How does cognitive dissonance manifest in everyday situations. What strategies can individuals employ to effectively manage cognitive dissonance. Why is recognizing cognitive dissonance important for personal growth and self-awareness. How does cognitive dissonance theory explain human behavior and decision-making processes. What role does cognitive dissonance play in shaping attitudes and beliefs.

The Fundamentals of Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Cognitive dissonance, a psychological phenomenon first introduced by Leon Festinger in 1957, occurs when an individual experiences mental discomfort due to conflicting thoughts, beliefs, or behaviors. This theory has become one of the most influential in the field of psychology, shedding light on how humans strive for internal consistency.

At its core, cognitive dissonance theory posits that when people hold two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, they experience psychological stress. This discomfort motivates individuals to reduce the dissonance and achieve consistency in their cognitions.

Key Principles of Cognitive Dissonance

• Dissonance arises from psychological inconsistency
• The magnitude of dissonance depends on the importance of the cognitions
• Individuals are driven to reduce dissonance and achieve consonance
• The strength of the drive to reduce dissonance is proportional to its magnitude

How does cognitive dissonance manifest in real-life situations? Consider a scenario where a person who believes in environmental conservation regularly uses single-use plastics. This contradiction between their beliefs and actions creates discomfort, prompting them to either change their behavior or adjust their beliefs to reduce the dissonance.

Common Examples of Cognitive Dissonance in Everyday Life

Cognitive dissonance permeates our daily experiences, often in subtle ways that we may not immediately recognize. By examining these instances, we can gain a deeper understanding of how this psychological phenomenon influences our thoughts and actions.

Health and Lifestyle Choices

One of the most prevalent areas where cognitive dissonance occurs is in health-related decisions. For instance, a person might be aware of the health risks associated with smoking yet continue to smoke cigarettes. This creates a conflict between their knowledge of the harmful effects and their addictive behavior.

Similarly, individuals may experience dissonance when indulging in unhealthy foods while simultaneously holding the belief that maintaining a nutritious diet is important. This conflict often manifests in thoughts like, “I’ll start my diet tomorrow,” even as one continues to consume high-calorie treats.

Environmental Concerns

Many people express concern about climate change and environmental degradation but engage in activities that contribute to these issues. For example, an environmentally conscious individual might feel guilty about frequently using their car for short trips instead of walking or cycling.

How do people reconcile their environmental values with actions that seem to contradict them? Some may justify their behavior by focusing on other eco-friendly habits they maintain, while others might downplay the impact of their individual actions on the larger environmental crisis.

Financial Decision-Making

Cognitive dissonance often arises in financial matters. A person might believe in the importance of saving money for the future but regularly make impulsive purchases. This discrepancy between long-term financial goals and short-term spending habits can create significant psychological tension.

To resolve this dissonance, individuals might rationalize their spending by emphasizing the quality or necessity of their purchases, or they may promise themselves to be more frugal in the future.

The Psychological Mechanisms Behind Cognitive Dissonance

Understanding the psychological processes that underpin cognitive dissonance can provide valuable insights into human behavior and decision-making. These mechanisms explain why individuals experience discomfort when faced with inconsistencies and how they attempt to resolve this internal conflict.

Self-Concept and Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is closely tied to an individual’s self-concept—the collection of beliefs about oneself. When people act in ways that contradict their self-image, they experience dissonance. This discomfort arises because humans have a fundamental need for consistency and congruence in their thoughts and actions.

Why does cognitive dissonance affect self-esteem? When individuals behave in ways that align with their values and beliefs, they experience positive self-esteem. Conversely, actions that contradict one’s self-concept can lead to negative self-evaluation and the motivation to reduce this discrepancy.

The Role of Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias, the tendency to seek out information that supports existing beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence, plays a significant role in cognitive dissonance. This bias can lead individuals to selectively attend to information that reduces dissonance and reinforces their current beliefs or behaviors.

How does confirmation bias interact with cognitive dissonance? When faced with dissonance-inducing information, people may actively seek out evidence that supports their existing views or interprets ambiguous information in a way that aligns with their beliefs. This process helps to minimize the psychological discomfort associated with cognitive dissonance.

Strategies for Managing and Reducing Cognitive Dissonance

While cognitive dissonance can be uncomfortable, it also presents opportunities for personal growth and self-reflection. By understanding and effectively managing dissonance, individuals can make more informed decisions and align their actions with their values.

Changing Beliefs or Attitudes

One way to reduce cognitive dissonance is to modify existing beliefs or attitudes to align with conflicting behaviors or new information. This strategy requires openness to change and a willingness to critically examine one’s own beliefs.

For example, a person who values punctuality but consistently arrives late to appointments might reassess their belief about the importance of timeliness. They may decide that being slightly late is acceptable in certain situations, thus reducing the dissonance between their actions and beliefs.

Altering Behavior

Another approach to managing cognitive dissonance involves changing behavior to match existing beliefs or attitudes. This strategy often requires significant effort and commitment but can lead to meaningful personal growth.

Consider an individual who believes in the importance of physical fitness but leads a sedentary lifestyle. To reduce dissonance, they might gradually incorporate exercise into their daily routine, bringing their behavior in line with their values.

Adding New Information

Sometimes, individuals may seek out additional information or perspectives to justify their existing beliefs or behaviors. This strategy can help reduce dissonance by providing a more nuanced understanding of a situation.

For instance, a person who feels guilty about eating meat despite concerns about animal welfare might research ethical farming practices or explore plant-based alternatives. This new information can help them reconcile their dietary choices with their ethical concerns.

The Impact of Cognitive Dissonance on Decision-Making

Cognitive dissonance plays a crucial role in how individuals make decisions, often influencing choices in subtle yet significant ways. Understanding this impact can help people make more informed and conscious decisions.

Post-Decision Dissonance

After making a difficult decision, individuals often experience post-decision dissonance. This occurs when a person questions whether they made the right choice, especially when the alternatives were also attractive.

How does post-decision dissonance affect future choices? To reduce this discomfort, people may seek out information that supports their decision while downplaying or ignoring information about the alternatives. This process can reinforce the chosen option and influence future decision-making patterns.

The Role of Commitment

The degree of commitment to a decision or behavior can significantly impact the intensity of cognitive dissonance. When individuals invest time, effort, or resources into a particular course of action, they are more likely to experience strong dissonance if presented with information that contradicts their choice.

This phenomenon, known as the “sunk cost fallacy,” can lead people to persist with suboptimal decisions to avoid the discomfort of acknowledging a mistake. Recognizing this tendency can help individuals make more rational decisions based on current circumstances rather than past investments.

Cognitive Dissonance in Social and Cultural Contexts

Cognitive dissonance doesn’t occur in isolation; it is deeply influenced by social and cultural factors. Understanding how these external forces shape our experiences of dissonance can provide valuable insights into human behavior and social dynamics.

Cultural Values and Dissonance

Different cultures may prioritize certain values or beliefs, which can affect how individuals experience and resolve cognitive dissonance. For example, in cultures that highly value collectivism, people might experience greater dissonance when their individual desires conflict with group norms.

How do cultural differences impact the experience of cognitive dissonance? Research suggests that the strategies used to reduce dissonance may vary across cultures. While individuals in individualistic societies might be more likely to change their attitudes to align with their behaviors, those in collectivist cultures might prioritize changing their behaviors to match societal expectations.

Social Influence and Dissonance

Social interactions and group dynamics can both create and alleviate cognitive dissonance. When individuals hold beliefs that differ from those of their social group, they may experience dissonance and feel pressure to conform.

Conversely, social support can also help reduce dissonance. When people find others who share their beliefs or validate their choices, it can lessen the psychological discomfort associated with cognitive dissonance.

Harnessing Cognitive Dissonance for Personal Growth

While cognitive dissonance is often viewed as a source of discomfort, it can also be a powerful catalyst for personal growth and positive change. By embracing and learning from instances of dissonance, individuals can gain valuable insights into their beliefs, values, and behaviors.

Self-Reflection and Awareness

Cognitive dissonance provides opportunities for deep self-reflection. When individuals recognize the discomfort caused by conflicting thoughts or actions, they can use this awareness to examine their underlying beliefs and motivations.

How can self-reflection help in managing cognitive dissonance? By developing a practice of mindful self-observation, people can become more attuned to instances of dissonance in their lives. This awareness allows for more intentional decision-making and the opportunity to align actions with core values.

Embracing Change and Personal Development

Rather than viewing cognitive dissonance as a negative experience to be avoided, individuals can reframe it as an opportunity for growth. When dissonance arises, it often signals areas where personal development is possible.

For example, a person who experiences dissonance between their career aspirations and current job might use this discomfort as motivation to pursue additional education or explore new career paths. By embracing the challenges presented by cognitive dissonance, individuals can push themselves out of their comfort zones and achieve personal growth.

Cognitive dissonance, while often uncomfortable, serves as a valuable psychological mechanism that can lead to personal growth, improved decision-making, and a deeper understanding of oneself. By recognizing instances of dissonance in daily life and employing strategies to address them constructively, individuals can harness this phenomenon to align their actions more closely with their beliefs and values. As we continue to navigate complex social and cultural landscapes, understanding and effectively managing cognitive dissonance becomes increasingly important for personal development and maintaining psychological well-being.

An Example & 4 Ways To Address It

“Tomorrow I will start my diet,” I reflected, while munching a doughnut.

If this has ever happened to you, you have experienced first-hand what this article is about: what happens when we act in a way that does not align with who we believe we are.

That slight feeling of discomfort we perceive when noticing this mismatch is called cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance is powerful because we are highly driven to eliminate it. The way we do that can be transformative or destructive. Interestingly, we often do so without being aware of it.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive CBT Exercises for free. These science-based exercises will provide you with detailed insight into Positive CBT and give you the tools to apply it in your therapy or coaching.

Cognitive Dissonance: Festinger’s Theory

A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.

Leon Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

Over 60 years ago, Leon Festinger (1957) postulated one of the most well-known theories of psychology: cognitive dissonance theory.

The theory is based on the idea that two cognitions can be relevant or irrelevant to each other (Festinger, 1957). Such cognitions can be about behaviors, perceptions, attitudes, emotions, and beliefs. Often, one of the cognitions in question is about our behavior. If the cognitions are relevant, they can be in agreement (consistent) or disagreement (inconsistent) with one another (Festinger, 1957).

Discrepancy between an attitude and a behavior – eating a doughnut while thinking of reducing calorie intake – leads to psychological discomfort called cognitive dissonance (Harmon-Jones, 2019).

Cognitive dissonance leads to the motivation to reduce the dissonance (Festinger, 1957). The stronger the discrepancy between thoughts, the greater the motivation to reduce it (Festinger, 1957).

There are four strategies used to do reduce the discomfort of cognitive dissonance:

1. We change our behavior so that it is consistent with the other thought.
2. We change one of the dissonant thoughts in order to restore consistency.
3. We add other (consonant) thoughts that justify or reduce the importance of one thought and therefore diminish the inconsistency.
4. We trivialize the inconsistency altogether, making it less important and less relevant.

There are two other factors that influence the magnitude of cognitive dissonance: whether you had some choice over the inconsistency and whether you expect the inconsistency to have negative consequences in the future. The more choice you had over the inconsistency (Linder, Cooper, & Jones, 1967) and the worse the consequences (Cooper & Worchel, 1970), the stronger the dissonance will be.

Dissonance can also be experienced vicariously through people of a social group that we identify with. When they act inconsistently with their attitude, we feel the same discomfort as if we had acted inconsistently with our attitude ourselves (Cooper, 2016).

The concept of cognitive dissonance is nicely explained in this YouTube video by social psychologist Andy Luttrell.

A Real-Life Example

Cognitive dissonance occurs frequently and to all of us (Harmon-Jones, 2019).

Imagine confronting a sunbather with the information that excessive sun exposure is the leading cause of skin cancer. The two thoughts – ‘sunbathing can cause cancer’ and ‘I am sunbathing’ – will cause the discomfort of cognitive dissonance. Consequently, they will be motivated to reduce it.

They will do this in one of four ways:

1. They change their behavior. Upon acquiring the additional information, they might stop sunbathing.
2. They change one thought. They might decide to deny the evidence showing a link between sun exposure and skin cancer.
3. They add other (consonant) thoughts. They might think that sun exposure is necessary for the body to produce vitamin D, which is important for bone health, among other benefits. Therefore, they may decide that a little sunbathing is good for their health.
4. They trivialize the inconsistency. They might think that facts like that have been disproven plenty of times before and disregard the information altogether.

4 Ways to Address Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is not necessarily a bad thing.

In fact, it is a psychological mechanism that helps us perceive our world (and our place in it) consistently. It is a mechanism that alerts us when we are not acting in line with our beliefs, attitudes, or plans.

In that sense, the experience of cognitive dissonance is an opportunity to learn and grow, as long as we deal with it constructively and respond in a way that we choose and is beneficial.

1. Mindfulness

Often, we deal with cognitive inconsistencies without being aware of them. The first step is to notice inconsistencies between our thoughts. We can raise our awareness through mindfulness practice. This includes refraining from judgment and instead being accepting of our observations.

2. Challenge current beliefs

The next step is to identify the cause of inconsistencies in our thoughts. Understanding your beliefs and values behind the inconsistencies is an opportunity to develop deeper self-knowledge.

Sometimes, it’s helpful to challenge our current beliefs. This can be a difficult and uncomfortable process and involves getting additional information.

3. Consider the importance of dissonant thoughts

Sometimes the dissonant information appears to be important at first sight but can be diminished upon deeper reflection.

A good example is the prospect of embarrassing ourselves in front of others, such as by forgetting our words during a speech. However, after further thought, we may decide that it does not matter what others think of us and can thus reduce the dissonance.

4. Justifying behavior

We may perceive dissonance when we engage in a new behavior (e.g., when we decline an invitation to an event we usually attend in order to protect our leisure time). While this can feel uncomfortable at first, it’s helpful to reflect on the reasons behind our behavior.

A Look at Research Findings

Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) conducted one of the first studies examining cognitive dissonance.

In a three-group experimental design, they asked participants to complete a boring and monotonous task. Subsequently, intervention group participants were offered either $1 or $20 (under random selection) to engage in so-called counter-attitudinal behavior: telling the next participant that the task was enjoyable.

The researchers hypothesized that the intervention group participants would experience cognitive dissonance as a result of two conflicting thoughts: 1) the task is boring and 2) I am telling someone the task is fun.

They further presupposed that participants would be driven to reduce the dissonance by justifying their behavior. Since participants in the $20 condition had a more substantial justification (higher pay) already, they were further assumed to perceive less dissonance than those in the $1 condition.

Cognitive dissonance was measured indirectly by asking participants about changes in their opinion about how enjoyable the task was following the experiment.

As hypothesized, those in the $1 condition reported a significantly greater change of their opinion about the task than the other two groups. You can watch the following video clip about the study.

