When you’re stressed or anxious, you could affect your overall mental, emotional and physical health. By recognizing that the discomfort is just a cognitive process, and not a sign that your new beliefs are wrong. Many people get away with sneaking around for years because their partner “refuses to see the signs.” Really, they are failing to let in ideas that oppose what they currently think about their partner. The first signs of betrayal may conjure up the idea of the partner cheating, but it’s too uncomfortable to think that their partner could love them and could also be unfaithful. So the person decides to push away thoughts of infidelity until it’s impossible to deny the partner’s betrayal. To resolve the cognitive dissonance, they disregarded the new evidence and stuck with their previous belief.
- For participants who were not asked to lie, and for participants who lied in exchange for $20, they tended to report that the study indeed wasn’t very interesting.
- It either brings about distress or has the potential to trigger individualized defense mechanisms as a coping strategy.
- People typically resolve this by focusing on the positive aspects of their decision, thinking, “I made the best choice with the information I had.” This helps them to feel more confident and satisfied with their choice.
Health Categories to Explore
- This theory has been discussed since the early days of Festinger’s proposal of cognitive dissonance.
- Set healthy boundaries from the beginning and reinstate them if someone crosses a line.
- 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.
- If that same person believes the COVID-19 pandemic is real but refuses to wear a mask, their values and behaviors would contradict each other.
- Cognitive dissonance theory states that our minds go through a process of confusion and logical conflict called cognitive dissonance when faced with new information that is incongruous with existing information.
Being paid $20 provides a reason for turning pegs, and there is, therefore, no dissonance. 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. For example, when people smoke (behavior) and they know that smoking causes cancer (cognition), they are in a state of cognitive dissonance. Experiencing cognitive dissonance can be very distressing because we prefer for our world to make sense. Hence, we frequently engage in mental acrobatics in response to cognitive dissonance to make things make sense again.
How to Resolve Cognitive Dissonance
- Such cognitions can be about behaviors, perceptions, attitudes, emotions, and beliefs.
- To reduce their dissonance, climate change deniers may reject the evidence or find ways to justify their denial, such as claiming that the data is manipulated.
- Negative consequences of cognitive dissonance reduction include procrastination or acting seemingly contrary to our values and beliefs.
- Hence, when it is time for us to actually lie, we experience dissonance and restlessness, and it can also lead to a guilty conscience.
They might tell themselves, “I work better under pressure,” to justify their procrastination. This excuse helps alleviate their immediate discomfort but doesn’t solve the underlying issue. 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.
Relations among cognitions
And it can be incredibly problematic in some instances, says Alauna Curry, MD, a psychiatrist focused on trauma recovery who is based in Houston. “Any person would want to be able to say, ‘I have a belief system, and I govern myself accordingly,’” she says. Cognitive dissonance can be something you don’t even notice because your brain sorts it out quickly, such as when someone bumps into you on your way to work and you spill your coffee. You may initially feel pretty upset — ”just one more daily annoyance.” But then you rationalize. “You might say to yourself that it’s okay because there wasn’t much left and, anyway, there’s coffee usually brewing in the office kitchen,” Dr. Noulas says. In other words, it seems that everyone does experience dissonance from time to time—but what causes dissonance for one person might not for someone else.
Health News
Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors. Another example could be a company that promotes itself as environmentally conscious, but engages in environmentally damaging practices. This can cause dissonance for employees who believe in environmental sustainability. It’s normal to feel uncomfortable when you have to “unlearn” this information or open your mind to allow different theories to enter. It’s not unusual to feel that one or more of your teachers may be wrong or maybe even turn some of the blame on yourself.
An example of cognitive dissonance theory at the workplace could be an employee who is against working overtime, but due to a work emergency, they are forced to work late. To reduce their dissonance, the employee may find ways to justify their behavior, cognitive dissonance addiction such as telling themselves that the work emergency was important or that they will be compensated for the overtime. When individuals make costly purchases, they may experience dissonance if they later realize that the product was not worth the expense.
Climate Change Denial
According to this theory, cognitive dissonance describes the discomfort experienced when two cognitions are incompatible with each other. Sometimes, the ways that people resolve cognitive dissonance contribute to unhealthy behaviors or poor decisions. Sometimes learning new information can lead to feelings of cognitive dissonance. For example, if you engage in a behavior that you later learn is harmful, it can lead to feelings of discomfort. People sometimes deal with this by finding ways to justify their behaviors or findings ways to discredit or ignore new information. 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).
Action–motivation model
Creating an environment that supports healthy choices can help your employees align their behaviors with your company’s promoted values. The theory suggests that resolving cognitive dissonance is crucial for maintaining mental equilibrium. People are driven to reduce this dissonance by aligning their thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors in ways that minimize internal conflict. Cognitive dissonance is an internal conflict that occurs in a person when their conflicting beliefs collide. According to Willingham (2014), cognitive dissonance “literally means having mental conflicts” (p. 151).
- There are five common types of cognitive dissonance, including post-decision dissonance, belief disconfirmation, effort justification, insufficient justification, and induced compliance.
- While it can cause discomfort, it is also an opportunity for personal growth and transformation.
- 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.
- Cognitive dissonance occurs when information challenges your beliefs, and you choose to ignore it or even consider it.
- For example, a person may believe that drinking cola is bad for their health but still has one every day.