---
title: "Spreading of Alternatives | Social Psychology"
description: "Spreading of Alternatives is the post-choice shift that makes your chosen option seem better and rejected options seem worse in Social Psychology."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/social-psychology/key-terms/spreading-of-alternatives"
type: "key-term"
subject: "Social Psychology"
unit: "Unit 6"
---

# Spreading of Alternatives | Social Psychology

## Definition

Spreading of alternatives is the tendency to rate a chosen option more favorably and a rejected option less favorably after making a decision. In Social Psychology, it is tied to cognitive dissonance and post-decision attitude change.

## What It Is

Spreading of alternatives is the pattern where, after you choose between two similar options, the option you picked starts to look better and the one you passed over starts to look worse. In Social Psychology, this is not treated as a random mood shift. It is a post-decision change in attitude that shows up after choice, especially when the options were pretty close at the start.

The basic idea is simple: once you commit, your mind does some cleanup work. If both choices had strengths, that can leave you with a little tension, because the rejected option still had something going for it. To reduce that discomfort, people often boost the value of the chosen alternative and downplay the appeal of the rejected one. That is the “spreading” part, the gap between the two evaluations grows wider after the decision.

This concept is closely connected to cognitive dissonance. If you chose option A, but option B also seemed pretty good, you may feel uneasy about the possibility that you made the wrong call. One way to reduce that unease is to convince yourself that option A was actually a much better pick all along. Another way is to convince yourself that option B had hidden problems. Either way, your post-choice attitude becomes more supportive of the choice you already made.

A classic way this shows up in class is the free choice paradigm. People rate a set of options, make a choice, and then rate the options again. After choosing, they often increase their rating of the selected item and decrease their rating of the rejected one. That shift is stronger when the decision matters more or when the options were hard to distinguish at first.

You can think of it as the brain protecting the decision. Once you buy a laptop, pick a college, or choose a side in a debate, you do not just sit with the raw facts. You often reinterpret those facts so the choice feels consistent with your self-image as a sensible person. That is why spreading of alternatives is a useful clue that attitudes are not always fixed. Sometimes they move after the decision itself.

## Why It Matters

Spreading of alternatives matters because it shows that attitudes are not only shaped before decisions, they also change after decisions. In Social Psychology, that means your preferences are not just a stable list sitting in your head. They can be rebuilt to match what you already did.

This concept gives you a clear way to explain why people defend choices that looked uncertain at first. If someone chooses one major, one candidate, or one brand, they may later talk themselves into seeing the choice as the obvious one. That matters for understanding everyday behavior, but it also matters for interpreting research on attitude change and rationalization.

It also helps separate two different things that can look similar. A person might genuinely like their chosen option more after the fact, or they might be reducing discomfort from the possibility of a bad decision. Spreading of alternatives points to the second process, which is why it sits next to cognitive dissonance in the unit on attitudes. If you are analyzing a scenario, this term gives you a reason why someone’s evaluation changed after commitment rather than before it.

In marketing, the idea shows why buyers often praise the product they picked and criticize the alternatives they ignored. In a classroom discussion, it can explain why people become more loyal to a team, a class schedule, or a political stance after making a public choice. The concept is useful any time you need to show how commitment can reshape perception.

## Connections

### Cognitive Dissonance

Spreading of alternatives is one way people reduce cognitive dissonance after a choice. If your decision and your doubts do not match, you may change how you evaluate the options so the choice feels more consistent. This is the broader theory behind the discomfort, while spreading of alternatives is one common pattern that shows the discomfort being managed.

### Post-Decision Dissonance

Post-decision dissonance is the uneasy feeling that can happen right after choosing between close options. Spreading of alternatives is the attitude shift that often follows it. The dissonance is the tension, and the spreading effect is the way evaluations move to make that tension smaller.

### [Free Choice Paradigm](/social-psychology/key-terms/free-choice-paradigm)

The free choice paradigm is the research setup often used to measure spreading of alternatives. People rank items, choose one, and then rank them again. If the chosen item gets rated higher and the rejected one gets rated lower, that is evidence of the spreading effect.

### [Self-Perception Theory](/social-psychology/key-terms/self-perception-theory)

Self-perception theory gives a different explanation for attitude change, because it says people infer attitudes from their own behavior. That can overlap with spreading of alternatives, but the main difference is the source of the change. Dissonance theory focuses on discomfort and justification, while self-perception focuses on observing your own actions and concluding what you must prefer.

## On the AP Exam

A quiz question may give you a scenario where someone compares two apartments, picks one, and later says the chosen apartment has better light and the other one was too noisy after all. Your job is to identify that as spreading of alternatives, not just a random preference change. Look for the before-and-after shift: the chosen option becomes more attractive, and the rejected option becomes less attractive after the decision.

In short response or essay questions, connect the effect to cognitive dissonance. Explain that people reduce post-choice discomfort by justifying the option they already selected. If the prompt mentions a difficult decision, a close comparison, or a strong need to feel confident, that is a strong clue.

You may also see it in research-method questions. If a study asks participants to rate items before and after a choice, the key finding is the widening gap between ratings. That is the exact pattern you should label.

## Spreading of Alternatives vs Post-Decision Dissonance

These two are closely related, but they are not identical. Post-decision dissonance is the uneasy feeling after making a hard choice, while spreading of alternatives is the change in evaluations that often comes after that feeling. One is the discomfort, the other is the attitude shift you can measure.

## Key Takeaways

- Spreading of alternatives is the post-choice pattern where the option you selected seems better and the rejected option seems worse.
- In Social Psychology, it is usually explained as a response to cognitive dissonance after a difficult decision.
- The effect is strongest when the decision mattered a lot or the options were very close in value.
- Researchers often study it with the free choice paradigm, where ratings are compared before and after a choice.
- The concept shows how people protect their confidence by adjusting attitudes after they commit.

## FAQs

### What is spreading of alternatives in Social Psychology?

It is the tendency to rate a chosen option more positively and a rejected option less positively after making a choice. The effect shows up in attitude change after decisions, especially when the options were similar and the decision felt meaningful. It is often explained as a way to reduce cognitive dissonance.

### How is spreading of alternatives different from cognitive dissonance?

Cognitive dissonance is the uncomfortable tension from holding conflicting thoughts, beliefs, or actions. Spreading of alternatives is one way that tension can be reduced after a choice, because you reframe the options so the decision feels better. So dissonance is the feeling, and spreading of alternatives is a common result.

### Can you give an example of spreading of alternatives?

Say you are choosing between two internships and both seem appealing. After you accept one, you might start telling yourself the accepted internship has stronger mentorship and the other one had weak pay. That shift in judgment after the decision is spreading of alternatives.

### How do psychologists measure spreading of alternatives?

They often use a free choice setup. People rate a list of options, choose one, and then rate the same options again. If the chosen option gets a higher rating and the rejected option gets a lower rating, that is evidence of the effect.

## Related Study Guides

- [6.4 Cognitive Dissonance and Attitude Change](/social-psychology/unit-6/cognitive-dissonance-attitude-change/study-guide/EjnKmrALn1F422nV)

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