Valérie Fointiat

Aix-Marseille University | AMU · Sociale psychology lab.

Hypocrisy procedure has been used to induce behavioral change in a wide variety of areas including water conservation, condom use, and donations for homeless people. Hypocrisy implies the articulation of two factors: advocating a prosocial position and being made mindful of failures to behave according to that advocacy. This dissonance leads to a b...

Our main purpose was to explore hypotheses derived from the Identification of Action Theory in a particular situation that is, a dissonant situation. Thus, we varied the identification (low versus high-level) of a problematic behavior (to stop speaking for 24 hours) in the forced compliance paradigm. Two modes of dissonance reduction were presented...

The aim of the two studies was to explore a new dissonance paradigm–expressive dissonance–based on the inconsistency between what people feel and what people express behaviorally. Expressive dissonance was aroused by asking participants to watch a film with a high emotional content, either positive (joy) or negative (sadness). In the no-dissonance...

Induced hypocrisy is a sequential, two-step, cognitive dissonance procedure that prompts individuals to adopt a proattitudinal behavior. The present meta-analysis of 29 published and nine unpublished induced-hypocrisy studies enabled us to test three key dissonance-related issues. First, is hypocrisy effective in promoting change in behavioral inte...

In 2015, Fort-de-France, the main city of Martinique, a small French West Indies island, made the ambitious decision to introduce a new mode of public transportation, a reserved public transport lane, or ‘RPTL’. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model, we conducted a survey to identify the determinants of intention to use the new mode of transport...

Despite a need for societal change to resolve environmental problems, social psychology has largely focused research on individual changes. At the same time, new climate movements recently emerged and social psychology has theoretical tools to study their societal impacts. In this review, we study how social psychology has approached environmental...

Dirty Jobs" (Hughes, 1951) include positions categorized into three types of stigmas: social, physical, and moral (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999). These jobs not only generate stigma but also dehumanization (Valtorta et al., 2019a), which can vary depending on the type of stigma associated with the job: objectification for socially stigmatized professio...

Le travail joue un rôle important dans la vie des gens et représente une part importante de l’identification de soi. Certains métiers perçus comme prestigieux amènent à évaluer ceux qui les exercent de façon positive. A l’inverse, d’autres métiers sont perçus comment peu prestigieux, amenant à évaluer ceux qui les exercent de façon déshumanisée. An...

According to cognitive-dissonance theory, performing counterattitudinal behavior produces a state of dissonance that people are motivated to resolve, usually by changing their attitude to be in line with their behavior. One of the most popular experimental paradigms used to produce such attitude change is the induced-compliance paradigm. Despite it...

Tipping behavior is a vital way for waiting staff to enhance their wages, and for managers to monitor guest satisfaction. Despite its importance, there is not yet an established consensus on reasons why people tip. Our lack of understanding about tipping behavior is exacerbated by a strong reliance on studies conducted in countries that have a syst...

La déshumanisation, c'est-à-dire le fait de percevoir et/ou de traiter un individu comme moins qu'humain, s'avère être un phénomène répandu, en particulier dans le contexte professionnel. Plus récemment, des études (Valtorta et al., 2019a; Valtorta et al., 2019b) se sont concentrées sur la déshumanisation des travailleurs effectuant des emplois qua...

This study focuses on the role of work features on cleaning ladies’ dehumanization, bearing the stigma of doing both physically and socially tainted work. The aim of the present work is first to replicate the results obtained concerning work characteristics in a nonindustrial context, and then to study the role of task orientation on objectificatio...

Emergency situations are generally described as combining both threat and time pressure. Creative solutions to deal with such situations are important. The present studies (Ntotal = 1190) investigated how people are able to produce creative solutions in an emergency. Our first study was correlational, and assessed individual creativity and reaction...

Recycling is socially responsible behavior. Moreover, it is also a complex behavior. It benefits society in the long term but involves a personal cost and does not benefit the individual directly. In the specific context of small island, we conducted a two-step research action to promote recycling among households located in the north of Martinique...

After decades of political, economic, and scientific efforts, humanity has not gotten any closer to global sustainability. With less than a decade to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deadline of the 2030 Agenda, we show that global development agendas may be getting lost in translation, from their initial formulation to their final...

