Cognitive dissonance occurs when there is an uncomfortable tension between two or more beliefs that are held simultaneously. This most commonly occurs when our attitudes and behavior do not align with our attitudes – we believe one thing, but act against those beliefs. Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Cognitive dissonance
In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, performs an action that is contradictory to one or more beliefs, ideas or values, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.
How and why to reduce cognitive dissonance?
- change one of the dissonant cognitions, such as changing one’s attitude;
- add consonant cognitions to reduce overall inconsistency, such as seeking information to explain one’s inconsistent behavior; and
- diminish the importance of cognition in dissonant situations, such as trivializing the dissonant behavior or the importance of the attitude.
How to resolve cognitive dissonance?
- Change your behavior. One way to reduce cognitive dissonance is to change a dissonant behavior. ...
- Change your beliefs. My friend, Paulanne Balch, M., says that our construction of “the way things are” is constantly being adjusted to relieve dissonance. ...
- Justify your beliefs and behavior. A good example of this is a person who spends money frivolously. ...
What is post purchase cognitive dissonance?
The cognitive dissonance that occurs after high-involvement decision-making can also be called post-purchase dissonance. Cognitive dissonance usually occurs with higher-involvement purchasing decisions. By definition, post-purchase dissonance is the uncomfortable feeling we just described when it occurs following a high-involvement decision.
What is cognitive dissonance defined?
[2] In an attempt to make sense of this pattern, Leon Festinger introduced the term cognitive dissonance which he defined as the distressing mental state in which people "find themselves doing things that don't fit with what they know or having opinions ...
What is cognitive dissonance in simple terms?
Cognitive dissonance describes the discomfort experienced when two cognitions are incompatible with each other. A cognition is a piece of knowledge, such as a: thought. attitude. personal value.
What are the 3 causes of cognitive dissonance?
Causes of cognitive dissonance include:Forced compliance behavior. Forced compliance is a situation in which a person is forced to perform an action that is inconsistent with their beliefs. ... Decision making. ... Effort.
What is an example of cognitive dissonance in everyday life?
Another common example of cognitive dissonance is the rationalization that takes place when people dieting “cheat.” How many times have you committed to healthy eating when a doughnut, muffin, or another delicious-looking food item threatened to take you off course? Maybe you thought, “Eh, it's only one doughnut.
What is the root cause of cognitive dissonance?
The CD causes tensions in our minds similar to guiltiness, bad conscience, remorse, regret, etc. The primary root cause is the consequence of our actions, secondly, our way to escape the situation by finding excuses or scapegoats, thirdly by our unreachable moral standards.
What are 7 signs of cognitive dissonance?
What Are The Signs You Might Be Experiencing Cognitive Dissonance?General discomfort that has no obvious or clear source.Confusion.Feeling conflicted over a disputed subject matter.People saying you're being a hypocrite.Being aware of conflicting views and/or desired but not know what to do with them.
What is an example of cognitive dissonance quizlet?
Example: i think exercising is good for you, but i wonder what we are having for dinner. - Happens when we have dissonant cognitions. - When we have inconsistency in our cognitions or when we have inconsistency in our behavior, then we experience cognitive dissonance.
What is an example of a dissonance?
For instance, the sound of a crying baby and a screaming person are dissonant sounds. These sounds are annoying and alarming to the listeners. In music, dissonance might make listeners feel uncomfortable; however, it helps to create a sense of tension in musical compositions.
What is an example of cognitive dissonance in the workplace?
For example, a HR manager who is asked to dismiss an employee for misconduct without appropriate evidence or with the evidence pointing against the actions being taken will experience significant cognitive dissonance.
Which of these situations would be most likely to produce dissonance?
According to cognitive dissonance theory, dissonance is most likely to occur when: an individual does something that is personally disagreeable.
What is cognitive dissonance quizlet?
Cognitive Dissonance. The discomfort that people feel when two cognitions (beliefs/attitudes) that they hold conflict, or when they behave in ways that are inconsistent with their conception of themselves.
What is one way a person can resolve cognitive dissonance?
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.