Assessing Cognitive Dissonance: 2 Questionnaires

One of the criticisms about cognitive dissonance is that we cannot measure it directly (Harmon-Jones, 2019). Thus far, research studies have typically assessed cognitive dissonance using various indirect measures including:

• Changes in attitude toward a specific, context-dependent topic, such as enjoyment of the mundane task in the experiment described above (Festinger & Carlsmith, 1959)
• Information seeking following a change in usual behavior (Engel, 1963)
• Differences in task performance as a result of the physical arousal associated with dissonance (Elliot & Devine, 1994)
• Galvanic skin responses (Elkin & Leippe, 1986)

More recently, psychometric measurement scales were developed. Since cognitive dissonance often naturally occurs after a decision such as a purchase, this is what questionnaires have focused on.

Sweeney, Hausknecht, and Soutar (2000) developed a 22-item scale measuring cognitive dissonance immediately following a purchase. It examines three dimensions of cognitive dissonance:

1. Emotional consequences of the purchase (‘After I bought this product, I felt annoyed’)
2. Judgment regarding the wisdom of the purchase (‘I wonder if I made the right choice’)
3. Concern over the deal (‘After I bought this product, I wondered if they had fooled me’)

The questionnaire can be downloaded free from ResearchGate.

Koller and Salzberger (2007) developed an eight-item consumer behavior scale. Their questionnaire includes items regarding the decision-making process before and after the purchase. The full text can be requested from the authors free of charge via the ResearchGate website.

Dealing With Dissonance in Therapy: 4 Tips

According to psychology professor Joel Cooper (2007), “Most therapies seek to change people’s maladaptive reactions to their social world to more adaptive responses. ”

Therapists aim to help their patients by understanding and changing their attitudes, emotions, or behaviors. Dissonance can be hard to address constructively. The following tips consider its use or presence in therapy.

1. Induce effort

Cognitive dissonance theory itself suggests that if patients are investing time, money, and emotional effort in the therapy, they will be likely to work hard to reach their therapeutic goals in order to justify their efforts.

2. Provide choice

If patients are provided with the opportunity to co-design aspects of their therapy, they may be more likely to act in line with their choices by reaching their therapeutic goals.

3. Provide a safe space and consider the use of relaxation techniques

Patients are likely to feel uncomfortable when dissonant thoughts are discussed, which can impede their ability to think constructively.

4. Discussing discrepant behavior

Therapy can help patients by reflecting on and taking control of their thoughts. Sometimes when patients engage in a new, more constructive behavior, they can perceive dissonance simply because it is contrary to the way they used to act. Providing the space and time to understand their new behavior and justifying it can help to reduce the dissonance.

A Note on Cognitive Dissonance in Relationships

Cognitive dissonance and the way we cope with it regularly affect our relationships, too, both positively and negatively.

Relationships are typically built on shared attitudes, beliefs, and values. When our friends or partners act contrary to our beliefs and values, we perceive dissonance.

Coping mechanisms can include justifying their behavior (and our relationship with them), trivializing their behavior or the importance of it, attempting to change their behavior, or changing our own behavior.

This offers opportunities to discuss the discrepancies, deepen the relationship, and re-align values. Conversely, we may justify or trivialize negative behavior or even end the relationship.

In romantic relationships, important values represent hotspots for cognitive dissonance and typically center on big decisions, such as the wish to have children, lifestyle choices (e.g., buying a house vs. traveling the world), and issues related to family and friends.

The expectation of shared beliefs, values, and attitudes from family members can additionally influence romantic relationships. If these don’t align, we might consider justifying our relationship or breaking up. An extreme example of the negative consequences of cognitive dissonance is when we justify our partner’s harmful behavior toward us and get stuck in a toxic relationship.

2 Books on the Topic

1.

A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance – Leon Festinger

The original book by Leon Festinger is a staple on every (social) psychologist’s bookshelf.

It provides an introduction to the theory and covers the topics of cognitive dissonance following decisions, the effects of forced compliance, the impacts of voluntary and involuntary exposure to information, and the role of social support.

Find the book on Amazon.

2.

Cognitive Dissonance: 50 Years of a Classic Theory – Joel Cooper

Psychologist Joel Cooper recently published a comprehensive update of cognitive dissonance theory after more than 50 years of research.

This book includes examples of cognitive dissonance in today’s world.

Find the book on Amazon.

4 Interesting Podcast Episodes on the Subject

The Psych Files is hosted by psychologist Dr. Michael A. Britt and has several episodes on cognitive dissonance:

• Episode 8: Cognitive Dissonance Theory: Why Contradictions Bother Us So Much
• Episode 10: Cognitive Dissonance Strikes Again! What Your Search on Amazon Says About You
• Episode 63: Cognitive Dissonance, the Monty Hall Problem and a Possible Resolution?

This episode of the podcast Behavioral Grooves features an interview with Dr. Kathleen Vohs on cognitive dissonance theory. Dr. Vohs discusses the topic as it relates to supporters of Former President Donald Trump justifying one of his controversial tweets in 2019.

PositivePsychology.com’s Relevant Resources

The following resources will make great supplemental support on the topic:

A Take-Home Message

Cognitive dissonance is a well-researched psychological phenomenon. It occurs in all of us frequently, not just when planning to diet and justifying a doughnut with a delayed diet start.

Negative consequences of cognitive dissonance reduction include procrastination or acting seemingly contrary to our values and beliefs. However, it can be beneficial to remind ourselves that it exists as a psychological safety mechanism to help us perceive the world consistently and to protect the perception we have about ourselves.

Understanding our mechanisms with which we reduce dissonance and recognizing when it occurs are key to making informed and constructive decisions. Self-awareness and mindfulness practice empower us to notice inconsistencies in our thinking and find the space between dissonance triggers and our reaction so we can choose a response we are truly happy with.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive CBT Exercises for free.

• Cooper, J. (2007). Cognitive dissonance: 50 Years of a classic theory. SAGE Publications.
• Cooper, J. (2016). Vicarious cognitive dissonance: Changing attitudes by experiencing another’s pain. In J. P. Forgas, J. Cooper, & W. D. Crano (Eds.), The psychology of attitudes and attitude change. Psychology Press.
• Cooper, J., & Worchel, S. (1970). Role of undesired consequences in arousing cognitive dissonance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16(2), 199–206.
• Elkin, R. A., & Leippe, M. R. (1986). Physiological arousal, dissonance, and attitude change: Evidence for a dissonance-arousal link and a “don’t remind me” effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(1), 55–65.
• Elliot, A. J., & Devine, P. G. (1994). On the motivational nature of cognitive dissonance: Dissonance as psychological discomfort. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(3), 382–394.
• Engel, J. F. (1963). Are automobile purchasers dissonant consumers? Journal of Marketing, 27(2), 55–58.
• Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.
• Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58(2), 203–210.
• Harmon-Jones, E. (Ed.) (2019). Cognitive dissonance: Reexamining a pivotal theory in psychology (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association.
• Koller, M., & Salzberger, T. (2007). Cognitive dissonance as a relevant construct throughout the decision-making and consumption process – An empirical investigation related to a package tour. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 6(3), 217–227.
• Linder, D. E., Cooper, J., & Jones, E. E. (1967). Decision freedom as a determinant of the role of incentive magnitude in attitude change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 6(3), 245–254.
• Sweeney, J. C., Hausknecht, D., & Soutar, G. N. (2000). Cognitive dissonance after purchase: A multidimensional scale. Psychology & Marketing, 17(5), 369–385.

10 Cognitive Dissonance Examples In Everyday Life

Cognitive dissonance is a psychology term you’ve almost certainly heard before, but it’s not new. In fact, it’s been around since the 1950s, when a man named Leon Festinger theorized that people try to achieve a sort of internal consistency.

Numerous studies since then have both proved Festinger’s assumptions and further developed the idea, and today it’s accepted that cognitive dissonance examples everyday life can motivate people to action. What kind of action? Well, that depends.

Motivated to Change

Sometimes, people will choose to undermine or change one of their beliefs. Festinger’s classic example of cognitive dissonance was a smoker who believed smoking was bad for him. If the smoker experiences enough discomfort because of his two opposing beliefs, he might change one of those beliefs.

For example, he might begin to think, “smoking doesn’t do much harm.” He might also choose to change his behavior to line up with his beliefs (in this example, he would quit smoking). Another option would be to add thoughts to act as a bridge. “Smoking isn’t that bad,” for example.

Finally, a smoker experiencing cognitive dissonance might simply choose to ignore the discomfort. “This feels great, and I don’t care if it’s bad.”

Real Life Examples

Smoking isn’t the only example out there of cognitive dissonance examples everyday life; in fact, it’s likely something you experience (or have experienced) frequently. Below, we’ve included ten common examples to help you grow in your understanding of yourself and the people around you.

1. Being Nice  

Being “nice” (especially for women) is considered an important value. Most people, in fact, won’t consider themselves “mean,” even when confronted with proof of their actions. Here’s how this might play out, for example, in the office:

Sheila has been with her company for five years. She has performed her work satisfactorily and wants to ask for a raise. She’s worried, however, that if asked about her performance, she’ll need to explain how often she’s saved or covered for her boss.

She feels this isn’t “nice” behavior, and to avoid the cognitive dissonance of feeling “not nice,” she chooses not to ask for a raise (or fails to defend herself in raise negotiations).

2. Being Honest 

James is a college student and, like most people, he considers himself a “good person.” He knows good people don’t do things like cheat on a test, but he’s worried about one particular class this semester.

James has to make a decision: either study harder, get tutoring, miss out on social engagements, and still take a chance on failing the class, or cheating. If he cheats, here are some of the things he’ll have to tell himself to appease the uncomfortable cognitive dissonance he’s experience:

• This professor’s tests are too difficult; everybody has to cheat.
• Everybody is cheating, and I’ll be the weird one if I don’t.
• It’s not that big a deal.
• I’m just a cheater.

3. Bad Restaurant 

Your friend has great taste in restaurants, so when she recommends a new place downtown, you don’t waste much time trying it out. Unfortunately, it’s awful. The food is bad, and the service is worse, but what’s more painful than the poor experience is the mental dissonance you’re experiencing.

Does this mean you were wrong, and your friend has bad taste? Does this mean your friend has great taste and you’re the one with the bad taste? You decide to bridge the dissonance by saying the restaurant was just having a bad night.

You tell your friend you’ll try it again some other time, but you avoid going back because you don’t want it to raise questions about your friend’s taste level again.

4. I’ll Skip Lunch 

Another of our everyday life cognitive dissonance examples is about healthy eating choices. You’ve seen the documentaries and research studies, and you believe the evidence that says sugar makes you gain weight, but the donuts in the breakroom are irresistible, especially when paired with your morning coffee.

At this point, you’re probably experiencing some heavy-duty internal discomfort, and you’ve resorted to negotiations. For example, you might choose to:

• Stick to your guns and forgo the donut.
• Promise yourself you’ll have a salad for lunch or run an extra mile at the gym tonight to cancel out the harm.
• Resort to feelings of shame or guilt (“I don’t deserve to be healthy”).

5. Good Deeds 

One of the ways non-profits raise funds is by appealing to your sense of being a good person. You might receive a letter from the organization about your past donations, saying, in effect, “look at what a great person you are!”

Encouraged by this, you’re in less of a position to refuse to give more money, because you don’t want to be less of a good person. Another minor item on the everyday life cognitive dissonance examples list is encountering a panhandler while you’re stopped at a light.

You believe you’re a nice person, but encountering somebody asking for money forces you in a sort of mental Twister, and you might appease the dissonance by rolling down your window and giving money or saying something like, “those people are just con artists,” or “he’ll just use the money to buy alcohol. ”

Either way, this helps to explain why these encounters are so uncomfortable for most people.

6. Politicians 

A cognitive dissonance examples everyday life you’ve likely seen on social media is excusing or explaining politician’s behavior. This can look like one of the following:

• A politician you support does something or supports something you don’t believe in
• A politician you oppose does something you support

These kinds of situations put us in a state of cognitive dissonance, which we then seem to quiet. Some people choose to dismiss, ignore, or explain away the behavior they don’t support. “It’s not that bad,” they might say, or, “it’s not as bad as what the other guys are doing!”

Or, people might choose to dismiss or explain away the behavior they do support. “He did one thing right, but look at all the bad things he’s done!”

7. Change of Faith 

This sort of example happens every day on college campuses. Bright students enter the big world of a college campus, only to encounter different ways of living and believing. These forced encounters cause enough dissonance to set some people on a path of searching that lasts years.

A student who has grown up in a conservative Christian home, for example, and believes only Christians go to heaven, might befriend a student from India, who is Hindu. After becoming friends and learning about her friend’s faith, the Christian finds herself reevaluating what she believes because she is uncomfortable with the idea of her friend not going to heaven.

8. Authority 

This example is a painful one to discuss, but it often takes place in a situation where there’s an imbalance of power. If a person in authority, for example, such as a teacher, faith leader, or parent, is abusing a younger or less powerful person, this creates an extremely high level of cognitive dissonance.

The person being abused has to either choose to change his beliefs about authority (all authority figures are bad), rationalize or ignore the abuse, or change his beliefs about himself (I am bad and worthy of being abused).

9. Sour Grapes 

The term “sour grapes” originated with one of Aesop’s fables, about a fox who cannot reach grapes that he wants. He experiences cognitive dissonance and to ease his frustration; he decides the grapes must be sour and therefore undesirable.

This justification for the action he can’t take is a great example of how we change our thoughts to reconcile with the world around us!

10. The Environment

Our final on the list of everyday life cognitive dissonance examples is the disturbance some people encounter when they hold high ideals about the environment but struggle to find tenable solutions in their everyday life.

Here are three common predicaments:

• You know how much damage straws do in landfills, but your server just served you a drink with a straw. Now, you feel uncomfortable using the straw, even though the damage has already been done.
• You know how much damage vehicle emissions do to the environment, but the only job you can find will require a forty-minute commute.
• You believe in fresh, local food, but you’re starving, but the only food options available are highly processed and highly packaged.

Better Understanding

As we’re sure you’ve noticed by now, cognitive dissonance isn’t just a term for psychologists; it’s a phenomenon we encounter constantly. Understanding it can help us recognize it at work in our own lives, helping us grow into better, wiser people. Good luck!

Examples and Practical Applications of Cognitive Dissonance

Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance holds quite a lot of significance in our daily lives. Read on for some examples and practical applications of cognitive dissonance in this PsycholoGenie article.

Did You Know?
One of the most popular examples of the cognitive dissonance theory in action is when a cult believed a UFO would land on earth, and destroy everyone except them. When nothing of the sort happened, the cult justified it by saying that the aliens had given the earth ‘another chance’.

Cognitive dissonance is a very common phenomenon that we all experience in our lives from time to time. Our beliefs and our actions may not always be aligned with each other, causing us to feel strange, restless, nervous, or disappointed. Cognitive dissonance is explained as the mental stress or discomfort that one feels when having to act in a way that is contradictory to the individual belief system, or having to harbor two contradicting thoughts, or being introduced to new information that is thoroughly the opposite of what one has been believing so far. Cognitive dissonance brings about a need to justify actions that are contradictory to our belief system.

