Reversible and Irreversible Decisions

The present experiment determined whether preference for consonant or dissonant information differs when (a) decisions are reversible instead of irreversible, and (b) when different amounts of dissonance are induced. Dissonance was manipulated by having subjects make decisions between alternatives with varying degrees of similarity in attractiveness. Subjects' preference for consonant information was generally stronger after making irreversible decisions than after making reversible ones. When decisions were irreversible, the relative preference for consonant over dissonant information increased with the similarity in attractiveness of the decision alternatives. When decisions were reversible, the relative preference for consonant information decreased with the similarity in attractiveness of the alternatives. In accordance to earlier investigations on selective exposure, experimental manipulation did not affect the avoidance of dissonance information. The results are interpreted in terms of both dissonance theory and choice certainty theory.