How do you break cognitive dissonance?
4 Ways to Address Cognitive DissonanceMindfulness. ... Challenge current beliefs. ... Consider the importance of dissonant thoughts. ... Justifying behavior. ... Induce effort. ... Provide choice. ... Provide a safe space and consider the use of relaxation techniques. ... Discussing discrepant behavior.More items...•
What is one way a person can resolve cognitive dissonance?
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.
How do you break cognitive dissonance?
4 Ways to Address Cognitive DissonanceMindfulness. ... Challenge current beliefs. ... Consider the importance of dissonant thoughts. ... Justifying behavior. ... Induce effort. ... Provide choice. ... Provide a safe space and consider the use of relaxation techniques. ... Discussing discrepant behavior.More items...•
Which is the best example of cognitive dissonance?
That feeling of mental discomfort about using plastic bags is an example of cognitive dissonance. This is because your beliefs are clashing with your actions or behavior. You believe that humans need to protect the environment, but you still use plastic bags. The internal conflict that this causes makes you feel bad.
Does Gaslighting cause cognitive dissonance?
Often through gaslighting, blame-shifting, projection, silent treatment, and other abuse tactics, the abuser creates in their victim a state of cognitive dissonance, or a doubting of the survivor's reality of what went down in the relationship.
How does cognitive dissonance affect people?
In the moment, cognitive dissonance can cause discomfort, stress, and anxiety. And the degree of these effects often depends on how much disparity there is between the conflicting beliefs, how much the beliefs mean to that person, as well as with how well the person copes with self-contradiction.
How can dissonance be reduced?
Dissonance can be reduced by changing existing beliefs, adding new beliefs, or minimizing the importance of the beliefs. Take, for instance, an example proposed by Festinger: A heavy smoker who knows smoking is bad for his health will experience dissonance because he continues to puff away.
What is cognitive dissonance?
Cognitive dissonance is a mental conflict that occurs when your beliefs don’t line up with your actions. It’s an uncomfortable state of mind when someone has contradictory values, attitudes, or perspectives about the same thing.
What did Festinger's theory show?
What Festinger’s theory showed was that people need consistency between their attitudes and behaviors —even though achieving that balance isn’t always accomplished in a rational way. Researchers have even found differences in brain activity during a state of cognitive dissonance.
What does it mean to be a hypocrite?
People saying you’re being a hypocrite. Being aware of conflicting views and/or desired but not know what to do with them. “Developing a sense of inner conflict is a good thing to notice because it can lead to rigid beliefs and sudden changes in beliefs and behaviors,” Dr. Brenner explains.
Can cognitive dissonance cause angst?
When cognitive dissonance goes unaddressed, it can not only cause angst, but it can lead to impaired decision-making. On the flip side, however, when cognitive dissonance is properly addressed, it can lead to better decision-making and greater self-awareness.
Which part of the brain is responsible for detecting internal conflicts?
Brain scans showed that decisions associated with higher levels of cognitive dissonance elicited a visible electrophysiological signal in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the area that monitors internal conflicts and mistakes.
What is cognitive dissonance?
The term cognitive dissonance is used to describe the mental discomfort that results from holding two conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes. People tend to seek consistency in their attitudes and perceptions, so this conflict causes feelings of unease or discomfort. This inconsistency between what people believe and how they behave motivates ...
How does cognitive dissonance affect people?
Cognitive dissonance can even influence how people feel about and view themselves, leading to negative feelings of self-esteem and self-worth. Because people want to avoid this discomfort, cognitive dissonance can have a wide range of effects. Dissonance can play a role in how people act, think, and make decisions.
Why is cognitive dissonance so uncomfortable?
People like to believe that they are logical, consistent, and good at making decisions. Cognitive dissonance can interfere with the perceptions people hold about themselves and their abilities, which is why it can often feel so uncomfortable and unpleasant.
What are the factors that influence dissonance?
The overall strength of the dissonance can also be influenced by several factors, including: 2 . The importance attached to each belief. Cognitio ns that are more personal, such as beliefs about the self, and highly valued tend to result in greater dissonance. The number of dissonant beliefs.
