Hypocrisy paradigm refers to a research methodology that is used to test any dissonance theory that arouses conflicts by having people publicly promote a socially desirable behavior and then they are made aware that they have not always exhibited that exact behavior in the past (Stone & Hernandez, 2008).
In the induced compliance paradigm, it is assumed that the dissonance or conflict is aroused when a person says or does something that is contrary to a prior attitude or belief (Brock, 2005). It is from the recognition of prior belief and attitude that is believed that one would not engage in a given act. This paradigm is different from the hypocrisy paradigm because in the later, a person is induced to make public an attitudinal consistent statement and they are later reminded of times they did not act in accordance with their statement (Brock, 2005).
Researchers predict that hypocrisy motivates people to change their behavior rather that their attitudes. According to Stone and Hernandez (2008), hypocrisy is geared towards justifying that which can be seen and concealing that which cannot be seen. People exude behavior that they are certain will bring favorable judgment though the attitude that corresponds to that particular behavior may be to the contrary.
In a study to test hypocrisy in relation to behavior change, researchers tested the effect of hypocrisy on behavior change by engaging students to write about an AIDs prevention and education program. In the study, students talked about important safe sex acts and were later asked to write on their own personal behaviors (Brock, 2005). In the study behavior, change was measured by the observance of the promised observable behaviors in the participants.
The study found out that those students who realized that their words deviated from their actions in most cases reported that they would change their behaviors. The reaction as to promise behavior change is embedded to an individual’s perceptions on self-integrity as well as honesty and sincerity (Brock, 2005).
The problems associated with the study are that the subject that it deals with is highly sensitive, personal and shrouded in secrecy. It was, therefore, very likely that the participants could provide inaccurate information throughout the study. The conclusions of the researchers are that students who exhibited dissonance were the ones who promised to change their behaviors are pegged on unverifiable situations on the sexual behaviors of the participants.
There are some limitations to this study. The first one is the low availability of many volunteer respondents who are willing to discuss their sex behaviors and agree to have themselves subjected to a study session. This impacts the results by having a small number of respondents, lack of variety in the sample respondents and, therefore, the researchers could have obtained results that are not reflective of hypocrisy in regard to “sexual behavior change” (Stone & Hernandez, 2008).
The second limitation is the lack of an accurate means to measure behavior change. In this case, the frequency of occurrence on behavior change is hard to verify. This limitation impacts the results by having nonstandard method of verifying behavior change and, therefore, the deductions made could be not be representative of real life situations.
The use of sunscreens has been promoted as a safe method of preventing the skin from the harmful UltraViolet rays from the sun which cause skin cancer. When applied in the right quantities and frequencies, sunscreen helps maintain a barrier against UV while at the same time moderating the tanning of the skin. This helps the user achieve moderate tanning while ensuring that they do not expose their skin to harmful rays
The target individuals are female college students who shall be informed of the detrimental effects of UltraViolet (UV) exposure. In spite of being warned of the dangers of exposure to UV, many people still do it in an attempt to achieve tan- Seeking to achieve a “tan-ideal” or even a smooth, darker pigmentation than what is natural.
I would measure their dissonance by checking at their frequency of usage of sunscreen creams. The number of sunscreen lubes used per student compared to the length of time spent in the sun would be suitable yardsticks to measure dissonance.
References
Brock, T. C. (2005). Persuasion: Psychological insights and perspectives. Thousand Oaks, Calif. [u.a.: Sage Publ.
Stone, J., & Fernandez, N. C. (2008). To practice what we preach: The use of hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance to motivate behavior change. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 1024-1051.