Direct persuasion is usually less effective than self-persuasion. As research shows that most young adults are unafraid of COVID-19, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of self-persuasion targeted at protecting the health of others to encourage young adults to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and examined the link between empathy and va...

Direct persuasion (providing arguments) is usually a less effective influence technique than self-persuasion (self-creation of arguments). As most young adults are unafraid to contract COVID-19, self-persuasion focused on protecting the health of others may be an effective method of increasing vaccination rates in this population. Thus, empathy see...

Cette recherche réalisée auprès d’un échantillon de 14 professionnels du tourisme durable en France (composé d’agences de voyage, d’associations et de fédérations), a pour objectif, sur la base d’une méthode particulière nommée Investigateur Multistade de l’Identité Sociale (IMIS), d’identifier les niveaux d’engagement perçus des participants en te...

Tipping is a social norm in many countries and has important functions as a source of income, with significant social welfare effects. Tipping can also represent a form of lost tax revenue, as service workers and restaurants may not declare all cash tips. These interrelationships remain generally insufficiently understood. This paper presents the r...

This action-research project conducted in partnership with French local public authorities aims at designing an intervention procedure to reduce food waste in households. To broach the complex problem of food waste reduction as a behavioral gap, we compared three interventions: a classical information-based intervention, an awareness-based interven...

The main objective is a double one. First and foremost, it is a question of showing that foot-in-the-door as a proven behavioral influence technique in offline interactions maintains its efficiency in online interactions. It is then a question of exploring the impact of the anthropomorphism vs. the non-anthropomorphism of the requester avatar on th...

"Persuasive technologies" refers to the information and communication technologies used to change attitudes and behaviors [2]. However, to ensure that elements of a Web site (message, logo, animations, etc.) play their persuasive role, they must be seen and read. Our study proposes to evaluate the "attractive" and "persuasive" power of elements con...

Abstract: Despite an ever-increasing use of the Environmental Attitude Inventory (EAI), few studies have aimed at checking the dimensional structure of its 24-item version and particularly the structure of the subdimensions and its two main dimensions: utilization and preservation of the environment. Structural analyses confirmed the strength of th...

Introduction: Given that diabetes is a major public heath issue around the world, it is vital that we find effective means to change behaviors, especially levels of physical activity among type 2 diabetes patients. Objective: This study aims to provide proof of the effectiveness of programs promoting physical activity, based on cognitive dissonance...

In a forced compliance situation, Scheier and Carver have shown that making high private self-consciousness salient through exposure to a mirror inhibits the arousal of dissonance and the subsequent attitude change. Based on these results, the aim of our study is to examine an alternate theoretical interpretation of the absence of attitude change....

A t t i t u d e s e t c o m por tem e n t s: Ce que nous faisons reflète-il ce que nous pensons ? Dans quelle mesure nos idées et nos comportements sont-ils reliés ? Pouvons-nous changer les opinions attitudes d'autrui? Pouvons-nous changer nos compor-tements ? Autant de questions auxquelles cet ouvrage propose d'apporter des réponses. En s'appuya...

Remembering one's past transgressions of a social norm is known as an effective paradigm for enhancing pro-social and ecological behaviours. Our study aimed to show that reminding norm transgressions can arise cognitive dissonance and can lead to behavioural change as induced hypocrisy does. In particular, we tested whether inconsistency between th...

La communication engageante est une procédure mobilisable pour accompagner le changement organisationnel. Pont conceptuel entre communication persuasive et engagement comportemental, la communication engageante repose sur l’idée que les arguments persuasifs auront d’autant plus d’impact au niveau attitudinal comme au niveau comportemental, qu’ils r...

Research report on diversity in Luxembourg

Initiated by Davis and Knowles (1999), the-disrupt-then-reframe technique is based on the linking of two moments in time. First of all, slipping an unexpected element into a communication situation that is likely to provoke a disruption in communication. Once this disruption has been achieved, proposing a target behaviour by insisting on the benefi...

International audience The study of the socio-psychological processes involved in persuasion is onethe pivotal topics in social psychology. Eight decades ago, researchers from Yaleuniversity were the first in studying the mechanism of persuasion in the specificcontext of World War ll. Persuasion is obtained when the receptor of communicationmakes a...

