"In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information and the mental toll of it."
The mental discomfort people experience when their beliefs or attitudes conflict with their behavior.
Definition and Symptoms of Cognitive Dissonance: A psychological theory that refers to the mental discomfort experienced by a person who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or ideas.
The History of Cognitive Dissonance: The origins of the concept, the researchers who pioneered their studies and the major discoveries in the field.
Theories of Cognitive Dissonance: Various models and theoretical frameworks that explain how cognitive dissonance arises, how it affects behavior, and how it can be resolved.
The Role of Emotions in Cognitive Dissonance: How positive and negative emotions can exacerbate or alleviate cognitive dissonance, leading to different outcomes, including attitude and behavior change.
Cognitive Dissonance and Decision Making: How cognitive dissonance can influence the decision-making process, including selection, evaluation, and retention of information.
Cognitive Dissonance and Social Influence: How social influence, such as peer pressure, authority figures, and groupthink, can exacerbate cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive Dissonance and Personal Beliefs: How cognitive dissonance can arise when one's beliefs or values conflict with societal norms or expectations.
Cognitive Dissonance and Self-Justification: How individuals engage in self-justification to reduce cognitive dissonance and maintain their beliefs, values, and behaviors.
Cognitive Dissonance and persuasion: How cognitive dissonance is used as a persuasive tool, including the use of counter-attitudinal advocacy or the need for consistency.
Cognitive Dissonance and Cognitive Consistency: The importance of cognitive consistency, why it matters, and how it can be maintained.
Cognitive Dissonance and Motivation: How motivation and the goals individuals pursue can affect cognitive dissonance, and how goal-setting can impact behavior.
Cognitive Dissonance and Attitude Change: How cognitive dissonance can result in attitude or behavior change, and how this change can be measured and evaluated.
Cognitive Dissonance in Everyday Life: Various real-world situations that illustrate cognitive dissonance, including marketing, politics, and social media.
Cognitive Dissonance and Culture: How different cultural norms and values can influence cognitive dissonance and how it is resolved.
Cognitive Dissonance and Neuropsychology: How cognitive dissonance manifests in the brain and its neurological underpinnings.
Paradigmatic dissonance: It is the discomfort that occurs when people encounter information that conflicts with their previously held beliefs or worldview. For instance, a person who considers themselves a die-hard liberal may experience dissonance when they come across information that suggests conservative policies might be beneficial.
Decisional dissonance: People tend to experience dissonance after making a decision that evokes two or more conflicting beliefs or values. For example, imagine a vegetarian who has decided to eat meat for health reasons; they may experience discomfort because this action challenges their previous belief system.
Effort-based dissonance: This is the discomfort that arises when people invest significant amounts of time, money, or energy in a decision or action that fails to yield expected results. For instance, imagine a person who has spent countless hours studying for an exam but fails to pass it. They may feel cognitive dissonance because their effort did not produce the desired outcome.
Induced dissonance: This type of cognitive dissonance occurs when people intentionally seek out information or experiences that challenge their pre-existing beliefs or values. It can be a way of addressing cognitive dissonance that has arisen in other areas of their lives.
Justification dissonance: This is the discomfort that arises when people are aware of a discrepancy between what they believe and how they behave. For example, imagine someone who believes in animal rights and eats meat. They may experience dissonance when confronted with the fact that their behavior is not consistent with their beliefs.
Hypocrisy dissonance: This form of cognitive dissonance occurs when people advocate for a certain behavior but do not practice it themselves. For instance, imagine a politician who champions environmentalism but has a terrible track record in implementing green policies in their own life or career.
Selective exposure dissonance: This is the discomfort that arises when people are exposed to information that conflicts with their pre-existing beliefs or worldview. They may try to avoid such information or seek out only supportive arguments, ideas, or opinions.
Confirmation dissonance: People tend to avoid or dismiss inconvenient evidence that challenges their beliefs, values, or opinions. This can lead to cognitive dissonance, whereby people continue to cling to their pre-existing beliefs despite the presence of ample contradictory evidence.
"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."
"People do all in their power to change them until they become consistent."
"The discomfort is triggered by the person's belief clashing with new information perceived."
"The individual tries to find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort."
"Leon Festinger proposed that human beings strive for internal psychological consistency to function mentally in the real world."
"A person who experiences internal inconsistency tends to become psychologically uncomfortable and is motivated to reduce the cognitive dissonance."
"They tend to make changes to justify the stressful behavior (rationalization) or by avoiding circumstances and contradictory information likely to increase the magnitude of the cognitive dissonance (confirmation bias)."
"Coping with the nuances of contradictory ideas or experiences is mentally stressful."
"It requires energy and effort to sit with those seemingly opposite things that all seem true."
"Festinger argued that some people would inevitably resolve the dissonance by blindly believing whatever they wanted to believe."
"A person's actions can be an item of information that triggers cognitive dissonance."
"Individuals tend to change their cognitions or avoid contradictory information to reduce psychological discomfort."
"Feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environment are examples of items that can contribute to cognitive dissonance."
"The discomfort is triggered by the person's belief clashing with new information perceived."
"Festinger proposed that individuals strive for internal consistency and may make changes to justify their behavior or avoid contradictory information."
"Cognitive dissonance is typically experienced as psychological stress and can be mentally tolling."
"Confirmation bias is one way individuals cope with cognitive dissonance, by avoiding contradictory information likely to increase the magnitude of the cognitive dissonance."
"When actions or ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, people try to change them until they become consistent."