PSY205: Going Through Hell and high Water to Attain Something that Turns out to be boring, Vexatious, or a Waste of time Creates Dissonance: Social Psychology Assignment, SUSS, Singapore

Question
Going through hell and high water to attain something that turns out to be boring, vexatious, or a waste of time creates dissonance: I’m smart, so how did I end up in this stupid group? To reduce that dissonance, participants unconsciously focused on whatever might be good or interesting about the group and blinded themselves to its prominent negatives. The people who did not work hard to get into the group could more easily see the truth—how boring it was.

Develop a better understanding of yourself and your social behaviour as you apply cognitive dissonance to explain a personal experience or observation you had during Singapore’s fight against COVID-19 in 2020. Support your discussion with relevant empirical research. Additional notes/guidance/instructions:

• In order to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the relevant concepts/theories with respect to this question, you should first read the relevant sections in the textbook and course materials on this topic before you attempt your TMA. You will find the section in Chapter 4 “Behaviour and Attitudes” on cognitive dissonance useful as a starting point.
• The information in the textbook is limited and you will find it necessary to perform further literature research in order to add depth to your answers, especially since the question requires you to analyse a personal example.
• Apart from doing research to obtain theory and empirical findings to supplement your analysis of a personal example or observation, remember to use your own words in your essay to demonstrate an understanding of the subject matter and to avoid plagiarism.
• There must be citations of relevant theoretical and empirical evidence to support your arguments, with a minimum of 3 references listed accurately in APA format required for this paper. These references should be based on your additional research. That is, you shall cite at least THREE journal articles or published book chapters (excluding the textbook).
• Always cite credible sources of information. Blog entries, online student papers or theses, and websites like Wikipedia and Psych blog do not count.