Compare methods

	Free-Choice Dissonance Paradigm	Bogus Pipeline
Field	Social Psychology	Social Psychology
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1956	1971
Originator	Jack Brehm	Edward Jones & Harold Sigall
Type	Experimental paradigm for post-decisional dissonance	Methodological technique to reduce social-desirability bias
Seminal source	Brehm, J. W. (1956). Postdecision changes in the desirability of alternatives. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 52(3), 384-389.	Jones, E. E., & Sigall, H. (1971). The bogus pipeline: A new paradigm for measuring affect and attitude. Psychological Bulletin, 76(5), 349-364.
Aliases	Free-Choice Paradigm, Post-Decisional Dissonance Paradigm, Spreading of Alternatives Paradigm	Bogus Pipeline Procedure, Fake Lie Detector Method, Pipeline-to-the-Truth Technique
Related	3	3
Summary	The free-choice paradigm, introduced by Jack Brehm in 1956, measures post-decisional dissonance through the phenomenon of spreading of alternatives. Participants first rate the desirability of a set of items, then choose between two options that they had rated as roughly equally attractive, and finally re-rate all the items. Because the chosen option has some unattractive features and the rejected option has some attractive ones, a difficult choice between similar alternatives creates dissonance; participants reduce it by enhancing their evaluation of the chosen option and devaluing the rejected one. This 'spreading' of the two alternatives' desirability after the decision is the paradigm's signature measure and a key demonstration that choices not only reflect preferences but also shape them. The paradigm became a standard tool for studying decision-induced attitude change, alongside the induced compliance procedure.	The bogus pipeline, devised by Jones and Sigall in 1971, is a methodological technique for reducing social-desirability bias in the measurement of attitudes, especially sensitive ones such as prejudice. Participants are connected to an impressive-looking apparatus and convinced that it functions as an accurate lie detector capable of revealing their true feelings. Believing that dishonesty will be exposed, participants are motivated to report their attitudes truthfully rather than giving socially acceptable answers. In the classic procedure participants are asked to predict what the machine will say about them, which encourages them to consult and disclose their genuine attitudes. By comparing reports given under the bogus pipeline with ordinary self-reports, researchers can estimate the extent of social-desirability distortion and obtain more candid measures of socially sensitive attitudes. The technique was an early and influential solution to a fundamental problem in attitude measurement.