Introduced by Leon Festinger in 1957 in his book, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, the Cognitive Dissonance theory focuses on how we as human beings always strive hard to make sure that our beliefs and actions are aligned with each other. In case they don’t, it makes us uncomfortable and we try to find reasons that will explain the conflict between the two. According to Festinger, “Cognitive dissonance can be seen as an antecedent condition which leads to activity oriented toward dissonance reduction just as hunger leads toward activity oriented toward hunger reduction. It is a very different motivation from what psychologists are used to dealing with but, as we shall see, nonetheless powerful”. This means that human beings try their best to keep cognitive dissonance at the minimum, and go to great lengths to avoid situations that might cause them to experience cognitive dissonance. To deal with cognitive dissonance, human beings either change their beliefs to match their actions, or change their actions to match their beliefs.

Examples

Example 1― Defending Bad Habits

Let us assume that a person is addicted to smoking, despite knowing how bad it is for his health. He is well aware that smoking is decreasing his life span day by day, and yet, he cannot stop himself from smoking about two packs daily. His action of smoking contradicts his thoughts of knowing that it is thoroughly injurious to health, and he experiences cognitive dissonance or psychological discomfort due to the conflict between his thoughts and actions. To feel better, he tells himself and others that he is not ‘addicted’ to smoking, but does it only because he enjoys it. Or, he may claim that it is a stress-buster for his high-profile job that mentally exhausts him. In either case, his excuse for smoking is a method for reducing the dissonance that he is feeling.

Example 2― Cheating

A student about to attempt an important examination is not as prepared as she should be in order to pass. She knows that cheating and using unfair means in an examination is not correct, and that she should just try her best, instead of achieving results the unethical way. Yet, she hides chits of paper in her pockets that contain some answers in them, and uses them to pass the exam. The student’s belief that cheating is wrong is thoroughly contradicted when she passes the exam by cheating, and she experiences cognitive dissonance. To reduce the mental conflict, she tells herself that she ‘had’ to cheat because her professor had deliberately set it in the most difficult way possible. She may also tell herself that since this was the first time she cheated, it was okay as she never had done it before. She may also feel, “Others cheat all the time, what is the big deal if I did it once?“

Example 3― Lying

A man who is having an affair lies to his wife about having a late meeting. He knows he is lying to her, and that what he is doing is wrong. Despite knowing this, he still goes ahead with his action of lying to his wife. To reduce the dissonance in his mind, he tells himself that “what she won’t know won’t hurt her“. Aside from this example, lying in almost every situation invites cognitive dissonance as most of us have been brought up with the belief that lying is wrong, and unethical. Hence, when it is time for us to actually lie, we experience dissonance and restlessness, and it can also lead to a guilty conscience.

Example 4― Miscarriage of Criminal Justice

Miscarriage of justice is an unfortunate example of cognitive dissonance. For instance, if a man is put into prison for a crime he is suspected of committing, the authorities congratulate themselves on having put a dangerous man away. However, if evidence later proves that the man punished is in fact, innocent, the authorities will still claim that they’ve arrested and tried the right man. The evidence may be incorrect, but they are not. The authorities believe they are the saviors of society, what they do is always for the good. Hence, even if evidence proves otherwise, they will find claims that support their action of putting the man into prison― if he isn’t guilty of this crime, he definitely must be guilty of another.

Example 5― In Education

As cognitive dissonance is also experienced when one comes face to face with new information or facts that contradict what he already knows, it is often felt in the field of education too. For instance, if a student has a firm belief and opinion about a theory, and his teacher presents it in a completely new light, in a way that contradicts his thoughts about that theory, the student is more likely to feel psychological discomfort and either tell himself that his teacher is wrong and he is right, or change his beliefs altogether. Similarly, this can happen with a teacher, too. If a teacher is explaining her analysis of a poem to her class, and a student contradicts her analysis by coming up with a newer and different explanation, she may not readily accept his version. She may tell him that he is wrong, or she may accept it as a possibility, and move on.

Example 6― At Work

Cognitive dissonance is experienced on a large scale in a work environment. One example would be when a superior tells his junior that he needs to get a practically impossible task done pronto, or he’ll simply be replaced by some other subordinate. The worker now is caught between two thoughts― he has an impossible task to finish immediately, which he knows he cannot, or let the superior replace him with his colleague, which would mean accepting that the colleague is better than him. This psychological restlessness is cognitive dissonance. The worker now either will change his original belief about the difficulty level of the task and try it, or will stick to his belief and let himself get replaced by his colleague to reduce the psychological discomfort.

A second example of cognitive dissonance at the workplace would be if an employee steals a few office supplies for his own use. The employee knows that stealing is wrong, and that the supplies belong to his office and not him, which is his original belief about stealing. However, to match his action of stealing the supplies and to reduce cognitive dissonance, he will probably defend his actions by telling himself that he’s only doing it because he’s hardworking and he deserves a few privileges.

Practical Applications

In addition to explaining human behavior, the cognitive dissonance theory also has practical applications in several different fields.

In Marketing

Cognitive dissonance is actually used as a tool for marketing correctly and getting the job done. For instance, a company may sell something to give a part of the proceeds to charity, and for that purpose, may send their sales-people to stop pedestrians and ask them to buy their product. These sales-people stop those walking on the streets and ask them to buy their product for a worthy cause. Now, the potential customers may not always be looking to buy the product, which may seem useless or silly to them. They have a choice between walking away from the sales-person or buying the product, and more than often, it is the latter. This choice actually causes dissonance in the potential customer who then tells himself that he has so much, he can surely spare a little for the less fortunate, and ends up buying the product though he doesn’t want it. Hence, dissonance is a tool used in marketing.

In Advertising

There are a large number of buyers or customers who buy certain products only because they believe the advertising that promotes those products. Hence, when a loyal customer of one brand comes across that brand’s competitor who has a better advertising strategy, cognitive dissonance is experienced as the customer wants to stay loyal to the brand he uses as well as try the competitor’s product, as it seems so much better from the advertisements. This dissonance is used by brands to ensure loyal customers through better and attractive advertising, which is why most brands have unique logos. The idea is that customers begin to associate the logo with that brand only, and distrust every other brand that manufactures the same product.

In Education

Teachers and education experts can use cognitive dissonance as a tool for increased motivation in learning. For instance, if a student is stuck on an incorrect belief about something, his teacher can use the dissonance to motivate him into finding out the real and correct fact in order to deal with the psychological discomfort that he is feeling. Thus the dissonance can actually be a source of motivation to study.

It indeed is true, cognitive dissonance is apparent everywhere in our daily lives. You can read more about the concept of cognitive dissonance here. Though it is difficult to indulge in actions contradicting our individual beliefs, we must always make sure that our thoughts and/or actions are correct and ethical. For instance, if we know smoking is harmful and unnecessary, we shouldn’t find excuses in order to justify our habit. Instead, we should stick to our belief about the risks associated with smoking and change our actions, instead.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory | Simply Psychology

1. Attitudes
2. Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance

By Saul McLeod, updated Feb 05, 2018

Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. This produces a feeling of mental discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance.

For example, when people smoke (behavior) and they know that smoking causes cancer (cognition), they are in a state of cognitive dissonance.

Who came up with cognitive dissonance theory?

Cognitive dissonance was first investigated by Leon Festinger, arising out of a participant observation study of a cult which believed that the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood, and what happened to its members — particularly the really committed ones who had given up their homes and jobs to work for the cult — when the flood did not happen.

While fringe members were more inclined to recognize that they had made fools of themselves and to “put it down to experience,” committed members were more likely to re-interpret the evidence to show that they were right all along (the earth was not destroyed because of the faithfulness of the cult members).

How Attitude Change Takes Place

How Attitude Change Takes Place

Festinger’s (1957) cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and behavior in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance). This is known as the principle of cognitive consistency.

When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors (dissonance), something must change to eliminate the dissonance.

Notice that dissonance theory does not state that these modes of dissonance reduction will actually work, only that individuals who are in a state of cognitive dissonance will take steps to reduce the extent of their dissonance.

The theory of cognitive dissonance has been widely researched in a number of situations to develop the basic idea in more detail, and various factors that have been identified which may be important in attitude change.

What causes cognitive dissonance?

1. Forced Compliance Behavior,
   

2. Decision Making,
   

3. Effort.

We will look at the main findings to have emerged from each area.

Forced Compliance Behavior

Forced Compliance Behavior

When someone is forced to do (publicly) something they (privately) really don’t want to do, dissonance is created between their cognition (I didn’t want to do this) and their behavior (I did it).

Forced compliance occurs when an individual performs an action that is inconsistent with his or her beliefs. The behavior can’t be changed, since it was already in the past, so dissonance will need to be reduced by re-evaluating their attitude to what they have done. This prediction has been tested experimentally:

In an intriguing experiment, Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) asked participants to perform a series of dull tasks (such as turning pegs in a peg board for an hour). As you can imagine, participant’s attitudes toward this task were highly negative.

Aim

Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) investigated if making people perform a dull task would create cognitive dissonance through forced compliance behavior.

Method

In their laboratory experiment, they used 71 male students as participants to perform a series of dull tasks (such as turning pegs in a peg board for an hour).

They were then paid either $1 or $20 to tell a waiting participant (a confederate) that the tasks were really interesting. Almost all of the participants agreed to walk into the waiting room and persuade the confederate that the boring experiment would be fun.

Results

When the participants were asked to evaluate the experiment, the participants who were paid only $1 rated the tedious task as more fun and enjoyable than the participants who were paid $20 to lie.

Conclusion

Being paid only $1 is not sufficient incentive for lying and so those who were paid $1 experienced dissonance. They could only overcome that dissonance by coming to believe that the tasks really were interesting and enjoyable. Being paid $20 provides a reason for turning pegs, and there is therefore no dissonance.

Decision Making

Decision Making

Life is filled with decisions, and decisions (as a general rule) arouse dissonance.

For example, suppose you had to decide whether to accept a job in an absolutely beautiful area of the country, or turn down the job so you could be near your friends and family. Either way, you would experience dissonance. If you took the job you would miss your loved ones; if you turned the job down, you would pine for the beautiful streams, mountains, and valleys.

Both alternatives have their good points and bad points. The rub is that making a decision cuts off the possibility that you can enjoy the advantages of the unchosen alternative, yet it assures you that you must accept the disadvantages of the chosen alternative.

People have several ways to reduce dissonance that is aroused by making a decision (Festinger, 1964). One thing they can do is to change the behavior. As noted earlier, this is often very difficult, so people frequently employ a variety of mental maneuvers. A common way to reduce dissonance is to increase the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and to decrease the attractiveness of the rejected alternative. This is referred to as “spreading apart the alternatives.”

Brehm (1956) was the first to investigate the relationship between dissonance and decision-making.

Method

Female participants were informed they would be helping out in a study funded by several manufacturers. Participants were also told that they would receive one of the products at the end of the experiment to compensate for their time and effort.

The women then rated the desirability of eight household products that ranged in price from $15 to $30. The products included an automatic coffee maker, an electric sandwich grill, an automatic toaster, and a portable radio.

Participants in the control group were simply given one of the products. Because these participants did not make a decision, they did not have any dissonance to reduce. Individuals in the low-dissonance group chose between a desirable product and one rated 3 points lower on an 8-point
scale.

Participants in the high-dissonance condition chose between a highly desirable product and one rated just 1 point lower on the 8-point scale. After reading the reports about the various products, individuals rated the products again.

Findings

Participants in the high-dissonance condition spread apart the alternatives significantly more than did the participants in the other two conditions.

In other words, they were more likely than participants in the other two conditions to increase the attractiveness of the chosen alternative and to decrease the attractiveness of the unchosen alternative.

Effort

Effort

It also seems to be the case that we value most highly those goals or items which have required considerable effort to achieve.

This is probably because dissonance would be caused if we spent a great effort to achieve something and then evaluated it negatively. We could, of course, spend years of effort into achieving something which turns out to be a load of rubbish and then, in order to avoid the dissonance that produces, try to convince ourselves that we didn’t really spend years of effort, or that the effort was really quite enjoyable, or that it wasn’t really a lot of effort.

In fact, though, it seems we find it easier to persuade ourselves that what we have achieved is worthwhile and that’s what most of us do, evaluating highly something whose achievement has cost us dear – whether other people think it’s much cop or not! This method of reducing dissonance is known as ‘effort justification.’

If we put effort into a task which we have chosen to carry out, and the task turns out badly, we
experience dissonance. To reduce this dissonance, we are motivated to try to think that the task turned out well.

A classic dissonance experiment by Aronson and Mills (1959) demonstrates the basic idea.

Aim

To investigate the relationship between dissonance and effort.

Method

Female students volunteered to take part in a discussion on the psychology of sex. In the ‘mild embarrassment’ condition, participants read aloud to a male experimenter
a list of sex-related words like ‘virgin’ and ‘prostitute. ‘

In the ‘severe embarrassment’ condition, they had to read aloud obscene words and a very explicit sexual passage. In the control condition, they went straight into the main study. In all conditions, they then heard a very boring discussion about sex in lower animals. They were asked to rate how interesting they had found the discussion, and how interesting they had found the people involved in it.

Results

Participants in the ‘severe embarrassment’ condition gave the most positive rating.

Conclusion

If a voluntary experience which has cost a lot of effort turns out badly, dissonance is reduced by redefining the experience as interesting. This justifies the effort made.

How is cognitive dissonance resolved?

How is cognitive dissonance resolved?

Dissonance can be reduced in one of three ways: a) changing existing beliefs, b) adding new beliefs, or c) reducing the importance of the beliefs.

Change one or more of the attitudes, behavior, beliefs, etc.

, to make the relationship between the two elements a consonant one.

When one of the dissonant elements is a behavior, the individual can change or eliminate the behavior.

However, this mode of dissonance reduction frequently presents problems for people, as it is often difficult for people to change well-learned behavioral responses (e.g., giving up smoking).

Acquire new information that outweighs the dissonant beliefs.

For example, thinking smoking causes lung cancer will cause dissonance if a person smokes.

However, new information such as “research has not proved definitely that smoking causes lung cancer” may reduce the dissonance.

Reduce the importance of the cognitions (i.e., beliefs, attitudes).

A person could convince themself that it is better to “live for today” than to “save for tomorrow.”

In other words, he could tell himself that a short life filled with smoking and sensual pleasures is better than a long life devoid of such joys. In this way, he would be decreasing the importance of the dissonant cognition (smoking is bad for one’s health).

Critical Evaluation

Critical Evaluation

There has been a great deal of research into cognitive dissonance, providing some interesting and sometimes unexpected findings. It is a theory with very broad applications, showing that we aim for consistency between attitudes and behaviors, and may not use very rational methods to achieve it. It has the advantage of being testable by scientific means (i.e., experiments).

However, there is a problem from a scientific point of view, because we cannot physically observe cognitive dissonance, and therefore we cannot objectively measure it (re: behaviorism). Consequently, the term cognitive dissonance is somewhat subjective.

