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Cognitive dissonance
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Psychological stress experienced by an individual who holds two or more
contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time
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In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance occurs when a person
holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, or
participates in an action that goes against one of these three, and
experiences psychological stress because of that. When two actions or
ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, people will
do all in their power to change them until they become consistent.^[1]
The discomfort is triggered by the person's belief clashing with new
evidence (facts) perceived, wherein they will try to find a way to
resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort.^[2]^[1]
In A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (1957), 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, either by adding new parts to the
cognition causing the psychological dissonance or by avoiding
circumstances and contradictory information likely to increase the
magnitude of the cognitive dissonance.^[2]
[ ]
Contents
* 1 Relations among Cognitions
+ 1.1 Magnitude of dissonance
* 2 Reduction
* 3 Paradigms
+ 3.1 Belief disconfirmation
+ 3.2 Induced compliance
+ 3.3 Free choice
+ 3.4 Effort justification
* 4 Examples
+ 4.1 Unpleasant medical screenings
+ 4.2 Related phenomena
* 5 Applications
+ 5.1 Education
+ 5.2 Psychotherapy
+ 5.3 Social behavior
+ 5.4 Consumer behavior
+ 5.5 Politics
+ 5.6 Communication
* 6 Alternative paradigms
+ 6.1 Self-perception theory
+ 6.2 Balance theory
+ 6.3 Cost-benefit analysis
+ 6.4 Self-discrepancy theory
+ 6.5 Averse consequences vs. inconsistency
+ 6.6 Criticism of the free-choice paradigm
+ 6.7 Action-motivation model
+ 6.8 Predictive dissonance model
* 7 Neuroscience findings
+ 7.1 Visualization
+ 7.2 Emotional correlations
+ 7.3 The psychology of mental stress
+ 7.4 Contradictions to the theory
* 8 See also
* 9 References
* 10 Further reading
* 11 External links
Relations among Cognitions[edit]
To function in the reality of a modern 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:^[2]
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)
2. Irrelevant relationship: two cognitions or actions unrelated to
each other (e.g. not wanting to become drunk when out and wearing a
shirt)
3. Dissonant relationship: two cognitions or actions inconsistent with
each other (e.g. not wanting to become drunk when out, but then
drinking more wine)
Magnitude of dissonance[edit]
The term "magnitude of dissonance" refers to the level of discomfort
caused to the person. This can be caused by the relationship between
two differing internal beliefs, or an action that is incompatible with
the beliefs of the person.^[3] Two factors determine the degree of
psychological dissonance caused by two conflicting cognitions or by two
conflicting actions:
1. The importance of cognitions: the greater the personal value of the
elements, the greater the magnitude of the dissonance in the
relation. When the value of importance of the two dissonant items
are high, it is difficult to determine which action or thought is
correct. Both have had a place of truth, at least subjectively, in
the mind of the person. Therefore, when the ideals or actions now
clash, it is difficult for the individual to decide which takes
priority.
2. Ratio of cognitions: the proportion of dissonant-to-consonant
elements. There is a level of discomfort within each person that is
acceptable for living. When a person is within that comfort level,
the dissonant factors do not interfere with functioning. However,
when there is an abundance of dissonant factors and not enough that
are in line with each other, we go through a process to regulate
and bring the ratio back to an acceptable level. Once the choice
has been made to keep one of the dissonant factors, the other is
forgotten quickly in order to restore peace of mind.^[4]
There will always be some magnitude of dissonance within a person as
they go about making decisions due to the changing quantity and quality
of knowledge and wisdom that they gain. The magnitude itself is a
subjective measurement since the reports are self relayed, and there is
no objective way as of yet to get a clear measurement of the level of
discomfort.^[5]
Reduction[edit]
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 afflicted with cognitive dissonance to lessen mental stress by
actions that reduce the magnitude of the dissonance, realised either by
changing with or by justifying against or by being indifferent to the
existential contradiction that is inducing the mental stress.^[2] In
practice, people reduce the magnitude of their cognitive dissonance in
four ways:
1. Change the behavior or the cognition ("I'll eat no more of this
doughnut.")
2. Justify the behavior or the cognition, by changing the conflicting
cognition ("I'm allowed to cheat my diet every once in a while.")
3. Justify the behavior or the cognition by adding new behaviors or
cognitions ("I'll spend thirty extra minutes at the gymnasium to
work off the doughnut.")
4. 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.^[6]
That a consistent psychology is required for functioning in the real
world also was indicated in the results of The Psychology of Prejudice
(2006), wherein people facilitate their functioning in the real world
by employing human categories (i.e. sex and gender, age and race, etc.)
with which they manage their social interactions with other people.
The study Patterns of Cognitive Dissonance-reducing Beliefs Among
Smokers: A Longitudinal Analysis from the International Tobacco Control
(ITC) Four Country Survey (2012) indicated that smokers use
justification beliefs to reduce their cognitive dissonance about
smoking tobacco and the negative consequences of smoking it.^[7]
1. Continuing smokers (Smoking and no attempt to quit since the
previous round of study.)
2. Successful quitters (Quit during the study and did not use tobacco
from the time of the previous round of study.)
3. Failed quitters (Quit during the study, but relapsed to smoking at
the time of the study.)