Selon la théorie des niveaux de représentation (Trope & Liberman, 2003, 2010), la distance psychologique définit des représentations d'action plus ou moins abstraites. 1/ Les résultats confirment l'existence d'une norme socialement indésirable à l'égard du gaspillage alimentaire. Cette norme, de nature descriptive, pourrait intervenir dans la const...

MMORPGs stand as very successful among people all around the world. MMORPGs (World of Warcraft or SecondLife, for instance) are not simply a pastime for teenagers, but represent a valuable research tool, on which millions of users inter-act via real-time 3D avatars or buddy icons. Regarding user's motivations, it seems that they are interested both...

En termes de développement durable, le gaspillage alimentaire représente un enjeu majeur. Le constat est paradoxal : gaspiller est socialement indésirable (Evans, 2011), et pourtant nous gaspillons sans en avoir conscience (en moyenne trente kilos/ habitant/an). Cette situation sociale illustre le principe du paradigme de l'hypocrisie induite (Aron...

Type I and II diabetes are among the major epidemics of the 21st century. Obesity and lack of physical activity have been identified as major causes of type II diabetes. As no cure exists, changing behaviors remains the most efficient way to improve patients' quality of life. The aim of this action research is to promote physical activity type 2 di...

Introduction The aim of this action research was to encourage workers to comply with an anti-smoking charter and get them to effectively reduce their tobacco use. Two change procedures were compared: a classic one based on an information campaign and an original one based on the door-in-the-face technique. Method Forty-three smoking workers partici...

Induced hypocrisy is based on the combination of two factors: commitment (advocating a socially desired position) and mindfulness (being made mindful of one's failure to act in accordance with the advocated position). Making people aware of their own transgressions arouses a psychological discomfort (dissonance) they will reduce through a behaviora...

We revisited the well-known warm–cold paradigm in a 2 (cold vs. warm) × 2 (odor vs. no odor information) between-subjects experiment. The participants were read a list of character qualities describing a target (cold vs. warm and odor vs. no odor information) before judging the target on 4 dimensions related to social desirability. The results rein...

La théorie du comportement planifié (Ajzen, 1991) : prédire et expliquer les comportements & identifier des points d'attaque pour des interventions de changement comportemental.-L'intention médiatise les comportements de réduction des déchets (Barr, 2007). 3 facteurs influencent l'intention : attitude, norme subjective et contrôle comportemental.-N...

Développée par Festinger en 1957, la dissonance cognitive est maintenant reconnue, bien au-delà de la psychologie sociale, dans l'ensemble des sciences humaines. L'ouvrage associe au rappel des bases de la théorie de la dissonance une prise en compte travaux les plus récents sur les points clefs : nouveaux paradigmes, rôle et mesure des émotions, d...

This article examines whether individual differences in preference for consistency (PFC) affect the behavioral change in the induced-hypocrisy paradigm. Undergraduate students (N=108) completed the PFC scale either 1month (no PFC-focus condition) or immediately before (PFC-focus condition) the induced-hypocrisy procedure; this procedure includes pr...

[UK]. This paper focuses on the internalization of stereotypes among French office workers in the lower category (category C). More precisely, we investigated the impact of two independent factors on this internalization of stereotypes: the perceived external prestige and public contact. Results obtained using questionnaires completed by 175 office...

This experimental research was designed 1) to examine the persuasiveness of a non-commercial website in terms of cognitive responses and confidence and 2) to test the efficiency of a specific compliance technique, the so-called Pique technique (i.e. an odd or unusual request can increase compliance in situations in which the typical response to the...

This experimental research was designed 1) to examine the persuasiveness of a non-commercial website in terms of cognitive responses and confidence and 2) to test the efficiency of a specific compliance technique, the so-called Pique technique (i.e. an odd or unusual request can increase compliance in situations in which the typical response to the...

This study investigated the influence of the assessment of the discrepant act on dissonance reduction. In particular, we tested the influence of normative standards on a trivialization of the discrepant act and the assessment of research topic importance. The results suggest that dissonance reduction varies depending on whether the discrepant act i...

Several researchers have shown that odors affect human behavior. However, odors have not been studied in the context of specific compliance without pressure. Specifically, the impact of the odor worn by a requester during the foot-in-the-door procedure has not been documented. To address this issue, an experiment was carried out in an ecological se...