There is also some ambiguity (i.e., vagueness) about the term ‘dissonance’ itself. Is it a perception (as ‘cognitive’ suggests), or a feeling, or a feeling about a perception? Aronson’s Revision of the idea of dissonance as an inconsistency between a person’s self-concept and a cognition about their behavior makes it seem likely that dissonance is really nothing more than guilt.

There are also individual differences in whether or not people act as this theory predicts. Highly anxious people are more likely to do so. Many people seem able to cope with considerable dissonance and not experience the tensions the theory predicts.

Finally, many of the studies supporting the theory of cognitive dissonance have low ecological validity. For example, turning pegs (as in Festinger’s experiment) is an artificial task that doesn’t happen in everyday life.

Also, the majority of experiments used students as participants, which raise issues of a biased sample. Could we generalize the results from such experiments?

How to reference this article:

How to reference this article:

McLeod, S. A. (2018, Febuary 05). Cognitive dissonance. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html

APA Style References

Aronson, E., & Mills, J. (1959). The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 59(2), 177.

Brehm, J. W. (1956). Postdecision changes in the desirability of alternatives. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 52(3), 384.

Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Festinger, L. (1959). Some attitudinal consequences of forced decisions. Acta Psychologica, 15, 389-390.

Festinger, L. (Ed.). (1964). Conflict, decision, and dissonance (Vol. 3). Stanford University Press.

Festinger, L., & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58(2), 203.

How to reference this article:

How to reference this article:

McLeod, S. A. (2018, Febuary 05). Cognitive dissonance. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-dissonance.html

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Cognitive Dissonance Examples In Everyday Life –

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Home Psychology What are Some Cognitive Dissonance Examples in Everyday Life?

Cognitive dissonance is defined as a mental conflict between beliefs and new information received. This conflict can be between actual beliefs or assumed beliefs and the information you receive that contradicts or conflicts with those beliefs. To better understand this conflict, it helps to know its history and to see cognitive dissonance examples in everyday life.

The History of Cognitive Dissonance

It was in a book in the mid-1950s that Leon Festinger would introduce his theory. The book is titled A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance.

The theory itself focuses on the fact that humans prefer to keep their actions aligned with their belief systems. These things, however, don’t always run parallel, and sometimes there is a conflict between your actions and your belief, which is what cognitive dissonance is or describes.

When the conflict between these two things starts to make you feel uncomfortable, it causes you to try to come up with reasons why you’re conflicted. To stop the conflict, you will either choose to match the action to your belief, or vice versa. Depending on the conflict, one outcome could be better for you than the other.

5 Cognitive Dissonance Examples in Everyday Life

A better understanding of this theory comes from seeing real-life examples of what it means to be conflicted in this way.

If you’ve suffered any of these conflicts, don’t worry, you’re normal. It’s common for humans to deal with cognitive dissonance. Here are the 5 cognitive dissonance examples in everyday life.

1. Cheating

Everyone knows cheating is wrong, whether you’re cheating on a spouse or cheating on a test. It’s wrong, and it’s bad, and it not only puts the cheater at risk of negative repercussions, but it can also hurt other people.

When cheating on a spouse, you risk hurting your entire family. When it comes to cheating on a test, if it runs on a sliding scale your ill-gotten grade could make other students get worse grades than they would have had you not cheated.

In your mind, you know that cheating is wrong, but you convince yourself that it’s OK to do because it’s just the first time, or if you don’t pass this class you won’t graduate. You may also attempt to ease your conflict by making excuses about the fact that people cheat all the time.

2.Education

This looks at cognitive dissonance in a different aspect of education. As you learn, you are continuously being fed new information.

That information may conflict with your assumptions and beliefs. You may think that the teacher is wrong about something they’ve taught you because you believe something else is true.

Teachers can also experience cognitive dissonance. For both of you, it may feel uncomfortable learning this new information.

Luckily, classes don’t last forever, and you can either choose to go on living your life with your own belief or accept what you’ve been taught.

3. Lying

While you can compare cheating with lying, lying happens in other instances as well.

You may avoid giving someone bad news because you are worried about hurting their feelings. However, you may also feel guilt over this omission, which is a lie.

People are raised to believe that lying is wrong, yet many people continue to lie all the time. Some believe that a small lie won’t hurt anyone, but all lies can cause pain and problems.

4. Bad Habits

Bad habits are excellent examples of how cognitive dissonance affects you in everyday life.

You know that smoking is bad for you, that exercising is good for you, and that overeating is bad for you. However, people continue to smoke, eat more than they need to, and avoid exercise.

You make up excuses, even though you know that all of these things risk your health.

You’ll continue to make excuses until you decide to stop. Maybe you feel like you don’t have time to work out. Maybe you feel that you need to smoke to stay calm or that quitting will cause you to gain weight.

Your excuses outweigh the logic that says you’re risking cancer and heart disease by continuing these bad habits.

5. Workplace

Just as cognitive dissonance can sneak up on you during your education, it can also affect you in the workplace. There are many instances in the workplace where this theory can take place.

It may happen when the boss assigns you a project that you know you can’t complete. You are faced with the conflict of taking on something that you’ll fail at or let the boss assign it to someone else, which may make you look like the inferior employee.

Stealing from work can also cause cognitive dissonance. Taking a pair of scissors or some envelopes from work is theft. Getting caught could lose you your job, but you convince yourself it’s OK because you deserve to be compensated for all the hard work you do.

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Have You Experienced Any of These?

It’s likely that at some point you’ve experienced at least some of these cognitive dissonance examples in everyday life. Consider which ones you’ve experienced, personally or through people you know. What was the outcome? Did the action win out over your belief?

Featured image: CC0 Public Domain Pexels via Pixabay

Cognitive Dissonance in Psychology: Theory, Examples & Definition – Video & Lesson Transcript

Festinger’s Theory

In 1957, psychologist and teacher Leon Festinger pointed out that often, people hold two opposing beliefs, or they believe one thing but do something that’s against that belief. The feeling that results is called cognitive dissonance, and we often try to alleviate it by justifying our actions or changing our beliefs. Either way, the goal is to have our actions and beliefs in line with each other.

Festinger performed many experiments that demonstrated cognitive dissonance. In one study, he had participants complete a series of boring tasks. After they finished, they were asked to rate the tasks. As you can imagine, their ratings showed that they found the things they were asked to do tedious. But then Festinger introduced a twist: he offered the subjects either $1 or $20 to tell someone waiting to participate in the experiment that the tasks were interesting and fun. Many of them lied.

Later, Festinger asked the participants to rate the tasks again. What do you think he found? The people who lied for $1 actually rated the tasks as more interesting than they did before they lied. Festinger theorized that this was because they had lied for so little money that they needed to justify the lie in their minds. So, they subconsciously changed their beliefs to match their actions.

And those who lied for $20? They didn’t have to change their beliefs, but they did have to justify why they were willing to lie. For them, the money was enough justification.

Examples of Cognitive Dissonance

People often demonstrate ways to deal with cognitive dissonance. For example, if someone that we don’t like does something nice for us, we might reconcile that by convincing ourselves that she did the nice thing just to make us feel guilty for not liking her. Or, if you know that smoking is bad, you might justify the fact that you smoke by saying that if smoking doesn’t kill you, something else will.

Lesson Summary

Psychologist Leon Festinger first introduced the theory of cognitive dissonance in the 1950s. Cognitive dissonance occurs when we act in a way that contradicts our beliefs. To deal with the uncomfortable feeling, we will either change our actions to be in line with our beliefs or change our beliefs to match our actions.

Learning Outcomes

As you come to the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

• Explain what cognitive dissonance is
• Discuss Leon Festinger’s theory on cognitive dissonance
• Retell examples of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance; An Everyday Part of Life

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“Dissonance is as fatal in ailments of the mind as it is in those of the body.”
― Georges Rodenbach, Bruges-La-Morte

A cognitive dissonance is a form of dissonance that is experienced by a person when there is a conflict between their beliefs, attitudes or behaviors. The term itself might not be used commonly in circles, but the phenomenon is experienced by almost all human beings every other day. In simple words, if a person acts differently than their beliefs or attitudes, they would feel a certain conflict within themselves that will place them in a state of tension.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

The theory was proposed by Leon Festinger, a psychologist who found out that people have this innate need to have harmony between their beliefs and actions. According to Festinger, the need for this internal consistency is universal and if an imbalance ever occurs, the person strives to restore it through different means; some of which are to change their beliefs, attitudes or behavior. If the action is already performed by them, then there is no way to change it so the only option left to the person would be to view the action in a different light i.e. to change their beliefs and attitudes towards the action so that they can avoid internal conflict. If they are able to form the belief that their action was justified (due to whatever reason they come up with), they would be able to overcome their cognitive dissonance and have internal harmony once again.

Festinger wrote a book named as A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance in which he mentioned, “Cognitive dissonance can be seen as an antecedent condition which leads to activity oriented toward dissonance reduction just as hunger leads toward activity oriented toward hunger reduction. It is a very different motivation from what psychologists are used to dealing with but, as we shall see, nonetheless powerful.”

In the words of Festinger, “When dissonance is present, in addition to trying to reduce it, the person will actively avoid situations and information which would likely increase the dissonance.” According to this statement, the individual not only learns how to overcome their internal struggle, they learn to recognize it and are able to flag it so that they never have to come across it again in the future. This shows a certain avoidance attitude on the part of the person which indicates that the person’s future beliefs and attitudes suffer a semi-permanent change as a result of overcoming cognitive dissonance once.

First Investigation of Cognitive Dissonance

Leon Festinger came up with this particular theory in the 1950s, when he infiltrated a cult group in order to perform a participant observational study about the cognitive dissonance of cults. The leader of the group, Mrs. Keech had told the group that the planet earth would be destroyed by a massive flood on the 21^st of December and only the members of the cult would be able to survive due to the arrival of an alien race. This increased the devotion of the members of the group, so much so that many of them quit their job and left their homes. Festinger wanted to observe the effect of the members’ dissonance when they would find out that Marian Keech’s predictions were not true. When the night of the arrival of the aliens came, Mrs. Keech had a new vision which was that the planet was saved due to the excessive and the indestructible devotion of the followers. The members who were not avid followers saw sense and left the group once they realized that the whole scenario had been a ruse, but what about the people who were devoted enough that they gave up their whole lives? Their internal conflict was powerful because if they were to come to the reality, they would have had to accept that they had blindly followed a woman without any evidence and the actions performed by them bordered on foolishness and ignorance. In order to completely avoid cognitive dissonance, they believed Mrs. Keech that the only reason that the earth was saved was due to their faith efforts.

Festinger’s theory was supported i.e. humans would adopt all means in order to overcome their dissonance and achieve consonance between their beliefs and actions.

Examples of Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a commonly occurring phenomenon and everyone falls prey to it. A few everyday life examples of it are:

1. A chain smoker realizes that his smoking habit can lead to numerous medical, psychological and social problems, but since they are unable to stop, they would change their beliefs and attitudes towards smoking i.e. they might try to rationalize the habit, explain away that they do it occasionally, etc.
2. A classic example of cognitive dissonance is that when meat eaters who are extreme animal lovers actually think about where the meat comes from. This does not happen to everyone, but for many people, once they start thinking that they are inadvertently hurting animals, an intense cognitive dissonance arises within because there is a strong conflict between their self-image (I love animals) and their actions (I am killing and eating animals). For many people, the only way to overcome the dissonance is to change their actions i.e. they stop eating meat and become vegetarians.
3. People who are on a healthy diet might be tempted to eat ice cream, which would lead to cognitive dissonance, but they can overcome it by believing that they actually do not feel the immense urge to consume the unhealthy food item.

Cognitive dissonance can be felt regarding every area of life and people generally succeed in either overcoming it or avoiding it one way or the other. The determination to overcome the conflict can be seen in every aspect of life and manifests itself in different ways; people supporting their chosen leader despite the leader’s corrupt behavior, continuing on with bad habits with the help of rationalization and much more. The dissonance itself makes a person feel uncomfortable, but dealing with it depends upon the person’s beliefs, options, morals, and the environment.

90,000 The phenomenon of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance: description and examples

Cognitive dissonance: how to recognize a problem and cope with it A harmonious perception of the world around us and one’s own personality is considered an integral quality of a happy person. One of the common psychological problems is the occurrence of cognitive dissonance, which is accompanied by pronounced moral and emotional discomfort. This term was introduced to the world by Fritz Haider in 1944, and later Leon Festinger developed a theory explaining the causes and mechanism of dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person has several conflicting cognitions. Cognitions should be understood as any ideas, knowledge, inferences, moral values ​​and even emotional reactions to what is happening around. When conflicting cognitive elements appear, a person experiences severe psychological discomfort and, on a subconscious level, seeks ways to solve this problem.

Cognitive dissonance: causes of

The reasons for cognitive dissonance are best explained by the theory of the same name proposed by Leon Festinger in 1957.To better understand the meaning of the term “cognitive dissonance”, one should know that dissonance is a violation of harmony, the emergence of contradictions in a certain harmonious structure, in this case – cognitive, that is, associated with the processes of cognition.

There are several main causes of cognitive dissonance, which include:

• Logical inconsistency between a certain process or phenomenon with knowledge and ideas about it;
• The discrepancy between the individual opinion of a person and the opinions of the majority of the people around him;
• Disagreement between the previously acquired experience and the repeated situation;
• Following cultural customs or traditional patterns of behavior contrary to one’s own opinion about them;

For the first time, or continuing for some time, internal contradiction – this is what cognitive dissonance means for the common person.Every person has encountered cognitive dissonance to one degree or another at least once throughout their life, and the reaction to the onset of this state can be very different. However, it is common for everyone to find an excuse for contradiction and inconsistency in order to return balance to the system of their knowledge and beliefs.

In addition to highlighting the main causes of cognitive dissonance in his theory, Festinger formulated two main hypotheses of how a person can act to eliminate the psychological discomfort that has arisen.According to the first hypothesis, a person will direct his efforts to completely eliminate or reduce the discrepancy between cognitions. He will look for additional information confirming his correctness or refuting new information. The second hypothesis assumes that a person avoids situations that increase cognitive dissonance, and even his own memories and thoughts about it.

If you ask a person what cognitive dissonance meant to him and with what emotions he associated it, then most people will remember about awkwardness and a decrease in self-confidence.This condition as a whole negatively affects not only the state of the psychoemotional sphere, but over time can lead to the development of serious health problems. Therefore, with cognitive dissonance, a person’s defense mechanisms are triggered, which consist in justifying their thoughts and actions or in completely ignoring them.

Cognitive dissonance can be caused by insufficiently attentive perception of the surrounding world, inability to identify cause-and-effect relationships in a given situation, ignorance of any issues.All these problems are solved by training on the BrainApps resource, where a large number of games and useful articles for personal improvement are concentrated.

Cognitive dissonance: examples

To better understand what cognitive dissonance is, real-life examples are the most appropriate. A person can experience cognitive dissonance at any age, but not everyone can recognize this unpleasant phenomenon. One of the simplest and most understandable examples is people who smoke or abuse alcohol.Information about the dangers of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages comes to a person literally at every step, but he is in no hurry to change his habits.

