Cognitive Dissonance: Theory, Examples & How to Reduce It
Being paid $20 provides a reason for turning pegs, and there is, therefore, no dissonance. When someone is forced to do (publicly) something they (privately) really don’t want to do, dissonance is created between their cognition (I didn’t want to do this) and their behavior (I did it). In the world of business and commerce, cognitive dissonance can have certain implications. By Neha KashyapKashyap is a New York-based health journalist with a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from the University of Southern California. 1One could consider here that we are addressing an old point of view about CDT as the theory has been revised very early and very extensively since its beginning (for a review, see Harmon-Jones, 2019).
Science-Based Ways To Apply Positive CBT
Psychologist Leon Festinger published the book A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance in 1957. Among the examples he used to illustrate the theory were doomsday cult members and their explanations for why the world had not ended as they had anticipated. Many experiments have since been conducted to illustrate cognitive dissonance in more ordinary contexts. Cognitive dissonance can be caused by feeling forced to do something, learning new information, or when faced with a decision between two similar choices. There are a number of different situations that can create conflicts that lead to cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance theory itself suggests that if patients are investing time, money, and emotional effort in the therapy, they will be likely to work hard to reach their therapeutic goals in order to justify their efforts.
Connectivity to Broader Theories
So when you fall out of that perfect harmony and either think or act in opposition to your belief system, tension builds and you become distressed. A person who feels defensive or unhappy might consider the role cognitive dissonance might play in these feelings. If they are part of a wider problem that is causing distress, people may benefit from speaking with a therapist. Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person’s behavior and beliefs do not complement each other or when they hold two contradictory beliefs.
- Participants in the high-dissonance condition spread apart the alternatives significantly more than the participants in the other two conditions.
- If a woman reads that her favorite politician has done something immoral, she could conclude that the charges have been invented by his enemies—or, instead, rethink her support.
Cognitive Dissonance and the Discomfort of Holding Conflicting Beliefs
As a first step, it seems essential to direct efforts at the development of a clear instrument for measuring the CDS before expecting a clear relation with regulation. In the following sections, we discuss the weakness of CDT operationalization and suggest methodological improvements. In our opinion, these major issues have to be addressed, and focusing on these points should help the cognitive dissonance addiction theory, the field and the whole discipline, to move forward. Critical questions about the leader, the doctrine or the organization’s policies are avoided or even forbidden. Rational analysis, critical thinking, even constructive criticism is viewed as a weakness of character and of devotion. All other groups and their belief systems are seen as illegitimate, evil, or “dangerous”.
If a person’s motivation and ability to think are very high, however, then expertise should not affect attitudes or compliance since they will be based primarily on a careful evaluation of the issue-relevant arguments presented. Therapy analog studies by Heesaker, Petty, and Cacioppo (1983) have provided support for this general line of reasoning. This approach to attitude change helps us understand why people may be influenced linearly by the attractiveness of the communicator, or by the communicator’s status and presumed knowledge. It also helps us understand better why people sometimes resist persuasion attempts (see discussion below), since some factor such as forewarning of persuasion has activated their thoughtful analysis of the positions being advocated.
- However, cognitive dissonance can also be a tool for personal and social change.
- Likewise, other authors have described the CDS as a state of tension (Croyle and Cooper, 1983; Kruglanski and Shteynberg, 2012), an unpleasant feeling (Harmon-Jones, 2000), or a state of aversive arousal (Proulx et al., 2012).
- This monetary incentive was intended to prevent cognitive dissonance by giving the participant external justification for behavior that was inconsistent with his or her beliefs (saying that the task was enjoyable when it was not).
- When our friends or partners act contrary to our beliefs and values, we perceive dissonance.
Understanding all inconsistency compensation as a palliative response to violated expectations
There are still debates around the theory that can be traced in Brehm’s (2007) review and a more recent Kenworthy et al. (2011) trans-paradigm theoretical synthesis of cognitive dissonance theory. In this article the authors using modern statistical techniques aim to test five research paradigms. It seems that cognitive dissonance is a theoretical field that will continue to trigger basic and applied research. One of the features that distinguished cognitive dissonance theory from other consistency theories was the concept of dissonance magnitude.
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- It also requires taking into account the time course, as it is supposed to be relevant.
- However, if a person finds that they have difficulty stopping a behavior or thinking pattern that is causing them distress, they can seek support from a qualified healthcare professional, such as a primary care doctor or therapist.