To reduce cognitive dissonance, the participant smokers adjusted their
beliefs to correspond with their actions:
1. Functional beliefs ("Smoking calms me down when I am stressed or
upset."; "Smoking helps me concentrate better."; "Smoking is an
important part of my life." and "Smoking makes it easier for me to
socialize.")
2. Risk-minimizing beliefs ("The medical evidence that smoking is
harmful is exaggerated."; "One has to die of something, so why not
enjoy yourself and smoke?" and "Smoking is no more risky than many
other things people do.")^[8]
Paradigms[edit]
There are four theoretic paradigms of cognitive dissonance, the mental
stress people suffer 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
his or her intellectual perspectives; what happens after a person makes
decisions and what are the effects upon a person who has expended much
effort to achieve a goal. Common to each paradigm of
cognitive-dissonance theory is the tenet: People invested in a given
perspective shall--when confronted with contrary evidence--expend great
effort to justify retaining the challenged perspective.
Belief disconfirmation[edit]
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.^[9]^[10]
The early hypothesis of belief contradiction presented in When Prophecy
Fails (1956) reported that faith deepened among the members of an
apocalyptic religious cult, despite the failed prophecy of an alien
spacecraft soon to land on Earth to rescue them from earthly
corruption. At the determined place and time, the cult assembled; they
believed that only they would survive planetary destruction; yet the
spaceship did not arrive to Earth. The confounded prophecy caused them
acute cognitive-dissonance: Had they been victims of a hoax? Had they
vainly donated away their material possessions? To resolve the
dissonance between apocalyptic, end-of-the-world religious beliefs and
earthly, material reality, most of the cult restored their
psychological consonance by choosing to believe a less
mentally-stressful idea to explain the missed landing: that the aliens
had given planet Earth a second chance at existence, which, in turn,
empowered them to re-direct their religious cult to environmentalism
and social advocacy to end human damage to planet Earth. On overcoming
the confounded belief by changing to global environmentalism, the cult
increased in numbers by proselytism.^[11]
The study of The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox
Indifference (2008) reported the belief contradiction occurred to the
Chabad Orthodox Jewish congregation who believed that their Rebbe
(Menachem Mendel Schneerson) was the Messiah. When he died of a stroke
in 1994, instead of accepting that their Rebbe was not the Messiah,
some of the congregation proved indifferent to that contradictory fact
and continued claiming that Schneerson was the Messiah and that he
would soon return from the dead.^[12]
Induced compliance[edit]
See also: Forced compliance theory
After performing dissonant behavior (lying) a person might find
external, consonant elements. Therefore, a snake oil salesman might
find a psychological self-justification (great profit) for promoting
medical falsehoods, but, otherwise, might need to change his beliefs
about the falsehoods.
In the Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance (1959), the
investigators Leon Festinger and Merrill Carlsmith asked students to
spend an hour doing tedious tasks; e.g. turning pegs a quarter-turn, at
fixed intervals. The tasks were designed to induce a strong, negative,
mental attitude in the subjects. Once the subjects had done the tasks,
the experimenters asked one group of subjects to speak with another
subject (an actor) and persuade that impostor-subject that the tedious
tasks were interesting and engaging. Subjects of one group were paid
twenty dollars ($20); those in a second group were paid one dollar ($1)
and those in the control group were not asked to speak with the
imposter-subject.^[13]
At the conclusion of the study, when asked to rate the tedious tasks,
the subjects of the second group (paid $1) rated the tasks more
positively than did the subjects in the first group (paid $20) and than
did the subjects of the control group; the responses of the paid
subjects were evidence of cognitive dissonance. The researchers,
Festinger and Carlsmith, proposed that the subjects experienced
dissonance between the conflicting cognitions. "I told someone that the
task was interesting" and "I actually found it boring." The subjects
paid one dollar were induced to comply, compelled to internalize the
"interesting task" mental attitude because they had no other
justification. The subjects paid twenty dollars were induced to comply
by way of an obvious, external justification for internalizing the
"interesting task" mental attitude and experienced a lesser degree of
cognitive dissonance.^[13]
Forbidden Behaviour paradigm In the Effect of the Severity of Threat on
the Devaluation of Forbidden Behavior (1963), a variant of the
induced-compliance paradigm, by Elliot Aronson and Carlsmith, examined
self-justification in children.^[14] Children were left in a room with
toys, including a greatly desirable steam shovel, the forbidden toy.