A malicious smoker or alcohol lover with cognitive dissonance may justify himself by difficult life circumstances, the need for relaxation and detachment from everyday problems, however, despite all this, he knows very well that he is causing irreparable harm to his health. Subsequently, he may begin to study information that will confirm that nicotine or alcohol are not such dangerous substances, and in some cases are even useful.Also, most likely, he will begin to avoid any conversations about his bad habits and react negatively to any attempts to remind about the harm to his health. It is this situation that vividly illustrates cognitive dissonance and the natural response to it of a person.

In the case of smoking or alcohol, the cognitive dissonance is very pronounced due to the psychological and physical dependence on drugs. However, the problem may appear due to other life circumstances. Very often, cognitive dissonance is encountered when it comes to making a specific choice.Also, communication and interaction with other people causes cognitive dissonance, usually any person from their own life experience can give examples of such dissonance.

For example, an acquaintance who is famous for his careless attitude to money and addiction to gambling asked for a loan from you. You know perfectly well that he is in great financial difficulties, and he has not given debt to you and other people several times already. However, you lend him a certain amount of money and you begin to experience severe psychological discomfort due to cognitive dissonance, because the previous experience and information indicate that you made the wrong decision.To drown out the cognitive dissonance that has arisen, you can begin to justify the act with faith, pity, or generosity, and try to avoid talking about the situation with family and friends.

Another striking example of cognitive dissonance is a popular experiment illustrating the influence of public opinion on a person. One participant is selected in advance from the group and, for example, a red object is shown to him. Then they ask what color this object is for the selected participant and for the rest of the group.Most, following prior agreement, insist that the item shown is blue. If a person who saw red with his own eyes agrees with the majority opinion, then he will experience strong cognitive dissonance and feel morally and psychologically bad.

Having examined the concepts of cognitive dissonance using ordinary, everyday examples, it is easier to analyze your own behavior and the behavior of other people, and also to choose the correct tactics for further actions.Everyone in most cases can cope with this problem if they acknowledge its existence. Therefore, if you suspect you have cognitive dissonance, examples from the lives of other people or past experiences will help you quickly get rid of unpleasant sensations and find inner harmony.

How to deal with cognitive dissonance

The occurrence of cognitive dissonance should not be perceived as something terrible and irreparable. Everyone has the right to make erroneous judgments and actions, and information coming from outside is not always absolutely correct.Therefore, if you are faced with the problem of cognitive dissonance, it is better to choose one of the following behavioral tactics:

1. Consider the situation from a different perspective. This tactic is suitable for overconfident people who can hardly come to terms with their own wrong. It is very important to recognize the possibility of error or error on your part, in which case the cognitive dissonance disappears on its own. For example, the negative consequences of your action are due to the mistake you made.In this case, the situation is logical and the psychological discomfort is significantly reduced;
2. Change the behavior model. This is necessary if you know for sure that your actions or inaction are harming yourself or your loved ones. For example, a woman has been suffering from headaches and insomnia for a long time and knows what the consequences can be if the problem is ignored, but she constantly postpones a visit to the doctor because of fear or lack of free time. In this situation, signs of cognitive dissonance are added to the symptoms of the disease and the general condition of the woman only worsens.As soon as she visits the doctor, the psychological discomfort will disappear, because she did what she thought was right;
3. Don’t dwell on the past. If in the past you have committed any act that went against your own beliefs and principles, then you should not constantly revive this event in memory. Treat the consequences of cognitive dissonance as an experience and try not to make the same mistake again;

It is also desirable to prevent the occurrence of cognitive dissonance.To do this, you should try to act in accordance with the previous experience and knowledge and not deviate from your beliefs and ideas. However, focusing on your own righteousness will also not help; you should always be ready to revise or supplement the information you already have about any phenomenon or situation. Do not categorically reject the opinions or actions of other people, always try to get more information about different points of view.

The presence of cognitive dissonance often implies falling into an extraordinary and, at first glance, hopeless situation.In this case, it is necessary to quickly analyze the problem and find a completely new solution. This will allow you not to get hung up on the phenomenon of dissonance and successfully cope with it. Thinking acceleration and creativity are key factors in this situation, and the games on BrainApps will help develop them.

Cognitive dissonance is not always completely negative. Sometimes it is thanks to the emergence of cognitive dissonance that a person receives a powerful stimulus to development, work on himself and self-improvement.In everyday life, it is almost impossible to avoid the appearance of conflicting feelings, actions and knowledge, but you can always find a way to consider the situation from different angles and restore harmony.

The phrase, which became fashionable thanks to Viktor Pelevin, is now used for any discrepancy between expectations and reality – including where the expressions “I am puzzled”, “I am in a stupor” or “I feel a contradiction” could well be used. But do not forget that behind the clever-sounding phrase “I have a cognitive dissonance” there is a whole psychological theory that is useful for everyone to know.It was developed by the American psychologist Leon Festinger in 1957 based on Kurt Lewin’s field theory and Fritz Hader’s theory of structural balance.

The reason for its creation was the study of rumors spread by the earthquake in India in 1934. In the regions not affected by the earthquake, rumors spread that soon even stronger tremors in new places were expected and that the danger could threaten these areas too. It was strange that such pessimistic (and completely unfounded) predictions would be so widespread.In the end, scientists who investigated the phenomenon concluded that the rumors justified the concern rather than aroused it. People spread them to justify the irrational state of fear caused by the news of the earthquake.

The problem is that when trying to resolve cognitive dissonance, a person is often busy not looking for the truth, but formally bringing knowledge and motives to a common denominator – therefore, many people cope with internal contradictions using the first more or less suitable excuse

Similar situations have happened more than once in history.For example, during World War II, in one of the American camps for Japanese refugees, where there were quite normal living conditions, rumors arose that the friendliness of the Americans was deceiving, and the place for the camp was specially chosen so that people could not survive in it. This was due to the discrepancy between reality and the Japanese perception of the US hostility to their country. Investigating such stories, Festinger concluded that people strive for an internal balance between the information received and their own ideas and motives.The contradiction that arises when this balance is disturbed, he called cognitive dissonance.

There are several reasons for this condition. For example, because of a logical contradiction, like “I don’t care about the opinions of others, but I want to become famous.” Or because of the discrepancy between the decisions and behavior of a person with the cultural customs adopted in his country, social group or family. Dissonance can also arise when an individual identifies himself with a certain group of people, but his own opinion begins to contradict the opinion of the group.For example, a person considers himself to be a liberal, but suddenly realizes that he would not want to live in close proximity with gays or people of a different race and religion. Or to the patriots, but he feels that “it’s time to blame.” And, finally, the simplest case is when new information contradicts the old picture of the world. For example, if Gennady Onishchenko suddenly received the Nobel Prize for achievements in medicine, it would cause cognitive dissonance among the entire Russian population.

And then the most interesting thing begins – when a person has conflicting ideas, it brings him discomfort.And he seeks to smooth out the contradiction that has arisen. This can be done in two main ways – either revise and reject one of the views, or find new information that allows you to “dock” incompatible positions.

Festinger himself gives this example: if a smoker learns about new research proving a link between smoking and the occurrence of cancer, he, of course, may quit smoking with some probability. But he is more likely to either classify himself as a moderate smoker (“I smoke so little that it cannot greatly affect my health”), or find positive aspects in smoking (“but while I smoke, I do not get better” or “ so what, I’ll die earlier – but life will be high “), or will seek information that refutes the opinion about the dangers of smoking (” my nicotine-addicted grandfather lived to be 100 years old “) and avoid information that confirms it.

Another way to resolve cognitive dissonance is to change the environment for a new one, where the combination of “mutually exclusive paragraphs” will no longer cause controversy. If you have changed your political views, most likely, you will want to communicate more with the circle of acquaintances who share your new opinion.

The problem is that when trying to resolve cognitive dissonance, a person is often busy not looking for the truth, but formally bringing knowledge and motives to a common denominator – therefore, many people cope with internal contradictions using the first more or less suitable excuse.A classic example is the fable about the fox and the grapes. The fox wants to feast on grapes, but cannot pick them from the vine – too high. To avoid the contradiction between desire and opportunity, she convinces herself that the grapes are still green and tasteless. Cunning – but sedative.

Another catch of cognitive dissonance is that it can play into the hands of manipulators. We often settle for something that we absolutely did not intend to do, as long as it corresponds to our flattering ideas about ourselves.

A number of studies are related to a special case of cognitive dissonance – a situation of forced consent, leading to actions that a person cannot satisfactorily justify for himself. For example, when he voluntarily makes a decision that ultimately does not bring him enough satisfaction. To reduce the dissonance that arises in this situation and to justify your choices – which would otherwise seem silly – you need to retroactively increase the value of the action taken or devalue its negative aspects.

In particular, in the experiment of Leon Festinger and Merrill Carlsmith, the subjects had to do extremely boring work. Then they were asked to recommend this experiment to subsequent participants as very interesting. One group of subjects was paid $ 20 for it, the other group only $ 1. In the end, it turned out that the participants who received less, themselves found the experiment more interesting than those who worked for $ 20. And this was not scientific enthusiasm at all, but just a manifestation of cognitive dissonance: to make it easier to lie to subsequent participants, the subjects retroactively changed their perception of the experiment.A completely innocent reaction in this case – but if we remember, for example, it becomes clear that the easy way to overcome contradictions can lead to frightening consequences.

Another catch of cognitive dissonance is that it can play into the hands of manipulators. In particular, the principle of consistency, described by Robert Cialdini, in the book “The Psychology of Influence”, is based precisely on the fear of cognitive dissonance. We often settle for something that we absolutely did not intend to do, as long as it corresponds to our flattering ideas about ourselves.For example, in order to persuade a person to donate money to any public initiative, you must first induce him to admit that he is generous.

But if you do not try to drown out the contradiction with the first available justifications, but begin to unwind the ball to its very essence, this can become a powerful impetus in the development of personality. For example, this state is used in Zen Buddhism when creating paradoxical parables-koans. They are deliberately composed in such a way as to evoke a powerful cognitive dissonance in the listener and thus bring it beyond the usual logic and perception, bringing it closer to the state of satori – “awakening”.

How to speak

Wrong
“My girlfriend usually dresses modestly, but this time she came in such a chic dress that I had cognitive dissonance.” That’s right – “I was just stunned.”

Correct
“He blames everything on you in order to get rid of the cognitive dissonance after his own betrayal. He simply cannot admit that he acted meanly. ”

Correct
“When a person with two higher educations writes with such monstrous mistakes, it causes cognitive dissonance.”

Probably, each of us in his life experienced moments when he feels something in his own way, disagreeing with the established opinion of others or in the face of indisputable facts. After all, if you receive new knowledge or information that begins to conflict with already existing or learned facts, this is the cognitive dissonance

What does cognitive dissonance mean?

The first person to formulate the phrase “cognitive dissonance” was Fritz Haider in 1944.But the very development of the theory of cognitive dissonance belongs to Leon Festinger in 1957. Its main principles are that the definition of dissonance is taken as a discrepancy between knowledge or opinion, or representation of an individual in the zone of a certain social society. In Russia, this term appeared largely thanks to the writer Viktor Pelevin. Often, the conflicts that determine the cognitive dissonance within a person are against the background of religious, moral, value, and emotional inconsistencies.

Having studied the basic principles of the theory, psychologists came to the conclusion that cognitive dissonance is a psychological discomfort caused by a discrepancy between existing concepts, ideas and incoming new information. The following motives and aspects of nonconformity lead to common causes of conflict:

• religious;

90,015 moral;

• valuable;
• emotional.

Why does it arise

The reasons why individuals often feel internal dissatisfaction can be:

• logical disagreements;
• if the opinion of one person does not agree with the general one;
• if the individual does not want to follow the established culture of a particular country, where customs are sometimes followed more than official law;
• if an already experienced experience conflicts with a similar new situation.

Psychological science of our time sees its goal in the study of cognitive dissonance, in the study and explanation of the disagreements that can arise, both in an individual and in a group of people.

Each person for a certain period of time gains some kind of life experience, but passing the time line, he must act according to the conditions in which he lives, contrary to the accumulated knowledge. This will be a mental discomfort. In order to somehow weaken it, each person will seek a compromise.an example of cognitive dissonance.

Weather is an example of situational cognitive dissonance. For example, you are going to spend a weekend in the countryside with your friends. Friday evening makes you happy with sunny weather, and in the morning you wake up and see it raining outside the window.

Of course, you immediately think that the trip has failed. After all, nothing foreshadowed that it would rain, and so it turns out that rain is the cause of cognitive dissonance. And how does a person act? One will get upset and think that the weekend was not a success.And the other will decide that if this is so, then you can still go to friends at the dacha and there, in the warmth, near the fireplace, have fun with songs with a guitar.

That is, in the second situation, a person makes a compromise. After all, this can be easily explained when you want to reduce dissatisfaction with the situation, and if there is such an opportunity, then completely eliminate it. And this can be achieved in several ways: an individual can change his element of behavior; you can also change the external factors of the elements of cognitive; and the most interesting way is to introduce new cognitive elements into your life.

Classic Examples

The phenomenon of cognitive dissonance can appear for several reasons. Psychologists include the following as common provoking factors:

• Inconsistency of concepts and ideas on which this or that decision is based.
• Different life convictions in comparison with the norms accepted in society or in a particular team.
• The rebellious spirit of contradiction, which is caused by the unwillingness to comply with ethical and cultural social norms, especially if they go against the legal framework.
• Inconsistency with data obtained as a result of any experience, condition or situation.

Features

Sometimes, it is possible to prevent the situation of the occurrence of cognitive dissonance in an individual, which can lead to mental discomfort. But, if such a dissonance has appeared, then this situation can be changed by adding an element of cognitive instead of a negative one, which is the cause of the conflict.

Many people know and explain the situation when it will be easier for a certain person to accept and agree with the existing situation and correct their internal disagreement with what has already happened, than to look for another way out, asking the question: “Did I do the right thing and did everything, what could in this situation? ”

Also, dissonance can be a consequence of making an important life decision.When there are two options and both are attractive, but you only need to choose one meaningful alternative. Such a choice is often very difficult, but having come to a certain decision, a person will certainly feel dissonance.

Simply put, since we are all doubting natures, choosing, for example, one of the two proposed jobs (moreover, with a good position and equal salary), the individual will think about the wrong choice. Immediately, you will see only positive traits in the place of work that he rejected, and only bad ones in the chosen one.

And therefore, in order to suppress dissonance, the newly minted employee will tell all his friends and relatives about how well he works, what kind of understanding bosses, and what smart subordinates. That is, it will repeatedly exaggerate the positive aspects of a new job and find bad things in a refused job. Thanks to this, the individual loses in his eyes the attractiveness of the place of work that he himself refused.