Hypocrisy paradigm has been identified as a form of dissonance induction. Hypocrisy is induced by the combination of 2 factors: commitment (advocating a position one supports) and mindfulness (being made mindful of one's failure to act in accord with the advocated standards). The experimental 2 x 2 between participants design manipulates misattribu...

A study was designed to examine the effect of the appearance of the requester within one of the variants of the foot-in-the-door paradigm, that is, the foot-in-the-door with implicit demand described by Uranowitz in 1975. A confederate (Black vs. Blanc vs. Beur2) approached the participant in a park and presented a small request. Three steps furthe...

Induced-hypocrisy is directly derived from cognitive dissonance theory. This paradigm involves the combination of two factors: commitment factor, in which the individual advocates a pro-normative position and mindful factor in which the past transgressions are made salient. This combination arouses dissonance, which is usually reduced by changing t...

Le paradigme de l’hypocrisie induite (Aronson et al. 1991) illustre une situation courante : dire une chose et en faire une autre. Rendre saillant l’écart que l’individu perçoit entre ce qu’il sait être normatif et ses comportements passés contre-normatifs éveille un état d’inconfort psychologique (i.e. dissonance, Festinger, 1957). Cet état étant...

Hypocrisy can be considered as a dissonance state expressed as a combination of two factors: commitment (advocating a pronormative position) and mindfulness (being aware of past transgressions). Such inconsistency between what people advocate and their past behaviors is usually reduced by modifying behaviors or behavioral intentions in line with no...

Induced hypocrisy is considered as a new dissonance paradigm, in which two factors (normative commitment and mindfulness of past transgressions), are combined. The inconsistency between 'what I am preaching' and 'what I have done' is reduced via behavioral change in line with the prior preach. In this study, we compared two different operationaliza...

According to induced hypocrisy paradigm, participants were led to advocate a pro-attitudinal position (commitment step), such as to respect the driving rules. Subsequently they were made mindful of their own transgressions (mindfulness step). Afterwards, the target-behavior was administered: spending time in a safety road association. We manipulate...

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between trivialization and self-esteem. Low-self-esteem participants were expected to reduce cognitive dissonance by trivialization. In this experiment, dissonance was aroused by having participants write a counter-attitudinal essay. In the post-experimental phase, both the participants' att...

In this experiment, the effect of two kinds of labels in the foot-in-the-door paradigm were tested. The first one refers to what the individual is (social label); the second refers to the usefulness of the performed behavior (functional label). It appears that the social label increases compliance whereas the functional label decreases compliance....

French and American males and females participated in two experiments examining the distribution of rewards. In Experiment 1, participants allocated funds to fictitious work-study applicants. Whereas they used equity to some degree, participants showed a greater tendency toward allocating based on applicant need, and this effect was greater in Fran...

The aim of this study was to test the impact of labeling over compliance, within the foot-in-the-door paradigm. We manipulated two types of labeling: social labeling — or positive labeling — and functional labeling. Whereas social labeling emphasizes the social value of the individual (what the individual is), functional labeling points out the eff...

The aim of this experiment was 1) to test the alternate aspect of the rationalization process (cognitive rationalization versus in act rationalization); 2) to confront diffé-rent interprétations of the dis-sonance phenomena (in terms of rationalization versus impression management). The results we obtained support the rationalization inter-prétatio...

This paper addresses the alternate aspect of the rationalization process. Requiring individuals to provide justification for a problematic behaviour renders its cognitive rationalization easier and makes a rationalization in act less probable. The effect of rationalization in act decreases the individual's focus in his justification. © 1998 John Wi...

Tested the hypothesis of arousal misattribution of cognitive dissonance using the bogus pipeline paradigm and tested the hypothesis of act rationalization in the misattribution situation. Human Ss: 60 normal French adults (undergraduate students). Ss were observed under 3 experimental conditions: (1) no lie detector, (2) lie detector but no familia...

While a compliance strategy induced almost all subjects to agree to forego first a lunch and then a dinner and the following breakfast, simply observing an accomplice break his commitment to forego lunch was enough to produce a significant reduction in subjects' commitment to forego two meals, even though the effect was not immediate. This pattern...