Upon leaving the room, the experimenter told one-half of the group of
children that there would be severe punishment if they played with the
steam-shovel toy and told the second half of the group that there would
be a mild punishment for playing with the forbidden toy. All of the
children refrained from playing with the forbidden toy (the steam
shovel).^[14]
Later, when the children were told that they could freely play with any
toy they wanted, the children in the mild-punishment group were less
likely to play with the steam shovel (the forbidden toy), despite
removal of the threat of mild punishment. The children threatened with
mild punishment had to justify, to themselves, why they did not play
with the forbidden toy. The degree of punishment was insufficiently
strong to resolve their cognitive dissonance; the children had to
convince themselves that playing with the forbidden toy was not worth
the effort.^[14]
In The Efficacy of Musical Emotions Provoked by Mozart's Music for the
Reconciliation of Cognitive Dissonance (2012), a variant of the
forbidden-toy paradigm, indicated that listening to music reduces the
development of cognitive dissonance.^[15] Without music in the
background, the control group of four-year-old children were told to
avoid playing with a forbidden toy. After playing alone, the
control-group children later devalued the importance of the forbidden
toy. In the variable group, classical music played in the background
while the children played alone. In the second group, the children did
not later devalue the forbidden toy. The researchers, Nobuo Masataka
and Leonid Perlovsky, concluded that music might inhibit cognitions
that reduce cognitive dissonance.^[15]
Music is a stimulus that can diminish post-decisional dissonance; in an
earlier experiment, Washing Away Postdecisional Dissonance (2010), the
researchers indicated that the actions of hand-washing might inhibit
the cognitions that reduce cognitive dissonance.^[16]
Free choice[edit]
In the study Post-decision Changes in Desirability of Alternatives
(1956) 225 female students rated domestic appliances and then were
asked to choose one of two appliances as a gift. The results of a
second round of ratings indicated that the women students increased
their ratings of the domestic appliance they had selected as a gift and
decreased their ratings of the appliances they rejected.^[17]
This type of cognitive dissonance occurs to a person faced with making
a difficult decision, when there always exist aspects of the
rejected-object not chosen which appeal to the person making the
choice. The action of deciding provokes the psychological dissonance
consequent to choosing X instead of Y, despite little difference
between X and Y; the decision "I chose X" is dissonant with the
cognition that "There are some aspects of Y that I like". The study
Choice-induced Preferences in the Absence of Choice: Evidence from a
Blind Two-choice Paradigm with Young Children and Capuchin Monkeys
(2010) reports similar results in the occurrence of cognitive
dissonance in human beings and in animals.^[18]
Peer Effects in Pro-Social Behavior: Social Norms or Social
Preferences? (2013) indicated that with internal deliberation, the
structuring of decisions among people can influence how a person acts.
That social preferences and social norms are related and function with
wage-giving among three persons. The actions of the first person
influenced^[clarification needed] the wage-giving actions of the second
person. That inequity aversion is the paramount concern of the
participants.^[19]
Effort justification[edit]
Further information: Effort justification
Cognitive dissonance occurs to a person who voluntarily engages in
(physically or ethically) unpleasant activities to achieve a goal. The
mental stress caused by the dissonance can be reduced by the person
exaggerating the desirability of the goal. In The Effect of Severity of
Initiation on Liking for a Group (1956), to qualify for admission to a
discussion group, two groups of people underwent an embarrassing
initiation of varied psychological severity. The first group of
subjects were to read aloud twelve sexual words considered obscene; the
second group of subjects were to read aloud twelve sexual words not
considered obscene.^[20]
Both groups were given headphones to unknowingly listen to a recorded
discussion about animal sexual behaviour, which the researchers
designed to be dull and banal. As the subjects of the experiment, the
groups of people were told that the animal-sexuality discussion
actually was occurring in the next room. The subjects whose strong
initiation required reading aloud obscene words evaluated the people of
their group as more-interesting persons than the people of the group
who underwent the mild initiation to the discussion group.^[21]
In Washing Away Your Sins: Threatened Morality and Physical Cleansing
(2006), the results indicated that a person washing his or her hands is
an action that helps resolve post-decisional cognitive dissonance
because the mental stress usually was caused by the person's
ethical-moral self-disgust, which is an emotion related to the physical
disgust caused by a dirty environment.^[16]^[22]
The study The Neural Basis of Rationalization: Cognitive Dissonance
Reduction During Decision-making (2011) indicated that participants
rated 80 names and 80 paintings based on how much they liked the names
and paintings. To give meaning to the decisions, the participants were
asked to select names that they might give to their children. For
rating the paintings, the participants were asked to base their ratings
on whether or not they would display such art at home.^[23]
The results indicated that when the decision is meaningful to the
person deciding value, the likely rating is based on his or her
attitudes (positive, neutral or negative) towards the name and towards
the painting in question. The participants also were asked to rate some
of the objects twice and believed that, at session's end, they would
receive two of the paintings they had positively rated. The results
indicated a great increase in the positive attitude of the participant
towards the liked pair of things, whilst also increasing the negative
attitude towards the disliked pair of things. The double-ratings of
pairs of things, towards which the rating participant had a neutral
attitude, showed no changes during the rating period. The existing
attitudes of the participant were reinforced during the rating period
and the participants suffered cognitive dissonance when confronted by a
liked-name paired with a disliked-painting.^[23]
Examples[edit]
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 about the cognitive dissonance
which occurred because of a desire he cannot realise.
Unpleasant medical screenings[edit]
In the study Cognitive Dissonance and Attitudes Toward Unpleasant
Medical Screenings (2016), the researchers Michael R. Ent and Mary A
Gerend informed the study participants about a discomforting test for a
specific (fictitious) virus called the "human respiratory virus-27".
The study used a fake virus to prevent participants from having
thoughts, opinions, and feeling about the virus that would interfere
with the experiment. The study participants were in two groups; one
group was told that they were actual candidates for the virus-27 test,
and the second group were told they were not candidates for the test.