How to handle

Cognitive dissonance of the personality is directly related to the causes of the disorder.Therapy should be aimed at correcting and eliminating pathological conditions in the brain. To treat the underlying disease, improve and restore cognitive functions, specialists prescribe a number of drugs with neuroprotective properties. This helps prevent cognitive impairment in the future.

When reality raises too many questions, discomfort builds up in the brain. Or scientifically: cognitive dissonance arises. In order not to strain and restore harmony, the brain invents perceptual tricks: it blocks unfavorable information, finds the necessary evidence, calms, lulls.This property of our brain is used by others without a twinge of conscience. So knowing the tricks will help not only to understand yourself better, but also to resist manipulation.

What is cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a state of mental or psychological discomfort caused by a clash of conflicting ideas, actions, beliefs, emotions, or feelings. Occurs when a person receives unexpected information that is different from his past experience
. Or when it becomes a witness to unpredictable actions, unexplained events.The mechanism of cognitive dissonance is based on a simple but common situation: the presence of two mutually exclusive desires.

Dissonance is the opposite of the balance that our brains strive for. According to balance theory, people prefer harmony and consistency in their knowledge of the world. It is difficult for the psyche to be in a state of anxious discrepancy. Therefore, in order to reduce the psychological discomfort from internal conflict, a person changes his mind, comes up with an excuse for the change, and subsequently changes his behavior.So he maintains his peace of mind.

The paradox is that the more a person defends his behavior, the more willingly he changes his beliefs when circumstances change.
… For example, in times of danger, after disasters, atheists become devout believers. The saying “there are no atheists in the trenches” is just about that. What else? Irreconcilable macho-misogynists after marriage become caring husbands, and patriots, after emigrating to another country, actively cease to love their former neighbors.

How Our Brains Reduce Cognitive Dissonance Discomfort

Let’s say you smoke and receive information about the dangers of smoking. There are 4 ways to keep your peace of mind.

1. Change behavior: “I quit smoking in order to maintain the health of myself and my loved ones.”
2. Justify your habit, add new facts: “I will smoke fewer cigarettes or replace them with less harmful ones.”
3. Change self-esteem or the importance of making a decision: “If I quit smoking, I’ll get better (become pissed off).This will make me and my family even worse. ”
4. Ignore data that contradicts beliefs: “I know smokers who are 90 years old. So cigarettes are not that bad. ”

The listed mechanisms help not only to avoid internal stress, but also to avoid interpersonal complications. So, for example, we complain to strangers about spouses, thereby relieving internal stress. Having done a bad thing, we are looking for allies. We come up with excuses for betrayal of spouses, we do not notice the ugly actions of children.Or, on the contrary, we underestimate the career achievements of competitors, explaining them by banal luck, hypocrisy, and cronyism.

The theory of cognitive dissonance and its evidence

The definition of cognitive dissonance is one of the basic concepts in psychology. The author of the theory and many experiments was the American psychologist Leon Festinger (1919-1989). He formulated a definition and two main hypotheses:

• Hypothesis 1: the mental discomfort experienced by a person in a certain situation will motivate him to avoid such situations in the future.
• Hypothesis 2: a person experiencing psychological discomfort will try by any means to reduce mental discomfort.

According to the author of the theory, the reasons for cognitive dissonance can be logically incompatible things, cultural customs, opposition of one person’s opinion to public opinion and painful past experience. That is, the proverb “burned in milk, blows on water” just describes a person’s unwillingness to repeat a negative or painful past experience.

Leon Festinger’s theory is confirmed by experiments and studies of brain activity carried out on a tomograph. During the experiment, the subject was created conditions for the simplest cognitive dissonance (a red sheet was shown and a different color was named) and brain activity was scanned on a tomograph. The results of tomography showed that with an internal conflict, the cingulate cortex of the brain is activated, which is responsible for controlling certain activities, detecting errors, monitoring conflicts, switching attention.Then the conditions of the experiment became more complicated, the subject was given more and more contradictory tasks. Studies have shown that the less justification the subject finds for his action, the more stress he experiences, the more this area of ​​the brain is excited.

Cognitive dissonance: examples from life

Cognitive dissonance occurs every time there is a need to make a choice or express an opinion. That is, dissonance is an ordinary, every minute phenomenon. Any decisions: drinking tea or coffee in the morning, choosing goods of a particular brand in the store, marrying a worthy applicant, will provoke discomfort.The degree of inconvenience depends on the significance of its components for a person. The higher the significance, the more a person strives to neutralize dissonance.

For example, the most painful cognitive dissonance occurs when someone enters a different cultural environment .
For example, among women who left with a Muslim husband to his homeland. Differences in mentality, clothing, behavior, cuisine, traditions cause strong discomfort from the very beginning. To reduce tension, women have to change their ideas about their own traditions and accept new rules of the game dictated by the local society.

Knowing this feature of the human psyche, politicians, spiritual leaders, advertisers, salespeople use it for manipulation
. How it works? Cognitive dissonance causes not only discomfort, but also strong emotions. And emotions are motivators that force a person to do a certain thing: buy, vote, join an organization, donate. Therefore, social agents in our environment constantly provoke cognitive dissonance in our brains in order to influence our opinions and behavior.

The most illustrative examples can be seen in advertisements:

• Buy our product, you deserve it.
• Loving parents buy their children chocolate / water / toys / sour cream from our brand.
• Real Leaders have already subscribed to our channel / read a new book.
• Good housewives use our floor / stove / glass cleaner.
• This book is a real bestseller, haven’t you read it yet.

So, the dissonance has come true.The brain boils with tension and looks for ways to reduce discomfort, get out of this situation, plunge into a state of calm. If the necessary solution is not found or the situation is resolved destructively, the tension does not go away. And in a state of constant anxiety, you can reach neurosis or very real psychosomatic diseases. Therefore, the manifestation of dissonance cannot be ignored, but it is worth looking for ways to weaken it.

Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance
(from the English.words: cognitive
– “ cognitive
“and dissonance
– “ lack of harmony
“) – a state of an individual characterized by a collision in his mind of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding an object or phenomenon, in which the existence of one element results in the denial of another, and the associated feeling of psychological discomfort.

Literally, this means: “the lack of harmony in cognition, or in normal translation – the discrepancy between what was received and what was expected.”

The concept of “cognitive dissonance” was first introduced by Leon Festinger in 1957.

Theory of cognitive dissonance

The theory of cognitive dissonance was proposed by Leon Festinger in the city. It explains the conflict situations that often arise “in the cognitive structure of one person.” The theory aims to explain and investigate the state of cognitive dissonance that occurs in a person as a reaction to a certain situation, actions of individuals or the whole

Main hypotheses of the theory

• due to a logical inconsistency;
• “due to cultural customs”;
• in the event that an individual opinion is part of a broader opinion;
• due to the inconsistency of past experience with the present situation.

Cognitive dissonance arises from the discrepancy between the two “cognitions” (or “knowledge”) of the individual. An individual, having information on any issue, is forced to neglect it when making a decision. As a result, there is a discrepancy (“dissonance”) between a person’s attitudes and his real actions.

As a result of such behavior, a change occurs in certain (which the situation affects in one way or another) a person’s attitudes, and this change can be justified on the basis that it is vitally important for a person to maintain the consistency of his knowledge.

Therefore, people are ready to justify their delusions: a person who has committed a misdemeanor or mistake tends to justify himself in thoughts, gradually shifting his beliefs about what happened in the direction that what happened is actually not so scary. Thus, the individual “regulates” his thinking in order to reduce the conflict within himself.

Degree of dissonance

In various situations that arise in everyday life, dissonance can increase or decrease – it all depends on the problem that a person faces.

So, the degree of dissonance will be minimal if a person, for example, gives money on the street to a beggar who (apparently) does not really need alms. On the contrary, the degree of dissonance will increase many times, if a person has a serious exam, but he does not try to prepare for it.

Dissonance can (and does) arise in any situation when a person has to make a choice. Moreover, the degree of dissonance will grow depending on how important this choice is for the individual…

Reducing dissonance

It is clear that the existence of dissonance, regardless of the degree of its strength, forces a person to get rid of it completely, and if for some reason this is still impossible to do, then significantly reduce it. To reduce dissonance, a person can resort to four methods:

1. change your behavior;
2. change “cognition”, that is, convince yourself otherwise;
3. Filter incoming information regarding a given issue or problem.
4. development of the first way: apply the criterion of truth to the information received, admit your mistakes and act in accordance with a new, more complete and clear understanding of the problem.

Let us explain this with a specific example. For example, a person is a heavy smoker. He receives information about the dangers of smoking – from a doctor, a friend, from a newspaper or from another source. In accordance with the information received, he will either change his behavior – that is, quit smoking, because he is convinced that it is too harmful for his health.Or he may deny that smoking is harmful to his body, try, for example, to find some information that smoking can be to some extent “useful” (for example, while he smokes, he does not gain excess weight, as it happens when a person quits smoking), and thereby reduce the importance of negative information. This reduces the dissonance between his knowledge and actions. In the third case, he will try to avoid any information that emphasizes the dangers of smoking.

Prevention and Avoidance of Dissonance

In some cases, an individual can prevent the appearance of dissonance and, as a result, internal discomfort by trying to avoid any negative information regarding his problem.If the dissonance has already arisen, then the individual can avoid its amplification by adding one or more cognitive elements “to the cognitive scheme” instead of the existing negative element (which generates dissonance). Thus, the individual will be interested in finding such information that would approve his choice (his decision) and, in the end, would weaken or completely eliminate dissonance, while avoiding sources of information that would increase it. However, such frequent behavior of an individual can lead to negative consequences: a person may have a fear of dissonance or prejudice, which is a dangerous factor affecting the individual’s worldview.

A relationship of inconsistency (dissonance) may exist between two (or more) cognitive elements. When dissonance occurs, the individual seeks to reduce its degree, avoid or get rid of it completely. This striving is justified by the fact that a person sets as his goal a change in his behavior, the search for new information regarding a situation or an object that “gave rise to dissonance.”

It is quite understandable that it is much easier for a person to agree with the existing state of affairs by correcting his internal attitudes according to the current situation, instead of continuing to torment himself with the question of whether he did the right thing.Dissonance often arises as a consequence of important decisions. The choice of two equally tempting alternatives is not easy for a person, however, having finally made this choice, a person often begins to feel “discordant cognitions”, that is, the positive aspects of the option he refused, and not very positive features of the one with which he agreed. To suppress (weaken) dissonance, a person tries with all his might to exaggerate the significance of the decision he made, while at the same time minimizing the importance of the rejected one.As a consequence, the other alternative loses all attractiveness in his eyes.

Literature

See also

Links

• Festinger L. Introduction to the theory of dissonance. // Festinger L. Theory of cognitive dissonance. – SPb .: Juventa, 1999 .– S. 15-52.
• Deryabin A. A. Self-concept and theory of cognitive dissonance: a review of foreign literature.

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See what “Cognitive dissonance” is in other dictionaries:

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
– (eng.cognitive dissonance) an experience of discomfort arising from actions that run counter to one’s own beliefs (attitudes). An internal problem, an intrapersonal conflict can be resolved if you change beliefs or interpretation … … Big psychological encyclopedia

– (Latin dissonans sounding discordant, cognitio knowledge, cognition) a concept in social psychology that explains the influence on human behavior of a system of cognitive elements, describing the formation of social motivations under their influence … … The latest philosophical dictionary

– (cognitive dissonance) A state characterized by a collision in the mind of an individual of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding an object or phenomenon.A person seeks to overcome cognitive dissonance by … … Glossary of business terms

Intellectual conflict arising when new information contradicts existing opinions and ideas. The discomfort or tension caused by the conflict can be eliminated by one of several defensive actions: individual … … Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Eng. dissonance, cognitive; German kognitive Dissonanz. According to L. Festinger, a state characterized by a clash in the consciousness of an individual of conflicting knowledge, beliefs, behavioral attitudes regarding to.l. object or phenomenon causing … … Encyclopedia of Sociology

Noun, number of synonyms: 1 inadequate state (1) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 … Dictionary of synonyms

cognitive dissonance
– pažinimo disonansas statusas T sritis švietimas apibrėžtis Asmenybės būsena, atsirandanti dėl žinojimo, įsitikinimų ir veiklos bei elgesio prieštaravimų. Esant pažinimo disonanso būsenai, išgyvenamas vidinis nepatogumas (diskomfortas) arba…… Enciklopedinis edukologijos žodynas

Cognitive dissonance.What is this, in simple terms?

Cognitive dissonance is a beautiful term that we often see in popular psychology articles and use in everyday communication. At the same time, many people find it difficult to give an exact definition of the concept – although its meaning is felt intuitively.

Let’s see what cognitive dissonance actually means, and when it can occur.

Cognitive dissonance – what is it, and where can it be encountered in everyday life?

The name of the psychological state comes from two Latin words.The word “cognitio” is translated as “to know” or “to know”, and the word “dissonantia” – as “inconsistency.” Thus, cognitive dissonance is the inconsistency of something with our knowledge, some information that conflicts with existing patterns.

The simplest example of cognitive dissonance is a situation that most of us encountered in childhood.

• Parents tell us not to cross the road at a red light, and they insist on the importance of this rule.
• However, from time to time, they violate it on their own in our presence – and run across an empty or slightly busy road, without waiting for the green signal of the traffic light.
• Children’s consciousness at this moment experiences cognitive dissonance – existing attitudes conflict with practical experience.

We see situations of cognitive dissonance in everyday life very often. Heavy smokers talk about the fact that smoking is unhealthy, opponents of psychological abuse shout at their loved ones every day, beggars on the street at the end of the day often get into luxurious cars and drive them away.

Cognitive dissonance can be expressed in more complex ways. For example, many people work in an unloved job because of the attitudes they received in childhood – they realize the wishes of their parents, while experiencing a craving for a completely different profession. Some marry partners who have a certain set of “good” qualities, but inwardly strive for people of a completely different kind. In all such cases, cognitive dissonance is felt almost continuously, although the person cannot even explain what exactly is going wrong.

Cognitive dissonance situations can be dangerous to mental health and comfort. But there are also positive aspects in them – in some cases they stimulate personal development, since they force one to perceive new information and revise the prevailing patterns.

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90,000 Cognitive Dissonance – Meaning and Examples

Two mysterious and difficult words often plunged into a stupor those who heard them at an unexpected moment.

– I have a cognitive dissonance!

But what does this mean? We analyze smart words and explain them in simple language. So now let’s find out what it all means, how to remember and use it correctly.

So, cognitive dissonance comes from two Latin words: cognitio – “cognition” and dissonantia – “inconsistency.” In other words, it is some kind of internal disharmony or lack of comfort.

Cognitive dissonance in simple words

Now let’s explain cognitive dissonance in simple terms.What it is?

First, it is a mental state. Secondly, it is accompanied by internal discomfort of a person when he is faced with some conflicting ideas in his understanding.

For example, you are well acquainted with one person and do not even suspect that he has a twin brother. But then one fine day you meet with him, shake hands and suddenly find next to another, exactly the same person.

