The vicarious cognitive dissonance process predicts that observing an inconsistent act by a member of the ingroup causes uncomfortable arousal in the observer, inducing a motivation to reduce this discomfort. This meta-analysis examined the effect of vicarious cognitive dissonance based on 24 studies ( N = 16,769). Our results indicated a small effect for the vicarious cognitive dissonance ( g = 0.41 [0.27, 0.54], p <.001) with important variability between the outcomes. Our moderator analysis was limited by the low number of included studies. Publication bias analyses indicate a small true effect size (e.g., 3PSM: g = 0.22, p = .042), that was inflated by small sample sizes (R-index = 14.6%). We discussed theoretical issues concerning the psychological processes underlying vicarious cognitive dissonance, and methodological questions concerning operationalization. We proposed ways of improving the design and procedure to ensure that the effects found in the literature exist and are replicable.

中文翻译：

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替代性不和谐：预先注册的荟萃分析


替代认知失调过程预测，观察内群体成员不一致的行为会引起观察者的不舒服的兴奋，从而产生减少这种不适的动机。这项荟萃分析基于 24 项研究（N = 16,769）检验了替代性认知失调的影响。我们的结果表明，替代认知失调的影响较小（g = 0.41 [0.27, 0.54]，p <.001），但结果之间存在重要差异。我们的调节分析受到纳入研究数量较少的限制。发表偏倚分析表明真实效应量较小（例如，3PSM：g = 0.22，p = .042），该效应量因样本量较小（R 指数 = 14.6%）而被夸大。我们讨论了有关替代性认知失调背后的心理过程的理论问题，以及有关操作化的方法论问题。我们提出了改进设计和程序的方法，以确保文献中发现的效果存在并且可复制。