The researchers reported, "We predicted that [study] participants who
thought that they were candidates for the unpleasant test would
experience dissonance associated with knowing that the test was both
unpleasant and in their best interest--this dissonance was predicted to
result in unfavorable attitudes toward the test."^[24]
Related phenomena[edit]
Cognitive dissonance may also occur when people seek to:
* Explain inexplicable feelings: When an earthquake disaster occurs
to a community, irrational rumors, based upon fear, quickly reach
the adjoining communities unaffected by the disaster because those
people, not in physical danger, psychologically justify their
anxieties about the earthquake.^[25]
* Minimize regret of irrevocable choices: At a hippodrome, bettors
have more confidence after betting on horses they chose just before
the post-time because this confidence prevents a change of heart;
the bettors felt post-decision cognitive dissonance.^[26]
* Explain their motivations for taking some action that had an
extrinsic incentive attached (known as motivational "crowding
out").^[27]
* Justify behavior that opposed their views: After being induced to
cheat in an academic examination, students judged cheating less
harshly.^[28]
* Align one's perceptions of a person with one's behavior toward that
person: The Ben Franklin effect refers to that statesman's
observation that the act of performing a favor for a rival leads to
increased positive feelings toward that individual.
* Reaffirm held beliefs: The confirmation bias identifies how people
readily read information that confirms their established opinions
and readily avoid reading information that contradicts their
opinions.^[29] The confirmation bias is apparent when a person
confronts deeply held political beliefs, i.e. when a person is
greatly committed to his or her beliefs, values, and ideas.^[29]
Applications[edit]
Education[edit]
The management of cognitive dissonance readily influences the
motivation of a student to pursue education.^[30] 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.^[31]
The incorporation of cognitive dissonance into models of basic
learning-processes to foster the students' self-awareness of
psychological conflicts among their personal beliefs, ideals, and
values and the reality of contradictory facts and information, requires
the students to defend their personal beliefs. Afterwards, the students
are trained to objectively perceive new facts and information to
resolve the psychological stress of the conflict between reality and
the student's value system.^[32] Moreover, educational software that
applies the derived principles facilitates the students' ability to
successfully handle the questions posed in a complex subject.^[33]
Meta-analysis of studies indicates that psychological interventions
that provoke cognitive dissonance in order to achieve a directed
conceptual change do increase students' learning in reading skills and
about science.^[32]
Psychotherapy[edit]
The general effectiveness of psychotherapy and psychological
intervention is partly explained by the theory of cognitive
dissonance.^[34] In that vein, social psychology proposed that the
mental health of the patient is positively influenced by his and her
action in freely choosing a specific therapy and in exerting the
required, therapeutic effort to overcome cognitive dissonance.^[35]
That effective phenomenon was indicated in the results of the study
Effects of Choice on Behavioral Treatment of Overweight Children
(1983), wherein the children's belief that they freely chose the type
of therapy received, resulted in each overweight child losing a greater
amount of excessive body weight.^[36]
In the study Reducing Fears and Increasing Attentiveness: The Role of
Dissonance Reduction (1980), people afflicted with ophidiophobia (fear
of snakes) who invested much effort in activities of little therapeutic
value for them (experimentally represented as legitimate and relevant)
showed improved alleviation of the symptoms of their phobia.^[37]
Likewise, the results of Cognitive Dissonance and Psychotherapy: The
Role of Effort Justification in Inducing Weight Loss (1985) indicated
that the patient felt better in justifying his or her efforts and
therapeutic choices towards effectively losing weight. That the therapy
of effort expenditure can predict long-term change in the patient's
perceptions.^[38]
Social behavior[edit]
Cognitive dissonance is used to promote positive social behaviours,
such as increased condom use;^[39] other studies indicate that
cognitive dissonance can be used to encourage people to act
pro-socially, such as campaigns against public littering,^[40]
campaigns against racial prejudice,^[41] and compliance with
anti-speeding campaigns.^[42] The theory can also be used to explain
reasons for donating to charity.^[43]^[44] Cognitive dissonance can be
applied in social areas such as racism and racial hatred. Acharya of
Stanford, Blackwell and Sen of Harvard state CD increases when an
individual commits an act of violence toward someone from a different
ethnic or racial group and decreases when the individual does not
commit any such act of violence. Research from Acharya, Blackwell and
Sen shows that individuals committing violence against members of
another group will develop hostile attitudes towards their victims as a
way of minimizing CD. Importantly, the hostile attitudes may persist
even after the violence itself declines (Acharya, Blackwell, Sen 2015).
The application provides a social psychological basis for the
constructivist viewpoint that ethnic and racial divisions can be
socially or individually constructed, possibly from acts of violence
(Fearon and Laitin, 2000). Their framework speaks to this possibility
by showing how violent actions by individuals can affect individual
attitudes, either ethnic or racial animosity (Acharya, Blackwell, Sen
2015).
Consumer behavior[edit]
Three main conditions exist for provoking cognitive dissonance when
buying: (i) The decision to purchase must be important, such as the sum
of money to spend; (ii) The psychological cost; and (iii) The purchase
is personally relevant to the consumer. The consumer is free to select
from the alternatives, and the decision to buy is irreversible.^[45]
The study Beyond Reference Pricing: Understanding Consumers' Encounters
with Unexpected Prices (2003), indicated that when consumers experience
an unexpected price encounter, they adopt three methods to reduce
cognitive dissonance: (i) Employ a strategy of continual information;
(ii) Employ a change in attitude; and (iii) Engage in minimisation.
Consumers employ the strategy of continual information by engaging in
bias and searching for information that supports prior beliefs.
