Abstract
Wicklund, Cooper, and Linder (1967) presented evidence that anticipated effort prior to exposure to a counterattitudinal communication enhanced attitude change. Their results supported the dissonance prediction of a direct relation between perceived effort expenditure and task enhancement. However, their results are open to an alternative self-esteem interpretation, as are most experiments using attitude communications. In order to overcome this difficulty two experiments were conducted using a nonpersuasive task situation. In Experiment I Ss circled numbers according to high effort rules or low effort rules. Results showed greater task enhancement under high effort. Experiment II was conducted to rule out any alternatives associated with actual effort. Ss thought they would circle numbers or actually did circle numbers under either high or low effort. Results showed greater task enhancement in high effort conditions for both actual effort and anticipated effort. The results of the two experiments provided strong support for the effort justification hypothesis.
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