| Hafer (2009) found that both components of the hypocrisy paradigm (i.e., public commitment and mindfulness of past transgressions) were not needed to arouse a sufficient level of dissonance in the domain of exercising. Mindfulness alone was sufficient to arouse dissonance while controlling for the exposure to the benefits of exercising, and this study aims to test the generalizability of this effect to the domain of healthy eating. This study also aimed to determine whether the order of the attitude and behavioral intention measures was responsible for the weakened attitudes and behavioral intentions in the study by Hafer. One hundred and thirty-one undergraduate students who intended to eat in a healthy (i.e., nutritious) manner wrote a speech advocating eating in a healthy manner. To create public commitment, half of the participants were videotaped giving their speech and mindfulness was induced by having half of the participants list times in the past when they intended to eat healthy but did not do so. The order of the attitude and behavioral intention measures was counterbalanced for all participants. Results indicated that being made mindful of past transgressions alone is sufficient to arouse dissonance in the domain of healthy eating. However, there was no significant interaction between the order of the attitude and behavioral intention measures and mindfulness. The ability of mindfulness alone to arouse dissonance and the possible role of behavioral control in weakened attitudes are discussed. |
