The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group.
Abstract
IT is a frequent observation that persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with a minimum of effort. For example, one would expect persons who travel a great distance to see a motion picture to be more impressed with it than those who see the same picture at a neighborhood theater. By the same token, individuals who go through a severe initiation to gain admission to a club or organization should tend to think more highly of that organization than those who do not go through the severe initiation to gain admission. Two questions are relevant here: 1. Is this "common observation " valid, that is, does it hold true when tested under cotrolled conditions? 2. If the observation is valid, how can it be accounted for? The relationship might be simply a result of differences in initial motivation. To take the case of initiations, persons who initially have a strong desire to join a particular club should be more willing to undergo unpleasantness to gain admission to it than persons who are low in initial interest. Therefore, a club that requires a severe initiation for admission should be joined only by those people with a strong desire to become members. On the other hand, a club that does not require a severe initiation should be joined by some individuals who like it very much, and by others who are relatively uninterested. Because of this self-selection, one would expect persons who are members of clubs with severe initiations to think more highly of their club, on the average, than members of clubs without severe initiations. But is there something in the initiation itself
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In initiation experiments, the more painful the shocks subjects endured to join a group, the more strongly they felt towards the group.
“The more painful these shocks were, the more strongly the subjects felt towards the group (Gerard & Mathewson, 1966, see also Aronson & Mills, 1959, Ma, Meng, Wang, & Shen, 2014).”
From Conative Dissonance (2026) · cites this paper as Aronson & Mills, 1959
The military ritual culture is portrayed in rigid drills that involve synchronous marching, chanting, and other regimented behaviors that ensure order and high levels of motivation.
“Here, the ritual culture is portrayed in rigid drills that involve synchronous marching, chanting, and other regimented behaviors that ensure order and high levels of motivation (e.g., Aronson & Mills, 1959;King, 2013;McNeill, 1995;Mills & Mintz, 1972).”
From The Psychology of Rituals: An Integrative Review and Process-Based Framework (2018) · cites this paper as Aronson & Mills, 1959
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BackgroundThe Martyrdom Effect: When Pain and Effort Increase Prosocial Contributions
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“Similarly, the more severe the process of initiation into a group, the more the group is subsequently liked (Aronson & Mills, 1959).”
BackgroundDissonance-based interventions for health behaviour change: a systematic review.
Freijy, T., & Kothe, E. (2013) · British Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjhp.12035 · Cited by 188 · see citing works
The Origins of Cognitive Dissonance
Egan, L., Santos, L., & Bloom, P. (2007) · Psychology Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.02012.x · Cited by 188 · see citing works
“In line with this suggestion, work on cognitive dissonance in nonhuman animals has exclusivelyemployedvariantsoftheeffort-justificationparadigm(see Aronson & Mills, 1959, for a version of this paradigm with human subjects).”
BackgroundMethodHoly cow!Wait ’til next year! A closer look at the brand loyalty of Chicago Cubs baseball fans
Bristow, D. N., & Sebastian, R. J. (2001) · Journal of Consumer Marketing · doi:10.1108/07363760110392976 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
“Such a prediction is consistent with severity of initiation effects (i.e. Aronson and Mills, 1959; Gerard and Mathewson, 1966), which suggests that the more a person voluntarily suffers to join a group (or achieve some end), the more positively the individual will evaluate the group or end.”
ResultChanges in interpersonal perception as a means of reducing cognitive dissonance.
Davis, K., & Jones, E. E. (1960) · Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0044214 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
The Drivers of Loyalty Program Success
McCall, M., & Voorhees, C. M. (2010) · Cornell Hospitality Quarterly · doi:10.1177/1938965509355395 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
“A stream of psychology research demonstrates how increased effort (fees, in this case) should lead to more positive associations with the choices made (Aronson and Mills 1959).”
BackgroundInterest and Interests: The Psychology of Constructive Capriciousness
Silvia, P. (2001) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.5.3.270 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
“Conflict is the mechanism that magnifies emotional interest into a long-term project involving increasingly articulated knowledge and expertise.”
BackgroundMethod
- Authors
- Aronson, E., & Mills, J.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
- Published
- 1959-09
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 177-181
- ISSN
- 0096-851X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2037252822
- Cited by
- 1,297
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 72 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 49 · 2020: 117 · 2019: 56 · 2018: 58 · 2017: 62 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 51 · 2013: 51 · 2012: 35
- FWCI
- 39.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Power and Status Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Psychology of Social Influence
- Keywords
- initiation, group preferences, self-selection, initial motivation, group membership
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