Which statement best captures the main idea?

The mind resolves conflict between action and belief by changing the belief, so beliefs often follow behavior. (The cost argument, the experiment, and the closing implication all point to belief bending to fit past action.)

Which volunteers later rated the dull task as more enjoyable?

Those paid a trivial sum. (The passage says the trivial payment group rated the task as more enjoyable, while the large payment group called it boring.)

Why does a large payment leave the original belief unchanged?

Because the money already explains the behavior, so there is no discomfort left to solve. (The passage states that the large payment supplies a reason for the lie, so no discomfort arises and nothing needs repairing.)

In this passage, trivial means:

very small and hardly worth anything (Trivial stands against large sum, so it describes an amount too small to justify the behavior.)

The Cheapest Repair: Level 4 Reading Comprehension Questions

Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort a person feels when their actions and their beliefs point in different directions. The mind treats this mismatch as a problem to be solved, and it usually solves it in the cheapest available way. Changing a belief costs almost nothing. Undoing an action, which has already happened, costs everything.

A well-known experiment shows the pattern. Volunteers spend an hour on a dull task, then are paid to tell the next participant that the task was enjoyable. Those paid a large sum later rate the task as boring, exactly as it was. Those paid a trivial sum rate it as more enjoyable. The large payment supplies a reason for the lie, so no discomfort arises. The small payment supplies none, and the only remaining way to explain your own words is to decide that you half meant them.

The uncomfortable implication is that beliefs often follow behavior rather than lead it. We assume that we act because of what we think. Much of the time, we think what we must in order to live with what we have already done.

Comprehension questions