Why do people feel dissonance when faced with two similar choices?
When faced with two similar choices, people often are left with feelings of dissonance because both options are equally appealing. Once a choice has been made, however, people need to find a way to reduce these feelings of discomfort.
How do you know if you have dissonance?
Some signs that what you are feeling might be related to dissonance include: Feeling uncomfortable before doing something or making a decision. Trying to justify or rationalize a decision that you've made or an action you have taken.
Who first described cognitive dissonance?
In "A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance," Leon Festinger, the psychologist who first described this phenomenon, gave an example of how a person might deal with dissonance related to a health behavior by discussing individuals who continue to smoke, even though they know it is bad for their health.
How does cognitive dissonance affect people?
By bringing attention to the inconsistencies in our minds , cognitive dissonance may present an opportunity for growth. People who feel it could realize, for example, that they need to update their beliefs to reflect the truth, or change their behavior to better match the person they want to be.
What is cognitive dissonance?
The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people are averse to inconsistencies within their own minds. It offers one explanation for why people sometimes make an effort to adjust their thinking when their own thoughts, words, or behaviors seem to clash with each other.
Why do I feel uncomfortable when I tell a lie?
When someone tells a lie and feels uncomfortable about it because he fundamentally sees himself as an honest person, he may be experiencing cognitive dissonance. That is, there is mental discord related to a contradiction between one thought (in this case, knowing he did something wrong) and another (thinking that he is honest).
Is cognitive dissonance always experienced?
While cognitive dissonance is often described as something widely and regularly experienced, efforts to capture it in studies don ’t always work, so it could be less common than has been assumed. People do not necessarily experience discomfort in response to every apparent contradiction in their thoughts and beliefs.
How does eating habits affect health?
A man who learns that his eating habits raise his risk of illness feels the tension between his preferred behavior and the idea that he could be in danger. He might ease this feeling by telling himself that the health warning is exaggerated or, more productively, by deciding to take action to change his behavior.
Is hypocrisy a cognitive dissonance?
No. Hypocrisy involves a contradiction between a person’s supposed principles, beliefs, or character and who they really are or how they behave. Cognitive dissonance is the unpleasant mental state that may result if someone really does have certain beliefs but thinks or acts in a way that contradicts them.
What determines the degree of psychological dissonance caused by two conflicting cognitions?
Two factors determine the degree of psychological dissonance caused by two conflicting cognitions or by two conflicting actions: The importance of cognitions: the greater the personal value of the elements, the greater the magnitude of the dissonance in the relation.
What are the components of dissonance theory?
Ignore or deny information that conflicts with existing beliefs ("This doughnut is not a high-sugar food.") Three cognitive biases are components of dissonance theory. The bias that one does not have any biases, the bias that one is "better, kinder, smarter, more moral and nicer than average" and confirmation bias.
How does cognitive dissonance affect motivation?
The management of cognitive dissonance readily influences the apparent motivation of a student to pursue education. The study Turning Play into Work: Effects of Adult Surveillance and Extrinsic Rewards on Children's Intrinsic Motivation (1975) indicated that the application of the effort justification paradigm increased student enthusiasm for education with the offer of an external reward for studying; students in pre-school who completed puzzles based upon an adult promise of reward were later less interested in the puzzles than were students who completed the puzzle-tasks without the promise of a reward.
Why does the fox not want grapes?
In the fable of “The Fox and the Grapes”, by Aesop, on failing to reach the desired bunch of grapes, the fox then decides he does not truly want the fruit because it is sour. The fox's act of rationalization (justification) reduced his anxiety over the cognitive dissonance from the desire he cannot realise.
What is cognitive dissonance?
t. e. In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, and values, and things in the environment. Cognitive dissonance is typically experienced as psychological stress when they participate in an action ...
How does dissonance affect persuasion?
First, the person may downplay the importance of the dissonant thought. Second, the person may attempt to outweigh the dissonant thought with consonant thoughts. Lastly, the person may incorporate the dissonant thought into their current belief system. Dissonance plays an important role in persuasion.