Consumers might search for information about other retailers and
substitute products consistent with their beliefs.^[46] Alternatively,
consumers might change attitude, such as re-evaluating price in
relation to external reference-prices or associating high prices and
low prices with quality. Minimisation reduces the importance of the
elements of the dissonance; consumers tend to minimise the importance
of money, and thus of shopping around, saving, and finding a better
deal.^[47]
Politics[edit]
Cognitive dissonance theory might suggest that since votes are an
expression of preference or beliefs, even the act of voting might cause
someone to defend the actions of the candidate for whom they
voted,^[48] and if the decision was close then the effects of cognitive
dissonance should be greater.
This effect was studied over the 6 presidential elections of the United
States between 1972 and 1996,^[49] and it was found that the opinion
differential between the candidates changed more before and after the
election than the opinion differential of non-voters. In addition,
elections where the voter had a favorable attitude toward both
candidates, making the choice more difficult, had the opinion
differential of the candidates change more dramatically than those who
only had a favorable opinion of one candidate. What wasn't studied were
the cognitive dissonance effects in cases where the person had
unfavorable attitudes toward both candidates. Since the U.S. 2016
election held historically high unfavorable ratings for both
candidates,^[50] it might be a good case study to examine the cognitive
dissonance effects in these instances.
Communication[edit]
Cognitive dissonance theory of communication was initially advanced by
American psychologist Leon Festinger in the 1960s. Festinger theorized
that cognitive dissonance usually arises when a person holds two or
more incompatible beliefs simultaneously.^[46] This is a normal
occurrence since people encounter different situations that invoke
conflicting thought sequences. This conflict results in a psychological
discomfort. According to Festinger, people experiencing a thought
conflict will try to reduce the psychological discomfort by attempting
to achieve an emotional equilibrium. This equilibrium is achieved in
three main ways. 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.^[51]
Dissonance plays an important role in persuasion. In order to persuade
people, you must cause them to experience dissonance, and then offer
your proposal as a way to resolve the discomfort. Although there is no
guarantee your audience will change their minds, the theory maintains
that without dissonance, there can be no persuasion. Without a feeling
of discomfort, people will not be motivated to change.^[52]
Alternative paradigms[edit]
Dissonant self-perception: A lawyer can experience cognitive dissonance
if he must defend as innocent a client he thinks is guilty. From the
perspective of The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance: A Current
Perspective (1969), the lawyer might experience cognitive dissonance if
his false statement about his guilty client contradicts his identity as
a lawyer and an honest man.
Self-perception theory[edit]
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 concludes that their attitudes
caused the behaviour observed by self-perception; especially true when
internal cues either are ambiguous or weak. Therefore, the person is in
the same position as an observer who must rely upon external cues to
infer his or her inner state of mind. Self-perception theory proposes
that people adopt attitudes without access to their states of mood and
cognition.^[53]
As such, the experimental subjects of the Festinger and Carlsmith study
(Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance, 1959) inferred their
mental attitudes from their own behaviour. When the
subject-participants were asked: "Did you find the task interesting?",
the participants decided that they must have found the task
interesting, because that is what they told the questioner. Their
replies suggested that the participants who were paid twenty dollars
had an external incentive to adopt that positive attitude, and likely
perceived the twenty dollars as the reason for saying the task was
interesting, rather than saying the task actually was
interesting.^[54]^[53]
The theory of self-perception (Bem) and the theory of cognitive
dissonance (Festinger) make identical predictions, but only the theory
of cognitive dissonance predicts the presence of unpleasant arousal, of
psychological distress, which were verified in laboratory
experiments.^[55]^[56]
In The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance: A Current Perspective^[57]
(Aronson, Berkowitz, 1969), Elliot Aronson linked cognitive dissonance
to the self-concept: That mental stress arises when the conflicts among
cognitions threatens the person's positive self-image. This
reinterpretation of the original Festinger and Carlsmith study, using
the induced-compliance paradigm, proposed that the dissonance was
between the cognitions "I am an honest person." and "I lied about
finding the task interesting."^[57]
The study Cognitive Dissonance: Private Ratiocination or Public
Spectacle?^[58] (Tedeschi, Schlenker, ect. 1971) reported that
maintaining cognitive consistency, rather than protecting a private
self-concept, is how a person protects his or her public
self-image.^[58] Moreover, the results reported in the study I'm No
Longer Torn After Choice: How Explicit Choices Implicitly Shape
Preferences of Odors (2010) contradict such an explanation, by showing
the occurrence of revaluation of material items, after the person chose
and decided, even after having forgotten the choice.^[59]
Balance theory[edit]
Main article: Balance theory
Fritz Heider proposed a motivational theory of attitudinal change that
derives from the idea that humans are driven to establish and maintain
psychological balance. The driving force for this balance is known as
the consistency motive, which is an urge to maintain one's values and
beliefs consistent over time. Heider's conception of psychological
balance has been used in theoretical models measuring cognitive
dissonance.^[60]
According to balance theory, there are three interacting elements: (1)
the self (P), (2) another person (O), and (3) an element (X). These are
each positioned at one vertex of a triangle and share two
relations:^[61]
Unit relations - things and people that belong together based on
similarity, proximity, fate, etc.
