According to cognitive dissonance theory research, after engaging in an unchangeable behavior (e.g. placing a bet at a racetrack or voting for a candidate in an election), people should engage in _________ rationalization of their decisions and, therefore, feel _________ confident in their behavioral choice (compared to how people feel prior to engaging in a behavior)

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Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that when people engage in an irrevocable or unchangeable behavior, they are motivated to reduce the psychological discomfort by rationalizing their choice. This process often involves enhancing the perceived reasons for having chosen the action and boosting justification after the fact.
Option 1: "More; more". The idea here is that after the act, individuals will engage in greater rationalization to make the choice seem reasonable, which in turn increases their post-behavior confidence relative to before the action. This aligns with dissonance reduction: expanding justification strengthens commitment and perceived correctness of the decision.
Option 2: "More; less". If people were to rationalize more but feel less confident, that would imply that the added justification fails to restore or elevate confidence, which contradicts the classic dissonance mechanism where justification typically restores confidence to some degree after a dissonant act.
Option 3: "Less; more". Reducing rationalization while increasing confidence does not fit the pattern of dissonance reduction after a chosen behavior; lowering justification would normally maintain or exacerbate dissonance, not improve confidence.
Option 4: "Less; less". Minimizing both rationalization and confidence would imply no dissonance reduction at all, which is inconsistent with the prediction that people actively pursue post-behavior justification to feel more assured about their decision.
Overall, the logic centers on a follow-up rationalization that strengthens justification and elevates confidence after an irrevocable choice, making the pair in Option 1 the most coherent with cognitive dissonance dynamics.

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