How does a contradiction affect a person's belief?
The contradiction of a belief, ideal, or system of values causes cognitive dissonance that can be resolved by changing the challenged belief, yet, instead of effecting change , the resultant mental stress restores psychological consonance to the person by misperception, rejection, or refutation of the contradiction, seeking moral support from people who share the contradicted beliefs or acting to persuade other people that the contradiction is unreal.
How does attitude change take place?
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 ...
What is the dissonance of Aronson's revision?
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.
What is the rub of making a decision?
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).
What is critical evaluation?
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.
How much did the participants pay to evaluate the experiment?
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.
What were female participants informed about?
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.
Why were fringe members more inclined to re-interpret evidence?
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 does cognitive dissonance affect the workplace?
People are often pushed into tolerating, supporting, and executing the task which completely conflicts with their personal sense of right and wrong, values, and beliefs. For example, a human resources manager is asked to dismiss an employee for misconduct without enough evidence proving, or with evidence pointing in the opposite direction. The correlation between the manager’s values of right and wrong, and the lack of evidence will cause cognitive dissonance. This dissonance will cause high-stress levels because he may lose his job if he doesn’t fire this employee, although it may not be ethically right to fire him.
What are some examples of cognitive dissonance?
One famous example of cognitive dissonance is the fable of the Fox and the Grapes, by Aesop. In the story, the fox sees high-hanging grapes and wants desperately to be able to eat them. However, once he finds that he cannot reach them, he then convinces himself that the grapes are likely unripe and sour. Aesop claims that the moral of the story is that “a fool despises what he cannot get.” The cognitive dissonance theory claims that the fox diminished his cognitive dissonance by convincing himself that his object of desire is worthless, and adapted his internal thoughts to the situation. Cognitive dissonance can occur in all forms of everyday life. It exists in relationships, both abusive and non- abusive, the workplace, as a consumer, and emotionally. Here are a few examples:
Where is anger associated with?
Cognitive dissonance and anger are both associated with neural activity in the left frontal cortex of the brain, according to a study done in 2003. Furthermore, anger motivates neural activity in the left frontal cortex. The correlation between anger and cognitive dissonance happens when a person takes control of the social situation causing cognitive dissonance.
What did the Seekers believe?
Festinger developed the theory to explain how members of a cult, The Seekers, were persuaded by their leader, Mrs. Keech, that the Earth was going to be destroyed on December 21 and that only those people who were part of the cult would be rescued by aliens and saved from Earth’s demise. Festinger joined the cult and found that the commitment from the other members actually increased after the world wasn’t destroyed. The dissonance occurs in the reality that the world wasn’t destroyed, so they revised their thoughts to line up with the facts: the aliens had saved the world.
Why do good people cheat?
“Why do good people cheat?” According to a study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, cheaters feel bad about what they’ve done, but they convince themselves that their infidelity is uncharacteristic or out-of-the-ordinary. Essentially, cheaters minimize the significance of what they did as a coping mechanism. For example, Ted from “How I Met Your Mother” always thought about and flirted with Robin, even though he was engaged to Victoria. Ted could try to explain away his flirtations and thoughts by saying that he never acted on them so it’s not cheating. Consequently, because they diminished how they feel towards their infidelity, they may not learn from their mistakes and be more able to cheat again in the future.
What Is Cognitive Dissonance?
Signs of Cognitive Dissonance
- Everyone experiences cognitive dissonance to some degree, but that doesn't mean that it is always easy to recognize. Some signs that what you are feeling might be related to dissonance include: 1. Feeling uncomfortable before doing something or making a decision 2. Trying to justify or rationalize a decision that you've made or an action you have taken 3. Feeling embarrassed o…
Causes of Cognitive Dissonance
- There are a number of different situations that can create conflicts that lead to cognitive dissonance.
What Influences Cognitive Dissonance?