Sentiment relations - evaluations of people and things (liking,
disliking)
Under balance theory, human beings seek a balanced state of relations
among the three positions. This can take the form of three positives or
two negatives and one positive:
P = you
O = your child
X = picture your child drew
"I love my child"
"She drew me this picture"
"I love this picture"
People also avoid unbalanced states of relations, such as three
negatives or two positives and one negative:
P = you
O = John
X = John's dog
"I don't like John"
"John has a dog"
"I don't like the dog either"
Cost-benefit analysis[edit]
In the study On the Measurement of the Utility of Public Works^[62]
(1969), Jules Dupuit reported that behaviors and cognitions can be
understood from an economic perspective, wherein people engage in the
systematic processing of comparing the costs and benefits of a
decision. The psychological process of cost-benefit comparisons helps
the person to assess and justify the feasibility (spending money) of an
economic decision, and is the basis for determining if the benefit
outweighs the cost, and to what extent. Moreover, although the method
of cost-benefit analysis functions in economic circumstances, men and
women remain psychologically inefficient at comparing the costs against
the benefits of their economic decision.^[62]
Self-discrepancy theory[edit]
E. Tory Higgins proposed that people have three selves, to which they
compare themselves:
1. Actual self - representation of the attributes the person believes
him- or herself to possess (basic self-concept)
2. Ideal self - ideal attributes the person would like to possess
(hopes, aspiration, motivations to change)
3. Ought self - ideal attributes the person believes he or she should
possess (duties, obligations, responsibilities)
When these self-guides are contradictory psychological distress
(cognitive dissonance) results. People are motivated to reduce
self-discrepancy (the gap between two self-guides).^[63]
Averse consequences vs. inconsistency[edit]
During the 1980s, Cooper and Fazio argued that dissonance was caused by
aversive consequences, rather than inconsistency. According to this
interpretation, the belief that lying is wrong and hurtful, not the
inconsistency between cognitions, is what makes people feel bad.^[64]
Subsequent research, however, found that people experience dissonance
even when they feel they have not done anything wrong. For example,
Harmon-Jones and colleagues showed that people experience dissonance
even when the consequences of their statements are beneficial--as when
they convince sexually active students to use condoms, when they,
themselves are not using condoms.^[65]
Criticism of the free-choice paradigm[edit]
In the study How Choice Affects and Reflects Preferences: Revisiting
the Free-choice Paradigm^[66] (Chen, Risen, 2010) the researchers
criticized the free-choice paradigm as invalid, because the
rank-choice-rank method is inaccurate for the study of cognitive
dissonance.^[66] That the designing of research-models relies upon the
assumption that, if the experimental subject rates options differently
in the second survey, then the attitudes of the subject towards the
options have changed. That there are other reasons why an experimental
subject might achieve different rankings in the second survey; perhaps
the subjects were indifferent between choices.
Although the results of some follow-up studies (e.g. Do Choices Affect
Preferences? Some Doubts and New Evidence, 2013) presented evidence of
the unreliability of the rank-choice-rank method,^[67] the results of
studies such as Neural Correlates of Cognitive Dissonance and
Choice-induced Preference Change (2010) have not found the
Choice-Rank-Choice method to be invalid, and indicate that making a
choice can change the preferences of a person.^[18]^[68]^[69]^[70]
Action-motivation model[edit]
Festinger's original theory did not seek to explain how dissonance
works. Why is inconsistency so aversive?^[71] The action-motivation
model seeks to answer this question. It proposes that inconsistencies
in a person's cognition cause mental stress, because psychological
inconsistency interferes with the person's functioning in the real
world. Among the ways for coping, the person can choose to exercise a
behavior that is inconsistent with his or her current attitude (a
belief, an ideal, a value system), but later try to alter that belief
to be consonant with a current behavior; the cognitive dissonance
occurs when the person's cognition does not match the action taken. If
the person changes the current attitude, after the dissonance occurs,
he or she then is obligated to commit to that course of behavior.
The occurrence of cognitive dissonance produces a state of negative
affect, which motivates the person to reconsider the causative
behavior, in order to resolve the psychological inconsistency that
caused the mental stress.^[72] As the afflicted person works towards a
behavioral commitment, the motivational process then is activated in
the left frontal cortex of the brain.^[73]^[74]^[75]^[76]^[77]
Predictive dissonance model[edit]
The predictive dissonance model proposes that cognitive dissonance is
fundamentally related to the predictive coding (or predictive
processing) model of cognition.^[78] A predictive processing account of
the mind proposes that perception actively involves the use of a
Bayesian hierarchy of acquired prior knowledge, which primarily serves
the role of predicting incoming proprioceptive, interoceptive and
exteroceptive sensory inputs. Therefore, the brain is an inference
machine which attempts to actively predict and explain its sensations.
Crucial to this inference is the minimization of prediction error. The
predictive dissonance account proposes that the motivation for
cognitive dissonance reduction is related to an organism's active drive
for reducing prediction error. Moreover, it proposes that human (and
perhaps other animal) brains have evolved to selectively ignore
contradictory information (as proposed by dissonance theory) to prevent
the overfitting of their predictive cognitive models to local and thus
non-generalizing conditions. The predictive dissonance account is
highly compatible with the action-motivation model since, in practice,
prediction error can arise from unsuccessful behavior.
Neuroscience findings[edit]
Technological advances are allowing psychologists to study the
biomechanics of cognitive dissonance.
