, 1991) sur la transformation des représentations sociales (Renard, Bonardi, Roussiau, & Girandola, 2007). Plus précisément, l’objectif de cette thèse est de déterminer quels types de modification au sein de la représentation sociale du sport chez des étudiants non-sportifs sont susceptibles de produire un impact sur les attitudes et les comportements, et de voir si des processus de réduction de la dissonance sont à l’origine de ces changements. Si la transformation structurale de la représentation sociale du sport entraine une évolution au niveau des attitudes à court terme, il semble que la modification de la signification d’un élément central provoque des changements attitudinaux et comportementaux à long terme.Les étudiants ayant réalisé deux actes engageants, dans un contexte de liberté, se déclarent plus favorables et pratiquent plus de sport que les participants de la condition contrôle. Une interprétation en termes de rationalisation est avancée. / The theory of commitment (Joule & Beauvois, 1998 ; Kiesler, 1971), combined with thetheory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957 ; Fointiat, Girandola, & Gosling, 2013),provides an experimental framework of observation and understanding of some social practiceeffects on the social representation dynamics (Abric, 1994 ; Flament, 1994 ; Guimelli, 1989).This work follows on from the research led in the area of the effects of forced doublecompliance (Joule, 1991) on the transformation of social representations (Renard, Bonardi,Roussiau, & Girandola, 2007). The aim of this thesis is more precisely to determine what typesof modification within the social representation of sport among nonathletic students are likelyto produce an impact on attitudes and behaviours, and to see whether those changes originatefrom some dissonance reduction processes. If the structural transformation of sport socialrepresentation produces an evolution on short-term attitudes, it seems that the modification ofa central element signification causes long-term attitudinal and behavioural changes. Thestudents who fulfilled two acts in a context of commitment (ie, free- choice) declare themselvesmore favorable and practise more sport than the participants in the control condition. Aninterpretation in terms of rationalisation is put forward.

Cette thèse traite de l’étude du changement d’attitude dans un contexte de dissonance cognitive (Festinger, 1957), et plus précisément dans le cadre du paradigme de l’essai contre-attitudinal (Brehm & Cohen, 1962). L’objectif de ce travail est triple. Premièrement, nous opérons une remise en question de l’induction de choix des paradigmes de dissonance, en utilisant, au sein de nos expérimentations, la perception de choix des participants comme variable continue permettant de prédire le changement d’attitude. Notre second objectif est de mobiliser, dans le cadre de la dissonance, des variables issues du modèle des probabilités d’élaboration (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) liées au changement d’attitude. Ces variables permettent notamment de recueillir les pensées positives et négatives (i.e., l’élaboration) que les participants produisent vis-à-vis d’un argumentaire. Nous émettons ainsi l’hypothèse que la rédaction d’un essai contre attitudinal sous perception élevée de choix entraînera conjointement de l’élaboration et du changement d’attitude chez les participants. Le dernier objectif de cette thèse est de tester l’impact de variables, autres que le choix perçu, permettant d’augmenter l’élaboration des participants. Nous nous sommes ainsi intéressés à la résistance de l’attitude initiale, ainsi qu’au délai de réflexion, afin d’étudier leurs effets sur le changement d’attitude. / This thesis covers the study of attitude change in the area of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957), and more precisely in the context of the counter-attitudinal advocacy paradigm (Brehm & Cohen, 1962). The aim of this work is triple. First, we challenge the induction of choice adopted within dissonance paradigms using, in our studies, perception of choice as a discrete variable suitable to predict attitude change. Our second goal is to borrow - for a use into dissonance paradigms - variables implied in attitude change within the elaboration likelihood model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) than can be used in order to gather the positive and negative thoughts (i.e., elaboration) that participants can produce regarding to an advocacy. We thus hypothesize that a counter-attitudinal advocacy will, under high perceived-choice, lead participants to produce elaboration and attitude change. Our last goal is to assess the impact of other variables than perceived choice that can have an impact on participants’ elaboration. Therefore, we took interest in attitude resistance and reflection delays in order to observe their effect on attitude change.

Last chance tourism (LCT) is defined as an endangered place due to climate change which creates motivations for tourists to travel to these places before they vanish. These trips also involve interaction with and observation of rare species that is about to disappear due to climate change. By integrating the Value-Belief-Norm and cognitive dissonance theory models, the main purpose of this research was to investigate psychological antecedents of engaging in LCT in higher educational institutions in Sweden. A survey was administered to 234 academics on seven universities in Sweden consisting of items measuring beliefs, pro-environmental personal norms, cognitive dissonance, and intentions to engage in Last Chance Tourism. The data was later analyzed using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation (PLS-SEM) approach. The results revealed a significant impact of cognitive dissonance on intentions to engage in LCT. These findings are important since they support the advantage of using cognitive dissonance theory within the context of LCT. The implications will hopefully spark an interest among academics to develop a sustainable tourism rescue plan and transfer this knowledge to a younger generation. For practitioners, this could be food for fought for organizations that are operating within the field of LCT.

