Adaptive Strategies to Reduce Cognitive Dissonance

Researchers found that people's ratings were actually changed by choices they made, and not just by feelings associated with ownership or feelings from what you're taking home. It wasn't the fact that you have the coffee maker that makes it seem better; it was the fact thatyou chose it. The study also looked at a control condition where subjects did not get to choose which item they would receive but instead received one picked for them as a gift.