Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort you feel when your beliefs, values, or attitudes clash with your actions or with each other. To ease that discomfort, people often change their beliefs, justify their behavior, or find ways to make things feel consistent.

What Cognitive Dissonance Means

• Definition: A psychological theory introduced by Leon Festinger in 1957. It describes the tension that arises when someone holds two conflicting cognitions (beliefs, values, or attitudes) or when their behavior contradicts their beliefs.

• Core Idea: Humans strive for internal consistency. When inconsistency arises, it creates discomfort, motivating us to resolve it.

Everyday Examples

• Smoking vs. Health Beliefs: A person smokes but knows smoking causes cancer. The clash between behavior (smoking) and belief (health is important) creates dissonance.

• Diet vs. Indulgence: Someone values healthy eating but eats fast food. They might justify it by saying, “I deserved a treat today.”

• Work vs. Values: An employee believes honesty is important but lies to protect their job. The tension pushes them to rationalize the lie or reconsider their values.

How People Reduce Dissonance

• Change behavior: Quit smoking to align with health beliefs.

• Change beliefs: Convince themselves smoking isn’t “that bad.”

• Add new cognition: “Smoking helps me reduce stress, which is good for my health.”

• Rationalize: “Lots of people smoke and live long lives.”

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