This study is based on discussions with three focus groups on the issue of individuals' views on environmental responsibility in everyday life. Responsibility is the red thread that emerged from the empirical material from the focus groups and the theoretical framework. The discussions have been focused on whether the problems from household related environmental issues are caused by individual or structural reasons and whether they should be resolved through changes in individuals' behavior or helping structures. Car usage has been a particular focus, since from all household activities that is the one causing the greatest environmental impact (SCB 2015b). Objectively speaking, most participants argued that environmental problems are or should be easy to solve and that the solutions should involve influencing individuals' values ​​and norms, thus referring to internal factors. Based on the individual's own situation, however, most participants indicated mainly external factors as obstacles from living out environmental responsibility in the way that they felt they should. Tendencies of various psychological and sociological defense mechanisms could be distinguished, which is an expected impact of the cognitive dissonance that many apparently are experiencing regarding environmental responsibility. Working for enabling structures is an important conclusion from this study. Regarding the car's role it is likely that it is about finding more ways of helping individuals to change their travel mode since the environmental impact of car usage is something that most people are aware of, but feel unable to change. Solutions must therefore involve external factors. / Denna uppsats bygger på samtal med tre fokusgrupper i frågan om individers syn på miljöansvar i vardagen. Ansvar är den röda tråd som vuxit fram mellan det empiriska materialet från fokusgrupperna och det teoretiska ramverket. Det har handlat om huruvida problem kopplade till hushållsrelaterade miljöfrågor är orsakade av individuella eller strukturella anledningar och om de bör lösas genom förändringar i individers beteenden eller hjälpande strukturer. Bilanvändningen har getts ett särskilt fokus, då det av hushållens olika aktiviteter är den som orsakar allra störst miljöpåverkan (SCB 2015b). Rent objektivt konstaterade de flesta deltagarna att miljöproblem är eller borde vara enkla att lösa, att lösningarna handlar om att påverka individers värderingar och normer, alltså inre faktorer. Utifrån individernas egen situation angavs dock främst yttre faktorer som hinder från att leva ut det miljöansvar på de sätt som de kände att de borde. Tendenser till olika psykologiska och sociologiska försvarsmekanismer kunde skönjas, vilka är väntade effekter av den kognitiva dissonans som många tycks uppleva i fråga om miljöansvar. Att arbeta för möjliggörande strukturer är därför en viktig slutsats. Gällande bilens roll, kan förmodas att det även här handlar om att hitta fler hjälpande sätt för individer att ändra färdsätt, då miljöeffekterna av bilanvändningen är något som de flesta är medvetna om men själva känner sig oförmögna att förändra. Lösningarna måste därför handla om yttre faktorer. / <p>Alternativ svensk titel:</p><p>Ingen kan inte göra allt, men alla kan göra något? - En komparativ studie om hur individer resonerar kring miljöansvar i vardagen</p>

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether middle school students’ perceptions of teacher interactions and home-school dissonance are predictors of school attachment. The study sought to determine if there were differences in students’ perceptions of teacher interactions and home-school dissonance based on ethnicity, gender and/or grade level. This investigation is one of the first to explore the association between these variables. Data for this investigation was obtained from a larger study where surveys were administered to over 800 racially diverse students in grades 6 through 8 in Language Arts classrooms in two public middle schools with diverse student populations. Participants completed the Questionnaire of Teacher Interactions (QTI), the Cultural Discontinuity Between Home and School Scale (CDBHSS) and the School Attachment Questionnaire (SAQ). Based on the study sample, the QTI and SAQ were revalidated and produced new scale structures. Results of the multiple regressions, multivariate analysis of variance and post hoc tests revealed middle school students’ perceptions of teacher interactions and home-school dissonance significantly predict school attachment. Teacher interactions perceived as critical/passive, pleasant, or demanding were those making significant contributions. Student perceptions of pleasant teacher interactions were the greatest predictor of school attachment. Eighth graders perceived teachers to be more critical/passive than sixth graders. Sixth grade students perceived teachers to be more caring than seventh and eighth grades. Further, results indicated African American students perceived more critical/passive teacher interactions than their Caucasian and Asian American peers. While results indicate that home-school dissonance is a significant predictor of school attachment, results show that the impact of students’ perceptions of home-school dissonance is minimized when combined with teacher interactions. Implications for administrators, teachers, and university education departments are outlined. Recommendations for future research are also discussed.

This dissertation investigates vocal behavior, measured using standard acoustic and commercial vocal analysis software, as it occurs naturally while lying, experiencing cognitive dissonance, or receiving a security interview conducted by an Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA).In study one, vocal analysis software used for credibility assessment was investigated experimentally. Using a repeated measures design, 96 participants lied and told the truth during a multiple question interview. The vocal analysis software's built-in deception classifier performed at the chance level. When the vocal measurements were analyzed independent of the software's interface, the variables FMain (Stress), AVJ (Cognitive Effort), and SOS (Fear) significantly differentiated between truth and deception. Using these measurements, a logistic regression and machine learning algorithms predicted deception with accuracy up to 62.8%. Using standard acoustic measures, vocal pitch and voice quality was predicted by deception and stress.In study two, deceptive vocal and linguistic behaviors were investigated using a direct manipulation of arousal, affect, and cognitive difficulty by inducing cognitive dissonance. Participants (N=52) made verbal counter-attitudinal arguments out loud that were subjected to vocal and linguistic analysis. Participants experiencing cognitive dissonance spoke with higher vocal pitch, response latency, linguistic Quantity, and Certainty and lower Specificity. Linguistic Specificity mediated the dissonance and attitude change. Commercial vocal analysis software revealed that cognitive dissonance induced participants exhibited higher initial levels of Say or Stop (SOS), a measurement of fear.Study three investigated the use of the voice to predict trust. Participants (N=88) received a screening interview from an Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA) and reported their perceptions of the ECA. A growth model was developed that predicted trust during the interaction using the voice, time, and demographics.In study four, border guards participants were randomly assigned into either the Bomb Maker (N = 16) or Control (N = 13) condition. Participants either did or did not assemble a realistic, but non-operational, improvised explosive device (IED) to smuggle past an ECA security interviewer. Participants in the Bomb Maker condition had 25.34% more variation in their vocal pitch than the control condition participants.This research provides support that the voice is potentially a reliable and valid measurement of emotion and deception suitable for integration into future technologies such as automated security screenings and advanced human-computer interactions.