Two putative measures of cognitive dissonance

Two self-report questionnaire measures of cognitive dissonance were discussed in relation to problems of dissonance measurement and theory. Some data on reliability and construct validity of the measures were presented. Results were replicated on a second sample. It was concluded that the measures by and large lacked desirable psychometric properties, and most likely were not measuring cognitive dissonance, at least cognitive dissonance as generally understood. Such approaches to the assessment of dissonance were strongly questioned. However, it was suggested that a notion of individual differences in tolerance for cognitive dissonance may have merit, and that the two measures under discussion might be included in further research into such a notion.