Cognitive dissonance: the relationship between perceived choice of subjects and academic achievement among learners in the selected schools of Lusaka district, Zambia.
Date
2025
Authors
Nakamba, Ruth
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
There is a dearth of studies on the relationship between cognitive dissonance and academic achievement in Africa and worldwide. According to Festinger, the proponent of cognitive dissonance theory, Cognitive dissonance occurs as a result of cognitive inconsistency between attitudes, beliefs and behaviour. Cognitive dissonance creates psychological discomfort which people attempt to eliminate in a number of ways. According to the free choice paradigm of cognitive dissonance theory, perceived choice leads to reduction of cognitive dissonance and results in the development of positive attitude. At senior secondary school level in Zambia, pupils are allocated subjects according to the marks they have scored. Therefore, learners are obliged to take subjects even if they dislike them. This conflict often creates cognitive dissonance for learners because they may have opposing beliefs and attitudes towards the subjects they are given. Limited research exists in Zambia on cognitive dissonance, subject choice and their relationships with academic performance, highlighting the need for further study. This study sought to determine the level of cognitive dissonance among learners and the academic performance of learners with high and low cognitive dissonance in the selected schools of Lusaka District, and to assess the relationship between academic performance and perceived choice of subjects, as well as the association between cognitive dissonance and academic achievement. This study was guided by positivistic worldview. The positivistic epistemology is that of objectivism. Therefore, this study employed a cross-sectional survey design. Data collection instruments included, Cognitive dissonance scale, perceived choice scale and common examination. The
sample comprised 200 randomly selected pupils from two secondary schools of Lusaka District. The percentage of girls was 36.5% girls and that of boys was 63.5%. The age of the learners ranged from 13 to 21 years, with a mean age of 16.03 (SD = 1.14). Data was analysed using the statistical
tests which included: Multivariate Analysis of variance, bivariate correlation and descriptive statistics. The statistical package for Social Science (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. Overall cognitive dissonance results revealed that 50% of learners experienced high cognitive dissonance. The cognitive dissonance sub scales represented personal domain and external domain. Among the sub scales representing personal domain, family dissonance had the lowest mean score while the subscale with the highest mean was personal adjustment. For the impersonal domain, dissonance based on school and learning had the lowest mean score while dissonance based on perpetuance had the highest mean score. There was a significant difference in the level of cognitive dissonance among learners with regard to school and gender. Additionally, findings indicated that there was a significant difference in academic performance among learners with regard to the level of dissonance. Five out of eight sub scales of cognitive dissonance correlated
negatively with academic performance unlike three which were not statistically significant. These included cognitive dissonance based on the family, dissonance connected to socialization and dissonance based on personal adjustment. There was no significant relationship between perceived choice of subjects and academic performance. In conclusion, high level of cognitive dissonance leads to low academic achievement.
Keywords: cognitive dissonance, perceived choice, academic performance
Description
Thesis of Doctor of Philosophy of Education in Educational Psychology.