Visualization[edit]
The study Neural Activity Predicts Attitude Change in Cognitive
Dissonance^[79] (Van Veen, Krug, ect, 2009) identified the neural bases
of cognitive dissonance with functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI); the neural scans of the participants replicated the basic
findings of the induced-compliance paradigm. When in the fMRI scanner,
some of the study participants argued that the uncomfortable,
mechanical environment of the MRI machine nevertheless was a pleasant
experience for them; some participants, from an experimental group,
said they enjoyed the mechanical environment of the fMRI scanner more
than did the control-group participants (paid actors) who argued about
the uncomfortable experimental environment.^[79]
The results of the neural scan experiment support the original theory
of Cognitive Dissonance proposed by Festinger in 1957; and also support
the psychological conflict theory, whereby the anterior cingulate
functions, in counter-attitudinal response, to activate the dorsal
anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insular cortex; the degree
of activation of said regions of the brain is predicted by the degree
of change in the psychological attitude of the person.^[79]
The biomechanics of cognitive dissonance: MRI evidence indicates that
the greater the psychological conflict signalled by the anterior
cingulate cortex, the greater the magnitude of the cognitive dissonance
experienced by the person.
As an application of the free-choice paradigm, the study How Choice
Reveals and Shapes Expected Hedonic Outcome (2009) indicates that after
making a choice, neural activity in the striatum changes to reflect the
person's new evaluation of the choice-object; neural activity increased
if the object was chosen, neural activity decreased if the object was
rejected.^[80] Moreover, studies such as The Neural Basis of
Rationalization: Cognitive Dissonance Reduction During Decision-making
(2010)^[23] and How Choice Modifies Preference: Neural Correlates of
Choice Justification (2011) confirm the neural bases of the psychology
of cognitive dissonance.^[68]^[81]
The Neural Basis of Rationalization: Cognitive Dissonance Reduction
During Decision-making^[23] (Jarcho, Berkman, Lieberman, 2010) applied
the free-choice paradigm to fMRI examination of the brain's
decision-making process whilst the study participant actively tried to
reduce cognitive dissonance. The results indicated that the active
reduction of psychological dissonance increased neural activity in the
right-inferior frontal gyrus, in the medial fronto-parietal region, and
in the ventral striatum, and that neural activity decreased in the
anterior insula.^[23] That the neural activities of rationalization
occur in seconds, without conscious deliberation on the part of the
person; and that the brain engages in emotional responses whilst
effecting decisions.^[23]
Emotional correlations[edit]
The results reported in Contributions from Research on Anger and
Cognitive Dissonance to Understanding the Motivational Functions of
Asymmetrical Frontal Brain Activity^[82] (Harmon-Jones, 2004) indicate
that the occurrence of cognitive dissonance is associated with neural
activity in the left frontal cortex, a brain structure also associated
with the emotion of anger; moreover, functionally, anger motivates
neural activity in the left frontal cortex.^[83] Applying a directional
model of Approach motivation, the study Anger and the Behavioural
Approach System (2003) indicated that the relation between cognitive
dissonance and anger is supported by neural activity in the left
frontal cortex that occurs when a person takes control of the social
situation causing the cognitive dissonance. Conversely, if the person
cannot control or cannot change the psychologically stressful
situation, he or she is without a motivation to change the
circumstance, then there arise other, negative emotions to manage the
cognitive dissonance, such as socially inappropriate
behavior.^[74]^[84]^[82]
The anterior cingulate cortex activity increases when errors occur and
are being monitored as well as having behavioral conflicts with the
self-concept as a form of higher-level thinking.^[85] A study was done
to test the prediction that the left frontal cortex would have
increased activity. University students had to write a paper depending
on if they were assigned to a high-choice or low-choice condition. The
low-choice condition required students to write about supporting a 10%
increase in tuition at their university. The point of this condition
was to see how significant the counterchoice may affect a person's
ability to cope. The high-choice condition asked students to write in
favor of tuition increase as if it was their choice and that it was
completely voluntary. EEG was used to analyze students before writing
the essay as dissonance is at its highest during this time (Beauvois
and Joule, 1996). High-choice condition participants showed a higher
level of the left frontal cortex than the low-choice participants.
Results have shown that the initial experience of dissonance can be
apparent in the anterior cingulate cortex, then the left frontal cortex
is activated, which also activates the approach motivational system to
reduce anger.^[85]^[86]
The psychology of mental stress[edit]
The results reported in The Origins of Cognitive Dissonance: Evidence
from Children and Monkeys (Egan, Santos, Bloom, 2007) indicated that
there might be evolutionary force behind the reduction of cognitive
dissonance in the actions of pre-school-age children and Capuchin
monkeys when offered a choice between two like options, decals and
candies. The groups then were offered a new choice, between the
choice-object not chosen and a novel choice-object that was as
attractive as the first object. The resulting choices of the human and
simian subjects concorded with the theory of cognitive dissonance when
the children and the monkeys each chose the novel choice-object instead
of the choice-object not chosen in the first selection, despite every
object having the same value.^[87]
The hypothesis of An Action-based Model of Cognitive-dissonance
Processes^[88] (Harmon-Jones, Levy, 2015) proposed that psychological
dissonance occurs consequent to the stimulation of thoughts that
interfere with a goal-driven behavior. Researchers mapped the neural
activity of the participant when performing tasks that provoked
psychological stress when engaged in contradictory behaviors. A
participant read aloud the printed name of a color. To test for the
occurrence of cognitive dissonance, the name of the color was printed
in a color different than the word read aloud by the participant. As a
result, the participants experienced increased neural activity in the
anterior cingulate cortex when the experimental exercises provoked
psychological dissonance.^[88]
The study Cognitive Neuroscience of Social Emotions and Implications
for Psychopathology: Examining Embarrassment, Guilt, Envy, and
Schadenfreude^[89] (Jankowski, Takahashi,2014) identified neural
correlations to specific social emotions (e.g. envy and embarrassment)
as a measure of cognitive dissonance. The neural activity for the
emotion of Envy (the feeling of displeasure at the good fortune of
another person) was found to draw neural activity from the dorsal
anterior cingulate cortex. That such increased activity in the dorsal
anterior cingulate cortex occurred either when a person's self-concept
was threatened or when the person suffered embarrassment (social pain)
caused by salient, upward social-comparison, by social-class snobbery.
