This study explored the usefulness of the warp factor, a measure of the extent to which a multidimensional scaling solution is non-Euclidean in Galileo theory, as a measure of cognitive dissonance. A direct measure of cognitive dissonance has been lacking from dissonance theory, provoking criticism in the literature. Meanwhile, proponents of Galileo theory have claimed that dissonance is among the theoretic explanations of warp. By testing the usefulness of warp as a measure of dissonance, this study contributes to both these theoretical bodies of literature within the communication discipline. / The methodology consisted of a randomized, post test only design where dissonance was manipulated by asking each subject in the experimental conditions to write a counter-attitudinal essay. Subjects were students in large-enrollment undergraduate communication classes at a major southeastern university. Because many subjects refused to cooperate with the manipulation, data were collected twice and the results combined for analysis. A "bootstrap" technique for computing error around the warp factor was used to allow hypothesis testing. / The hypothesis relating levels of dissonance to size of the warp factor was not supported, as no significant warp was measured for any group. The results are thought to be due to subjects' success in reducing the induced dissonance before it could be measured using the Galileo technique. Tentative conclusions include the possibility that the warp factor is not useful as a measure of the kind of cognitive dissonance which can ordinarily be manipulated in an experiment because in practice this type of dissonance can be reduced by subject self-persuasion or other means before it can be measured using warp. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-08, Section: A, page: 2008. / Major Professor: C. Edward Wotring. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77817 |
| Contributors | Braswell, Robert Don., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 129 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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