From the surprise (after all, you did not know about the twin), a sharp contradiction arises within you.It is this mental state that is called cognitive dissonance.

That is, in simple terms, cognitive dissonance is characterized by a conflict of previously formed ideas about something.

Theory of cognitive dissonance

If you want to truly be smart, and not just trump smart words, then you need to know both the etymology and the history of the origin of complex concepts.

So, in 1957, the American psychologist Leon Festinger proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance.This was very useful, because with its help in the science of psychology, you can explain various conflict situations. And this is very important for working with a person as a person.

This theory studies the influence of cognitive dissonance on a person, its types and ways of overcoming psychological discomfort.

Leon Festinger was even able to formulate two hypotheses of this remarkable theory:

1. As soon as a person feels the onset of dissonance, he will make every effort to overcome it, since it is the cause of great internal discomfort.
2. The second statement follows from the first. A person strives to avoid situations in which cognitive dissonance can increase with all his might.

That is, perhaps, the whole theory.

Examples of cognitive dissonance

In the end, in order to learn a new buzzword well, let’s give a few examples of dissonance.

For example, you met a person who seemed extremely kind, quiet and calm to you. He never raises his voice to those around him and behaves meekly with everyone, like a lamb.We are disposed towards him precisely because we perceive him as kind and good.

But here you happen to meet him in the park, walking with his wife. He hasn’t seen us yet, so he behaves very naturally. And then you notice with horror that he shouts at his wife, while calling her extremely bad words and does it very aggressively, waving his arms and distorting his face with genuine anger.

You, knowing him as a meek quiet man, experience a real cognitive dissonance, since his current behavior completely contradicts the idea that was formed about him earlier.

Or here’s another example.

You got a job in a very large company. It has about 1,000 employees and all have high salaries. That is, the CEO is, in fact, a millionaire.

One fine day you go into the kitchen, which is at the office, and notice how this same director, who manages colossal money, sweeps the floor. He just decided to clean up after his workers, who got a little dirty during lunch and forgot to sweep.

That internal conflict, contradiction or inconsistency in your understanding of the position of a person in the company and a broom for cleaning, will be called cognitive dissonance.

And the last example.

You are walking down the street and you see a beggar sitting near an underpass and begging for alms. You need to wait for your friend, and you take this opportunity to watch the beggar. Five minutes later, he suddenly rises, collects all his bags and alms, and heads to his own car.

The complete inconsistency of the idea of ​​homeless people owning cars will provoke a real cognitive dissonance inside.

How to remember?

To remember any complex term, you need to use it a couple of times in everyday life. When you meet with your friend, and he asks you to go to the nearest establishment for a good meal, tell him that due to your new convictions you have decided not to eat in city eateries.

After he emotionally demonstrates his surprise to you, with a sly smile, say:

– What, is there a cognitive dissonance, sir? I joked, let’s go eat it!

Together with the term described in the article, another word is often used, which we recommend to get acquainted with.This is ambivalence.

If you like to study buzzwords and their origins, as well as generally learn various interesting facts, subscribe to InteresnyeFakty.org on social networks.

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90,000 Understanding cognitive dissonance (and why most people get it)

Published: 2019-03-14

There is a popular children’s fairy tale about a fox and grapes.In the story, a hungry fox wanders through the forests in search of something to satisfy his stomach. Fortunately, the fox accidentally stumbled upon a vine with ripe and juicy grapes. Hunger pushes him, the fox rushes to the vine.

Unfortunately the grapes are hanging from a slightly tall branch. The fox backs away a few steps and leaps into the air, jaws clicking as he tries to reach for the grapes.

It’s a pity.

Grapes are simply not available to him. Not one who gave up easily, the fox tries to reach the grapes again, but despite his best efforts, he cannot reach the grapes.After several unsuccessful attempts, the fox finally gives up. As he wanders into the forest looking for something else to fill his stomach, the fox tells himself that the grapes were probably sour anyway. Why does he say this when he knows for sure that the grapes looked ripe and juicy?

Closer to home, away from the forests, we all had similar experiences. Almost everyone knows someone who has refused to quit smoking, even if that person knows that smoking is bad for him or her. Despite all the scientific evidence showing the effects of smoking, the person convinces himself that smoking is not so bad for him.

Other times, we do things that make us feel bad or guilty. For example, you can skip a workout at the gym to watch an extra episode of a TV show you’re watching on Netflix. Since you’ve made a commitment to going to the gym every day, you still feel guilty about watching TV.

Why is this happening? Why does the fox say that the grapes are probably sour? Why does your friend justify his smoking even by knowing it is bad for their health? Why do you feel guilty about skipping a workout at the gym to watch TV shows? The answer to all of these questions is known as cognitive dissonance.

WHAT IS COGNITIVE DESONANCE?

Cognitive dissonance refers to the feeling of discomfort that occurs when a person’s behavior or attitudes are contrary to their values ​​and beliefs, or when new information is presented to them that contradicts their beliefs. People like consistency. They need confidence that their values ​​and beliefs have always been correct. They always want to act according to their beliefs.When their beliefs are questioned, or when their behavior is not consistent with their beliefs, it creates discord (dissonance).

Since dissonance is an unpleasant feeling, a person must either change their behavior, their attitude, or their faith in order to reduce the dissonance and restore balance. Feelings of discomfort caused by cognitive dissonance can manifest as stress, anxiety, regret, shame, embarrassment, or feelings of negative self-worth.

This explains why you feel bad when you miss a workout in the gym.Since you think that going to the gym is good for your health and fitness, skipping the gym because of a TV show goes against your beliefs and makes you feel uncomfortable. Since a smoker friend knows that smoking is bad, but also loves to smoke, he tries to change his beliefs by convincing himself that smoking is not so bad. Unable to reach the grapes, the fox changes his attitude and convinces himself that the grapes were still sour.

Psychologist Leon Festinger was the first to investigate cognitive dissonance.Festinger infiltrated a cult whose members were convinced that the earth would be destroyed by flooding before dawn on December 21, 1954.

According to the cult leader, the true believers will be rescued by a flying saucer and taken to the planet known as Clarion. In anticipation of the flood, some of the cult’s most devoted members left their jobs, school and wives and gave away their money and property.

It is a pity for them, because the flood never happened.

However, this is where the fun begins.While the non-dedicated members who did not give their lives realized that the cult leader had made fools of them, the more dedicated members were convinced that their loyalty had saved the world. Rather than admitting that their belief was wrong, they found a way to explain events in a way that would preserve their belief system.

Through a series of experiments, Leon Festinger developed the theory of cognitive dissonance. According to the theory, every person has an innate desire to maintain an internal consistency of knowledge and to avoid a state of tension.

Each person has an inner need to keep their beliefs and behavior unchanged. Any inconsistency caused by conflicting beliefs and behaviors causes tension or disharmony. In the same way that hunger leads to activities aimed at reducing this hunger, stress caused by cognitive dissonance will lead to activities aimed at reducing this stress.

Since the prevention of cognitive dissonance is an innate desire, cognitive dissonance has a very strong influence on our actions and behavior.It affects our assessments, judgments and decisions. It also explains many common but irrational human tendencies such as justification, rationalization, and our ever-changing beliefs and attitudes.

For example, someone who buys expensive shoes from a luxury store, although he could have bought the same shoes at a lower price in another store, convinces himself that the cheaper shoes are fake in order to justify their purchase, even if not no difference. between the shoes.

Likewise, a person who believes that a good diet is good for health but loves unhealthy food will experience cognitive dissonance. To reduce stress, a person can reduce the amount of trash they consume each week. In this case, cognitive dissonance prompted her to change her lifestyle.

REASONS FOR Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance occurs when you find yourself in a situation of inconsistency between your values, beliefs, attitudes and actions.These situations can be triggered by:

Forced Compliance

Coercive Behavior refers to situations where a person is forced to perform actions that are not consistent with his or her beliefs. Consider an accountant who is ordered to cover up an incident of financial embezzlement by his boss. The accountant thinks this is wrong, but she may be forced to do so in order to keep her job.

This leads to cognitive dissonance.

Deciding

Decisions are part of life. You have to make hundreds of decisions every day. You may not be aware that decision making usually causes dissonance. This is because all decisions involve choosing between two or more alternatives. Each alternative has its own pros and cons. Choosing one alternative means that you give up all the advantages of the unelected alternative, while at the same time guaranteeing you the disadvantages of your chosen solution, what is known as the alternative cost of the solution.

This is what causes dissonance. The more attractive or similar the two alternatives are, the more you experience cognitive dissonance. To reduce this dissonance, people end up justifying their decisions even in situations where they clearly made the worst decision.

Suppose you have two jobs to choose from. One job is in a third world country, but well paid. Another job is in your hometown, but the salary is not quite what you would like.If you take a job in a third world country, you will make enough money in a few years to allow you to buy your dream home, but you will be away from your family and friends. If you take a job closer to home, you will be close to family and friends, but you won’t be able to afford your dream home.

This can cause a lot of dissonance as you want to be closer to friends and family and also want to be able to buy your dream home. Once you make a decision – no matter which one you choose – you find yourself justifying it.Your mind will find ways to support this decision so that you feel satisfied that you made the right decision.

Effort

People tend to value achievement based on the amount of effort it takes to achieve it. A man who had to save 10 years to buy a Ferrari will appreciate it more than the young man who made millions in cryptocurrencies in four months and bought himself the same Ferrari.

That which requires significant effort is valued higher because we would experience dissonance if we spent a lot of effort on only a minor achievement.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case in the world. Sometimes we put in a lot of effort just to get a sad result. As you might expect, this leads to dissonance. To reduce this dissonance, we either convince ourselves that the result was normal, that we really didn’t put in a lot of effort, or that the effort was enjoyable. This is called justifying the effort.

Getting new information

Another important cause of cognitive dissonance is getting information that is contrary to our beliefs.Consider the example of Festinger’s cultists from the 1950s. This group of people believed that there would be a flood and that a flying saucer would come to their aid. Come in the morning of December 21 – , there was no flood or UFO. This new information contradicted their beliefs, resulting in cognitive dissonance.

To relieve their discomfort, the cultists convinced themselves that the world was saved thanks to their faith and embarked on a new mission to spread information to the world.

FACTORS INFLUENCING COGNITIVE DISONANCE

The degree of cognitive dissonance experienced by a person varies depending on the specific situation that caused the dissonance and the circumstances associated with the situation.The following factors usually affect the intensity of cognitive dissonance:

• Personal cognitions, such as beliefs about oneself and personal values, lead to a higher degree of cognitive dissonance. People do not like to look stupid, dishonest, or unethical, so they will be very uncomfortable with any dissonance that threatens their self-esteem.
• The importance of cognition. Generally, if faith or value is highly valued, the resulting dissonance will be stronger.
• Inconsistency between a consonant (harmonious) belief and discordant (conflicting) thoughts, actions, or information. The greater the discrepancy, the greater the dissonance.
• Possibility of explaining dissonance in other ways. If there are several ways to explain the dissonance, then the intensity of the dissonance will be minimized.
• The ramifications of the decision, as well as the ease with which the consequences of the decision can be reversed. Permanent solutions with significant ramifications tend to cause more dissonance.

These factors determine the impact of dissonance and what we are willing to go to to reduce or eliminate discomfort. The stronger the dissonance, the more pressure to relieve tension.

HOW TO RECOGNIZE Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is natural, and everyone experiences a different degree of dissonance every day, depending on the different situations in which we find ourselves and the beliefs being challenged. Often the degree of dissonance is so slight that our minds resolve it, even if we don’t even know we are experiencing cognitive dissonance.

However, sometimes the feeling of discomfort becomes so intense that you become aware that something is wrong, even if you may not be aware that you are experiencing cognitive dissonance.

So how can you say with confidence that you are experiencing cognitive dissonance? Here are some common signs of dissonance:

• Feelings of disgust or discomfort : Have you ever felt discomfort in the false abdomen just before or immediately after doing something or making a decision? This is most often a sign of cognitive dissonance.
• Conflict Avoidance : Some people don’t like conflict or confrontation at all. When faced with a potentially conflict situation, they choose the path of least resistance, that is, avoid conflict. Conflict avoidance can also be a sign of cognitive dissonance. Rather than face the situation, they decide to avoid the mental anguish associated with the conflict.
• Ignoring facts : Another sure sign of cognitive dissonance is ignoring facts and making rational decisions that are wrong.For example, an obese person may continue to eat unhealthy foods even if they have been warned by their doctor that it will adversely affect their health.
• Rationalization : If you make a decision and then convince yourself that you made the right decision, this is an immediate indicator of cognitive dissonance.
• FOMO : This is known as the fear of missing out. How many times have you had to go to the club with friends knowing that you should be saving that money? The fear of missing out makes you do something contrary to your beliefs in order to look cool or impress your friends.This is where cognitive dissonance comes in.
• Shame : When we do something that goes against our beliefs, especially our personal beliefs, we end up feeling ashamed. Even after trying to rationalize what you did, you still regret it and may even want to hide your choices or actions from other people.
• Guilt : Doing things contrary to your beliefs is also often accompanied by feelings of guilt.You feel like you screwed up, that something else had to be done instead. Cognitive dissonance before such an action is usually expressed by anxiety just before the action, followed by feelings of guilt after the action. This is usually followed by an excuse when trying to reduce guilt.

WAYS TO REDUCE Cognitive Dissonance

When a conflict arises between a person’s beliefs, thoughts, opinions and actions, the theory of cognitive dissonance states that the person will take some steps to reduce the dissonance and associated discomfort.There are three typical responses to cognitive dissonance. These are:

Change Dissonant Beliefs

This is the easiest and most effective way to correct cognitive dissonance. Let’s consider your smoker friend. A friend is addicted to cigarettes, but the cigarette pack has a warning that smoking is harmful to health. This creates dissonance. He may be looking for new information that could refute the notion that smoking is harmful.

If, for example, he comes across an article claiming that research has not shown a definite link between smoking and lung cancer, such information may lead him to change the idea that smoking is harmful to his health, thereby reducing dissonance.

While changing a dissonant belief is the easiest way to reduce dissonance, it is not the most common way. This is because in most cases people are reluctant to change their beliefs, especially those fundamental beliefs that they have formed since childhood. This leads to a second reaction.

Change the conflicting action or behavior

If the person cannot find new information to help them change their beliefs, they can still resolve the dissonance by getting rid of the action or behavior that causes the dissonance.Let’s take another look at our smoker friend.

Assuming that he could not find any specific information that would cause him to change his belief that smoking is harmful to his health, our friend has the opportunity to quit smoking. Unfortunately, our friend is addicted to smoking, so it will not be easy for him to quit. Like our friend, many people cannot successfully eliminate dissonance by changing their actions or behavior. This is because changing well-learned behavior is not easy.

Sometimes controversial behavior or action can even benefit a person (for example, a person who cheats on an exam). In such cases, the person needs a way to eliminate dissonance without changing their beliefs or behavior, which leads us to the third method.

