Effort Justification

Most of us have spent immeasurable time, money, or effort on something, even when it might not have been worth it. When this happens, cognitive dissonance is naturally aroused due to the inconsistency between effort and outcome (Aronson & Mills, 1959). Festinger (1957) defined cognitive dissonance as a theory that when our attitudes do not match our behavior, physiological tension arises and people are motivated to reduce that tension by changing their attitude. This theory applies to effort justification because when we expend much effort on something that wasn’t worthwhile, we change our attitudes to justify our suffering (Aronson & Mills, 1959). Aronson and Mills (1959) proposed that the more you suffer, the more you must justify your behavior.

A great example of effort justification in my own life is volleyball. I have been playing volleyball pretty much year round since 6^th grade. That’s 11 years… over half my life! Countless hours were spent in the gym at practice and tournaments. Tons of money spent on club volleyball and traveling to tournaments. Once I got to Southwestern, the time and effort required multiplied. Every year before season starts, we have 8 days of two-a-day practices. That means 6 am practice for two hours in the morning, small break for lunch, and another 3 hour practice in the afternoon. Repeat for 8 days. During season, we have practice for 3 hours every day and are gone every weekend for games. My life completely revolves around volleyball. In the spring, we have a slight break. Instead of the entire semester, the off season is only one month (not including the regular workouts required every week of the semester we do on our own). The point is, I put in A LOT of time and effort. Regardless of whether I enjoy the sport (which I really do!! But maybe that’s the effort justification talking…), volleyball is a big sacrifice and I need some way to justify my behavior. I am extremely passionate about the sport and I love playing. My team is my family and we are very tight knit. I have thoroughly convinced myself that my effort was worth it, even if during the fitness test during two-a-days I was about to quit and storm out the door. The more effort I put in, the more passionate I become with volleyball and the more committed I am. I have changed and reinforced my attitude in order to justify the effort I’ve put in. And thank goodness for that! J

References:

Aronson, E., & Mills, J. (1959). The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59, 177-181.

Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

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