Cognitive Dissonance: Theory, Examples & How to Reduce It

Jul14

There has been a great deal of research into cognitive dissonance, providing some interesting and sometimes unexpected findings. In other words, he could tell himself that a short life filled with smoking and sensual pleasures is better than a long life devoid http://www.synthema.ru/42872-uma-totoro-aparatos-que-median-entre-la-realidad-y-el-hombre-2012.html of such joys. In this way, he would be decreasing the importance of dissonant cognition (smoking is bad for one’s health). However, new information such as “research has not proved definitely that smoking causes lung cancer” may reduce the dissonance.

If you’ve ever made a decision despite the fact it goes against your values and beliefs, and you then felt stress, regret or turmoil, you’ve experienced cognitive dissonance. Learn how to cope with those difficult moments and how to better manage your response. When faced with conflict, you may experience cognitive http://www.thailande.ru/blogs/copharmq/sshit-shljapu-svoimi-rukami-vykroika.html dissonance if you make a decision to lessen potential conflict between you and other people, but it’s not necessarily a decision you fully believe in. When faced with a deadline, you could even cut corners to accomplish a task, but then experience discomfort when it’s done because you value hard work.

Examples of Cognitive Dissonance

Since they can’t escape the action, they attempt to re-establish their reasons for doing it in a way that makes the action acceptable. Some people cope with having contradictory beliefs or information by blocking them out and numbing themselves with drugs and alcohol. Some engage in activities in order to distract themselves, like watching a lot of television or going online for long periods of time.

Specifically, we found that a wider theoretical perspective and a more pluralistic approach to research design results in a richer understanding of the psychological phenomena of dissonance reduction. Applying the suggested emotion-regulation framework on dissonance research may hopefully open up new avenues of inquiry and help bring dissonance theory into the second decade of the twenty-first century. It is important to point out that the model presented here is a working model, and therefore some https://www.saturn-fc.ru/en/general/23528/ details are less clear than others. The distinction between explicit and implicit dissonance reduction needs to be further elaborated. For instance, engaging strategies (e.g., attitude change, spreading of alternatives, effort justification) might not be particularly conscious. That is, although attitude change is an approach-related action (Harmon-Jones et al., 2011) which leads to more positive emotions (Cancino-Montecinos et al., 2018), the individual might not be aware of the chosen strategy.

The Original Dissonance Theory and Related Research

In sum, given that the purpose of dissonance reduction is to alleviate emotional tension, an emotion-regulation framework seems to be an appropriate tool for understanding the dissonance-reduction process. Next, we will explore this notion more closely by presenting a general model of dissonance reduction. A fascinating aspect of this truth—that behavior strongly determines thoughts, emotions, and attitudes—is the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance; the mental discomfort experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that all possible outcomes from the 3 × 3 matrix were represented (see Table 4).

cognitive dissonance treatment