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Discomfort (Psychological)

PSDCPsychological Discomfort / Cognitive Dissonance
3 items 1994 α 0.85–0.94 Free Elliot, A.J., & Devine, P.G.

What it measures

A three-item unipolar scale measuring the subjective experience of psychological discomfort — a state of unease, discomfort, and feeling bothered — arising from inconsistency between beliefs, attitudes, or between attitudes and behaviour. Originally developed to operationalise cognitive dissonance as a felt psychological state, the scale has been applied in consumer research to examine dissonance following attitude-inconsistent product choices and exposure to counterstereotypic brand personalities.

Representative items

Citation

Elliot, Andrew J. and Patricia G. Devine (1994). On the motivational nature of cognitive dissonance: Dissonance as psychological discomfort. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(3), 382–394.

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