Decrease Conflicting Belief Value

This is the most common method for reducing cognitive dissonance. With this method, a person changes their perception of a conflicting belief or behavior.In other words, they find a way to rationalize conflicting cognitions.

Consider again our smoker friend. Without any information to help him change his beliefs and not being able to quit smoking, he could justify his smoking by saying that the world is full of health risks and he cannot really avoid them all.

Alternatively, he may tell himself that it is better to live a short life full of pleasure (smoking) than to live a long life without pleasure.In doing so, he belittles the belief that smoking is bad for his health.

REAL LIFE EXAMPLES OF Cognitive dissonance

Below are some examples of cognitive dissonance in everyday life:

• Imagine a situation where a person is being bullied by his partner. You will hear most of them say that they shouldn’t have ignored the red flags. This is a manifestation of cognitive dissonance. The person actually sees signs that the partner has some negative traits, but because the person is in love, he or she convinces himself that they are temporary or that the partner’s good traits outweigh these signs.For the same reason, people remain in aggressive relationships. For example, a woman who is hit by a lover after a year in a relationship experiences cognitive dissonance because she loves her partner but dislikes his behavior. To reduce dissonance, she may ignore the trauma and look at the positive qualities of her partner. In doing so, a woman prefers to stay with an aggressive partner.
• When asked to compare your current partner with an ex, most people will rate their current partner highly, regardless of the actual difference between the two partners.Once they make the decision to ditch their ex and go out with their current partner, people romanticize their current partner to make sure they make the right decision.
• Imagine a HR manager who is ordered to fire an employee for misconduct, even if there is no evidence of misconduct on the part of the employee. A HR manager’s lack of evidence and moral beliefs about right and wrong can lead to cognitive dissonance. If he does not follow the wishes of the board, the HR manager can put his own work on the line.This increases dissonance and can even stress the HR manager.
• Most people with addictions know they are bad for them, but they still want to deal with their addictions, which leads to cognitive dissonance. Many of them find ways to rationalize or justify their addictions, which makes it even more difficult for them to stop the addiction.

CONCLUSION

Cognitive dissonance is the feeling of discomfort we experience when our actions and behavior are not aligned with our beliefs and values.This feeling of discomfort is so great that cognitive dissonance can have a very significant impact on our decisions and the actions we take.

Cognitive dissonance can also be used to get us to do things we don’t want to.

Being aware of the impact of cognitive dissonance on our decisions and understanding how we can overcome it can help us make better decisions and help us make positive behavioral changes rather than continuing to lie to ourselves.

How to recognize and deal with a problem – Wikium Blog

Harmonious understanding of the external world and oneself is an obligatory state of every happy person. The most common mental health problems are cognitive dissonance, during which significant emotional discomfort can occur.

Cognitive dissonance results from the presence of some of the opposite cognitions in an individual.The latter means a variety of ideas, cognitions, conclusions, personal principles and emotions in response to everything that happens around. If a person exhibits dual cognitive components, then he will begin to experience significant mental discomfort, and his subconscious mind will figure out how to solve this problem.

Reasons for the appearance of cognitive dissonance

Psychology gives several main reasons that can cause this condition:

• logical conflict of a specific process or event with knowledge and understanding of it;
• discrepancy between the personal opinion of the individual and the judgments of many people in his environment;
• inconsistency between previous experience and recurring problem;
• Following the traditions of a particular culture or an established behavioral idea, contrary to the opinion of society at the expense of them.

If you ask an individual what the appearance of this dissonance actually means for him, and what feelings accompany it, then most likely this person will talk about the feeling of awkwardness and lack of confidence in his abilities. This is bad for the general state of mind, but it can also provoke serious problems with physical well-being over time. Because of this, a defense mechanism is often turned on, based on justifying one’s own act, thoughts, or a complete ignorance of the situation is activated.

An example of a similar state: a friend asked you to lend money, while you know that he is careless about funds, and he also loves gambling. You are aware of his unenviable financial situation; he owed your acquaintances more than once. But you still lent him money and now you feel great moral discomfort, because the experience gained earlier and new data now show that you acted rashly. To suppress this feeling, you begin to justify your decision with hope for the best, a manifestation of a generous soul or banal pity, you begin to avoid this topic in conversations with friends or family members.

How to eliminate cognitive dissonance?

It is not necessary to understand the manifestation of cognitive dissonance as something terrible, from which you need to get rid of immediately. Every person has the right to draw erroneous conclusions or actions, and data that comes from the outside may turn out to be erroneous. If you have a problem with cognitive dissonance, you can proceed as follows:

• Look at the situation from the other side. This theory is suitable for an overconfident person who finds it difficult to come to terms with the fact that he is wrong.You must admit that your own mistake or delusion is possible, and then the problem will go away on its own. For example, a negative outcome of an act is explained by a blunder. Then the situation is understood from a logical point of view, and the feeling of discomfort goes away.
• Change the behavioral model. This is necessary when you definitely know that your actions or lack of action will harm you or your family. For example, a girl has had a headache for a long time, she has insomnia, and she knows how ignoring these symptoms can affect her health, but for a long time she hesitates to go to the doctor because of fear or lack of free time.In this situation, cognitive dissonance is added to the symptoms of the disease, and the girl’s condition gradually becomes worse. After visiting the doctor, the feeling of psychological discomfort will pass, because she did as she saw fit.
• Stop thinking about the past. If before there was already a certain act that, in your understanding, went contrary to your values ​​and judgments, then you should not all the time revive this case in your memory. Consider the outcome of this decision as a simple life experience and try not to make such mistakes again.

The manifestation of cognitive dissonance should not always be perceived as a negative factor. Sometimes, only due to the emergence of this state, a person receives a significant impetus to further development, self-improvement. It is almost impossible in modern life to completely eliminate conflicting feelings, actions and cognitions, but sometimes you can really find a way to look at the situation from a different angle and restore the old harmony. For example, you can start by taking a Wikium course called “Thinking Development”.

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What does cognitive dissonance mean? When faced with this concept, most people are lost because they do not understand its meaning.

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28 october 2017

What does cognitive dissonance mean? When faced with this concept, most people are lost because they do not understand its meaning.However, it is quite common in our daily life. In most cases, so often that we do not even notice it. Let’s take a closer look at this issue.

Theory of cognitive dissonance

The theory of cognitive dissonance is called Festinger’s theory. This scientist was the first to describe the psychological state of an individual who is faced with a certain discrepancy in his idea of ​​an object or phenomenon. Festinger called the theory of cognitive dissonance such a state in which the usual idea of ​​the subject collapses.The person remains at a loss because he does not know what to do with new information, how to apply it and what should be done.

Causes of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance as a phenomenon develops for several reasons. These reasons are simple and explainable for those who think about the origin of certain concepts. The theory of cognitive dissonance is a topic that deserves detailed consideration and comprehensive study. As a rule, it is of interest to people close to psychology, who are engaged in personal development and self-improvement.There are enough examples from life.

Mismatch in expectations

This is the first and foremost cause of cognitive dissonance. The mismatch of expectations leads to the fact that a person begins to build in his head a search for an understanding of some issue , to look for an appropriate explanation. And this cannot always be done in a rational way. If a phenomenon or event that has occurred does not correspond to the expectations that are imposed by the participants in the action or simply by observers, then cognitive dissonance occurs.This phenomenon is also called mental shock. An example can be given this: on an exam, teachers always expect a better answer from a stronger student. If a mediocre student suddenly begins to show bright outstanding abilities, and an excellent student, for some unknown reason, cannot connect two words, then the certification commission is, to put it mildly, in great surprise. This is how cognitive dissonance is formed. His theory implies the presence of some kind of mental inconsistency, a disagreement in understanding the essence of things.

Difference of opinion

Such a phenomenon as a difference of opinions can also cause the formation of cognitive dissonance. The fact is that in a situation of dispute, each person is inclined to consider himself right. This is why the opponent’s theories are often perceived as wrong and in some cases even unworthy of attention. Thus, people protect their personal space, preserve their individuality. Loyalty to your own opinion allows you to remain yourself, not to adapt to your partner. Cognitive dissonance theory includes many examples that show how difficult it is for people to come to terms with the opposite judgment.

The theory of cognitive dissonance itself implies some disagreement with the views and judgments of the opponent. That is, a person deliberately or unwittingly begins to speak out against his interlocutor. Even if there is no open conflict between them, the tension in the interaction will still be felt. For years, some people do not express to each other the claims that they carry in their hearts.This position allows them not to openly conflict and not to express the accumulated discontent until the last moment. Of course, this approach cannot be called correct. Rather, it helps to lose trust, the relationship becomes dry and formal. An example is the situation when partners protect their personal space and at the same time learn something completely unexpected about each other. Here the cognitive dissonance is very clear.

Deviation from generally accepted standards

In the public consciousness, moral norms are of great importance.When someone tries to speak out against social attitudes, it is usually shock for those around them. It’s just that the consciousness of people is so arranged that it perceives only the information that it is able to comprehend, understand and accept. Any deviation from generally accepted norms is often perceived not just with hostility, but as something dangerous. People in most cases try to avoid unknown concepts. Subconsciously, they have a mechanism of internal psychological defense. An example of cognitive dissonance in this case is the perception of homosexual behavior by others.Most people simply cannot perceive such a phenomenon adequately. If this concerns their relatives, for many, this circumstance is a reason for shame. People do not dare to tell such details about their relatives in a circle of colleagues, fearing expressed misunderstanding and condemnation.

Social conflict

The theory of cognitive dissonance is extremely interesting for researchers in the field of self-improvement and personal growth. Modern psychological science examines this phenomenon from different angles, trying to understand its nature.Cognitive dissonance arises from social discord. Social inequality generates a lot of misunderstandings and the emergence of open discontent. In an effort to take care of their own well-being, people sometimes easily forget about those who are nearby.

Manifestations of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance manifests itself in a certain way in everyday reality. This phenomenon is quite common in our life. If people were more attentive even to their own feelings, they would be able to detect manifestations of a certain discrepancy between their own and others’ expectations.What are the ways of expressing the theory of cognitive dissonance?

Psychological discomfort

This phenomenon is a prerequisite for the appearance of cognitive dissonance. Psychological discomfort appears when a person is unable to satisfy his significant needs. The fact is that a person simply does not know how to cope with growing anxiety and despair. He makes some attempts to feel better, but this does not always succeed. Psychological discomfort becomes a clear manifestation of the discrepancy between internal expectations and the efforts made. People most often do not even try to analyze what is really happening to them, and do not understand their own feelings. Psychological discomfort often forces a person to look for some kind of excuse for their actions, to rely on strangers. In difficult situations, almost everyone feels extremely insecure.

Feeling confused

Cognitive dissonance is one of those phenomena that often begin to govern a person’s life. A feeling of confusion visits a person when he is faced with an incomprehensible situation for himself. Trying to solve it in his usual way, he often fails. Therefore, in a state of confusion, it can be so difficult to find the right solution. The way out for everyone can be in their own side. But when expectations do not meet, it is common for a person to get lost. In some cases, you lose faith in your own perspectives and opportunities. The feeling of confusion in many cases does not allow achieving meaningful results.A person begins to experience a feeling of self-doubt. Prospects and opportunities are seen as very vague, uncertain and even unrealistic. If each person learned to maintain a sense of inner balance, he could feel better under any circumstances. The feeling of confusion often prevents us from feeling the wonderful moments of life, coming closer to understanding the essence of our being.

Negative feelings

Not all feelings bring joy and happiness to a person.The emotional sphere is a system that has not yet been fully studied by leading experts in the field of psychology. It is known that positive emotions help prolong life, and negative feelings contribute to a deterioration in the quality of life. The state of a person changes depending on the emotions he experiences. Negative feelings often create cognitive dissonance. This is because emotions greatly affect people’s ability to hear and understand each other. There are many examples in life of the great influence that feelings have on the state of mind.A personality can develop fully only when it is not limited in its own emotions. Rejection and rejection of something makes it impossible to get closer to the desired result. The discrepancy between your own expectations leads to internal conflict, does not allow the person to feel happy and self-sufficient. The more a person tends to focus on his own shortcomings, the more he is susceptible to the negative effects of stress.

Thus, cognitive dissonance is a phenomenon in which a person cannot feel himself whole and self-sufficient .The more surprise, negative impressions we experience at the moment of emotional shock, the more difficult it becomes to believe in what is happening, to try to find the right solution.

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Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance abstract 2010 on psychology

Cognitive theories of motivation: L. Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance Contents Introduction Cognitive dissonance The emergence of dissonance The degree of dissonance Reducing dissonance Limits of increasing situational dissonance Conclusion of cognitive 4Past experience. For example, a person turns on a hot water tap and hopes not to get burned. The emergence of dissonance Dissonance occurs in situations when an individual learns new information or becomes an eyewitness of unpredictable events. Festinger argues that dissonance is a daily, constant phenomenon, since there are “very few things in the world that are completely black or completely white.” Festinger argues that dissonance occurs whenever a person is required to express an opinion or make a choice; “The dissonance between the awareness of the action being taken and those opinions known to the subject that testify in favor of a different scenario.”An example from everyday life: when entering a store, a person cannot choose between two equally well-known brands. The degree of dissonance The characteristics between which a dissonant relationship arises is the main factor determining the degree of dissonance, according to Festinger. If two elements are dissonant, then the degree of dissonance will be directly proportional to the importance of these cognitive elements. In other words, the more important the information is for a person, the greater the degree of dissonance will be.In real life, there are almost no systems of cognitive elements in which there would be no dissonance. For almost any action performed by a person, there can be at least one element that is in dissonant relation with this element. From this Festinger draws the following conclusion: the more one element has dissonant elements, the less the degree of dissonance. Conversely, if the proportion of dissonant elements is small, then the degree will be much greater. Reducing dissonance Dissonance acts in the same way as motives and needs, as it generates a desire to reduce or eliminate dissonance.And the intensity of this striving depends on the degree of dissonance. Festinger likens the desire to reduce dissonance to feeling hungry. If dissonance occurs between two elements, then this dissonance can be eliminated by changing one of these elements. “There are many possible ways in which this can be achieved, depending on the type of cognitive elements involved in a given relationship and on the overall cognitive content of a given situation.” Changes in behavioral cognitive elements If there is a dissonance between an element related to knowledge about the environment and a behavioral element, then it can only be eliminated by changing the behavioral element.In the simplest way, Festinger calls the change in action or feeling that this behavioral cognitive element represents, because our behavior and feelings are directly dependent on new information. For example, if a person is going for a walk on a sunny day and noticed that it starts raining, the only thing he can do is return home. But it is not always possible to reduce dissonance in this way, as this can lead to even more contradictions. Changing the cognitive elements of the environment This process is more difficult than the previous one, because the person must have “a sufficient degree of control over the environment.”If an element changes, and the idea of ​​it in the mind of an individual is unchanged, then means of ignoring or counteracting the real situation should be used. As an example, Festinger cites the following situation: “a person can change his opinion about a certain politician, even if his behavior and political situation remain the same.” Adding new cognitive elements This method is designed to reduce the degree of dissonance by adding new ones.