That social emotions, such as embarrassment, guilt, envy, and
Schadenfreude (joy at the misfortune of another person) are correlated
to reduced activity in the insular lobe, and with increased activity in
the striate nucleus; those neural activities are associated with a
reduced sense of empathy (social responsibility) and an increased
propensity towards antisocial behavior (delinquency).^[89]
Modeling in neural networks
Artificial neural network models of cognition provide methods for
integrating the results of empirical research about cognitive
dissonance and attitudes into a single model that explains the
formation of psychological attitudes and the mechanisms to change such
attitudes.^[90] Among the artificial neural-network models that predict
how cognitive dissonance might influence a person's attitudes and
behavior, are:
* Parallel constraint satisfaction processes^[90]
* The meta-cognitive model (MCM) of attitudes^[91]
* Adaptive connectionist model of cognitive dissonance^[92]
* Attitudes as constraint satisfaction model^[93]
Contradictions to the theory[edit]
Because cognitive dissonance is a relatively new theory, there are some
that are skeptical of the idea. Charles G. Lord wrote a paper on
whether or not the theory of cognitive dissonance was not tested enough
and if it was a mistake to accept it into theory. He claimed that the
theorist did not take into account all the factors and came to a
conclusion without looking at all the angles.^[94] However, even with
this contradiction, Cognitive dissonance is still accepted as the most
likely theory that we have to date
See also[edit]
* Affective forecasting
* Ambivalence
* Antiprocess
* Belief perseverance
* Buyer's remorse
* Choice-supportive bias
* Cognitive bias
* Cognitive distortion
* Cognitive inertia
* Compartmentalization (psychology)
* Cultural dissonance
* Duck test
* Devaluation
* Denial
* Double bind
* Double consciousness
* Doublethink
* Dunning-Kruger effect
* Effort justification
* Emotional conflict
* Gaslighting
* The Great Disappointment of 1844
* Illusion
* Illusory truth effect
* Information overload
* Liminality
* Limit situation
* Love and hate (psychoanalysis)
* Love-hate relationship
* Memory conformity
* Metanoia (psychology)
* Motivated reasoning
* Mythopoeic thought
* Narcissistic rage and narcissistic injury
* Rationalization (making excuses)
* Splitting (psychology)
* Stockholm syndrome
* Techniques of neutralization
* Terror management theory
* The Emperor's New Clothes
* Traumatic bonding
* True-believer syndrome
* Wishful thinking
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Further reading[edit]
* Acharya, Avidit; Blackwell, Matthew; Sen, Maya (2018). "Explaining
Preferences from Behavior: A Cognitive Dissonance Approach" (PDF).
The Journal of Politics. 80 (2): 400-411. doi:10.1086/694541.
Cooper, J (2007). Cognitive dissonance: Fifty years of a classic
theory. London: Sage publications. ISBN 978-1-4129-2972-1.
Fearon, J. D., & Latin, D. D. (2000). Violence and the Social
Construction of Ethnic Identity. The University of Wisconsin Press
Journals Division.
Gawronski, B., & Strack, F. (Eds.). (2012). Cognitive consistency: A
fundamental principle in social cognition. New York: Guilford Press.
Harmon-Jones, E., & J. Mills. (Eds.) (1999). Cognitive Dissonance:
Progress on a Pivotal Theory in Social Psychology. Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
Tavris, C.; Aronson, E. (2007). Mistakes were made (but not by me):
Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts.
Orlando, FL: Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-15-101098-1.
McLeod, S. "Cognitive Dissonance". Retrieved 3 December 2013.
Jarcho, Johanna M.; Berkman, Elliot T.; Lieberman, Matthew D. (2010).
"The Neural Basis of Rationalization: Cognitive Dissonance Reduction
During Decision-making". Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 6
(4): 460-467. doi:10.1093/scan/nsq054. PMC 3150852. PMID 20621961.
Wagner, D. A. (2014). The Marketing of Global Warming: A Repeated
Measures Examination of the Effects of Cognitive Dissonance,
Endorsement, and Information on Beliefs in a Social Cause. Proquest
Digital Dissertations:
https://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/1906281562.html?FMT=ABS .
Oshikawa, S. (1972). The Measurement of Cognitive Dissonance: Some
Experimental Findings. Retrieved from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1250871?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
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