Downloaded By: [National Institute of Education] At: 06:48 19 February 2008 JOURNAL OF APPLIED SPORT PSYCHOLOGY, 20: 97–115, 2008 Copyright C  Association for Applied Sport Psychology ISSN: 1041-3200 print / 1533-1571 online DOI: 10.1080/10413200701601482 An Experimental Test of Cognitive Dissonance Theory in the Domain of Physical Exercise NIKOS L. D. CHATZISARANTIS University of Plymouth, School of Psychology, UK MARTIN S. HAGGER University of Nottingham, School of Psychology, UK JOHN C. K. WANG National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore The present study examined cognitive dissonance-related attitude change in the domain of exercise. Experimental participants made a decision to perform a boring exercise task (stepping on a bench/chair) under three different conditions: a free-choice condition (n = 33, Male = 17 female = 16, Age = 14.57), under a no-choice/control condition (n = 28, Male = 15, Female = 13, Age = 14.50), and under a condition that compelled participants to practice bench/chair stepping (forced-choice condition) (n = 31, Male = 15, Female = 16, Age = 14.61). Results showed that participants in the free-choice condition reported more positive attitudes than participants in the control condition and participants in the forced-choice condition. Ancillary analysis indicated that cognitive dissonance is experienced as an aversive state, and that the amount of frustration that participants experienced immediately after the free-choice paradigm predicted attitudes. While young people generally know that physical exercise is beneficial to health, few actually participate in regular physical exercise (Pate, Pratt, Blair, & Haskell et al., 1995; WHO, 1998). In this case, physically inactive individuals would be expected to experience some sort of mismatch between their beliefs and their behavior. According to Festinger and Carlsmith (1959), if an individual freely chooses to perform a behavior, which is discrepant from his/her attitude, the person tends later to realign his/her attitudes toward her/his choice. Over 50 years of research in social psychology has tested and confirmed this now classic attitude change effect that can be readily explained by Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory. In the domain of exercise, cognitive dissonance theory has not been tested experimentally, and for this reason the purpose of the present study was to examine dissonance-related attitude change in the domain of leisure time exercise. In the present study, we use the term physical activity as an umbrella term that includes any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles Received 8 February 2005; accepted 19 July 2006. Address correspondence to Dr. Nikos Chatzisarantis, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, University of Exeter, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, UK E-mail: n.chatzisarantis@exeter.ac.uk 97