- The degree of dissonance people experience can depend on a few different factors, including how highly they value a particular belief and the degree to which their beliefs are inconsistent. The overall strength of the dissonance can also be influenced by several factors, including:2 1. The importance attached to each belief. Cognitions that are more personal, such as beliefs about th…
Impact of Cognitive Dissonance
- Cognitive dissonance can make people feel uneasy and uncomfortable, particularly if the disparity between their beliefs and behaviors involves something that is central to their sense of self. For example, behaving in ways that are not aligned with your personal values may result in intense feelings of discomfort. Your behavior contradicts not just the beliefs you have about the world, b…
Dealing with Cognitive Dissonance
- When there are conflicts between cognitions (thoughts, beliefs, opinions), people will take steps to reduce the dissonance and feelings of discomfort. They can go about doing this a few different ways, such as: 1. Adding more supportive beliefs that outweigh dissonant beliefs. People who learn that greenhouse emissions result in global warming might experience feelings of dissonan…
Potential Pitfalls of Cognitive Dissonance
- Sometimes, the ways that people resolve cognitive dissonance can contribute to unhealthy behaviors or poor decisions. In "A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance," Leon Festinger, the psychologist who first described this phenomenon, gave an example of how a person might deal with dissonance related to a health behavior by discussing individuals who continue to smoke, e…
History of Cognitive Dissonance
- Leon Festinger first proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance centered on how people try to reach internal consistency.3 He suggested that people have an inner need to ensure that their beliefs and behaviors are consistent. Inconsistent or conflicting beliefs lead to disharmony, which people strive to avoid. In his 1957 book, "A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance," Festinger explained…
A Word from Verywell
- Cognitive dissonance plays a role in many value judgments, decisions, and evaluations. Becoming aware of how conflicting beliefs impact the decision-making process is a great way to improve your ability to make faster and more accurate choices.4
Overview
In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environment. Cognitive dissonance is typically experienced as psychological stress when persons participate in an action that goes against one or more of those things. According to this theory, when two actions or ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, people do …
Relations among cognitions
To function in the reality of society, human beings continually adjust the correspondence of their mental attitudes and personal actions; such continual adjustments, between cognition and action, result in one of three relationships with reality:
1. Consonant relationship: Two cognitions or actions consistent with each other (e.g. not wanting to become drunk when out to dinner and ordering water rather than wine)
Reduction
Cognitive dissonance theory proposes that people seek psychological consistency between their expectations of life and the existential reality of the world. To function by that expectation of existential consistency, people continually reduce their cognitive dissonance in order to align their cognitions (perceptions of the world) with their actions.
The creation and establishment of psychological consistency allows the person affected with co…
Paradigms
There are four theoretic paradigms of cognitive dissonance, the mental stress people experienced when exposed to information that is inconsistent with their beliefs, ideals or values: Belief Disconfirmation, Induced Compliance, Free Choice, and Effort Justification, which respectively explain what happens after a person acts inconsistently, relative to their intellectual perspectives; what happens aft…
Examples
Meat-eating can involve discrepancies between the behavior of eating meat and various ideals that the person holds. Some researchers call this form of moral conflict the meat paradox. Hank Rothgerber posited that meat eaters may encounter a conflict between their eating behavior and their affections toward animals. This occurs when the dissonant state involves recognition of one's be…
Applications
The management of cognitive dissonance readily influences the apparent motivation of a student to pursue education. The study Turning Play into Work: Effects of Adult Surveillance and Extrinsic Rewards on Children's Intrinsic Motivation (1975) indicated that the application of the effort justification paradigm increased student enthusiasm for education with the offer of an external reward for studying; students in pre-school who completed puzzles based upon an adult promis…
Alternative paradigms
In Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena (1967), the social psychologist Daryl Bem proposed the self-perception theory whereby people do not think much about their attitudes, even when engaged in a conflict with another person. The Theory of Self-perception proposes that people develop attitudes by observing their own behaviour, and …
Neuroscience findings
Technological advances are allowing psychologists to study the biomechanics of cognitive dissonance.
The study Neural Activity Predicts Attitude Change in Cognitive Dissonance (Van Veen, Krug, etc., 2009) identified the neural bases of cognitive dissonance with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); the neural scans of the par…